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.

Such a pain! Have you tried other sites like Vrbo to see if they have anything available?

VRBO, booking.com, flowers camping, huttopia, you name it we've looked at it! Unless anyone knows of any secret french accommodation websites in which case I'm all ears!!

I'm wavering on the alternative. I have a bad feeling about it. Zero reviews. DH pushing for it as it's super close to the beach, but I'm worried. We're looking at an apartment in a nice hotel nearby. It's going to be a late night of intense googling!!

Oh no! I'm sorry OP, what a shit thing to happen at this late stage. This sort of thing completely puts me off ever using airbnb again.
If staying in the same town I don't think I could resist wandering past to have a look at the place, see if it's being renovated or has other guests.
The lack of reviews is still very odd!
Hope you get the other place confirmed and manage to enjoy when you get there.

That's rubbish OP 🥲
You may already have tried Yelloh! Eurocamp or Hoseasons France ?
🤞you find something decent.

I cannot stand AirBnB. We have a 50% success rate as half of my booked got cancelled with days to go. All maintenance reasons allegedly. I don't use them anymore

@AirbnbhostAWOL The apartment in a hotel sounds like a better bet, but presumably it will be even more expensive. But it is probably a better bet!

I'd be anxious about the Air BNB with no reviews too. The Aparthotel sounds better bet.

Good luck!

Oh Collette! She proved us right, sadly!

What a nightmare, we've used Airbnb before for ski accommodation but it's always made me uneasy and very much 'well hopefully it'll work out...'

I don't think I'll use them again. Hope you get sorted OP!

So sorry OP. Don't forget to egg her house!

Have you tried www.leboncoin.fr/locations_saisonnieres/offres

I rent my place through here, only fee is for secure payment. Unfortunately I'm not on the coast!

what a nightmare

Have you looked at yelloh, eurocamp, and allcamps? If not, check them out, as many of these are based close to beaches and some sites offer nicer lodges etc, not just caravans..... and even the caravans can be pretty nice, with several bedrooms, decent kitchens, outdoor space and close to a beach + some extra facilities

Airbnb did the same to me earlier this year.... i'd booked accomodation almost a year in advance for my cousins wedding which was on an island.... there was literally NO accomodation left on that island when my booking was cancelled for "personal reasons" a few days before my stay.... airbnb refunded and gave me a voucher for another few £s which was absoutely useless when there was literally NO WHERE else at all on that island..... ended up paying (lots) more for a premier inn on the mainland........ which was super annoying because i could have booked that a year before for about 1/3 of the price i paid booking last minute.

Have a wonderful holiday, and enjoy the time together. You can still have a wonderful holiday even if it's different to plan a.

My experiance, + stories like yours make me dubious to use airbnb in future (even when we have had so many +ve airbnb experiances in the past)

That is absolutely disgraceful OP. I'm so sorry you're having all this stress. I am an Airbnb host (have been for years) and i am appalled how some hosts behave.

Interestingly I only ever use booking.com when booking my own holidays. I honestly think Airbnb is on a downward trajectory now.

Oh no! I’m so sorry.
Collette is a cow and I will happily come and help you egg her beachfront property (as long as there’s wine afterwards)

We've booked the hotel apartment. I stayed in the hotel bit when DC were tiny (my parents used to live nearby which is why we know and love the town), and it was lovely. But it's only three nights, not 4. So we're now booking for one night between the ferry and the beach town. It's sucked up 6 hours!! I've looked at every property and hotel on the north coast of France!! And always you think you've found somewhere, then you click on reviews, and "bam", that's why it's available with 2 days notice

"the only downside is the toilet not having a door" 🤣🤣🤣🤣

We did look at campsites, but the decent ones are booked up. But I am bookmarking for future stays where I don't want to use Airbnb. I tend to agree with the view it's gone downhill.

Sadly we now have Airbnb credit though. DH gets a 7% discount through a work scheme, but it works by buying vouchers at a discount. So, our refund is now vouchers 😬

I'd give her a hideous review as well so other potential bookers can be saved the hassle

That’s so so crap! By way of reassurance she will lose her supoerhost status and may well get suspended for messing you about like this.

Sadly we can't because she cancelled. I believe it just shows up in her list of reviews as "the host cancelled this reservation with XX notice" which is something.

She also wasn't a super host, which is a lesson learnt from our side.

We have now booked the additional night. I was awake at 4am googling hotels! We have done that through Airbnb because we now have a load of credit to use, but this is a super host, and she has been lovely. I messaged first thing because we couldn't wait for the 24 hour reservation thing, explained the situation, and she messaged back immediately. Has given us parking and restaurant recommendations, is going to be there to check us in, etc etc. I guess Airbnb is only as good as the hosts. The air cover they advertise as insurance basically doesn't exist. I think I will use the site much much more cautiously in future.

Anyway!! If there are any mumsnetters in Brittany who wants to help me "ouef" an apartment at the beginning of next week please let me know 😁.

I hope this is picked up by the media. It’s disgraceful management /care from air b n b. It would absolutely put me off booking through them - to have your holiday cancelled days before is terrible. I hope you still have a wonderful holiday once you arrive.

Sadly we now have Airbnb credit though.

Why can't you get a cash refund, assuming you paid via card and not vouchers?

Sadly we now have Airbnb credit though. DH gets a 7% discount through a work scheme, but it works by buying vouchers at a discount. So, our refund is now vouchers 😬

Because we paid with vouchers. Another lesson learnt. It has always saved us money in the past, sometimes he can even buy vouchers with a 10% discount

This is awful OP and really terrible of Air BnB. I think with the very inflated costs and the ridiculous cleaning fee added these days, air BnB will begin losing lots of customers.

That is extremely shit. I'm disgusted at AirBnB's response! THEY should be the ones finding you alternative accommodation ffs with just 48 hours notice.

I'd be blasting AirBnB all over Twitter etc. Appalling response to an appalling host

I avoid airbnb now. It is overpriced and you seem to have little come back if it fails or is not as described. The host in your case clearly had no intention of honouring your booking and it is completely unacceptable to cancel like that. The fact that you had been flagging up her lack of communication etc and they did absolutely nothing is dreadful.