

What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb? - blackdogie
http://www.paulsavage.eu/daily-life/airbnb-cancelation-experience/

======
ashray
Well, this is some way similar to the experience I had when renting through
AirBNB in Rio de Janeiro during carnival. We were 4 people and booked a place
with two bedrooms which said it accommodates 4 people. Sounds right.

When we showed up at the place, there were just 3 beds - a double bed in one
room and a single bed in another.

Mind you, this being carnival season and stuff, we were paying a handsome
amount for our rental. However, when we got in touch with the host (he lives
in the US with his wife, a care taker opened the house for us..) he refused to
acknowledge the issue. He said: "There's a couch in the living room, one of
you can sleep there - that way the house accommodates 4 people".

So we got in touch with AirBNB support who said they would find us another
place. Of course they couldn't - everything is sold out during carnival. So,
they finally decided to refund the "AirBNB fee" to us (about USD 54) so that
we could use it to buy an inflatable mattress to put on the floor.

I asked them why they couldn't give us a full refund considering this was
absolutely unacceptable as they should take responsibility for incorrect
listings that lead to situations like this. (for what it's worth, Expedia,
etc. have a far higher standard of customer service when it comes to stuff
like this) They replied saying that the host had already been paid out - as if
that's our problem.. =/

Anyway, we had no choice but to stay so we did indeed buy an inflatable
mattress... AirBNB's customer support however was pretty terrible and the host
was a complete asshole to us.

~~~
inmygarage
If there is a double bed, single bed, and a couch, that accommodates 4 people.

Remember, Airbnb is a marketplace so it is your responsibility as the guest to
clarify the exact sleeping arrangements. If you want a higher level of
service, go to a hotel. You'll pay a lot more, but if you require great
service then it's probably a better option.

~~~
ashray
Uhh no. AirBNB has a field on listings that clearly indicates "Bed Type". In
this case "Bed Type" said Real Bed. Random example:
[https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1229577?checkin=02%2F21%2F2014&...](https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1229577?checkin=02%2F21%2F2014&checkout=02%2F22%2F2014&s=EgSJ)

One isn't likely to clarify that with the host prior to arrival given that
it's on the listing. AirBNB needs to take responsibility for this kind of
thing given that you pay about 15% as AirBNB fees and 3% is also paid by the
host. Refunding just the fees isn't what you pay the fees for. It is to take
care of situations such as this.

~~~
ericd
No, that indicates that you're not renting just a couch in someone's apartment
(a la couchsurfing). In the vacation rental world, that max accommodation
figure almost always includes the couches (especially if it's a pullout
couch).

~~~
nanidin
Did you visit the link provided? There is clearly a "Room type"
classification, which would be used to indicate that you're renting a room in
a house, a whole house, a bed in a room, or a couch in a room, for example.
And there is also a "Bed type" classification to specify the type of bed you
will be sleeping in.

~~~
ericd
"Bed Type" doesn't mean it's uniformly that type, it's sort of the max of the
class, so it's not terribly useful. It would be nice if it was broken down by
number of beds (it is on some sites), but that's more of a nice to have than
the norm.

~~~
nanidin
That's beside the point - the point being that you asserted that the "Real
Bed" qualifier was referring to not getting a couch in an apartment, like
couch surfing. Judging from your post history, you will argue on any point
possible, and won't cede a thing. Consider this my last reply.

~~~
ericd
Sorry if I wasn't clear with what I was saying.

That field is mostly useful for distinguishing between whether you're getting
a couch or a bed in the case that you're just renting part of the apartment.
It's not very useful in the event that you're renting a whole apartment. It
means there's at least one real bed, it doesn't mean that everyone in the
"Accommodates" number will get a real bed.

It's not perfect, it would be better if it were more explicit, but this is a
pretty common on these sorts of listings.

------
brianchesky
hey everyone, I have looked into this and a few things are going on here.

(1) Turns out there was a bug in our system where a guest was actually allowed
to double-book this host's listing, so this was our fault. The host did not
cancel, we double-booked. We are fixing this bug now, and I haven't heard of
any other guests being affected by this.

(2) I just want to note this is a statistically rare event (though by reading
comments some of you have experienced this), which is why we probably haven't
spent enough time trying to solve this, but we should.

(3) I agree with the author that our cancelation policy is not adequately
balanced on both sides of the transaction. Our team has actually been
developing a better system for some time, and we should have a more balance
policy soon - unfortunate this happened though. Right now, when a host cancels
a booking, there is an automated review left on their listing saying this
happened, a penalization in their search rankings, and if they chronically
cancel, they are removed from our platform; but I agree we could do more here.
The changes we are making will hopefully lower the frequency of these
instances occurring going forward. Open to feedback here, and if a host has
canceled on you I would love to get your feedback on how we handled it.

(4) In the event that a host does cancel, I think we can do more to provide
protection and peace of mind to the guest for their trip. We have a Guarantee
for hosts, so we are looking at what an equivalent version would be for
guests. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

~~~
buro9
On #3 it may be worth penalising those who do it during annual events like the
Boston Marathon, Wimbledon, etc.

