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What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb?

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Re: What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb?

#61

Post by ericd »

nanidin wrote: post #57
ericd wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that indicates that you're not renting just a couch in someone's apartment (a la couchsurfing). In the vacation rental world, that max accommodation figure almost always includes the couches (especially if it's a pullout couch).

Did you visit the link provided? There is clearly a "Room type" classification, which would be used to indicate that you're renting a room in a house, a whole house, a bed in a room, or a couch in a room, for example. And there is also a "Bed type" classification to specify the type of bed you will be sleeping in.

"Bed Type" doesn't mean it's uniformly that type, it's sort of the max of the class, so it's not terribly useful. It would be nice if it was broken down by number of beds (it is on some sites), but that's more of a nice to have than the norm.

Re: What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb?

#62

Post by wildfire »

brianchesky wrote: post #49

hey everyone, I have looked into this and a few things are going on here. (1) Turns out there was a bug in our system where a guest was actually allowed to double-book this host's listing, so this was our fault. The host did not cancel, we double-booked. We are fixing this bug now, and I haven't heard of any other guests being affected by this. (2) I just want to note this is a statistically rare event (though by rea…

Hi Brian,

Your cancellation policy, as well as others are not balanced on either side.

I'm a host -- and I've been a guest. Once.

As a host, I get to choose the verification level I will accept; as a guest, I'm basically forced to hand over my government issued identification to AirBnB (to "verify" myself)

Now, I'm sure that if this was pre-Snowden, there might be some justification for this; but given that AirBnB has already had over 10,000,000 million night booked with them, it seems fairly arbitrary to require guests to provide this information.

On the other side of things, as both a host and a guest I've had exemplary support from AirBnB; perhaps when you are dealing with Europeans, you are just nicer?

A

Re: What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb?

#63

Post by redthrowaway »

brianchesky wrote: post #49

hey everyone, I have looked into this and a few things are going on here. (1) Turns out there was a bug in our system where a guest was actually allowed to double-book this host's listing, so this was our fault. The host did not cancel, we double-booked. We are fixing this bug now, and I haven't heard of any other guests being affected by this. (2) I just want to note this is a statistically rare event (though by rea…

>Turns out there was a bug in our system where the guest was actually allowed to double-book this host's listing, so this was our fault.

The way you worded this suggests it was the same guest, and not two separate guests (which is what the author's experience would suggest). Is this correct?

Re: What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb?

#64

Post by brianchesky »

buro9 wrote: post #59
brianchesky wrote: post #49

hey everyone, I have looked into this and a few things are going on here. (1) Turns out there was a bug in our system where a guest was actually allowed to double-book this host's listing, so this was our fault. The host did not cancel, we double-booked. We are fixing this bug now, and I haven't heard of any other guests being affected by this. (2) I just want to note this is a statistically rare event (though by rea…

On #3 it may be worth penalising those who do it during annual events like the Boston Marathon, Wimbledon, etc. Accommodation is extremely hard to find and highly competitive at this time and the host should factor this in. If it becomes an annual thing that hosts cancel and allow gazumping ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazumping ) then it will seriously damage the AirBNB relationship with renters as AirBNB will bec…

This is a very good insight. Thanks for the suggestion. You are definitely right here. In the past during events (e.g. SXSW), we have actually booked Airbnb's ourselves, and some hotel rooms, just in case a guest got canceled on last minute and all Airbnb's and hotels were sold out, but we should definitely go further.

Re: What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb?

#65

Post by brianchesky »

redthrowaway wrote: post #63
brianchesky wrote: post #49

hey everyone, I have looked into this and a few things are going on here. (1) Turns out there was a bug in our system where a guest was actually allowed to double-book this host's listing, so this was our fault. The host did not cancel, we double-booked. We are fixing this bug now, and I haven't heard of any other guests being affected by this. (2) I just want to note this is a statistically rare event (though by rea…

>Turns out there was a bug in our system where the guest was actually allowed to double-book this host's listing, so this was our fault. The way you worded this suggests it was the same guest, and not two separate guests (which is what the author's experience would suggest). Is this correct?

two different guests.

