I’ve been a huge fan of Airbnb since we booked our first stay in 2015. Through the years we’ve stayed in houses and apartments all across the globe for a fraction of the price of what a hotel would cost. Since most properties are nestled in residential areas and have all the amenities of home, the Airbnb experience makes you feel less like a tourist and more like a local. It's nice to come "home" after a long day of sightseeing and make yourself a nice dinner and relax. I’ve sung Airbnb's praises in countless blogs throughout the years.
Amsterdam, London, Montreal, New York City, St. Thomas, Arizona
In well over a dozen stays in the past six years we’ve only had two sketchy experiences using Airbnb. The first time was in Montreal when a host stopped communicating with us the day we arrived then pulled a “bait and switch” scheme and left a friend and I stranded in a coffee shop for two hours wondering if we would have a roof over our heads that night. The second bad experience was in St. Thomas (USVI) when my wife and I rented a filthy, bug-infested oceanfront condo from an absentee host that lived thousands of miles away.
“After these bad experiences with Airbnb we quickly learned to only book with Superhosts, who are held to a higher standard by Airbnb than run-of-the-mill hosts.”
We chalked both of these bad experiences up to individual host negligence (St. Thomas)/shadiness (Montreal) and not Airbnb itself. In both of these instances Airbnb customer support actually appeared to care and be helpful in doing the right thing and reaching an equitable resolution. After these bad experiences with Airbnb my wife and I quickly learned to only book with Superhosts, who are held to a higher standard by Airbnb than run-of-the-mill hosts.
How The Honeymoon Came To An Abrupt End
The honeymoon phase of our relationship with Airbnb officially came to an end last week. Let me explain exactly how it happened. In fall of 2019 my wife and I planned an epic trip to Ireland for August of 2020. We bought the Rick Steves guide book, did lots of research, and booked three Airbnbs for our two week stay on the Emerald Isle. We were taking our son on his first overseas trip and for the grand tour - Dublin, The Ring of Kerry, The Cliffs of Moher, Dingle, and lots more. I couldn't wait to see how this trip would expand his horizons as only international travel can. I was also looking forward to finding a cozy pub, listening to some local music, and experiencing a hearty Irish meal.
Alas, there was no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow. The global pandemic hit and like most other international travelers, we were forced to cancel our trip in 2020. When we cancelled, Airbnb offered us a credit towards a future stay in lieu of a cash refund. They credited us the full amount we paid and we planned on rescheduling our trip to Ireland as soon as we could so we were okay with that. No harm, no foul. We actually thought we might be able to reschedule the trip for this year but we underestimated the virus’ staying power and impact on international travel. With the threat of future quarantines and uncertainties due to the delta variant we just aren’t prepared to take the chance of booking international travel just yet.
My wife logged onto Airbnb recently and discovered our nearly $1,500 in credits expire at the end of this year. After several frustrating calls and emails with Airbnb customer support we learned that they won’t budge in extending our credits to 2022 citing a system limitation that won’t let them extend the date of the credit or allow them to process a refund.
So we’re forced to either travel this year, which we likely can’t, or lose a very substantial sum of money. One creative Airbnb representative we spoke with, however, encouraged us to use an “alternative work around”. This workaround entailed coming to an agreement with a host beforehand to book a stay in 2021 and have the host agree to change the reservations to 2022 on their end. I can’t believe any reputable company would ask a customer to do this and I can’t imagine what a headache this will be for the hosts.
“This lawsuit on behalf of hosts will do little to deter Airbnb’s proposed initial public offering. Although it will generate negative headlines, large companies like Airbnb often treat class action lawsuits as the price of doing business. — Dennis Schaal
After a little online research we discovered we aren’t the only ones who’ve experienced this kind of treatment. Many Airbnb guests are complaining online about losing their credits and Airbnb refusing to extend dates or offer refunds. We discovered there is even a class action lawsuit brought about by hosts against Airbnb to seek refunds and damages from the company. To add insult to injury, customers are reporting that they are being booted off Airbnb if they make too much of a fuss about their grievances publicly, although I can't attest to the validity of those claims.
Airbnb became a publicly traded company in December of 2020. We all know as soon as a company is listed on the stock exchange there is great pressure to increase earnings each quarter or stock prices plummet. The only reason I can think of for them treating customers like this is they need to declare a good financial year in 2021 to make up for the massive losses sustained in the travel and tourism sector during the height of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Forcing customers to use or lose credits from cancelled 2020 trips in 2021 all but ensures this. This is a huge roll of the dice on their part because of the potential of alienating longtime loyal customers like us.
I can’t speak for others but as long time customers we feel disappointed and cheated. Money was taken from us for a service that was, and probably never will be provided. After this experience, for the first time in years, we’re looking to other Airbnb competitors like VRBO for future trips.
Travelers, Protect Yourselves
My advice to anyone booking on Airbnb is to look out for yourself in the following ways:
- Only book with Superhosts;
- Read and make sure you COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND both Airbnb’s and the host's cancellation policy and all of the fine print in the Airbnb listings before you book or you may discover your money has vanished into thin air(bnb); and
- Last but not least, read host and property reviews extremely carefully for any red flags. Also be suspicious of many short, positive reviews piled on top of negative ones. We’ve learned this is a common practice to bury negative reviews on the website. If hosts manage multiple properties check reviews for each of their properties.
