We booked a house for my sisters wedding over ten weeks in advance, and paid upfront. However, the host decided to cancel our booking nine days before we arrived, for the following reason: their current guests had a house move which has fallen through leaving them homeless. It sounds very reasonable and completely understandable. If I had known in advance, I would not have booked this accommodation and taken that risk.
We looked very carefully and picked this property based on location and on our criteria. The hosts basically gambled to keep booking their property whilst knowing that house move dates are generally not the most reliable. Their reasoning must have been that they could just cancel any bookings if the house move didn’t move forward.
They have caused us a very large amount of stress and won’t admit that they should have told us of the situation in advance, or not taken any bookings until they had a property that actually was available. There’s nowhere to complain as Airbnb just submits the complaint for you saying that it was cancelled. In the meantime, other guests don’t know that these hosts don’t actually care enough about their guests to share relevant information.
@Tara
Your experience may not equate to that of others. Our guest lied to Airbnb and then brought a criminal charge of defamation against me. That cost me a fortune because I chose to retain the best barristers, including as junior one who had beat him in a 5-day trial where he tried to steal the property of a former deceased landlady. The litigation probably cost me £20,000 but I sold the property in the meantime and wrote it off. I do not use Airbnb for my other properties. They simply don’t care if the other side presents a credible, though made-up, defence.
That is not true. Airbnb are very easy to contact and you can ring them or email the resolution centre. As a host myself I personally know that 9 times out of 10 they side with the guest. If the host cancelled you would have been entitled to your full money back. Unfortunately hotels also cancel bookings occasionally due to circumstances outside of control. Not too sure why you couldn’t contact Airbnb. Even google has there direct line.