Sueing Airbnb with via Small Court Claim

[Ibiscus]

Hello everyone!

I was an Airbnb superhost when Airbnb deactivated my account in May this year and all the subsequent bookings (over 20) got cancelled on the same day. However I had 3 bookings happening on the same day as the deactivation and these were not cancelled.
The only explanation they gave for deactivating my account was that it was a copy of an accont that had been previously deactivated 3 years ago.
I called Airbnb and I asked if the 3 bookings happening that day were valid and if I had to check the guests in. The operators confirmed as I would have been paid and not to cancel the bookings.

As you can guess unfortunately no payment for any of these 3 bookings was received. The payouts were a total of £6000 and till today when I call Airbnb they scroll their shooulders by saying someone is taking care of my case and they will message me.

Therefore the only way to reach and finally receive the money they owe me is to go via the Small Court Claim.

Has anyone experience with it?

Have you ever tried to contact the legal department of Airbnb?

Thank you :)

I am in the process of a small claims for something else. It is very easy to do online. However they will expect you try meditation first, when you go on the gov site for the small claims there is a link to find a mediator and contact details so you can look sometime up in your area and have a chat with them. It usually costs less to go through mediation than it does small claims.

Did you host these 3 bookings but not get the money?

I took a budget airline company to the small claims court, they strung it all out a bit, then didn’t defend themselves and paid up, including all of my fees plus a bunch of other expenses that I had incurred. It was totally worth it, not for the money so much as the satisfaction because they lied so much throughout the whole thing.

I'd speak with a solicitor, if you haven't already. I find big companies/orgs can stonewall individuals and small businesses but will be more communicative with a solicitor. It might only need a letter.

However they will expect you try meditation first, when you go on the gov site for the small claims there is a link to find a mediator and contact details so you can look sometime up in your area and have a chat with them. It usually costs less to go through mediation than it does small claims.

Not quite true. If you agree to mediation you need to be willing to make a concession of some sort for there to be any point to it.

If you're clear that you are owed an XX amount and want the whole lot back there's nothing to mediate on or come to an agreement about. You might present your receipt or whatever evidence you have but that can forewarn your defendant so might not be the right thing to do.

By the way it costs no more to go to the small claims court. The mediation is free but only once you've paid your Small Claims Court fee.

Small claims is so easy. You open it and it begins, so easy. Start your claim tomorrow, ASAP.
Show you've done mediation and all your emails and attempts to get it resolved.
What's the worst that can happen?

Email them tonight. Tell them that despite endless emails, you are now forced to start small claims tomorrow. You must notify them that you intend to.

Did they tell you in writing to host these bookings? Or have they admitted liability in writing?

Airbnb contract under Irish law, so you'd need to find out their equivalent of small claims.

Thanks so much, yes I will start the claim as soon as I have mailed Aibnb to notify of the claim I am intending to open.

Yes I have hosted all the 3 bookings. Yes the amount they owe me is fixed so there is nothing to mediate.
I contacted a lawyer last month and he replied:

I charge £250/hour (GOSH) and given your case I would open a small court claim as it's under £10000.

The only thing I'm still doubting on is to what address of Airbnb I should use to send them the letter. They are a Californian company but they have recently open a headquarter in Ireland. So should I mail the latter?

Thank you!

The 3 bookings were valid and even when calling them now they will confirm the bookings were not cancelled. Each booking code can be tracked and recognised on Airbnb. They never send anything in writing these sharks
:\

Have you told air bnb you intend to sue them?

I had a totally different legal issue with air bnb but as soon as I started saying I was going to a lawyer it got dealt with fairly promptly. A real person even phoned me back for over an hour - shock!

@bytheby

Whenever I call them they say their position is too law and someone much high up is handling my case and they'll eventually hang up on me.
Being my account deactivated that's how they treat me now

@CorrBlimeyGG

Living in the UK how do I start a Small Court Claim for a respondent (Airbnb) in Ireland?

In the end I asked for an address to serve my claim and I told them I would be contacting the BBC consumer affairs prog. It worked for me and I was put through to someone who was actually able to help. It was hugely frustrating to get to that point so I feel for you. Good luck!

If you do have to go to court I wouldn't bother with a lawyer for a claim this small (and I say this as an ex lawyer)

What about the other bookings? I know you didn't host them but that's a lot of potential earnings lost?

@frizzmonster

Yes they were all cancelled unfortunately. ALL of bookings happening from the day after the cancellation. Huge amount of money of course.
That's why at least I would want the money for the ones I was told by them to honour!

Find their terms and conditions on the website or what they sent you when you signed up. It will tell you what jurisdiction (law of which country) the contract is governed by.

Google a template letter of claim for small claims and send it to them saying you will issue proceedings against them.

They're a huge company, you're pretty much a mosquito to them unfortunately.

Email the ceo - I bet it gets sorted in seconds. I'm in a similar industry and that gets cut through every time

The operators confirmed as I would have been paid

Is this exactly what they said? As you’d been paid, you should host the bookings?

But you hadn’t been paid?

Is the reason that they deactivated your account legit - had you previously had one removed?

Those things may all be relevant - but as Cheeky said, start with their T&Cs and see what jurisdiction the contract is governed by, that’ll be where you take legal action.

@Handsoffstrikesagain
@whatthejiggeries

I found the CEO email address!

[email protected]

WIll have to write a good email ;o

@TakeYourFinalPosition

Yes all the opreators I spoke told me to honour these 3 bookings as they were valid. If I was to cancel them I would have not been paid.

And yes I had a previous account with them with different flats.

@TakeYourFinalPosition
@CheekyAFAIK

Their jurisdition is in accordance with the Irish Law, and unfortunately the Small Court Claim in Ireland only cover up to 2000 EUR...

However Airbnb has a registerd office in the UK! I found it in the Companies House:

AIRBNB UK LIMITED

Can I not use this address in order to bypass and use the UK Small Claim Court?

This is why you need a solicitor. You can get contract law expert advice online, it needn't be £250 per hour.

I'd suggest doing this before writing an email to the CEO.

the website www.airbnb.co.uk/about/company-details gives the UK company details - serve the claim at Airbnb Payments UK Ltd.
100 New Bridge Street London EC4V 6JA

When I was considering using small claims I read the info at www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-use-the-small-claims-court-avaeF3Q5CcZt and started the procedure but was able to resolve it at the mediation stage