Best of luck to you and happy traveling.
With Gratitude,
Eric Vance Walton
(Gif sourced from Giphy.com)
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Let’s Keep In Touch
But Airbnb doing this at the expense of customer's satisfaction is clearly alarming. Since you don't want to travel this year I guess all they should do is clearly come to a resolution that will be favourable for you and for them at the same time. I mean I know they need to declare a good financial year, but this isn't just good. What do you intend to do?
I totally agree. I simply don't buy their excuse of "system limitations". Our ultimate resolution would be to get a cash refund at this point and we'll still try to make sure that happens but I'm not sure what avenues we'll take as it seems like we've hit a brick wall with their customer support department. Judging by what other users are saying when they complain about how they were treated by Airbnb, they may kick me off the website after they see this post. I'll keep you all up-to-date with what happens. I just can't stop thinking about how much money that is.
I think it's an attempt to frustrate you, everyone basically felt the impact of the pandemic and that is including the customers too and hence that's why they matter more. I guess they'll prepared to lose a lot of their customers. A lot of institutions does this. That kind of money is absolutely too much for a person to consider losing it as a result of something as huge as covid. I guess you're absolutely livid at the moment. But it'll be more preposterous for the customer service to actually kick you out. I mean what are those guys smoking over there?
That's our point exactly, everyone is feeling financial pressures and will be into the foreseeable future. It's a very short-sighted way of doing business IMO. We were furious after spending so much time on the phone with multiple CSR's, being promised calls back that we never received, then only to be told there wasn't anything they could do. We've had a chance to calm down and little and are just trying to figure out our next steps. Maybe they feel like they're too big to fail at this point? I'm not sure but as a frequent traveler who really enjoyed their service I'm just very disappointed.
I think it's an attempt to frustrate you, everyone basically felt the impact of the pandemic and that is including the customers too and hence that's why they matter more. I guess they'll prepared to lose a lot of their customers. A lot of institutions does this. That kind of money is absolutely too much for a person to consider losing it as a result of something as huge as covid. I guess you're absolutely livid at the moment. But it'll be more preposterous for the customer service to actually kick you out. I mean what are those guys smoking over there?
Never book on AirBnb. I don't like such company which charge your money before stay.
I've had few problems until now, the plusses have always outweighed the minuses. If I do ever book with them again I'll definitely pay as little as I can up front. Some hosts offer 50% at the time of booking and the last 50% a few days before you travel. That would lower your risk of losing your entire booking fee.
That's a load of money to lose Eric! Tourism has been one of the worst hit industries as a result of Covid, both the suppliers and the users! My son lost a large amount in a flight ticket when he tried getting home from Russia last year. I think it was Etihad Airlines, who had to stop flights out of Russia and all they offered him was a voucher that was only valid for 6 months. Totally useless to him as the only way he could get back then, was with a repatriation flight.
A friend who booked to go to Cape Town has likely lost all her money as the airline she booked with has been grounded due to outstanding debt!
But your debacle is just shocking!
That agent's plan could work but which host will want their accommodation establishment to be 'fully booked' unless they're a large concern with multiple rooms, something almost impossible to find on airbnb! Just shocking!
We're no longer Airbnb Superhosts as we don't get enough bookings through them any longer as most of our bookings are done directly or through booking.com.
I really hope you sort this mess out, please let me know what happens.
It sure is! It's over two weeks' take home pay for most people. I'm sorry to hear your son lost money too. This mess has made it difficult for so many businesses but especially travel/tourism/hospitality. We would book with you in a second btw, even if you aren't a Superhost because we know how awesome of a host you are! Delta (the airline, not the variant) was great about issuing us vouchers for the flights, they just recently extended the them through the end of 2022 and I'm sure we'll be able to use them before then. I'm not sure what the Airbnb system looks like on the host-side but I imagine the workaround solution Airbnb suggested would be a headache for them. Most of the properties that we book are single family dwellings or flats so it might be tough. A good friend of ours has been an Airbnb host for a really long time so I may reach out to her to see if she has any insider recommendations on next steps. We are flabbergasted by how poor customer service has become post-pandemic. You would think that companies would be going the extra mile to keep customers happy but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case. Enough complaining.....I hope you enjoy your weekend! Have you gotten the book yet? It arrived to all of the other overseas destinations about a week and a half ago but it probably takes longer to South Africa.
Too bad they couldn't just take a deposit of 10% of the value of the rental that is non refundable. I have seen other businesses with a high volume of customers do that to prevent people from this type of scenario.
Yeah, that would have been preferable to losing it all.
I tried to think of a way I could take this side of the business in this argument, but that's as much as I could come up with. You're right in calling them out for their public offering and I bet you conditions and terms like this are very relevant to them going public.
I have only ever used superhosts and that was at the insistence of a friend who had used them for years.