Accommodation is extremely hard to find and highly competitive at this time
and the host should factor this in.

If it becomes an annual thing that hosts cancel and allow gazumping (
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazumping](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazumping)
) then it will seriously damage the AirBNB relationship with renters as AirBNB
will become an untrusted place for accommodation during such events.

It is so hard to find replacement accommodation during such events that the
inconvenience is greatly multiplied.

(And annual things go for conferences too, SXSW for example)

I would go so far as to suggest that during events the relationship be
inverted and the renter be given more weight than the host. Once the host has
priced fairly, they should be penalised harshly for causing great
inconvenience to a renter. The extra money during such events already more
than compensates the host side.

~~~
brianchesky
This is a very good insight. Thanks for the suggestion. You are definitely
right here. In the past during events (e.g. SXSW), we have actually booked
Airbnb's ourselves, and some hotel rooms, just in case a guest got canceled on
last minute and all Airbnb's and hotels were sold out, but we should
definitely go further.

------
lotharbot
> _" I can’t even leave feedback... as we never got to stay there."_

I think this is a bigger deal than the cancellation -- the fact that, on a
site that's all about reputation, there's no reputation hit for a host
canceling someone's rental. Airbnb should create a feedback system that allows
feedback to be given for various steps of the process, not just the stay
itself.

~~~
devrelm
Indeed. Even if it's just an automated post saying that the reservation was
cancelled by the host. More than one of those and I think that many people
wouldn't want to take the risk.

~~~
frontendbeauty
See Brian's post:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7254986](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7254986)

Airbnb does leave an automated review about the cancellation and dings the
host's listing in search results.

------
exelius
If you think this is bad, wait until you see what regular hotels can do to you
during busy season.

Most hotel chains have a "frequent guest" program. One little-known feature of
those programs is that people with the highest status can "bump" other guests
from the hotel when the hotel is full with about 24 hours advance notice. Now,
usually they'll give you a free night or two in exchange for that happening to
you, but it doesn't help you that night.

Regardless, this is a hazard of traveling anywhere and relying on someone else
for a place to stay. It is by no means unique to Airbnb, and hotels do it all
the time (and often with much less notice.)

~~~
graupel
I have top-level status with Marriott and have used the Guaranteed Room
feature a few times; it's hard to say that using it results directly in
displacing another guest since hotels don't really know how many people will
show until the end of the day - what is does is guarantee you a room at rack-
rate.

That said, as a top-level guest I would be THRILLED to get walked to another
hotel due to no room being available since I'd get a free night at the other
hotel, $200 USD, and 2 free nights anywhere in the world!

~~~
exelius
Well, generally hotels overbook their rooms regardless -- they know with 90%
confidence that X% of people will no-show on a given day, so they can overbook
(airlines do this too). Generally when using the guaranteed room feature, you
ARE displacing someone. But you're right, you do have to pay the rack-rate
(which is often $500 or more)

Airbnb hosts can't do any of this because they don't have enough rooms, so
there are some definite advantages to the traditional hotel model. I like
Airbnb and I have used it many times, but I do consider the rooms I get off
Airbnb as less "guaranteed" than a hotel room.

------
webwright
Airbnb should have a public % number for hosts for both acceptance rate for
"open" dates on their calendar and for cancellations.

I was traveling the world for the last 9 months and we fairly quickly stopped
using AirBnB in favor of Booking.com and Agoda (which had hotels, guesthouses,
and even hostels if you're so inclined).

Host behavior was the problem. We'd contact a place that supposedly had an
opening. Nope. Contact another. Nope. Contact a third. Yes, but they work
until 10pm so we need to go find them for a key. AirBnb was an amazing
experience when it worked, but time-intensive and frustrating for most
transactions.

~~~
doodilin
I've been traveling for the past two years, and fortunately have only had
positive experiences with Airbnb. I agree that some hosts can be less
responsive others, so I've taken more time on my end to have a bit of back-
and-forth with the right ones before booking.

Paul does make a good point regarding host cancellations, and your suggestion
to publicly display acceptance or cancellation rates might be helpful to
prospective guests.

~~~
webwright
Yeah, I've always loved it when it works, but the back-and-forth can be
frustrating on near term bookings... Especially when you are traveling with
semi-shakey internet connections.

------
moondowner
One thing that I cannot find on AirBNB is how to post a review and attach
photos to it. Is it possible? On several occasions the apartments were not
even remotely the same as in the photographs. (For example, on photos they
look spacious and clean, in real life they are not.)

Amazon customers can upload their photos of the stuff they bought. This
functionality is really something we need.

I think that AirBNB by doing things like this gives the hosts too much power
(which in turn they abuse).

------
bgentry
Funny, this mirrors my first Airbnb experience from a year and a half ago:
[https://bgentry.io/blog/2012/07/18/my-first-airbnb-
experienc...](https://bgentry.io/blog/2012/07/18/my-first-airbnb-experience)

Sad to hear that the experience hasn't gotten any better when a host cancels
on you, especially when it's at the last minute.

I wonder if the issues with hosts' calendars not being up-to-date are still as
big of an issue. Airbnb hosts are incentivized to _not_ update their calendars
because it gives them an avenue to direct you to their other properties.

------
stephenson
My attempt to book an apartment with AirBNB in Helsinki for Slush.org last
year ended up in 3 cancelations (people got better offers) and us staying in a
hotel. No word from AirBNB support.

I am sadly not going to use AirBNB agin to big events.

