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I'm never using AirBnb again! Think you have a booking? Guess again. (1 Viewer)

northern exposure

Footballguy
My wife, sons and I planned a trip to Hawaii in March 2020. Due to COVID everything was canceled.
We re-booked our trip for 2022-2023 with a departure date of December 30th. Our accommodations were a condo through Airbnb that we booked in August. Early last week (December 20th) our host verified our flight information, etc. via email.
Our friends had similar plans with a departure on December 23rd. Due to bad weather in the Seattle area their flights, and plans as a result, were canceled.
We checked our email to see if there was any information about our flights. Instead we saw a December 23rd email from our Airbnb host saying he could no longer accommodate our stay and he had requested a refund of our money. We panicked. One week before our departure and our accommodations are canceled? All the email replies we sent to the host have not received a response.

Now we are scrambling to find a place to stay. I'm reminded of the Seinfeld episode about the rental car. Airbnb knows how to take reservations, but actually honoring them.....

I know these are first world problems and people are dealing with far worse situations. But, this is annoying me at the moment.
 
Did you call AirBnB? Their terms of service require they provide you similar accommodations if a host cancels like that.

But yeah, I’m done with Airbnb. When it was just people using it to rent out their vacation homes instead of using a rental agency, or people renting out spare bedrooms etc, it was great.

But when real estate investors started buying up housing all over the place like they’re @krista4 or something and then tossing them up on Airbnb with all sorts of hidden fees and ridiculous undisclosed “cleaning” requirements (always fun to pay a $250 cleaning fee and then be asked to take out the trash, put all the linens in the laundry, run the dishwasher, sweep the floors, etc), it all became not worth it anymore IMO. Plus, it’s totally screwed the locals in vacation destinations as there is so little available housing now.
 
Now we are scrambling to find a place to stay.
Seriously, don't they have a guarantee to help you get a new place?
We contacted AirBnb directly after numerous attempts to get an answer from the host. Nothing so far.

Reach out to them on social media. A public Facebook/Twitter post tagging them almost always gets a faster response these days than phone or email.

Something like “Days before our vacation and suddenly nowhere to stay after our @Airbnb host cancelled our reservation with no explanation and no response, and we can’t even get a response from @Airbnb. How common is this experience for everyone else? #Airbnb #cancelledreservation #vacationruined”
 
But yeah, I’m done with Airbnb. When it was just people using it to rent out their vacation homes instead of using a rental agency, or people renting out spare bedrooms etc, it was great.

But when real estate investors started buying up housing all over the place like they’re @krista4 or something and then tossing them up on Airbnb with all sorts of hidden fees and ridiculous undisclosed “cleaning” requirements (always fun to pay a $250 cleaning fee and then be asked to take out the trash, put all the linens in the laundry, run the dishwasher, sweep the floors, etc), it all became not worth it anymore IMO. Plus, it’s totally screwed the locals in vacation destinations as there is so little available housing now.
Yeah, these impacts of AirBnB on the housing market haven't been great. I have never had any issues with them though. Really prefer hotels but AirBnb is usually better than splitting a hotel room with a buddy.
 
We stopped using them for something similar. They sent a "refund" email but never sent money. I had to put in a dispute with my credit card company. After 2 months finally got the refund cleared
 
I’ve never had any issues with airbnb but this is going to be very dependent on the owners. Have to look at reviews and choose carefully.

I’ve also heard that fees have gotten ridiculous recently.
The owner that canceled had very good reviews. We had been in contact since August and it was always a positive experience. His last correspondence was December 20th and then we got the "punch in the gut" email on December 23rd.
 
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I would expect a major make good by ABNB. This time of year and in Hawaii is going to be a tall order to fill though.
 
I’ve never had any issues with airbnb but this is going to be very dependent on the owners. Have to look at reviews and choose carefully.

I’ve also heard that fees have gotten ridiculous recently.
The first owner that canceled had very good reviews. We had been in contact since August and it was always a positive experience. His last correspondence was December 20th and then we got the "punch in the gut" email on December 23rd.
Make sure you leave a bad review on their page. Anyone else looking to book that property should know that they'll cancel last minute without notice.
 
I would expect a major make good by ABNB. This time of year and in Hawaii is going to be a tall order to fill though.
My wife thinks she has found another place. Not quite as nice, slightly more expensive. But, we are desperate with December 30th fast approaching. Hopefully AirBnb steps up with some type of compensation.
 
