I expected more.

I’m trained from years of staying at hotels that a booked room is a booked room. Sure, hotels sometimes oversell. You may be bused to a worse or far away hotel. Things like that happen, but the hotel (or the hotel’s chain) has your back.

But I learned the hard way that AirBnB does no such thing.

I booked a nice duplex in Dusseldorf for next week. I booked it 6 months ago because it will be a tremendously busy week. The host had to cancel for what seem to be reasons beyond her control. Things happen. I get it. I hope everything is OK for her and her family.

But with AirBnB as the facilitator, I expected they would have a mechanism to place me in an equal or greater level of accommodation for the price I paid. After all, there are often harsh penalties for canceling as the guest. These penalties protect the hosts…. but what about the guests?

The actual policy is this: AirBnB will let you rebook an alternate accommodation with the amount you already paid and will cover up to 10% of the difference in price if it costs more. (You get a refund if it is less.)  In my case, the nearest available accommodation was  twice the price.  So AirBnB would have covered about $140 and I’d have had to cover about $1,260!

From the AirBnB website:

If your reservation is canceled by your host you'll have two options:

- Transfer your payment to a new Airbnb reservation
- Get a full refund
Transfer your payment to a new Airbnb reservation

If you choose this option, the money you paid towards your initial reservation is immediately 
available to use towards a new reservation. Once you've found a new place, we'll automatically transfer your original payment to your new reservation request, along with any eligible credit from Airbnb.

Get a full refund

If you don't want to book another place on Airbnb, you can ask for a full refund. To get a refund:
  1. Log in to your Airbnb account from a computer
  2. Go to Your Trips
  3. Find your canceled reservation
  4. Click Request a refund
Refunds can't currently be requested using the Airbnb apps or mobile website.

I elected to refund the reservation (and think I’ve found a way to use points to stay in a nice hotel for about the same price despite rates being more than double, but more on that in the next post).

But I feel that many of you, like me, would expect AirBnB to have your back in a situation like this. And they do not. So be aware….

PS: I did press the agent and in the end got a $100 credit for a future AirBnB stay. Not even remotely at the level of inconvenience it has caused me, but it’s something.

UPDATE: AirBnB asked me via Twitter following this post if they could assist by DM. Their response:

“We can see that you were issued a refund in full. Sorry again this didn’t work out. Hopefully, you’re able to put that coupon to good use in the future.”

So – fully committed to making sure customers are taken care of…. that refund of what I already paid definitely makes up for rates having doubled or more since I booked.

13 COMMENTS

  1. At times I find AirBnB to be more expensive than Homeaway/ VRBO for the same property. I found out from owners that they are charged more by Air. My other reason for using the other rental sites is that I can buy their insurance, which I don’t think is very expensive, and it covers me for a variety of situations. Your situation is really lousy. I am glad you were able to find a way around it.

  2. I have actually seen that before too – but also the other way around. The insurance is an interesting point I hadn’t thought about when comparing the two before.

  3. I agree this is a problem. But what happens if there’s an emergency and a host legitimately is unable to fulfill his or her end of the bargain? What should Airbnb be expected to do? A full refund, of course, but maybe the host was hospitalized unexpectedly the day before the rental. What could Airbnb do about that? If they offered substantially more than a full refund, opportunities would abound for a host and guest to collude over a cancellation to their mutual benefit. I’d like to see more thoughts on the topic. It’s a problem in the business model.

    • It’s a good point that there’s always a chance that two hosts collude, but checks can be put in place to minimize… for instance there are already penalties to hosts for cancelling. The penalties just don’t help the displaced renter very much.

  4. DaveS brings up a good point. Airbnb is a completely different business model. Hosts are often individuals and not a Hyatt or Hilton and do not have the income from hundreds or thousands of other properties to provide to the cancelled guest in case of emergency. Many guests book an Airbnb and expect hotel level services, but this is an incorrect mindset from my perspective. Airbnb rates are lower than hotels (in most cases) for a reason. The premium in price covers things like consistency, extra amenities / services and more organized responses in case of emergency. Comparing what you get from a hotel vs. Airbnb is inherently wrong

    • Kyle: I don’t expect the host to necessarily have to compensate in this case. But AirBnB made over $900 Million last year as the middle man. So in my opinion they can do more to help out a renter in a situation like this.

      The middle man economy has gotten massive – but shouldn’t they bear some liability for the exchange they profit from?

      • Agree with you Dave. You were just fortunate you had another reasonable avenue (e.g., points) so any damage was minimized. But what about the majority of travelers who do not have this luxury. To be able to afford a stay in Europe for many means they have to plan well ahead to get cheaper rates. Often, as the stay date gets closer, rates tend to go up with other alternatives, such as hotels. I used to use Airbnb a lot but find it less and less of an option over the past few years as service has gotten worse and the price advantage isn’t what it used to be, group and some specialized accommodation excluded. Airbnb should have stepped up its game. Asking you to tweet after this post so they could tweet a lame response says it all.

        • Greg- funny thing is that my backup plan isn’t going well. Five days later and I don’t have the points I bought for the stay tomorrow (IHG loaned me the points but points.com rejected 2 days later for home/business address mismatch) and points.com doesn’t offer any real time support. As of now I only have half the stay covered… which is why I haven’t yet penned my follow on post 🙂 Stay tuned!

  5. I had this happen to me when the host cancelled a 30 day reservation 1 day in advance. I was with my dog in a foreign country.
    The host obviously got a higher rate as she had 3 other properties she was renting and didn’t leave to go anywhere.

    I was offered $200 for another airbnb res out of a $7000 reservation.
    I WILL NEVER USE AIRBNB AGAIN. EVER.
    They are absolutely correct they have a disruptive business model. It’s disruptive in the way that pervasive mediocrity is disruptive. It’s disruptive in the way it disrupts your life.

    • Thanks for the comment. Sorry that happened to you. I was actually (believe it or not) still thinking about using AirBnB for a 2 + month stay. And now I realize that would be foolish. They need better customer protection – especially for longer stays. I know that if YOU cancel a 30 day or longer stay, they keep a full month’s rent!

      • Problem is that like with many other Internet giants (Amazon, Uber, etc.) there increasingly is little other choice. For a decade now I’ve needed a 3 month rental each winter when I teach. In the last 3 years or so, AirBnB has become the dominant player in this city (Miami) and the other options keep shrinking. Best bet might be the development of an insurance policy to shield against this risk.

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