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@AnneRunner5 -
Homeaway is full houses/condos/etc, and not the “sharing” idea (or is supposed to be). Since this is for a big event, some people vacate their home and say with friends in order to rent their house out and make some money. My personal recommendation - try to stay away from those listings and find one that rents out on a fairly regular basis. As georgygirl says, read the reviews.
If the listing has a name for the property (for instance, our place is Villa Grand Piton), search the internet for that name and see if there are listings for it on other sites. If the owner’s phone number does not show on the listing, send an inquiry and the phone number may show up as soon as you do that. Call and talk to them, or give them your phone number and ask them to call you
Homeaway is messing around with the maps, so take a careful look at the property you are interested in, and be sure its map pin shows up in the neighborhood in which you want to stay. Or check with the owner.
Don’t wire funds to the owner - they may be legitimate, but that’s a frequent scam. Most owners will accept credit cards or other credit-card based payments (PayPal, etc), some take personal checks if you book far enough in advance.
You will most likely be required to sign a contract. They may ask you to snail-mail it back, scan or take a picture and email it back, or they might use DocuSign or another electronic signature site.
I was trying to be vague. That does refer to a cluster of what is known as the world series marathons which means: Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Tokyo, New York City.
Best tip for security of booking on Airbnb is to look for an established host with lots of reviews and make sure they are a SuperHost (if you want security from cancellation). If they cancel on you they will lose their SuperHost status so will likely avoid cancellation at all costs unless it is a true emergency (like the house is truly uninhabitable).
We found another place to stay, but it’s a bit of a hike and also costs quite a bit more. Airbnb started to help us with the situation, but after getting refund they said they had closed the case and could only issue a $10 coupon. Dad didn’t want to try to get 6 people in a shared hotel room (with only single king size left) and the hotel’s say max capacity is 4. (I only spoke to one hotel, but I’m certain they are all packed!) So we found this guy’s place who I guess he has a 3 bedroom apartment, he lives in 1 and rents out the other two plus the shared space of the kitchen and living room. He let us rent out both rooms, use couch, and an inflatable mattress, so I guess that will work. I don’t know if the headcount will be 4, 5, or 6, but had to plan for 6.
I am glad you found alternative accommodation, and I am sorry that you had to put up with being cancelled. I am sorry about your mother as well.
I wish you all the best in the Boston Marathon. For many Bostonians (regardless of their running ability), the marathon is a very special event and such a magical time in our city. I genuinely hope you and your family enjoy your time in my native and most loved city.
$10 is a complete joke. I was offered a $40 voucher for a canceled unit that was only $120/night (booked for 2 nights). I have no idea how AirBNB can be so unreasonably “pro-guest” in some regards and then completely drop the ball in cases like this. I would not never want to book through AIR again if I were a first time user dealing with this.
Keep in mind that reading this forum gives you a very small sample of “self-selected” and highly biased accounts. It’s not a random sample of hosts and guests. The guests say they favor the hosts, the hosts say they favor the guests. We don’t really know what airbnb does. What we do know is that aggrieved people seek out a way to vent, get revenge, get their way and so on. Happy people don’t go out of their way to tell the world their story.
@AnneRunner5. You should be in Boston today… picking up your bib. Our current guest told us that this trip was a graduation gift, but it turns out that he is running on Monday! Nice young man. Didn’t occur to me that a runner would stay in our city, even though it is only about 1.5 miles from the bus pick up spot.
