Airbnb Refusing to Refund Service Fee Despite Cancellation Policy

My wife and I booked an Airbnb property that stated it had a full cancellation policy if we cancelled by August 15. I went to cancel on June 21 (two months ahead of the date where the policy changes) and the website refused to refund the $500 service fee. I contacted customer support and they stated if we cancelled that day and ahead of August 15 we would receive the $500 service fee.

Customer support has been a nightmare and then later said the cancellation policy states the service fee is non-refundable. My wife and I both checked the cancellation policy ahead of time and it was a full free cancellation. In addition, the previous customer service person agreed that the service fee is refundable. The property is no longer showing on the site so I’ve asked them to produce the actual cancellation policy tied to the listing and show it to me. They’ve failed to do this. This is horrible customer service. $500 may be a small amount for a company like Airbnb but this is a huge amount for a family. Extremely disappointed by their level of service here.

Airbnb Fraud Lets Unsuspecting Guests Access Our Home

My husband and I own a house out of state that has been vacant and on the market for over a year. The other night our neighbors contacted us to notify us there were multiple cars and motorcycles parked in our driveway with a party going on inside. After an investigation by the police, we found out our house had been listed on Airbnb by a host. We have never rented our home nor given any individual permission to list our home for rent.

There were pictures attached to the Airbnb posting from Zillow as well as cell phone pictures taken from outside our home looking through windows/glass doors to the inside as well as pictures taken from inside of our home. The renters showed the police their rental confirmation. The police were relatively uninterested because they said this happens all the time, that fake listings are put up and people show up and can’t get in. But in this case, these people had been given instructions to access our home.

We have contacted Airbnb through several methods and been told that this will be addressed by the appropriate team. We’ve asked the call center operator to speak with a supervisor and she hung up. Three days later and Airbnb still hasn’t taken down the listing or returned our phone calls. There is clearly no sense of urgency on the part of Airbnb in assisting us with finding the person who is still out there who knows how to access our home.

Airbnb – YOU SUCK

I’ve spent the last day and a half watching a friend deal with Airbnb’s inept customer support team after her AirBnb host backed out of her month long rental 45 minutes after she was supposed to meet him. I’ve listened  to misinformation and baldface lies from the Airbnb CS team. Their solution was to charge her twice for two alternative rentals. The hosts were non responsive and $3,000 later ($1400 overdrawn) they pretty much washed their hands of the situation and left my friend homeless and broke for the next month. I’m curious as to who designed their Customer Service policy? Satan? Ebenezer Scrooge? Leaving people broke with no place to stay is bullshit. Lying to your customers and telling them that “you don’t have a manager” is absurd. What do they put in the water at their office? Every CS rep has the same apathetic monotone and a propensity for telling insane lies. I’ve personally never had any issues with my past stays, but watching my friend go through this has disgusted me. Airbnb is an international company with deep pockets. Websites like this wouldn’t exist if they showed some empathy and provided reasonable solutions and prompt resolutions to their guests. Dicks.