I couldn’t believe that the cottage I booked on Airbnb had been booked six days earlier after I paid via PayPal on January 6th. The host messaged me after my itinerary was confirmed to tell me. She said that I could not stay in her accommodation even though I had paid and my booking was confirmed. She told me that January 8th had been booked out via booking.com on New Year’s Eve. This must be a new year’s resolution joke. You can’t place your accommodation on different websites like this. You are managing your booking details yourself. You should’ve had sufficient time to indicate “the property is unavailable ” on your Airbnb bookings. There were six days between New Year’s Eve and January 6th. You messed up your bookings and you should take responsibility. You can’t walk away after having taken money. That is called ripping people off. I have also attached my booking files to support my true personal experience with this Airbnb host and the website. I am sure that both the host and Airbnb are to blame. Both of the parties have faults. Now I am stuck.
A similar thing happened to me but I had booked 11 MONTHS in advance through booking.com and then I get an email from host (not a phone call mind you – lucky I was checking my emails) the DAY BEFORE arrival telling me that they had double booked. Obviously the other party was paying more for the house. We had 12 hours to find accommodation for 8 people in peak holiday season in a Croatian resort town. Booking.com were completely hopeless to reprimand this host and they still advertise on the site to this day. Will never use booking.com again. Oh and before that I had previously tried to book this same house through airbnb, paid the full amount and then the host contacts me a week or so later that the rate was wrong and I needed to pay another 30% more. I said no, got a refund eventually and then rebooked same place through booking.com for the same period at the original cheaper price, but as I already mentioned, got screwed over by them again. Ironically, their house name translated means ‘my peace’ – lol – No peace for the potential guests though haha
Hosts are permitted to list on multiple booking platforms. However, they are supposed to keep their calendars up to date. Fortunately Airbnb have a very strict policy regarding Host Cancelations. Airbnb offer you a choice between a full refund or a credit and will also offer you extra credit as compensation. The Host will get many penalties. See Airbnb.com/help/article/990 However, you may get your Airbnb Account terminated because you have revealed the Hosts personal details here – their full address and phone number.
You’re entitled to a full refund and the host’s rating will go down. Still a dreadful experience but welcome to the reality of flaky hosts!