I am appalled at them! They have built their reputation on being dependable, safe, and able to count on them. Your stories have raised the hair on my neck. How dare they screw you to the walls at this time. Everyone is suffering, but, hopefully, there aren't too many that are taking advantage. I was on one of the last cruises to make it home as COVID was becoming a thing last year. I had two more cruises booked and one for this year with Royal Caribbean and an Italian line. Not only did they cancel the cruise, but they also gave everyone a choice of money back or 125% credit. As everything continued, they pushed the dates up more and more. My April 2020 cruise credit doesn't have to be used until December 2022 (they just pushed it again) THAT is the way you do business and keep people.
Base on what you have said, I will look more carefully before using them. I used them at least a dozen times, with superhosts status, but, what you are saying is pretty spooky. Who wants to be in a foreign country and be stuck? Yeah-No.
I would book something that you can drive to for vacation and use it. There is no way I would let them have my money. There are so many pretty cool places we have. That is a pretty penny that they took you for. I am so sorry and hope you get some satisfaction. I would be tempted to go to a lawyer just to recover my costs, but, I have never sued anyone as I dislike lawsuits. In this case, not so much. You aren't trying to make money, just recover it.
Good luck! Thanks for the head up!
You're smart for only using superhosts. It took us a few years to learn that lesson. I'm glad to hear the cruise companies are doing the right thing. A 125% credit is phenomenal! The US domestic airlines, for the most part, aren't taking advantage of their customers either. Airbnb is going to alienate a lot of customers with this policy.
We will likely do just what you're suggesting, a road trip somewhere. We may end up down in LaCrosse again or head up to the North Shore. I've only taken part in one lawsuit pertaining to a crypto exchange hack and it's been an excruciating years' long process. I'm not a fan of litigation either. Thank you!
Another thing that has an added bonus is that at any time if you want to take that 125% credit and exchange it for money, you can all do when you do that oh, the only give you 100% back. I don't think they can do any better than that. Good luck with your Airbnb
Hello dear friend @ericvancewalton good afternoon
I am very sorry about the situation that is happening and all the money that you are about to lose; I never understood companies where there cannot be a human being for this particular type of inconvenience and can find a suitable solution for both parties.
I appreciate that you shared this experience so that something similar does not happen to someone else.
I take this opportunity to wish you a splendid weekend
Thank you my friend. It's just one of those frustrations that pop up in life that we're going to have to figure out how to navigate around. Hopefully we can figure something out and maybe others will be more careful to protect themselves if they stumbling on this article. I hope you're well and you're enjoying a relaxing weekend!
I'm so sorry to hear this has happened to you. It's a good thing you found this out though. Can you imagine if you had learned the money has already expired?
That is a really crummy company policy. I think you are probably right about why they are not budging on this issue, but I imagine they are doing this to a lot of people who will never use them again, so it may be penny wise pound foolish on their part.
I use VRBO as a rule. Although there are HUGE fees to book through them, I've never had a bad experience.
I can think of one way to use the money before it expires: book at some fabulous but nearby place you normally wouldn't have gone to, for just a few days, and really pamper yourselves.
Can you get in on the class action suit?
Thanks @owasco! You're right, at least we have the opportunity to try to use the credits before they expire. If we do that we're paying again, out-of-pocket, for stays in Ireland in 2022 but at least we wouldn't lose the money altogether.
I really hope the rules are changed around these travel credits. The rules should be the same as gift cards, it's illegal to allow them to expire. The airlines, for the most part, are working with customers even though they don't have to.
We've used VRBO before and were happy with them. Many hosts list on both VRBO and AirBNB.
Good idea about using the credits that way....something spontaneous would be fun. Although it's not completely off the table, I'm cautious about joining class action lawsuits because so often they're just a money grab for the attorneys bringing them about. They do prove a point but it seems like the claimants rarely get anywhere close to what they lost.
Yeah I guess a check for $3 wouldn't begin to offset your potential loss, and I understand not wanting to get involved in any kind of court action. Bad energy. We all have quite enough of that right now.
$3M for the lawyer and $3 for each claimant would probably be about right! Lol. The justice system is taxing for sure, in more ways than one. It's so sad that often those who spend the most get judgments made in their favor. Lord, there's so much bad energy and chaos going around these days it's hard to believe. Just driving to the grocery store feels like an epic adventure.
Dear friend, what a pleasure to be able to agree with you!!! what a pleasure to hear from you. I have been having problems with the internet, my computer and my cell phone. However, I manage to post from a friend's house. I read your experience with this travel agency and it reminds me of an experience I had years ago that served me as a lesson: I had booked in advance a beach house for December and that same year my father died and the least we wanted to do was to travel. When I asked for a cancellation and refund, I was told that they could not and that if I did not go on the date, I would lose the reservation and the money. I have never traveled with these people again. Excellent that you made this post that can serve as a warning to others.
Seriously, it was nice to hear from you. Greetings and hugs to you and your family, Eric :)
Hi Nancy! It's been a really long time! I hope you and the family are all good and I'm sorry to hear about the internet troubles. It's so frustrating to lose that kind of money. I think about how losing the money could prevent so many people from taking the trip they dreamed about. Not only are you out the money but if you can't afford to pay twice for the trip, you're denied that as well. Great to hear from you. Take care!
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