Re: What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb?

#66

Post by poweredbytofu »

blackdogie wrote: post #13
jhh wrote: post #11

any party in almost any such setting, including hotels, could cancel two months in advance without fees. I really don't know what the big deal is.

OP here. My points were 1) the host said there was a glitch in the airbnb system & doubled booked somehow, but I think they either wanted either a longer tenant or they got a better offer for Marathon Weekend in Boston 2) if I cancel I lose 50% , if they do it they lose 3%.

That's not the way Airbnb works. You can't cancel someone's booking on Airbnb for a "better offer" from another Airbnb user. If you cancel a guest's booking on Airbnb, Airbnb will block out your calendar for those dates and not allow you to relist your space to rent to another guest - for that time period. If the host HAD double booked on accident through another vacation rental site (Homeaway, VRBO etc), that is the only way they could be canceling to "get a better offer".

Re: What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb?

#67

Post by brianchesky »

avalaunch wrote: post #60
brianchesky wrote: post #49

hey everyone, I have looked into this and a few things are going on here. (1) Turns out there was a bug in our system where a guest was actually allowed to double-book this host's listing, so this was our fault. The host did not cancel, we double-booked. We are fixing this bug now, and I haven't heard of any other guests being affected by this. (2) I just want to note this is a statistically rare event (though by rea…

If it is a statistically rare event then offering a full refund shouldn't be much of a hit to you. If that's not the case then you should let renters know up front that there is a statistically significant chance that despite reserving a room, they may not actually get a room.

In this case the guest was, and always would be, offered a full refund when a host cancels. Unless you are referring to something else...?

Re: What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb?

#68

Post by southphillyman »

In October I had a host cancel on me with in 7 days of arrival. The host did not want to cancel through the AirBnB system because of fees I presume, instead they western union'ed me a refund....but it took several days for us to work out the logistics on the transfer. It worked out because I was able to book another (better) apartment, albeit for a higher fee, and I received the refund before I left for the trip. Handling situations where the host does not cancel through the system did not seem intuitive and resulted in me searching for a phone number to contact AirBnb and make them aware of the situation in case the host was scamming.

I'll be traveling internationally for a couple of weeks in the fall and using AirBnb for much of that trip. Deep down I have a feeling that at least one of the rentals will have a choppy transaction. Until they tighten up on holding hosts accountable and make the transfer of the key more uniform and streamline there will always be a degree of uncertainty.

Re: What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb?

#69

Post by jack-r-abbit »

ashray wrote: post #28
inmygarage wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there is a double bed, single bed, and a couch, that accommodates 4 people. Remember, Airbnb is a marketplace so it is your responsibility as the guest to clarify the exact sleeping arrangements. If you want a higher level of service, go to a hotel. You'll pay a lot more, but if you require great service then it's probably a better option.

Uhh no. AirBNB has a field on listings that clearly indicates "Bed Type". In this case "Bed Type" said Real Bed. Random example: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1229577?checkin=02%2F21%2F2014&... One isn't likely to clarify that with the host prior to arrival given that it's on the listing. AirBNB needs to take responsibility for this kind of thing given that you pay about 15% as AirBNB fees and 3% is also paid by the h…

Airbnb could probably do better than just "real bed" for bed type. Maybe they should make the host list the different bed sizes/counts. Yours would have been: 1 double, 1 single & 1 couch.

Re: What happens when a host cancels with Airbnb?

#70

Post by lotharbot »

blackdogie wrote: post #13
jhh wrote: post #11

any party in almost any such setting, including hotels, could cancel two months in advance without fees. I really don't know what the big deal is.

OP here. My points were 1) the host said there was a glitch in the airbnb system & doubled booked somehow, but I think they either wanted either a longer tenant or they got a better offer for Marathon Weekend in Boston 2) if I cancel I lose 50% , if they do it they lose 3%.

One of Airbnb's founders clarified elsewhere in this thread that there actually was a system glitch.
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