Recently they decided in favor of a guest who said her mother in law was ill and then wouldn’t share the supposed supportive documentation with me. I think Air ought to add travel insurance to every booking for things like this. Why should the host be the one to eat it?
Hi @konacoconutz,
There are two issues here:
- The financial consequences of the guest’s cancellation on your Airbnb profitability
- The reluctance of Airbnb to share the supporting documentation with you
I imagine that you are bothered much more by issue #1 (though issue #2 only aggrivates this further).
Due to privacy concerns, I’d be surprised if any company would ever pass on supporting documentation such as medical certificates. I also think it is unlikely that Airbnb would claim these were received if they were not in reality supplied by the guest.
Having said all of this, it does not take away from their obligation to ensure that you are not left out of pocket as a result of these external events - especially since they reap the benefits of all other bookings that DO OCCUR through use of their site.
I assume you’ve said as much to them. I think they’d be reluctant to set any form of precedent, but maybe asking for compensation in the form of travel credit - especially as a long-time host - might be an idea they’d entertain if phrased politely and with context?
Please keep me posted on any further developments - I’d be keen to hear how they handle the matter.
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Good idea, thank you. I will try that.
Well I’m out $2,219! I’m a first time user to this. Booked a room for my son because he got a call to work an outage! This would have been his first job since graduating! He got the call on 9/7 to report to NJ by 9/13! We scrambled trying to find a descent place for him. Airbnb was recommended. Found a place and even talked to the owner til 9:30pm. Come Friday 9/9 son got a call that he did not qualify and so he didn’t need to go! Notified owners by 8:30am! I received an email stating he has a strict cancellation policy 7 days notice! I understand that but how can I cancel when I rented 5 days prior to his arrival!! Basically Airbnb was no help as I contacted them the same morning also! The owner refused to return ANY money but did offer to keep my reservation open til sept 2017! He said to go after the company my son works for. It doesn’t work like that if you have ever worked the nuclear outages. They don’t get paid it they don’t go. There is no MONEY! I tried everything to at least get something back. Nothing!! He did not care that I will now be making payments & interest on what he just stole from me! That guy did nothing but feed me lies from the moment I talked with him! Oh he talked a great game. Airbnb has sided with him and said sorry but here’s a $200 voucher for your next booking! I DONT THINK SO! I’m glad I didn’t make my son pay with what money he did have saved up cause he would have been broke! I have never felt so taken advantage of in my life! I learned a very very hard lesson…never ever pay up front again nor will I ever use anything like this again! So if there’s anyone who wants a $200 voucher, it’s yours!
Very sorry,
But you were able to see the strict policy when you booked it. It’s rough, but the host held the room for you. It’s not his fault your son didn’t get the job. I don’t mean to sound harsh but you have to read what you are booking. The strict cancellation policy is front and center on the reservation. How did you miss it?
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I didn’t see it until after I booked this since it was all a last minute search. I have never been done anything like this before, and the owner actually walked me thru on the booking he was on the phone with me when I confirmed it. I wasn’t expecting all the money back but I was hoping this guy was a decent man and at least give $1500 back but I was wrong! The went knew the situation when I booked this. I even told him I had never done anything like this before! Like I said before, he’s a swindler and seen me coming! He complained to me that Airbnb had given another family back their money without consulting him. So when I was told they had to contact the owner I told the Airbnb person that the outcome would be no! I knew this and said anything back would be great! I can honestly say that I will NEVER use this or any site like this again! I thought at first, how awesome this is. I learned a hard lesson. I was also told that it is against Airbnb policy for me to rent this for my son since I was using my CC. Well if I broke the policy to begin with then the transaction should have been null & voided! There is no protection for consumers on here regardless of the situation. I bet if something had happened to my son the owner would still say…sorry strict cancellation! Yes I’m mad about being out $2219 but most decent people would have at least given something back! I should have known better! Not everyone is honest! Again hard lesson learned!
Strict policy is strict policy.
I understand the owner of the place.
Imagine he is refunding you and can t sell to a new client the place, the host will be out of his pocket.
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I doubt that anyone else was interested in booking since he has a three bedroom house and no other bedrooms were booked. Those were his words to me.
Also it’s not like we book this for seven days we booked it out till October 8 so there was plenty of time for him to rebook anyone that was interested. So now he has the option to rebooking all three bedrooms and making extra money on something I’m not using at all. That’s why I thought He would be an upstanding gentlemen about all this. I know it’s my word against his and I understand that but what he told me and told Airbnb were two different things. I feel lied to. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there that are the owners and they are great people nothing against them but one bad experience where I’m out $2219 is more than enough money to scare me away from ever doing this again! I know everybody has their opinion and that’s fine but for me doing this once and having it turn out this bad is more than enough for me to never do this again. Just imagine if it was your child you’re trying to help out on his first job offer and It falls through you are out that money with no way of recouping.
