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Original poster

Air BnB cancelled on us

17 replies

Tulipomania · 19/02/2022 22:03

Booked a really nice, expensive Air BnB in quite a popular place in Europe for all of us to stay as we have a family wedding coming up.

Booked months ago to get a nice place.

Host has just cancelled on us. Used Covid as excuse.

There's nothing of a similar standard left. I'm never using Air BnB again. There are no hotel rooms left now for the dates we need.

OP posts:
Windstartingup · 19/02/2022 22:09

Thats awful, what reason did they give?

Original poster
Tulipomania · 19/02/2022 22:11

Just "Covid has been very difficult for us for the past 2 years and the property is no longer available for rental"

OP posts:
MissAmbrosia · 19/02/2022 22:18

I never trust AirBNB for this reason. Though friends tell me they've used them for years with no issue. Where are you looking for? Have you tried booking.com? Depending on when it is, a lot of hotels haven't opened availability for later in the year yet.

SausagePourHomme · 19/02/2022 22:19

airBnB is awful as a guest. after a stay in paris where a cheap flimsy chair broke by being sat on and the hosts own hairdrier fused the electric they (to my mind) basically stole money by debiting it from my account. the bank would not refund. I will never ever use it again.

Hosts are able to cancel old bookings and re-rent for more money. Avoid at all costs.

MissAmbrosia · 19/02/2022 22:20

It's most infuriating for you though! I spend ages looking and booking early to find the best places so it's horrible when someone goes and ruins everything. :(

CovidCorvid · 19/02/2022 22:21

Dd had this. It’s cost her an extra £160 to book somewhere for the same dates. The owner seems to have decided to stop renting the apartment.

whiteroseredrose · 19/02/2022 22:31

You might want to use Booking.Com instead.

I booked a 2 bedroom flat close to landmarks about 10 months ahead of a theatre trip.

A month before we were due to go the owners messaged to say that they were refurbishing so please would I cancel.

I replied asking them to cancel as I didn't want to pay cancellation charges. We went round in circles for a bit then I contacted Booking.Com.

They said that once an owner had accepted a booking they should honour it. They found me an equivalent place which was more expensive as it was so close to the date, then refunded the difference. I think the other flat's owners were billed for it.

Original poster
Tulipomania · 20/02/2022 07:40

Thanks, very limited options on booking.com left too (trip is in June).

e.g. Rooms with only single beds, etc. Very cheap or very expensive, nothing in themed-range we were looking for.

But I guess we will just have to suck it up.

I deliberate chose a Superhost on Air BnB too, as I thought it would be more likely to be hassle free. That was a mistake too.

OP posts:
Original poster
Tulipomania · 20/02/2022 07:41

mid-range

OP posts:
gingerhills · 20/02/2022 07:45

Can you look for last minute cancellations of other SC places in the area? Pther people will have issues with Covid too.

AirBnB has gone down hill. I used to use them all the time, and found great value places. Last year I was on the point of booking some really tatty, run down place in the middle of nowhere in the Lake District for £££ when I thought, I'll just look around. Using a local holiday rental place, I found a brand new beautiful place in a beautiful accessible area for the same price. Not using them again. They stopped doing what they did well a while ago.

ChimChimeny · 20/02/2022 07:48

It's not just air bnb, we had two bookings through trip advisor, one cancelled a week before May half term last year because his ex had sold the chalet but he didn't know & one cancelled early a year ahead because they decided to sell. Luckily we found an alternative but it was very sstressful particularly may last year because no one was going abroad so virtually everywhere was booked

Fabricedesauveterre · 20/02/2022 07:49

What is their cancellation policy?
I’d ask if they are intending to rent for more money straight up and how much they want. Because Covid has been difficult and you may as well get right of first refusal.

Frenchfancy · 20/02/2022 07:51

Airbnb are just a booking platform. They don't inspect properties and give no protection to owners or guests.

To be fair to the owners it may well be that covid has caused them to stop renting. We have rented holiday properties for 19 years. Covid has put us out of business.

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 20/02/2022 07:53

Hosts are able to cancel old bookings and re-rent for more money. Avoid at all costs.

No you can't do that. If you cancel as a host the dates are blocked and you can't rebook them. You can rebook them on another site but that's hardly Airbnb's fault.

ProfYaffle · 20/02/2022 08:01

I've had similar before and won't use Air BnB now. Too unreliable.

MondayYogurt · 20/02/2022 08:09

Yes I've had this and had to pay more last minute. At that time airbnb had a tiny window of time to complain about it, literally hours, and because I missed the window they offered no help.
Another time we were offered a small amount of credit to be used within a short time.
Everything is stacked towards the wretched tax avoiding megacorp.
Vrbo may be better, not sure.

LesterKnopf · 20/02/2022 08:19

I don't use Airbnb for this reason. Much better to use a proper company which will actually find you a replacement if the host cancelled - last year we were booked through a company which found us another of their properties in the same area after the host cancelled the day before we were going there. If this had been Airbnb the holiday would have been ruined.

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