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They say that they will keep 50% of the entire amount you pay for a unit if cancelled within 1 week of that stay but the host refused to refund the entire amount when reservation was cancelled more than 3 weeks before arrival date. Do not deal with this sleazy company.
Since it's not up to the host to refund money, but up to Airbnb themselves, either you misread the refund policy (hosts can pick different refund policies, but each listing has the relevant policy listed on their main page), you haven't even actually contacted Airbnb support about your problem (which you should do - they're a little slow but very helpful) or you're just flat out lying.
I recently booked a holiday house in Bali, Indonesia. The owner would take bookings only for periods of a full month and to secure the booking I had to pay a full month's rent through the Airbnb booking system. Airbnb have a "Long Term Cancellation Policy" which says:
"Long Term: First month down payment, 30 day notice for lease termination
Note: The Long Term cancellation policy applies to all reservations of
28 nights or more."
I did not think this unreasonable and booked. Unfortunately 40 days before my holiday was to start a new project came in and I had to cancel on-line through Airbnb. After I had not received a refund I contacted Airbnb and was told "If the guest books a long term stay and decides to cancel the long term agreement before the start date, the first payment is paid to the host in full."
What the...? Sure enough this is one of the conditions of Long Term Cancellation, however you only find this advice at the bottom of the webpage - similar to "the fine print" in my opinion.
I contacted Airbnb for an explanation: "Why have a cancellation policy at all if the person can lose their entire fee anyway? (I might just as well have kept the booking and simply not turned up)".
Airbnb's customer support were responsive to a degree - "I have also discussed the wording of the cancellation policy with my managers, as I can see where the wording is confusing to our guests" - but it was ultimately left to the owner to decide whether to refund any money.
It is clearly an unfair cancellation policy. You have to ask why a cancellation policy as onerous as this one has to be tucked away at the bottom of the webpage instead of being up front along with the other bullet points for the cancellation policy. And I also found that if the owner re-books to someone else during the cancelled period there is no obligation on them to refund any of the forfeited booking. They can effectively collect double rent.
The unfair policy does not favour Airbnb - only the rental owner benefits - but it certainly leaves a feeling of caution and distrust about the whole Airbnb company with the customer. Why not have a non-refundable deposit that is somewhat less than a full 28 days rent?
Totally agree. Sleazy for a California company. Shame on you.
Airbnb customer service are trained like robots, default protocol is always to suck the guest's money. Read my case 'airbnb - the online platform for cheating host".
VERY BAD SITE, JUNKY FAMILY WITH HOSTEL IN MANHATTAN BEACH ! VERY BAD ! (HE COMES IN THE APT TO TALK TO YOU, AND SAY HE WAS IN JAIL AND HE WAS ARESTED FOR DRUGS "WHILE DOING THE CRACK DANCE" EXPLAINING HE NEVER DOES DRUGS !
THE NEXT HOSTEL WAS REJECTING A BOOKING RIGHT AT DATE AND TIME OF ARRIVAL (FRIENDS OF THEM)
AND
THE NEXT HOSTEL WAS REJECTING A BOOKING AT THE SAME DAY AFTER THAT !
I NOTICED THEY TALK LIKE THE HOSTELS ARE ALL FRIENDS, WHILE THEY CONSTANTLY FIGHT AND REFUSE CLIENTS ETC !
I KNOW THAT ALL THE REAL AND REALLY GOOD HOSTELS WHERE CLOSED IN 2011 IN NEW YORK AND THIS IS A SITE WHERE HOSTELS STILL SEEM TO BE AVAILABLE !
BUT THEY ARE NOT OR ARE REALLY REALLY BAD !
I am a victim I would never ever do this online it's my first time and my last time
15 Dec - I paid £113 to book a room in Hong Kong for 2 nights
Same day I cancelled my booking as I noticed a full refund can be made within 5 days before check in, however I received an email with a refund confirmation of £33
Which is obviously a rip-off rang customer service and told them that I would reinstate my booking, I was told if the host also agree then no problem, customer service sent an email to me and the host to confirm the reinstate and I confirmed right away, however no reply from the host and i signed in my account tonight the while deal has gone the room is released for booking, everything happened within one day from my booking payment and cancellation, I realised this is how they suck the money from us.
