A friend’s son is staying in an Airbnb in Sao Paulo. He felt unsafe in the Airbnb, due to, bloodstain on sidewalk outside the Airbnb, person on the street outside the Airbnb, lunges at him screaming at him, totally unprovoked. Big dog outside freaking out and barking at the guest. He can hear screaming every few minutes from within the Airbnb. He is super freaked out, and scared to go out and return to the Airbnb after supper, which would be around 10 pm. He contacted the host and host would not refund him due to guest feeling unsafe, states that he cannot control the area. Guest gets an automated message from Airbnb askiing if he felt unsafe and upgraded him to a hotel for 3 nights at $350 per night and then another Airbnb up to double the cost of the unsafe one. Is the host that would not refund him on the hook for the upgrade or is Airnb on the hook for the cost of the upgrades. I am thinking the host is on the hook, not Airbnb. I am trying to explain this to my friend, just want to get the facts straight as to who will be paying for the upgrade?
Only Airbnb would know that. I would think whether it will come out of the host’s payouts or Airbnb is covering it is not some standard action, but dependent on the situation. And Airbnb is not going to disclose any of that to users.
Has your friend’s son had to pay for new accommodation out of his pocket, being told he’ll be reimbursed?
If not, and Airbnb arranged all this without him having to pay himself, why would your friend care who is footing the bill?
My friends son will not be out of pocket. It is me who is wondering who is footing the bill. I get the sense that Airbnb is usually pro guest, and not pro host.
Based on thousands of guest and host posts I have read on various forums over the years, it would be incorrect to characterize Airbnb as either pro-guest or pro-host. The only consistency is inconsistency. Guests who’ve not received appropriate support say “Airbnb always takes the host’s side.” Hosts say they always take the guest’s side.
How cases are resolved (or unresolved) seems to have a lot to do with the support agents who handle cases, how the user presents their case, etc., etc.
And “corporate” hosts with hundreds or thousands of listings, who bring in tons of service fees for Airbnb, seem to get away with things the average host would get suspended or delisted for.
From my own experiences, I have had both frustrating, unhelpful support interaction with incompetent, uncomprehending reps and also very knowledgeable reps who totally helped out.
Seems to be luck of the draw.
Bottom line is that Airbnb is Airbnb-centric, i.e. they do what they perceive as beneficial to Airbnb, rather than being either guest or host centric. That’s my take, anyway.
Muddy, thanks for that.
Susan
I’m assuming it would be at the host’s expense especially if the host indicated on the listing that it’s a safe neighborhood. I’m also assuming that there have been reviews indicating that the neighborhood is not safe. I don’t think Airbnb wants the negative publicity, God forbid if you friend’s son would sustain an inquiry from an attack right outside the building. If there are enough complaints about the safety of the neighborhood, the listing will most likely be deactivated by Airbnb.