Airbnb Nightmare: Marooned in Montreal

My family had come to Canada from various other international destinations for a highly anticipated and active family vacation. However, while we were in transit to our Airbnb lodging in Montreal from Toronto, we received a somewhat cryptic text message from our hosts stating that they were cancelling our Montreal reservation (for that day) due to some “unavoidable issues” with our lodging. My husband had to lookup our original reservation as there was no contact information for our Montreal hosts to ask for clarification. After we were “eventually” able to make contact with our hosts they continued to be exceptionally vague as to what happened that caused our reservation to be cancelled. When we asked what happens now that our reservation was null and void – thus, making my ENTIRE INTERNATIONAL FAMILY NOW HOMELESS – our hosts simply advised that we would have to “consult” the Airbnb contracts to determine if we were entitled to a refund if we “chose not to find and use another Airbnb lodging.”

We attempted to ask additional questions and for assistance in locating alternative housing, but our hosts stopped responding to our requests and Airbnb has no direct lines of communication to their corporate headquarters or any legitimate form of customer service or quality control services. We were forced to find what we honestly believe happened to be the last two very over-priced hotel rooms in Montreal that ALL of our extended and immediate family had to share as it also happened to be Canada Day. The situation certainly brought our family together, but in a most uncomfortable and precarious fashion. So, if you are thinking of utilizing Airbnb as lodging for your travels, make sure you have investigated all other options FIRST. I would advise that you especially avoid Host Kick in Montreal on Airbnb as they can cancel on you at the last minute.

Posted in Airbnb Guest Stories and tagged , , , , , .

3 Comments

  1. Funny how my 1st experience booking on Airbnb and cancel 3hrs after booking, you lose 1000$ with them only refunding you a pity cleaning fee. The host James was rude, liar and a prick, I regret ever being respectful to such a fraud!! The credit card company doesn’t help you either and Airbnb support team are useless??? Thanks for that?

  2. Leases in Montreal often end on Canada Day because it’s a way for the people of Quebec to boycott Canada Day. Sounds like the host may have not had their lease renewed.

  3. This literally happened to me in Vancouver!!! Airbnb gave no assistance of finding lodging or help with overages even though they told us on the phone that they would! We luckily got hotel rooms bc my cousin is a gold member with SPG and they gave us their last two rooms. Hotels: 1, Airbnb: -173646382

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