Cancelling account - can Airbnb take money from me?

Thanks Como, but I’d prefer that Airbnb knew why I was closing

Ghost, Imma let you find those on your own. :cowboy_hat_face:Simple matter of looking through the website yourself.

@airbnb_ghost Not sure why it matters but still cite extenuating circumstances.

I can only do the same as you can and look through the website/Airbnb Help Centre to find the relevant clause.

Or as I suggested earlier give them a call and ask them to point you in the right direction.

Agree. It’s there, in the TOS. If you cannot find it, call them. If you owe them money, believe me they have a way to make you pay what you owe. If you don’t pay they will send you to collections and your credit will take a hit.

I’m not going to do the legwork for you. You need to do that.

May I ask why?..

so…what happened to make you this disgusted?

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Not great advice @Como I’m afraid.

What would you do when they asked you to provide evidence?

@Helsi

I would not provide evidence.

Como : I want to cancel the bookings of 15 forthcoming guests because of extenuating circumstances

Airbnb: Sure send us evidence and we will consider it

Como: No I haven’t got any. I’m not providing it

Can’t really see why you have suggested the OP cancel under extenuating circumstances, when it would just be a waste of his/her time?

Personally…I can think of better ways to spend my time :slight_smile:

@Helsi

Como : I am delisting and closing my account, please cancel bookings of 15 forthcoming guests because of extenuating circumstances

Airbnb: Sure send us evidence and we will consider it

Como: Please cancel the bookings, I am claiming extenuating circumstances.

And repeat ad nauseum.

I seem to remember you are in the UK, I am not, but seriously doubt much of the AirBnB Terms and Conditions would bear scrutiny under the UK Unfair Contract Terms Act. Elsewhere it is going to be more complicated.

Pretty certain that in the unlikely circumstance this did get referred to the the AirBnB Legal Dept they would want to go there for such a small sum of money, you have put them on notice that it is an Extenuating Circumstance so that would be hurdle number one and then they would have to justify what if effectively a fine, a real legal conundrum, so you doubled the issues and have done the right thing by your upcoming guests.

Airbnb Terms of Service - you can just google for it and it comes right up.

https://www.airbnb.com/terms

https://www.airbnb.com/terms/payments_terms

7.4 If you owe any amount to Airbnb (e.g., as a result of your bookings, Booking Modifications, cancellations or other actions as a Guest, Host or Co-Host), you authorize Airbnb Payments to collect these amounts from you by withholding the amounts from your future Payouts and/or charging any Payment Method on file in your Airbnb Account. Any funds collected by Airbnb Payments will setoff the amount owed by you to Airbnb and extinguish your obligation to Airbnb. In addition to the amount due, if there are delinquent amounts or chargebacks associated with your Payment Method, you may be charged fees that are incidental to our collection of these delinquent amounts and chargebacks. Such fees or charges may include collection fees, convenience fees or other third-party charges.

I think the problem here is you are assuming it would go past the first correspondence.

I think it is much more likely to go. You claim EC. They ask for evidence. You don’t provide it. They close the case. You contact them again about the same issue. They ignore you.

They certainly wouldn’t keep opening and closing the same case.

No doubt if you tried, they have ways of sending you out to sit on the naughty step :slight_smile:

Unfortunately I am not an expert on international business to business law so haven’t any idea whether the UK Unfair Contract Terms would impact on Airbnb’s T&Cs. However I doubt it. They aren’t even based in the UK, so I am not sure how that would impact on any UK based legislation.

He is done with AirBnb, they have no future bookings to claim their penalty from, so they are reliant on him paying or them suing for it.

I think he also wants to make a point, I would not do that, nobody who would be dealing with this cares, just business.

Now ABB usually rely on a continuing relationship, they have booking to deduct their fine from, Guests want to continue using them.

If they have your money because they have deducted it from your next booking it becomes your problem, in this case it is their problem.

It is not international law, ABB have a presence in the US, and in the UK and if they wanted to take action against a UK resident then UK Courts would deal with the issue… I really am not sure how the Courts would look at it in my US State, have not looked into any precedences, when I have the opportunity I will find out, I am intrigued.

Sorry, busy day, will update later, I appreciate all the time & effort taken to respond.

@airbnb_ghost

Not quite sure why you couldn’t find the relevant clause in their terms (took me three minutes to find it under payment terms ).

Anyway here it is;

“10.2.3 If, as a Host, you cancel a confirmed booking, you agree that Airbnb Payments may collect any cancellation fees imposed pursuant to the Airbnb Terms. In these instances, Airbnb Payments will treat your cancellation as a payment authorization”.

You are therefore giving them permission to pursue you for the cancellation charges.

Therefore I don’t agree with @Como’s statement, that if you don’t pay it becomes Airbnb’s problem.

As @airbnb_ghost refuses to explain why he has got the hump with Airbnb it’s difficult to comment further.

In his/her situation, if they really couldn’t bare to deal with Airbnb anymore, I would get a co-host in to manage any remaining bookings, as I don’t like the idea of letting guests down because of a breakdown in the relationship between one business (a host) and another (airbnb).

We have heard of Air cancelling for someone who didn’t have what I would deem ECs (getting evicted by their landlord, LOL) so it’s always worth asking before you just do it. I think they would almost rather assist someone than have all the reservations cancelled and the host walk away. Like any CS call you make, answers will vary depending on the day you call.

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I have said what I would do and why, if it ends up in the Courts, do not think ABB would take it that far, I would want to be in the best position possible.

Thanks all for taking the time to respond. Haven’t had a chance to get back on here the past couple of days.

Discussed with a solicitor who specialises in contract law, who directed me to the relevant Terms and Conditions:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/terms#sec6

…and the payment terms of service:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/terms/payments_terms

His view was that, despite what is in these Ts&Cs, I possibly have an argument for nullifying any agreement, in view of the fact that I have raised a compliant, and they have refused to deal with it. He did suggest that perhaps I should have given more notice with regard to the consequences of them not dealing with my complaint (ie me deeming my account to be terminated).

He pointed out an arbitration clause in the agreement, although it appears to only apply to US consumers, or those intending to bring actions in US courts. As my communications with Airbnb have repeatedly asked for advice regarding the complaints channels and process, and they haven’t replied, he feels that this could be taken as enough grounds to nullify the contract.

Separately I had a guest leave yesterday at the end of a stay, but sat and had a nice long chat with her the evening prior. I’ve really enjoyed this aspect of hosting: meeting new people and finding out about them.

Yesterday I also had two text message enquiries from previous guests that could no longer find me on the site. One of them wanted a stay immediately, potentially for three months, and is in the property now; the other is looking for three weeks in May, we are still trying to work out options.

Hope this update helps, thanks again for the input.

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