Airbnb hosts these days are insane for real.
You pay a premium and still you do laundry, clear the garbage, mop the floor and what not and still be charged for cleaning.
How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb
41–50 of 377 posts
Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb
#42Commenting as a "host" on Airbnb: yes, it's a reeaaally nasty company with absolutely horrible "support", from the hosting side as well as from the guest side.
In this particular case it's an unkind and nasty host as well; they could perfectly well allow the guest despite Airbnb's policies, though Airbnb would say that their laughable "Aircover" "insurance" would not apply to the rental.
Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb
#43Charge it back via your bank and explain the situation. Worst case scenario, it gets denied, you don't lose anything either way. The initial misunderstanding was cleared up just one hour after the booking - it should be very reasonable for the host to offer a full refund, it's not like it was a last-minute cancellation where the host would struggle to get it rebooked in time and lose out. The host is clearly being ma…
Are you actually likely to win this chargeback? I'm sure that airbnb made the terms very clear in their million page T&C's document...
Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb
#44I've only used AirBNB a few times and it always sucked. The fact that you have to pay a cleaning fee, then you have to do all these chores on the way out (strip linens down, do dishes, take out trash, etc.) never made any sense. I just wish hotels would have found a way to compete better for longer term stays. You should get some kind of price break for staying longer in a hotel.
Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb
#45Charge it back via your bank and explain the situation. Worst case scenario, it gets denied, you don't lose anything either way. The initial misunderstanding was cleared up just one hour after the booking - it should be very reasonable for the host to offer a full refund, it's not like it was a last-minute cancellation where the host would struggle to get it rebooked in time and lose out. The host is clearly being ma…
Getting yourself banned off of Airbnb for $950 doesn't sound optimal unless you are swearing off short term lodging around the world (outside of hotels) for the foreseeable future. That's one of the negative externalities of capture-the-market VC investing - getting banned on one of these platforms cuts you off from almost the entirety of supply because of how marketplace dynamics work.
Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb
#46Charge it back via your bank and explain the situation. Worst case scenario, it gets denied, you don't lose anything either way. The initial misunderstanding was cleared up just one hour after the booking - it should be very reasonable for the host to offer a full refund, it's not like it was a last-minute cancellation where the host would struggle to get it rebooked in time and lose out. The host is clearly being ma…
Getting yourself banned off of Airbnb for $950 doesn't sound optimal unless you are swearing off short term lodging around the world (outside of hotels) for the foreseeable future. That's one of the negative externalities of capture-the-market VC investing - getting banned on one of these platforms cuts you off from almost the entirety of supply because of how marketplace dynamics work.
If this is how the service is going to work - why would I want to be part of it? I'm not interested in playing some VC's network effects game.
The era of free money is over for now, they're going to want business soon.
Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb
#47Airbnb customer support is terrible. I placed a booking and got complete radio silence from the host. Support wouldn't provide a refund until checkin-in failed.
I had already booked a hotel, and don't use Airbnb anymore.
Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb
#484.47 rating. That is, believe it or not, a pretty appalling score, and not something I would book. Also, the host is an ass, I cannot count how many times I have had people book for family members, and I’ve had numerous occasions where someone has booked for someone else for work. You also want to avoid 5.00 or 4.99 with hundreds of stays as they are inevitably buying or extorting reviews. 4.88-4.97 is the sweet spot…
Pretty funny that the 5-star system compresses the actual useful signal into less than 10% of the range.
It’s ridiculous - and Airbnb perpetuate it. If you get a 4.8* or below review, you get a cranky email from Airbnb saying that you suck and red warnings all over the “improvements” section of the admin. It works, just barely, as long as you only book places with like 50 stays and a score in the range I mentioned - which isn’t something you expect your average Joe to realise.
Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb
#49My elderly parents were going to visit us last spring, but my daughter came home from school with a sore throat, so I went to cancel immediately, and they weren't willing to work with me at all , and also mentioned I shouldn't have booked for my parents. I did that because they're not very tech savvy. In any case, I did a chargeback and got all of my money back, even though I would have been happy to forfeit some sin…
I ran into a similar situation- booked for my wife to have a girls getaway, the place was disgusting and unsafe (no walking path up a hill covered in snow) and had to book elsewhere because the host wasn't around when they arrived.
Airbnb refused to help, because per Airbnb policy, me booking for my wife counted as a "third party booking".
They tried being reasonable up until the person said "well if your wife damaged something you wouldn't want to be responsible would you?" and I pointed out that legally, in my state spouses are responsible for debts incurred by their partners. Mentioning the word "legal" put an immediate stop to the conversation with a blunt sentence along the lines of "we have done all we can for you. Goodbye."
Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb
#50Why didn’t they do a chargeback?