I would expect a major make good by ABNB. This time of year and in Hawaii is going to be a tall order to fill though.
My wife thinks she has found another place. Not quite as nice, slightly more expensive. But, we are desperate with December 30th fast approaching. Hopefully AirBnb steps up with some type of compensation.
That‘s good news. I’m pretty certain if the house is canceled like this with this timeline they are supposed to find you a replacement that is equal or better.

Don’t take **** from them and I hope it all works out. Hawaii will treat you right once you get there!
 
I’ve never had any issues with airbnb but this is going to be very dependent on the owners. Have to look at reviews and choose carefully.

I’ve also heard that fees have gotten ridiculous recently.
The first owner that canceled had very good reviews. We had been in contact since August and it was always a positive experience. His last correspondence was December 20th and then we got the "punch in the gut" email on December 23rd.
Make sure you leave a bad review on their page. Anyone else looking to book that property should know that they'll cancel last minute without notice.

It's extremely unlikely the host canceled just because they wanted to. Airbnb punishes hosts massively if they cancel without cause. They fine them in actual dollars (which they use to help rebook the guest) and more importantly on the host side they punish the host massively in the search results, such that it's unlikely the host will be able to get many more guests as no one will be able to find them.

There are really only 2 main reasons a booking ever gets canceled on the host's end. The less frequent of those is that the host sells their property and the new owner doesn't want to take their guests on. I do realize that does suck when that happens but unfortunately not much can be done about that (other than Airbnb re-booking you, which they will do), though that's probably less likely now as not as many people are selling to cash out as they were during the boom.

By far the most common reason is that something happened to the home. Because, after all, these are still homes, and **** happens to homes and this isn't a Hilton with 800 rooms on site and 15 maintenance people under contract for 4 bucks an hour.

I've only ever had to cancel on guests once, when we had a foundation issue that caused the finished basement to flood. We had to cancel a month's worth of guests to repair it. Thankfully Airbnb was able to re-book them all and they were all understanding people that were super nice. Which was nice because I feel terrible (it literally keeps me up at night) when someone's vacation is made worse by booking with me even if it was something out of my control, and selifishly I was already not feeling great after getting notified of a pending $40,000 repair bill alongside $10k in revenue lost to the cancelations. It was a rough month.

Frankly I think covid was the worst thing to ever happen to Airbnb because it brought too many hotel travelers, with hotel expectations into the industry. They want a 6br house for $300/nt ($50 per couple!) with a kitchen and a game room and a heated pool and get pissy when they have to put that dish (that they don't even get at a hotel) into the sink.

I'm not really sure where things are going to head now with Airbnb being a public company that has to continue to show growth for shareholders, but a large segment of new users coming in are a bad fit for Airbnb. It's a decent fit if you want...

A really cheap place that is a room in someone's home, IE crashing on the couch like the original intent of Airbnb

or

A vacation rental for multiple families or with a private pool, etc that you wouldn't get at a hotel.


It's not really a good substitute if you're looking to replace a hotel with a nice 1br place that gives you more than a hotel and at a cheaper price than a hotel and with service similar to a hotel. Homeowners and even moderately sized management companies just can't compete with hotels on reducing costs through scale and it's frankly kind of crazy to me that there are people that expect them to be able to.
 
I mean these are mostly regular people renting their places out. As such, there’s going to be a certain amount of risk involved. Maybe a water main burst under their house or maybe they had a fire or maybe the last people to rent it trashed the place. All kinds of reasons they might have to cancel.

It’s a risk that comes with this type of booking. The best you can do is go for the best reviewed places and if the risk is still too high, book a hotel.
 
I’ve never had any issues with airbnb but this is going to be very dependent on the owners. Have to look at reviews and choose carefully.

I’ve also heard that fees have gotten ridiculous recently.
The first owner that canceled had very good reviews. We had been in contact since August and it was always a positive experience. His last correspondence was December 20th and then we got the "punch in the gut" email on December 23rd.
Make sure you leave a bad review on their page. Anyone else looking to book that property should know that they'll cancel last minute without notice.

It's extremely unlikely the host canceled just because they wanted to. Airbnb punishes hosts massively if they cancel without cause. They fine them in actual dollars (which they use to help rebook the guest) and more importantly on the host side they punish the host massively in the search results, such that it's unlikely the host will be able to get many more guests as no one will be able to find them.

There are really only 2 main reasons a booking ever gets canceled on the host's end. The less frequent of those is that the host sells their property and the new owner doesn't want to take their guests on. I do realize that does suck when that happens but unfortunately not much can be done about that (other than Airbnb re-booking you, which they will do), though that's probably less likely now as not as many people are selling to cash out as they were during the boom.

