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How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

chriskiehl.com

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Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#91
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have heard of companies reacting to a chargeback in situations like this by banning your account.

> have heard of companies reacting to a chargeback in situations like this by banning your account Reporting this back to your bank, better yet, with your state financial regulator and maybe a federal copied, usually gets this swiftly reversed.

I am curious how this would work. I have not heard of a US government forcing a business like AirBnb to do business with a customer unless there was a violation of discrimination against a protected class.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Homes are sometimes nicer than hotels, better suited for families with children.

An airbnb feels like 'mine'. Whereas a hotel I have no confidence that some overzealous room service won't barge in and try to change the towels while I'm using them!

If anything hotels have cut back on cleaning now so no one ever goes in.

And you can always physically lock the door

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine being banned from Best Western, for example, because you disputed a charge! Having a dispute, especially one which is so reasonable like this, being grounds for banning is insane to me. Companies as large as Airbnb cannot be just banning whoever they want. This whole notion of, we don't agree with you, so we'll just ban you thing has got to stop.

Best Western hotels are individually owned and operated, and Best Western itself does not lose any money from chargebacks, the motel owner does. Best Western gets paid their 10% to 15% of gross revenue royalty either way from the hotel owner. Hotel owners, however, can and do ban individuals for chargebacks.

Hotel owners will in general not screw a potential customer for an honest mistake like this, so maybe the chargebacks actual hotels get actually do warrant a ban compared to VC-funded scammers.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#94

Note that the cancellation policy for Hosts is quite generous: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/990 This lets a host dump you three days before your booking and get away with "only" 25% in fees. AirBnB definitely invests in their inventory (the hosts).

Even if you cancel 1 second before checkin the fee is only 50%.

Meanwhile a guest is on the hook for all of it.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You assume you have a choice in playing. Most of the supply will never consider listing on multiple marketplaces, because its a massive hassle. $ABNB is up 48% YTD bucking the rest of the market, they have strong financials and are massively profitable. The growth-at-all-costs play DID work, and now you have no choice but to bend the knee. Edge cases like this will never materially affect their business.

Just have a friend use their account. Or make a new account. Or use VRBO or a number of Airbnb’s competitors. Or use a sock Airbnb account to connect with a host and then negotiate directly.

There was a thread this week (?) about how AirBNB will ban you for traveling with a banned person

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#96
post #6

Charge 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…

I was in a very similar situation and requested a charge back through Visa. it got denied after 2 months and AirBnb sent me a stern email saying they will ban my account if I try something like this again.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#97

I'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.

Lots of hotels offer weekly and monthly discounts.

They cater to 1. People without housing 2. Longer term business travelers. The former is more affordable, but comes with... issues. The latter is probably what you want.

IME, the nighly cost of an Airbnb is generally in the same ball-park as a reasonable budget friendly hotel after you factor everything in.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#98
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have heard of companies reacting to a chargeback in situations like this by banning your account.

I'm confused by the banning comments. Can't you just create a new account with a new payment method and different email address? Maybe I still have too much of that 90's internet mentality, dunno.

You need to verify your account with an ID or passport

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#99
post #6

Charge 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...

If it was an Amex card, very likely to win, from my experiences with them.
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