BEWARE of dealing with AirBnB. I just returned from a trip to Hong Kong, Booked a "Neat & Cozy Studio" in WanChai. Total mis-representation--"Cockroach infested grungy hole" would be a lot closer to the truth. AirBnB does nothing to help guests that have been scammed. This place was described as having a REAL BED, in fact it was an extended Arm Chair. On entering the unit the first thing that I noticed was a sign on the TV which said "TV Broken, Sorry" I had to scrub the bathroom before I used it. I have pictures to prove. I need some help to go viral with this, only then AirBnB might do something about this.
This company does not provide a neutral system to mediate between host and client. We recently booked a week in Venice Beach with a person named Taylor. I week before our arrival Taylor contacted my HR team to determine my income and pay days. Big red flag but due to a family illness we went ahead with the trip. We brought our small under 8-pound dogs that were crate trained. Upon arrival the unit was so dirty we had to go buy cleaning supplies to clean before we could stay in the unit. Stains everywhere. The host no surprise is now trying to claim a $500 charge to replace her dirty used couch. Airbnb claims to bee neutral yet they clearly side with the host on all issues. They claim you cannot talk to them by phone, and they refuse to be fair and get at least 3 bids to clean the couch stating they will go ith whatever the host presents. By far the worst customer service, and scam on behalf of the host ever. Do no do business with this company.
Airbnb is in my opinion the WORST company in the travel industry. I made a reservation with them for Medellin, Colombia and everything was prepaid and all set. One day before departure they pull a fast one saying my res looked illegitimate. Wha? To help them clarify they wanted a copy of my passport & access to my Facebook account... which I complied with because I needed the booking to be firm. I'd never been to Colombia and it was a weird and scary situation to be put into. It turns out they never intended to confirm. They said they would send back my money and they did because they had no choice except face fraud and deception charges. I quickly changed passwords and blocked them. Because I already had contact outside their Airbnb site with the host, it all worked out good. The best part; no commission for Airbnb and I discovered what a stink of a company Airbnb appears to me to be. They refused to explain their actions and gave no reasons despite my request for one. Airbnb's customer service is wretched! My advice is to NOT TRUST them or do so at your peril. What seems to work for many is a nightmare for some. Why take that chance or deal with a company that refuses to come clean with their actions.
We had the same type of issue related to Airbnb's cancellation policy. This was for a 60 day stay, each month was approximately $2400 and we paid one full month in advance. Due to unforeseen circumstances we had to cancel our entire trip (two full months in advance of our stay) and ended up losing $2400! I read complicated financial contracts as part of my job and even I did not understand how their policy worked - it is EXTREMELY POORLY WRITTEN and I contend that this is done on purpose so as to confuse guests so that the host and Airbnb both gain financially from this. Before pressing the cancel button on the Airbnb site I contacted our host numerous times to let her know that we MIGHT have to cancel and if she could please clarify what their policy was. The only thing she would say is "we follow Airbnb's policy...So are you going to cancel?" I asked her again to PLEASE CLARIFY their policy before I cancelled, and she - the host- simply ignored my further messages... and there were a lot of messages by the way that went unanswered and ignored. But she did take the time to complain that I was sending her TOO MANY MESSAGES! I wouldn't have sent so many had she answered my question on one of the first 10 or so messages that I sent to her. Anyhow, before I pressed CANCEL on the Airbnb site I got a summary that said that I would receive a refund of approximately "$2400", so that made me feel comfortable that we would get our one month payment back. Instead what I got was $43! I immediately called Airbnb who feigned that they cared but all they really did was kick the proverbial can down the road - I know this because within the span of 2 weeks after I called them, "my case" was reassigned to 3 different Airbnb customer service agents. When I spoke to their reps I asked WHY I got a summary saying that i would get $2400 back. They said that amount represented the UNPAID second month of our stay! Now I ask you, WHY WOULD AIRBNB GIVE ME A PHANTOM REFUND FOR A MONTH I NEVER PAID FOR!?!?!?! This is CRIMINAL! I got $43 and that is it. By telling me that we would receive a $2400 refund it tricked me into thinking it was safe to cancel but that is not at all what their policy means. Airbnb should be brought to task for their criminal behavior, and frankly so should the host. Especially because she was able to rebook our canceled month with a different guest so SHE GOT PAID TWICE! Never ever again will we ever use Airbnb and have made sure to tell anyone willing to listen, our story so that they too will go elsewhere. I recommend using VRBO - they are a far superior company/site.
ALERT! My Airbnb account was hacked including credit card. Over $5k of charges then refunded to a DIFFERENT CREDIT CARD! Contacted them of breeches before charges. What organization refunds to a DIFFERENT CREIDT CARD! Consumers BE AWARE OF AIRBNB!