By far the most common reason is that something happened to the home. Because, after all, these are still homes, and **** happens to homes and this isn't a Hilton with 800 rooms on site and 15 maintenance people under contract for 4 bucks an hour.

I've only ever had to cancel on guests once, when we had a foundation issue that caused the finished basement to flood. We had to cancel a month's worth of guests to repair it. Thankfully Airbnb was able to re-book them all and they were all understanding people that were super nice. Which was nice because I feel terrible (it literally keeps me up at night) when someone's vacation is made worse by booking with me even if it was something out of my control, and selifishly I was already not feeling great after getting notified of a pending $40,000 repair bill alongside $10k in revenue lost to the cancelations. It was a rough month.

Frankly I think covid was the worst thing to ever happen to Airbnb because it brought too many hotel travelers, with hotel expectations into the industry. They want a 6br house for $300/nt ($50 per couple!) with a kitchen and a game room and a heated pool and get pissy when they have to put that dish (that they don't even get at a hotel) into the sink.

I'm not really sure where things are going to head now with Airbnb being a public company that has to continue to show growth for shareholders, but a large segment of new users coming in are a bad fit for Airbnb. It's a decent fit if you want...

A really cheap place that is a room in someone's home, IE crashing on the couch like the original intent of Airbnb

or

A vacation rental for multiple families or with a private pool, etc that you wouldn't get at a hotel.


It's not really a good substitute if you're looking to replace a hotel with a nice 1br place that gives you more than a hotel and at a cheaper price than a hotel and with service similar to a hotel. Homeowners and even moderately sized management companies just can't compete with hotels on reducing costs through scale and it's frankly kind of crazy to me that there are people that expect them to be able to.
I understand you are bringing the host's perspective to the discussion. But,if the reason for the cancelation was one of the two you suggested, shouldn't the host reply to our numerous emails with an explanation?
The cancelation seems to be for a reason other than you provided. We asked if something happened to the property, etc. But didn't receive a reply.
We are also talking about a condo tower complex with multiple units, not a person's home.
I don't think the other parts of your email pertain to our situation either. But, as I said, it does bring the AirBnb host's perspective to the general AirBnb discussion.
As I stated earlier, we have used the service numerous times before without incident. This latest experience has left a bitter taste in my mouth.
 
What does it matter what the reason was? They owe you the refund regardless. They’re out the rental fee so it’s not like this is a situation they wanted to have happen.
 
I’ve never had any issues with airbnb but this is going to be very dependent on the owners. Have to look at reviews and choose carefully.

I’ve also heard that fees have gotten ridiculous recently.
The first owner that canceled had very good reviews. We had been in contact since August and it was always a positive experience. His last correspondence was December 20th and then we got the "punch in the gut" email on December 23rd.
Make sure you leave a bad review on their page. Anyone else looking to book that property should know that they'll cancel last minute without notice.

It's extremely unlikely the host canceled just because they wanted to. Airbnb punishes hosts massively if they cancel without cause. They fine them in actual dollars (which they use to help rebook the guest) and more importantly on the host side they punish the host massively in the search results, such that it's unlikely the host will be able to get many more guests as no one will be able to find them.

There are really only 2 main reasons a booking ever gets canceled on the host's end. The less frequent of those is that the host sells their property and the new owner doesn't want to take their guests on. I do realize that does suck when that happens but unfortunately not much can be done about that (other than Airbnb re-booking you, which they will do), though that's probably less likely now as not as many people are selling to cash out as they were during the boom.

By far the most common reason is that something happened to the home. Because, after all, these are still homes, and **** happens to homes and this isn't a Hilton with 800 rooms on site and 15 maintenance people under contract for 4 bucks an hour.

I've only ever had to cancel on guests once, when we had a foundation issue that caused the finished basement to flood. We had to cancel a month's worth of guests to repair it. Thankfully Airbnb was able to re-book them all and they were all understanding people that were super nice. Which was nice because I feel terrible (it literally keeps me up at night) when someone's vacation is made worse by booking with me even if it was something out of my control, and selifishly I was already not feeling great after getting notified of a pending $40,000 repair bill alongside $10k in revenue lost to the cancelations. It was a rough month.

Frankly I think covid was the worst thing to ever happen to Airbnb because it brought too many hotel travelers, with hotel expectations into the industry. They want a 6br house for $300/nt ($50 per couple!) with a kitchen and a game room and a heated pool and get pissy when they have to put that dish (that they don't even get at a hotel) into the sink.