You should direct your anger towards the company that screwed your son over or towards yourself for not reading the cancellation and refund policies correctly. Airbnb hosts are not social service agencies. To use your own words, “it doesn’t work like that.” The host in this case did absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, he was quite nice to offer to apply the reservation for a date up to a year in the future. How did he feed you lies? Did he tell you he would refund all your money if you canceled?
Your son needed an entire 3 bedroom home for just himself? And when you say you will never pay up front again, you are mistaken. There is no where you can rent where you don’t have to pay up front.
Sorry this happened to you but it’s not airbnb or the host’s fault.
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Well, when my son did an internship on Captiol Hill, we paid for the entire semester of intern housing up front. $4300. No refunds should something not have worked out.
When you relocate to a new city for a new job, part of the challenge is finding housing.
And no… It is not easy for hosts to rebook a place a month out. When guests have cancelled on me, I’ve lost thousands. Just who should eat it? Well in most cases Airbnb thinks the host should.
There are a lot of things you could have done differently. You could have taken out travel insurance on such a large amount. You could have booked a hotel until housing was secured, especially if the job offer was rescinded. Why was it rescinded anyway? What didn’t he qualify for?
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This is not unusual for these “call ups.” You get the “call” to be on standby, but they can rescind it at any time. I have a friend who gets these calls regularly, gets all packed, and then waits for the confirmation before arranging housing. Chances are, his son didn’t do anything to have this “call up” rescinded. His specific services were just not needed. From what dad has said, they were just so happy to have gotten the call, that they moved faster than it turns out, was prudent.
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But. If the OPs son’s gig was standby, why on earth did she book a non refundable place? Get a hotel until you are sure!!
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Airbnb offers travel insurance??? I did t see that one. We had less than 5 days to find something and it had to be set in place asap! He had a 2 day drive just to get to NJ. As for the reason being cancelled we found out this morning and you’ll love this one “computer error”!
This has nothing to do with the fact that this person didn’t even try to work with me! As for finding a hotel, tried that and nothing decent had any vacancies! What was vacant are the motels that in October open up to the homeless for the winter! So yes We did a search for 4 hrs starting from the time I got home from work!! So when this was recommended and I talk in person to the owner for an hour which ended at 9:30pm central time Wednesday Sept 7th, I thought wow how great!! I called him immediately Friday Sept 9th 8:30am and told him what happened (I actually woke him up) 930 his time, he said ok I’ll call u back! That never happened!! So everything that he told Airbnb was completely different from what he said to me! I am not the type of person who will lie just to keep someone’s money! Sorry but that’s how I feel about this whole situation! The gave me his life story, owns a bar in the Bahamas and sells other things! Inherited this house from his fathe and his sister got the other one, but the money part hasn’t been settled yet!!! He told me more but you get the idea! “PLAYER” and I was played! I do thank you for letting me vent my frustrations on this forum! I did sleep better last night after getting all of this off my chest. Now comes the hard part, paying off a loan that I now have to budget for! Yes my son said he’s going to help with what little he has saved up and he’s hoping for another job opportunity! Whatever job comes next we will not be using this again LOL’
No, they don’t. But you can buy policies that could have covered you for this.
You’re missing out if you just dismiss Air out of hand. It can be a great way to travel. As millions worldwide have discovered.
I guess we are still not understanding why you booked a whole house?
Not to defend the guy as I believe someone should be true to their word and if it were me I probably would have given you some back, (maybe not all) but he didn’t do anything wrong … vis a vis the Air platform. And the strict policy. Also he could not have refunded you the Air fees. They keep those.
Have you tried calling Air? Maybe they can offer a voucher. Or some remedy.
I didn’t book the whole house only a room and the guy lives there! Air was no help only that they backed him up and gave me a $200 voucher which I will never use! Like I said before, I know there are a lot of nice people that do this but for me unfortunately it took only 1 bad experience! I have never done this before so I don’t know all the in/outs how these sites work. Hard lesson learned at 51. LOL. I just don’t like being lied to and he played me. I’m sure he’s laughing all the way to the bank! I did ask Air when I put in my cancellation request asking for money back, if they pay the owner right away or hold it until settled. One person said they hold it and another said she doesn’t know when he gets paid! Oh well! I can’t do anything about it now what’s done is done. So out of the $2219 that hit my cc, he got $2,008. I know because he texted me a screen shot of it.
Hosts get paid 24 hours after check in. We are docked 3% for fees. If you had cancelled longer than a week out on strict, you would have got half back.
So the host was taunting you? NOT very nice behavior. 
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What did he lie about? How did he play you?
I agree the host is probably not a ‘salt of the earth’ type of guy, especially that he is taunting the OP. However, strict is strict, and its a crappy lesson to learn, but if you book any accommodations, read the cancellation policy before booking!
I think most hosts on here would have refunded a small portion, or larger if the rooms were re booked.I do think the host in this scenario is not giving us a good name.
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I am a softie. I would have refunded minus a small amount, but, my place would not have been available at such notice.