We were due to fly to Florida from the UK on March 23rd. We’d heard nothing from the host and she didn’t respond to messages or a phone call. We reported it to Airbnb and they cancelled our reservation 14 hours before we were due to leave for Florida because the host had problems with payouts.
We were told we could have compensation of £221. Because the agent took two hours to get back to us, we lost the next 18-day reservation and could only book ten days. He took our £221 away because the price was less than the original booking, but we still needed somewhere for the first eight nights.
He told us that we couldn’t have the £221 off the next booking. I complained and he gave us a £100 voucher. Again, because he took so long, we lost that booking and the £100 voucher. By this time, with only five hours to go and having been up until 3:00 AM, I couldn’t take it anymore. We just booked a hotel through another company. Please refer to my messages as proof of what a complete and utter nightmare we have been through by using Airbnb.
Use common sense: Airbnb is a rental platform not a travel agent. You mostly rent from non-professionals that have a wide spectrum of cleanliness and hospitality standards. If you want to play safe – and with a family you should – then stay in an apart hotel.
Sorry to hear about your predicament; that’s pretty bad. Doesn’t sound like you’ll get much relief from Airbnb; they’ve got everything figured out in their favor. I’ve only used Airbnb once for four nights and heard about these horror stories before I booked. Fortunately, my host and room were fine but I’ll probably never use Airbnb again.