I'm not really sure where things are going to head now with Airbnb being a public company that has to continue to show growth for shareholders, but a large segment of new users coming in are a bad fit for Airbnb. It's a decent fit if you want...

A really cheap place that is a room in someone's home, IE crashing on the couch like the original intent of Airbnb

or

A vacation rental for multiple families or with a private pool, etc that you wouldn't get at a hotel.


It's not really a good substitute if you're looking to replace a hotel with a nice 1br place that gives you more than a hotel and at a cheaper price than a hotel and with service similar to a hotel. Homeowners and even moderately sized management companies just can't compete with hotels on reducing costs through scale and it's frankly kind of crazy to me that there are people that expect them to be able to.
I understand you are bringing the host's perspective to the discussion. But,if the reason for the cancelation was one of the two you suggested, shouldn't the host reply to our numerous emails with an explanation?
The cancelation seems to be for a reason other than you provided. We asked if something happened to the property, etc. But didn't receive a reply.
We are also talking about a condo tower complex with multiple units, not a person's home.
I don't think the other parts of your email pertain to our situation either. But, as I said, it does bring the AirBnb host's perspective to the general AirBnb discussion.
As I stated earlier, we have used the service numerous times before without incident. This latest experience has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I actually have a lot more experience with Airbnb as a guest than a host. And as a guest with VRBO or direct from management sites back before Airbnb even existed. That's part of the reason we ended up buying a couple of vacation homes and put them on there, because we've used it so many times as guests with mostly great experiences.

You're right that a lot of my post wasn't directed at you or your situation specifically, but some of it more pertained to some of the other comments made in the thread from other people when it kind of turned into a "pile on why Airbnb sucks" thread.

You're also right that the host SHOULD be transparent with you and still be communicating, and you're within reasonable expectations to expect them to do as much. So that part is definitely a bummer that they've just ghosted you. That does suck.

Even if it's in a condo complex that's still very different than a hotel because if the owner just owns the 1 condo, he can't just move you to some other vacant condo that he doesn't own like a Hilton can. Airbnb CAN do that (assuming there are other condos in the building on Airbnb) and hopefully they will. It sucks that their support isn't replying faster, I think they've had trouble scaling up as the company grew so fast over the past 18 months as I've definitely noticed a decrease in quality/rapidness of support.

I hope it ends up working out for you. Like I said as a guest I love using Airbnb for multi-family type trips or for private amenities like private pools, etc, but I don't think it necessarily makes for a great fit for a single family vacation in lieu of a hotel room unless you really need the kitchen or want the kiddos in a separate room and don't want to pay for 2 hotel rooms. I guess in Hawaii in particular getting two hotel rooms could get pretty expensive.
 
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There was AirBnb, when people made a little extra scratch with their place, and clients got a good deal on an unusual spot, maybe in areas that didn't have hotels. That was a few years ago.

Now there is AirBnb, where you get charged obscene cleaning fees, and the owners treat the guests like criminals.

Not interested in searching for good owners, reading a dozen reviews, and on and on. It was a really cool idea, that was really cool for a short time.
 
Always choose "Superhost" when using ABB. These are the owners that do it full time and I've never had an issue with one. I was one when we ran 3 of them re-pandemic.
 
What does it matter what the reason was? They owe you the refund regardless. They’re out the rental fee so it’s not like this is a situation they wanted to have happen.

Calling ABB corporate should get you the full refund in a situation like this. Tell them that owner was non -responsive. ABB doesn't like owners like this and could possibly drop them
 
I would expect a major make good by ABNB. This time of year and in Hawaii is going to be a tall order to fill though.
My wife thinks she has found another place. Not quite as nice, slightly more expensive. But, we are desperate with December 30th fast approaching. Hopefully AirBnb steps up with some type of compensation.
That‘s good news. I’m pretty certain if the house is canceled like this with this timeline they are supposed to find you a replacement that is equal or better.

Don’t take **** from them and I hope it all works out. Hawaii will treat you right once you get there!
They will try to find one that is about equally priced, that’s about it. If they can’t they’ll simply refund the money and that’s that.
 
Second to reach out to them via social media. Always a much better experience with major companies anymore. Don't have to deal with getting transferred person to person, having to worry about being able to understand the agent, etc....

Rough spot to be in with Hawaii this time of year. I'd expect them to make good here.
 
I would expect a major make good by ABNB. This time of year and in Hawaii is going to be a tall order to fill though.
My wife thinks she has found another place. Not quite as nice, slightly more expensive. But, we are desperate with December 30th fast approaching. Hopefully AirBnb steps up with some type of compensation.

