Airbnb host not responding - should I be worried?

[AirbnbhostAWOL]

We are heading to France on Saturday. For the first 4 nights we have an Airbnb booked in our favourite beach town in Brittany. We booked it in January and have been really excited; it's a beachfront property in the centre of town. We've walked past these properties loads of times and I've always said how much I'd like to stay in one.
Anyway, I was looking at the Airbnb listing last week and I noticed there had been no reviews for the property since last September. Prior to that it has received pretty good reviews for 5-6 years (100 reviews in total). The host has another property in the same town; exactly the same thing. Lots of reviews that end in August 2023.
I then sent the host a brief message on Saturday morning just saying "hi, just checking all is still ok for our stay next week". I have not had a reply, and I can see the message is unread.
Obviously this is worrying. I contacted Airbnb via instant chat last night, but all they kept saying was "your reservation is confirmed, don't worry" and that I need to give the host longer to reply. I do understand that there might be reasons they can't reply immediately, but it's the combination of that, plus the lack of reviews that are concerning me.
How long should I leave it for her to respond before contacting Airbnb again?
There is almost no accommodation left in the town we want to stay in, and it's all more expensive, so if the worst comes to the worst I need to know asap to stand a chance of rebooking something.

There should be a phone number for the host so you could call or text.

Is it still available to rent now?

Hi - she's french, so I don't want to call as my french is nowhere near good enough to communicate. I could text, but am keen to keep communication via Airbnb so they can see it should it come to a cancellation/dispute.

It's blocked out every night until October

I would text

Hmm I've got an Airbnb and I'd respond immediately. The app remind you to respond and owners get marked down for late or missing comms.

The fact it's blocked out for every night around your stay and for months ahead makes me worried. I do that when we have friends and family staying or because we are doing major renovations. I certainly don't want any bookings. There been occasions when I've missed a few days and someone's jumped in and booked and I've had to cancel their booking with profuse apologies. I do that within minutes of them booking though.

The app gives owners a million reminders of impending arrivals but these don't start until about 4 days out...

If you have the owners mobile number (you should have it in the booking details) I'd send a text in English and again in French (shove it through an online translator)

Thanks for that, useful to have a host's perspective. I will text in the morning, seeing as they are an hour ahead, and will then contact Airbnb if I still don't hear by the afternoon/evening.
It will be incredibly stressful trying to find an alternative at this stage, so I have my fingers crossed!

Whatever happens, don't cancel - even if the host asks you to. If they say they can't host you, involve Airbnb support and insist that they find you suitable alternative accommodation without you having to pay more.

Yes, no worries on that front! We actually had similar about 8 years ago, but that was less than 24 hrs before, and nothing from the host. Airbnb were pretty good, and sorted an alternative for us that was actually better than our original booking.
Whatever text I send tomorrow I will also add it to the Airbnb thread for that reason.
The issue this time is that there isn't any like for like alternative - it's a very popular town so pretty much fully booked. And definitely nothing beachfront. We will probably have to stay a few miles away at best.
(But maybe it will all be fine??)

I have texted. And then when I logged back into Airbnb to send the message that way as well, I can see she has now read my Airbnb message. I am now anxiously waiting, having spent approximately 3 hours last night delving into the depths of the internet to come up with a list of alternatives. I included some fairly optimistic Airbnb upgrades!!

Keeping my fingers crossed for you OP. I really hope you get a positive answer, though at least the host has read it more.

I've got my fingers crossed for you OP! What a nightmare xxx

She has read all my messages (Saturday morning via Airbnb, this morning via Airbnb, and WhatsApp this morning). She read them an hour and a half ago, and nothing.
If she can no longer accommodate us I just want to know 😬

Im anxious for you op!!

This is why I find Airbnb so unappealing as an option - the stress of it!

That's so frustrating. Hopefully you will hear back from her soon.

Still nothing. I have looked through all of the Airbnb host rules, and it says they have 3 days to respond to messages if the reservation is more than 5 days away.

On the one hand I don't want to hound her as she is within the Airbnb guidelines. I would never normally contact a host in advance, I just wait for the standard check in details email to arrive. I don't want her to think we are very demanding guests; we are definitely not!

But on the other hand, not replying just seems a bit rude! My messages have been very polite. I just explained we were a bit worried because the property had no reviews in 2024 and we wanted to double check it was still going ahead.

All her previous reviews call out her excellent communication

Anything back yet ?

This would make me nervous too. I hope it works out for you.

The places I’ve clocked to not have recent reviews, I’ve found are listed on other websites or have their own website and booking system. I imagine they prioritise the method that gives them the most profit or freedom.

Although that might be slightly reassuring, I’m sure it also opens up the possibility of it having been double-booked!

Hope she responds soon.

I would be worried too OP. Fingers crossed for you.

Everything crossed for you.

I’ve stayed in air bnb all over the world since it launched and usually get response or correspondence around 48 hours prior to check in. But the way air bnb has changed to being more business run and less owner run has meant in the past 2-3 years we have had very little communication ahead of bookings and usually get a message on the arrival day or day before for how to check in - key box etc.
so you might need to wait until Thursday to chase again

I wonder if she's lying low due to crackdowns on airbnbs in France. My friends daughter had a lot of trouble in Paris last month. Fingers crossed for you

Oh this is stressful, fingers crossed OP!

I think if they'd actually shut down you'd be seeing bad reviews by now, wouldn't you?