~~~
brianchesky
I am sorry you did not get better support from Airbnb. That is a bad
experience. You can email me at brian.chesky@airbnb.com if you would like to
elaborate further.

------
southphillyman
In October I had a host cancel on me with in 7 days of arrival. The host did
not want to cancel through the AirBnB system because of fees I presume,
instead they western union'ed me a refund....but it took several days for us
to work out the logistics on the transfer. It worked out because I was able to
book another (better) apartment, albeit for a higher fee, and I received the
refund before I left for the trip. Handling situations where the host does not
cancel through the system did not seem intuitive and resulted in me searching
for a phone number to contact AirBnb and make them aware of the situation in
case the host was scamming.

I'll be traveling internationally for a couple of weeks in the fall and using
AirBnb for much of that trip. Deep down I have a feeling that at least one of
the rentals will have a choppy transaction. Until they tighten up on holding
hosts accountable and make the transfer of the key more uniform and streamline
there will always be a degree of uncertainty.

------
coconutrandom
Yes, I have had this same exact experience and worse. One host started
insulting my girlfriend and kept suggesting I cancel if I didn't like the
place. Total bull. I lost the whole payment and STILL couldn't leave review.

------
sheetjs
The "voucher" seems paltry. How does it compare to the price difference of
using a hotel?

------
jhh
any party in almost any such setting, including hotels, could cancel two
months in advance without fees. I really don't know what the big deal is.

~~~
blackdogie
OP here. My points were 1) the host said there was a glitch in the airbnb
system & doubled booked somehow, but I think they either wanted either a
longer tenant or they got a better offer for Marathon Weekend in Boston 2) if
I cancel I lose 50% , if they do it they lose 3%.

~~~
lotharbot
One of Airbnb's founders clarified elsewhere in this thread that there
actually was a system glitch.

~~~
poweredbytofu
Agreed, my reply was about people canceling to get a "better offer". :) Other
than the glitch he mentioned, I think that part of the system actually does
work pretty well. Always room to improve though.

------
wingspan
Last time we used Airbnb was for an apartment in Copenhagen. We found out when
we arrived that instead of the "Whole apartment" as it was listed, we would be
in one room and sharing the rest of the place with the owner and her daughter.
Airbnb didn't do anything to help us; we just stuck with it and vowed to be
more careful next time.

------
msandford
I can't tell; did this guy lose 50% of his $1200 or not?

If he did and AirBnB is just keeping it, shame on them. That's gross
incompetence and people should rightly boycott.

If he didn't, he should fix the article to show that in fact AirBnB isn't
grossly incompetent.

~~~
blackdogie
Hi, I didn't lose anything. I said if I cancel I'd lose 50%, if they cancel
they lose 3%

~~~
eli
I understood what you wrote, but it is pretty confusing the way it's written.
Maybe you want to add a clarification?

~~~
blackdogie
Sure. Will fix it now. Server getting batter at the moment.

------
level09
Its inconvenient but not THAT bad as you didn't loose the money.

I had a worse experience with Airbnb, they simply cancelled my reservation and
closed my account a few days before my travel and refused to give a valid
reason.

[http://nidalalhariri.com/post/55999109847/how-airbnb-
closed-...](http://nidalalhariri.com/post/55999109847/how-airbnb-closed-my-
account-and-refused-to-give-a)

------
athenot
This was my experience about a year ago in Ft Lauderdale, FL. In my case, it
meant doubling the expense to get a hotel since by the time they cancelled,
most hotels were already booked.

I'd say AirBNB is to be avoided for anything remotely critical (conference,
wedding, etc.) If it's just a leisure trip with friends, it might be OK.

------
pmorici
Looks like one other person was able to leave feedback about a host
cancellation shouldn't feedback solve this problem?

------
arthurgibson
I understand the sentiment, there should be some way to flag the listing on
AirBNB or penalize the renter, but lets be fair to the renter and leave their
address out of the post. I'm sure everyone is breaking leases and condo
regulations to give out a discount to us.

~~~
205guy
"I'm sure everyone is breaking leases and condo regulations to give out a
discount to us."

I'm not so sure that's a good argument. Are you saying AirBnB is a business
that helps people break their leases and condo regulations to make money, and
that we should keep this covered up?

Plus in this case, there was no discount: the low-paying customer was ditched
as soon as the renter found a higher-paying one. In times of scarcity (big
event in city), a leveraging tool such as AirBnB will be used to charge more,
not less (AirBnB allows the renter to find more customers than the low-paying
ones, right up until the last minute).

------
revelation
In this rant, the author notices AirBnB is not a hotel.