So are you using AirBNB again or not? Sounds like your wife's booked another place.
 
I would expect a major make good by ABNB. This time of year and in Hawaii is going to be a tall order to fill though.
My wife thinks she has found another place. Not quite as nice, slightly more expensive. But, we are desperate with December 30th fast approaching. Hopefully AirBnb steps up with some type of compensation.

So are you using AirBNB again or not? Sounds like your wife's booked another place.
We only had 7 days prior to our arrival date to find a place, so desperation set in. We looked at hotels, etc. and vacancy was an issue. So, I think my wife may have booked with VRBO, I'm not 100% sure though.
 
What does it matter what the reason was? They owe you the refund regardless. They’re out the rental fee so it’s not like this is a situation they wanted to have happen.
It doesn't really. But, freebagel was stating the two most common reasons for hosts to cancel a reservation and this doesn't appear to be either case. So, I was responding to his post.
 
I would expect a major make good by ABNB. This time of year and in Hawaii is going to be a tall order to fill though.
My wife thinks she has found another place. Not quite as nice, slightly more expensive. But, we are desperate with December 30th fast approaching. Hopefully AirBnb steps up with some type of compensation.

So are you using AirBNB again or not? Sounds like your wife's booked another place.
We only had 7 days prior to our arrival date to find a place, so desperation set in. We looked at hotels, etc. and vacancy was an issue. So, I think my wife may have booked with VRBO, I'm not 100% sure though.
Just fwiw, if something goes wrong with VRBO you actually have even less recourse than with Airbnb. With Airbnb you contract directly with Airbnb. With VRBO your contract is with the owner. If something goes wrong with your VRBO, you have to fight it out with the owner.
 
I've limited experiences with AirBnb to those with a boatload of reviews and a host that has stuck around awhile (all of which have eventually become a Superhost). Haven't had a bad experience yet. I like staying in a house as opposed to a hotel because we can buy and cook our own food, save a shiatload of money over hotels, and have a lot more space to move around. The hosts are the key, though. One place we rent from the mayor of a small town. Another had power that inexplicably kept going out and we got flashlights, lanterns, and champagne from the hosts for the "hardship". Some hosts are just good people. Look for them.
 
I would expect a major make good by ABNB. This time of year and in Hawaii is going to be a tall order to fill though.
My wife thinks she has found another place. Not quite as nice, slightly more expensive. But, we are desperate with December 30th fast approaching. Hopefully AirBnb steps up with some type of compensation.

So are you using AirBNB again or not? Sounds like your wife's booked another place.
We only had 7 days prior to our arrival date to find a place, so desperation set in. We looked at hotels, etc. and vacancy was an issue. So, I think my wife may have booked with VRBO, I'm not 100% sure though.
Just fwiw, if something goes wrong with VRBO you actually have even less recourse than with Airbnb. With Airbnb you contract directly with Airbnb. With VRBO your contract is with the owner. If something goes wrong with your VRBO, you have to fight it out with the owner.
Thanks I appreciate the heads up. At this point we're just keeping our fingers crossed that this one works out. If not, we may be searching for refrigerator boxes as someone suggested earlier in the thread.
 
I guess my wife was unable to find accommodations anywhere other than Airbnb on such short notice. So she booked with another host. The place isn't as nice and we are paying about $700 more for the week. I spoke with Airbnb support. I explained the situation to the first person I spoke to and after placing me on hold, he apologized and offered me a $20 credit. I asked to speak to a Manager. She listened to my tale and again after putting me on hold, offered me a $200 credit which could be used towards our next booking.
I explained if this was our only compensation, I would never be booking with Airbnb again. I told her I intended to share my negative Airbnb experience throughout social media, on message boards, etc.
She listened carefully and said the $200 credit was the maximum she could offer. She said she would escalate my situation to another department and they would be in touch within 24 hours.
 
I'm sorry they canceled your room there.

FWIW, I've had nothing but super positive experiences with AirBnB.

But I think I also see it more like a connection service putting me in touch with the person with the room. I see them less as a hotel and more of a matchmaker.

I know you're not asking for advice but if it were me, I'd move on from this. Take the money AirBnB offers and drop it and move on and put 100% of your energy into the fun and positives of having a great vacation. Hawaii is super expensive already (daughter lived in Maui for 5 years). You (and I bet everyone else) will be tons happier if you spend all your time having fun vs sweating how you can make sure you do all you can to ruin a company's reputation. Mahalo.

And of course, feel completely free to ignore.
 
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