Tag Archives: airbnb reservation cancelled

Reservation Cancellation Costs Airbnb Guests $800

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I made a reservation with Airbnb for a two-bedroom unit in St. Pete Beach, Florida, for February 13th through the 19th. Initially, there was some confusion as the host indicated that the unit had already been rented. Resolution services at Airbnb contacted the host and then indicated to me that everything was good to go. This all happened around December 20th, 2019.

Yesterday, January 29th, I received an email form the host saying that the two-bedroom unit wasn’t available; would I take a room with two queen beds instead? This came out of nowhere. The reason I didn’t accept this offer is because I reserved a two-bedroom unit and because one of those bedrooms would be for a six-year-old who is hyperactive. Obviously anyone can understand why I wanted two bedrooms.

Anyway, I contacted Airbnb about this email from the host and after being on hold for half an hour, was told that a resolution specialist was not available right then and someone would call me back ASAP. Two hours later, no phone call. As you can imagine, my frustration was building; my trip was two weeks out and all of this was going on.

I called Airbnb again, and after speaking with someone in customer service, who obviously needed a lot more training, was finally able to speak with someone in resolution services. She indicated that she would contact the host and find out what was going on. I received a message from her later that the host wasn’t available and that she was leaving the office.

I called Airbnb again and once again spoke with someone in resolution services, who kept assuring me not to worry about it and that she would contact the host and get back to me. Again, I got a message that she was leaving the office for the day and hadn’t been able to reach the host. In the meantime, I got a email from the host saying I had ten minutes to decide if I wanted the room with two beds or she would cancel.

Just as I was calling again, I got an email from Airbnb saying the reservation had been cancelled and that my money would be refunded within 5 to 15 days. I did speak with someone in resolution services who did confirm that the reservation had been cancelled, but couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me why.

So here I am, two weeks before my vacation with granddaughter and great-grandson, who are flying in from Connecticut, while I am flying in from Wisconsin, and now we have no place to stay. The person with resolution services did send me several listing they had in the area, all quite a bit more that I was originally planing on spending.

I got on the phone and started calling resorts directly, Not surprisingly, everything was booked, and I mean every place I called. Finally, I found one place where we could get two rooms, which was not ideal but better than nothing.

The bottom line is that it’s going to cost me $800 more for the six days than I was going to pay through Airbnb. Refunding my money is one thing, but are they willing to pay me the extra $800 as well? I think not. I’m never going to use Airbnb again, and certainly won’t recommend them to anyone else.

We are not Alone in our Airbnb Complaints

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As I have read on numerous posts on your site, we are not alone. Airbnb is annoyingly uncooperative in providing a refund based on two reservations. However, in this post, I will only discuss the first one. A reservation was made in error. In order to correct the situation, I reached out to customer service and had the agent told me that we would lose the bulk of the deposit, I would have never agreed to cancel the reservation. The excuse, repeated again and again from the agent, to the case manager, to the supervisor, is that’s the policy and they can’t do anything to help, no exception, not even a goodwill gesture. Now, we’re out of pocket for more than $1000 CAN.

Mistranslation Concerning a Shared Room

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I offered a so-called “shared room” on the English Airbnb homepage and specified there that it was a “common area”. On the German homepage this was translated by Airbnb to a zimmer, which is actually a “room” in English. A customer misunderstood this; she thought that it was a room. This is understandable because the English homepage and the German homepage differ a lot.

The whole offer is differently (and wrongly) presented on the German homepage than it was originally written. On the English homepage it is possible to specify where the bed is located: in a bedroom or in a common area. This is in actual fact very important information and because it is not possible on the German homepage, Airbnb just changed my offer on the German homepage to a bed in a bedroom.

This was an indication for the customer that she would get a bedroom, which was not intended by me when I wrote my offer (only) on the English homepage, where it could be specified precisely. When the customer complained later, the German staff member of Airbnb decided that I had made a mistake. Airbnb cancelled the reservation early and charged me for the difference, which is against German Law.

