One of my best friends and I decided to take a trip to New York City. We thought it would be a great experience because I have never been before. I reserved an Airbnb over a month before our stay. Keep in m.,ind it was my first time using the platform because I was told it was a cheaper alternative. I even paid for an extra night for an earlier check in because we took a red eye and would be landing at JFK at 5:00 AM.
Just as I was about to contact the host to let him know we had landed at the airport and would be on our way, I received a message from him saying: “Hey, unfortunately the reservation had to be cancelled. The website will do everything on their end to help you with it. Appreciate it and I hope you will find a great place.”
So now there we were in New York City, having traveled across the country with no place to stay and no place to go. I received no real explanation from the host which I’m sure had just been copied and pasted from Airbnb with zero contact information. I spent over a grand on a place where the host could just cancel at any time and leave the guests stranded with nowhere to go.
I finally got a phone number from Airbnb Hell (which, by the way, is 100% correct). Customer service said I was issued a refund as soon as the host cancelled – which was a lie; my bank confirmed they had no incoming refunds. Basically Airbnb is a POS service, and here we are almost three hours later and still stuck at JFK trying to find a place to go. All in all, it was not a lovely first trip to NYC.
OP sorry this happened to you and that you couldn’t find the phone number which is on your booking confirmation. Unfortunately in places like New York there are many illegal listings and dodgy hosts. Personally I only book with long established hosts with great ratings who are superhosts.
Angela you are wrong. Airbnb is not banned in New York. Some listings are illegal. Not at all the same thing.
Also you are wrong again with the refund process.
In the OP’s situation. What would normally happen is that Airbnb would offer to help the OP find alternative Airbnb accommodation and the refund would be transferred to his immediately together with a 10% credit for the inconvenience.
Report Airbnb to BBB in San Francisco. Help to get rid of their inflated rating of A-plus. If we only complain to each other, nothing will get done. Let the world know about their antics.
95% or more of Airbnb’s listings in NYC are illegal and Airbnb knows this, yet they still allow listings and they still take their commissions.
Since the company is under intense pressure from investors to show a profit you might wait awhile for your refund
Obviously you’re not familiar with banking services nor with the fact that Airbnb has been banned in New York…… Expecting a company to issue a refund in 3 hours and have a bank process the amount instantly – really, do you still believe in fairy tales?