We booked a two-bedroom apartment in London two months prior for some relatives arriving from Japan. The night before – 11:00 PM – I received a cancellation notice. However, the apartment was still listed as available for those dates but at a price 50% higher than that which I had booked. Disgusted, I contacted Airbnb who “kindly” offered alternatives (all of which were of much poorer quality given the timeframe) and a paltry £25 credit toward the cost. Booking anything comparable was going to cost me £200 or more at that stage.
Airbnb policy does not allow customers to post reviews if a reservation is cancelled the day before, even though in my case there was only 14 hours before check in. The host clearly does this regularly as some prior reviews alluded to. However, Airbnb wont take any action against the host to enforce the contract or prevent similar occurrences. I’m appalled by their apathy and refusal to see it for what it is: greedy and unethical behaviour. We won’t ever use Airbnb again after this experience.
Strange…… because when a host cancels, the dates concerned are automatically blocked and there is an instant ” host cancelled within x days ” message. Always an indication of a host’s reliability and a red flag for potential guests.
“The host clearly does this regularly as some prior reviews alluded to” Why did you book then?
Third party bookings violate the Airbnb Terms of Service. You host could have turned your relatives away when she saw that the person who booked the reservation was not among the guests.