As summer travel picks up, many are finding accommodations using short-term rental carriers like Airbnb.
While most reservations go smoothly, what can you do if the host cancels your reservation at the last minute?
“We’ve been using Airbnb for years and years and this is the first time something like this has happened,” Lidya Malekov, of East Gwillimbury, Ont., told CTV News Toronto.
Lidiya and her husband, Anton Malekov, have booked a trip to Italy for a full month with their baby, Maya Ellie. They had planned to stay in the same place for the duration of the trip.
About a week and a half before they left, they received a notice that their Airbnb account had been suspended.
“My account with Airbnb is locked, so I can’t even access it to see who canceled it and to see what happened,” Malekov said.
When they contacted Airbnb, they said the company sent them a note stating that “After reviewing your account, it appears to have been suspended in error. We have reactivated it so that everything is in order. running order and we apologize for any confusion.
When the family was able to get their account back, they said the host became suspicious of why their account was locked and gave their reservation to someone else.
Now the couple said they were scrambling to find accommodation, bookings were now limited and last minute prices had more than doubled.
“We don’t know what we’re going to do. We don’t know if we will be able to go there or not,” said Lidiya Malekov.
“It’s their fault because it was their system error and they admitted it was an error on their site,” added Anton Malekov.
CTV News Toronto contacted Airbnb, which called the situation “unfortunate”.
They agreed to help the couple find a new listing, saying “Canadian guests traveling to Italy have been successfully re-booked and received a full refund.”
The Malekovs also received a voucher to pay the difference on a more expensive rental property. They are now enjoying their vacation in Italy and are delighted that they were able to save their trip.
CTV News Toronto contacted the family in Italy and they said in a statement, “We are happy to be here and having fun and would recommend people come to Italy for a visit.”
The couple said they were concerned their account could be locked and hope Airbnb reviews its practices to see why this happened.
On Airbnb’s website, its terms of service state that accounts can be disabled for a number of reasons. If this happens to you, you should contact the website immediately.
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