I ended up booking a hotel with my own funds, spending $1,875. I spoke with a Senior Airbnb Ambassador, who agreed to only refund $500 from the hotel and issue the rest as an Airbnb coupon.
There were pretentious excuses with no real solution for the duration of my remaining trip. I was short of money to spend the rest of my vacation due to this new hotel which I had booked with my own money.
Forced to use the discount code for my next stay despite the horrible experience we had, I tried logging into my account to use the coupon, only to find that they had blocked my account. Can you help me?
MEHAR SATSANGI, Mumbai, India
A. Wow, talk about a bad stay. Just about anything that could go wrong with an Airbnb experience has gone wrong.
First, Airbnb should have forwarded your booking to your host in London. We don’t know what went wrong. Did the host make the reservation and turn you away when you arrive? Or was it a problem with Airbnb’s reservation system? Either way, Airbnb should have taken full responsibility.
Airbnb’s Rebooking Guarantee (available at www.airbnb.com/help/article/2868/rebooking-and-refund-policy) promises to help you find “comparable or better” housing. But that didn’t happen. Instead, you ended up in another apartment whose photos were not representative of the property. Two strikes, Airbnb.
But Airbnb isn’t done with you. After promising you credit for future use, the company deactivated your account. That’s three strikes.
So you’re out of luck? Maybe not. I reviewed your correspondence with Airbnb and you were clearly upset. Maybe that’s why Airbnb banned you, although I can’t be sure. Your conversations and phone interactions with the company may have crossed a line.
What would have worked? First, you want to invoke Airbnb’s rebooking guarantee in your correspondence. Airbnb is committed to taking care of you when a host cancels your reservation. You could also have contacted one of Airbnb’s customer service managers. I publish the names, numbers, and email addresses of Airbnb executives on my consumer advocacy site at www.elliott.org/company-contacts/airbnb-customer-service-contacts/. I also have a free guide on how to book your next vacation rental (www.elliott.org/answers/how-to-rent-vacation-home-ultimate-guide/) so that it never happens to you again.
I contacted Airbnb on your behalf. The company has restored your account and issued a refund for the full $1,875 in the form of a coupon code. You also report that you had a productive conversation with an Airbnb manager about everything that went wrong with your apartment. Hopefully Airbnb will use this information to make sure this never happens to anyone else.
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (elliottaadvocacy.org), a non-profit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at [email protected] or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.
Comments are closed.