Anyone taken Airbnb UK to small claims court?

[Phito9999]

If you have, did you claim against Airbnb or the host? The issue is long & dull but I've run out of patience with their resolution department and have not accepted their offer which was full of factual inaccuracies. I think I would be better off claiming through the court. I know I might lose and that would cost more but I'm willing to do that. I just want to make sure I get the paperwork/online application right.

Depends on the issue really!

Yeah we need the back story

Small claims is useful as it's cheap and easy and at least you can say you tried. You certainly don't need a solicitor to do it.

I'm guessing who you should claim against depends with who, under law, you had the contract with.

The other great thing is that you need to turn up at the court or it doesn't look good. The other side are often not motivated to do that so you're already ahead.

We had dreadful trouble with AirBnB last year when they denied all knowledge of our £850 deposit.
We had paid on credit card so raised a section 75(?) with the credit card and got it all refunded .
If you used a debit card then it’s a chargeback .
We decided we would never use them again!

OldshoeUK I think that's what I really need the answer to, was my contract with Airbnb or the host? It's a relatively small sum but I'm just fed up with being fobbed off with nonsense.

OldshoeUK I think that's what I really need the answer to, was my contract with Airbnb or the host? It's a relatively small sum but I'm just fed up with being fobbed off with nonsense.

If you did nothing but make a booking through the site, then your contract is with Airbnb. But if you contacted the host at any point about the booking, they may become party to it. Or if you transferred money directly to the host, it may be solely their issue. We can't say without more details.

Well I made the booking through Airbnb and subsequently emailed the host but always via Airbnb. Payment was made via Airbnb. The host rented out an unsafe property, the front door could not be locked when inside the accommodation. I learned this from a previous review the day after I made the reservation. I queried it with the host immediately, via the website and was assured all was ok. When I arrived at the property, well, guess what, they door lock was still broken. Numerous emails during my 4 day stay, absolutely nothing done to fix it. I asked for a refund because 1. They had no business renting out an unsafe property & 2. They lied when they told me it was fixed.

The "resolution" from Airbnb is a joke,
"A 50% refund based on my 3 night stay" - it was a 4 night stay
Because

• "the review referred to another property" - it did not, it was posted against the property and accurately described the situation within the accomodation

"The property was inspected the day before my arrival and was fine" - this is clearly bullshit "I broke the lock" - also clearly bullshit. Obviously I will be more articulate in my formal claim. So I need to be clear who my contract was actually with so I can issue a formal claim. It's more a about being pissed off with all this hassle during lockdown when I needed accommodation , permitted under Covid regs, to give support in an already difficult situation In normal circumstances I wouldn't have even unpacked but it really isn't the time to find yourself in a strange town trying to find alternative accommodation on a Sunday evening.

I think if you did go to small claims you would find find your case jeopardised by the fact you used the service, I assume you weren't harmed or anything stolen due to the broken lock. Yes you shouldn't pay full price but you did benefit from the accommodation.

Whack off a letter before action first. I would do it to the host. It’ll make them pay up I’m sure.

Yes, I see the formal letter is part of the process and template letters are available on the gov website. Will definitely do that but still unclear whether to host or Airbnb, perhaps I'll send the letter to both while I sort out who to name on the full claim. I'll have to read it thoroughly one I'm home, I found somewhere decent to stay this week

Did you stay in the property for the full duration of the booking? If you did, I'd be surprised if you were entitled to anything more. A 50% refund for a faulty lock seems more than generous to me.

I think you're lucky to be offered anything! You used the service for the agreed timespan. If you'd left you could have argued for costs incurred, but you didn't have any.

Court generally doesn't hand out compensation for non-material issues. It will order that you be recompensed for your losses. So, what were your financial losses caused by this problem? Presumably none whatsoever, so this may not lead to the outcome you're looking for. I'd have taken the generous offer, personally.

Honestly I think you are fighting a losing battle. Laws and rules never do what you think they will and as a pp said if there was no loss as a result the UK is not the place for compensation. If you left and stayed somewhere else you might have been in a stronger position to claim both the Airbnb costs and the replacement accommodation but I think staying puts you at a disadvantage. 20 years ago we applied for a second mortgage. We had a phone call from a random stranger saying they had received the fully completed forms for us to sign with all employment and personal details on from the bank. I was unhappy with the CEO's offer of dinner to compensate and took it to the FSA, they told me nothing could be done unless I could prove consequential loss in the future as a result. All the data protection laws and rules meant jack shit when it came to it. Accept the offer from Airbnb and learn from it.

If the property were so unsafe you woukd have left booked elsewhere and it would be that additional cost that would be recoverable and even then it would need to be reasonable ie. a similar standard to the original place.

The offer of 50% is indeed a very good one and all that would happen is that they would make that offer again in court proceedings and indeed if you fail to beat that offer in court you may actually have to pay some of their expenses in defending the claim.

As much as it irks I woukd take the 50% and put it behind you.

You have been offered a partial refund and you did actually accept the service and stay there, unsatisfactory though it was. I would accept the partial refund and let the rest go. You aren't going to get better than that via the court. If you had declined to stay there due to it being unsafe and had arranged alternative accommodation instead then you might well have been successful in getting the courts to order a full refund but you can't accept the service and then claim you shouldn't have to pay anything at all for it. Their partial refund offer is reasonable.

Take the offer. Small claims isn't going to consider any kind of emotional distress claim and I assume the host will have now fixed the lock so there isn't a lot more to do. Unless you have financial losses, and I assume you don't, the offer is better than anything you might get in court.

Not a lawyer!

The contract is with Airbnb but as others have said, if you'd refused to stay they would have probably refunded and rebooked you elsewhere but you stayed, so you won't get 100% refunded.
I hope you left a bad review for the host though

I'm a big fan of small claims. But in this case you stayed, so the 50% offer is reasonable. Accept the offer and don't pursue small claims.

I'd say what they have offered is generous, if slightly factually incorrect. Why not just email back and correct their errors, instead of going to small claims?

I've found Airbnb really good and easy to deal with.

I think Airbnb are right and very generous, you should have called them immediately and refused to stay, you used the service therefore accepted the situation.

They can stuff their offer. I wouldn't mind if it was based on material facts but their reasons are nonsense. They haven't even got the number of nights I stayed there correct. It's bloody outrageous that they can rent out a property that can be entered by anyone walking in off the street and lie about it when asked. Perhaps when someone is attacked, robbed or murdered there they will take some action. This is more about getting them to fix it and stop ripping people off, I'm not really bothered about the money.

I've used small claims successfully in the past. I haven't had to attend court on either occasion. I willing to do it again and if I don't win, well at least I've tried
As I said, it's not about the money.

@Phito9999 ok.so everyone is wrong and you are right. You do realise that taking them to court is all about the money though dont you?

@Phito9999

They can stuff their offer. I wouldn't mind if it was based on material facts but their reasons are nonsense. They haven't even got the number of nights I stayed there correct. It's bloody outrageous that they can rent out a property that can be entered by anyone walking in off the street and lie about it when asked. Perhaps when someone is attacked, robbed or murdered there they will take some action. This is more about getting them to fix it and stop ripping people off, I'm not really bothered about the money.

Then you should have walked out when you decided the accommodation was substandard. You stayed, therefore you accepted the condition it was in. You would have got 100% refund if you had done that and Airbnb would have helped you find an alternative.