Obviously the German staff member was also only looking at the German homepage with the translation error though I pointed out several times that Airbnb made the mistranslation. I am shocked that a company with such extensive experience should make such a fundamental error and blame me (and probably other hosts as well) for it.

Airbnb Booking was Reserved on Another Website

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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.

Nightmare Customer Service, Cancelled without Explanation

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I am honestly shocked at how terrible my experience with Airbnb was. It really seems like they just don’t care. I signed up for an account on a Friday afternoon and booked a $3900 one-month stay. Two hours later, Airbnb cancelled my booking with absolutely no explanation. Saturday I called customer service, and they couldn’t explain why they cancelled the reservation. They said the $3900 refund would take 10-15 business days to clear my credit card. The problem is, their “hold” on my funds created a situation where I couldn’t rebook the reservation, because it would have put my credit card over the limit. After a nightmare of five phone calls on Saturday, they finally agreed to ask the host to block out the dates, until my credit card refund hit the account and I could rebook. They also promised to waive the $200 service fee as an apology for the mistake. Luckily the host was very nice, and agreed to hold the property until I was able to rebook.

On Sunday the refund on my credit card cleared the account, so I tried to rebook the house on Airbnb. However, Airbnb was blocking my credit card payment for some reason. My credit card company said that it was fine on their end; this was an Airbnb problem. I literally spent all day Sunday calling Airbnb to resolve the situation. They never responded as promised, and would never let me speak to a supervisor. The customer service was totally horrendous. Then Airbnb asked me to “confirm” my credit card by uploading a copy of my most recent card statement.

Why am I having to do this? They already charged my card and refunded it; why the extra hassle now? I had already given them my name, address, phone, email, photo of my face, copies of my driver’s license, and all my credit card details. I need more crap to deal with now? I uploaded the card statement.

By late Sunday night they finally emailed and said “you can rebook now, and your credit card is approved.” Of course when I tried to rebook, Airbnb still had a hold on my credit card. Here we are four days later and I still can’t book the reservation. They are now asking me to upload a photo of my credit card itself, as well as other documentation that my credit card is associated to my email address. At this point I just gave up. Seriously Airbnb, you make it this hard to do business with you? The service was awful, the people were rude, and it is absolutely impossible to speak to a manager that can make anything happen. Stay away from Airbnb. This company obviously doesn’t care about service at all.

Host Cancelled my Long-Term Booking in Sri Lanka

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Last November I booked a long term stay in Sri Lanka. I wanted to stay for ten weeks in order to have some time to write, as well as to look at properties to buy as I hope to move there eventually. I found the perfect place, booked from June through mid-August, and all seemed well. The place had very good reviews and seemed perfect. Last January the host began emailing me: Why was I staying so long? He didn’t think it was a good idea; better to stay a week in different cities; he didn’t serve breakfast. All of this was in short, separate messages. He wanted me to cut my stay to a shorter one and he would refund my payment. I explained to him that I am a retiree and did not want to move around; I wanted to stay in one place, relax, write, and look for a property to buy. He sent about ten such messages. I did not hear back from him and assumed he had accepted.

Then, recently I decided that I would indeed prefer to go in July not June so went to let him know this. I found that my entire reservation had been deleted from Airbnb, as well as all messages and notifications from him. I looked at his reservation calendar, and I saw that the months I had booked are now mostly open again. I booked for two weeks in July, which at first were accepted. I then wrote him to ask why he had cancelled without letting me know, and what we were to do about the down payment I had made. At first he seemed confused; maybe he did not realise I was the same person. Then he declined the reservation, and wrote me to say I had not paid. I have searched the Airbnb site up and down and there is no way to contact them about this. Since the reservation itself is not there any more, I cannot complain. They only allow discussions on reservations that are on the site, but mine has been completely deleted. I need a contact email ASAP. I live in Germany so calling is a bit of a hassle. What can I do?