To ask if this is a breach of contract (holiday booking)

[AudTheDeepAndCrispAndEven]

Evening MNetters, In January, we booked a week's holiday in the UK for next summer through AirBnB. We surmised that foreign travel may well be off the cards this year and managed to get a reasonable deal before everyone piled in and booked up everywhere. Today, I've received a message stating that due to Covid they are no longer able to host us and that we need to cancel for a full refund. However, they then state that the property will be available to rent through an agency, and gave us the contact details. This convinces me that they retain ownership of the property and will benefit from those bookings. Am I right to presume they have seen an opportunity to make more money with a captive audience this summer, and is there any way I can hold them to honour our booking, or even the original price through the new company.
How should I proceed? I'm thinking of initially asking them for more details as to how Covid means they can't honour our booking.

YANBU and I'm sure you're right. Not sure what you can do about it though. I guess start with that question. You could try rebooking through the agent then taking them to the small claims court for the difference but no idea how successful that would be.

I think owners and bookers have a right to cancel on Airbnb don't they?

Hard to argue you're losing out if you had a full refund, impossible to tell if contract was breached without seeing it.

I am sure that the AirBnB contract allows them to cancel, if they give you a full refund.

I mean, are you saying that owners should never be allowed to cancel bookings?

What they do with their property is up to them. Perhaps they've decided they want the comparative safety of an agency, as opposed to the sometimes-dodgy AirBnB.

@DynamoKev prices for UK breaks have increased since we booked, and all the cheaper places have gone... We would have to pay at least double for a similar location now.

@HelloThereMeHearties so you would be happy if something you'd purchased was cancelled for profiteering?

Maybe there are circumstances (a family illness or a family death or something that you do not need to know any details about) that mean they're no longer able to host you and your family so they have handed over to an agency to look after the cleaning and welcoming and maintenance etc

You have had a full refund and plenty of time to organise something else

Id not cancel myself but let them cancel so it goes in their recording.
Apart from that doubt you can claim much

[quote AudTheDeepAndCrispAndEven]@HelloThereMeHearties so you would be happy if something you'd purchased was cancelled for profiteering?[/quote]
a) It's their choice, and
b) you have no idea why they've decided to be with an agency. Perhaps they've had some bad experiences with AirBnB? Perhaps their circumstances have changed, and they want something more formal than AirBnB?

You have no idea. If they wanted more money they could just cancel you via AirBnB, then put their rates up on there.

How should I proceed? I'm thinking of initially asking them for more details as to how Covid means they can't honour our booking.

I would do this and see what they come back with.

Agree with a PP that I'd let them be the ones to cancel if it comes to that.

No, of course I wouldn't be happy with it.

But the first thing to do is to check the contract you agreed to, rather than asking others to speculate about what it says.

I think it's tough tbh. That's the nature of air bnb. They can be cancel.

If the contract you've signed says they can cancel the booking months in advance with a full refund, then you've got no way of arguing, have you?

Ultimately they can probably cancel and refund for any reason unless you have a contract with them stating otherwise, which I’m sure you don’t.

[quote AudTheDeepAndCrispAndEven]@DynamoKev prices for UK breaks have increased since we booked, and all the cheaper places have gone... We would have to pay at least double for a similar location now.[/quote]
I sympathise but that doesn't mean they have breached the contract does it? Depends what's in the contract surely?

Check the booking terms. If they are entitled to cancel the booking, you can't really complain

Id not cancel myself but let them cancel so it goes in their recording.

Good point. Why do you need to cancel it, surely if Airbnb let’s them cancel then they should cancel?

Have you read Airbnb T&Cs to see if you have any protections?

It’s annoying but I don’t think it’s a contract breach. Surely by refunding your money they have terminated the contract and any conditions within it, which they can do so as long as it’s with reasonable notice.

Is it annoying? Yes.

Is it a breach of contract? Very unlikely.

Very very unlikely to be a breach of contract tbh & even if it were the remedy for this is to put you back in the position of if the contract had never occurred, a full refund would do this. It may well be they are cancelling for financial gain & whilst it’s not great for you, you aren’t entitled to a higher amount or the accomodation.

Just looked up re Airbnb and it says ‘cancelling yourself may leave you out of pocket’. I’m sure you’re already across it all OP but sounds very strange that they want you to cancel and won’t cancel themselves.

However, I’ve only ever used Airbnb once.

They need to cancel the booking so it goes on their record, not yours.

No, they couldn't do that - if the owner cancels, then they can't rebook the same week through AirBnB (it's blocked out).

This is presumably why they want the OP to cancel.

But is that OP’s problem? Why should they be able to re-book that week?

Totally understand how galling this is, and would be spitting it was me....but I don’t think there’s much you can do sadly. Last year there were loads of uk holiday home owners who cancelled all their bookings so they could make use of the properties themselves... there was nothing any of the cancelled punters could do. It’s sh!t.