Airbnb

I have to cancel my booking for October as my travel companion had a death in her family. I am trying to talk to some one live to talk about how I go about cancelling under the exceptional circumstances category as listed on your website. The booking has a 50% non refundable clause,,, pls email me with a contact that I can talk to about how i proceed... thank you
Here is an example I cant get a response from anyone... customer service is a ghost operation..

As a new -comer to Airbnb I can't believe how very poor (non-existent) their customer service is. The web site is a disaster. I found the hosts full of info and charm until my booking was complete, then I think they moved to Mars. Another issue, I cancelled a two day booking six months in advance, and was assured by the host I would not be charged the cancellation fee - I WAS. Clearly no communication between host and Airbnb. When, after several attempts to get answers from "the team" on other issues I eventually received a reply that had absolutely nothing to do with what I had asked? They claim that you will not be charged until after you check in - NOT SO! Never again. I could go on - but life is too short - and I have to book two months of accommodation in 5 countries - NOT with Airbnb.

I hosted a guest in my home just recently. The guest showed up (with an unauthorized guest) and immediately began kicking my dogs, and it went down hill from there (idols, uncleanliness, and using my home as a sexual immoral would use a motel). Long story short, it was a terrible, stressful experience. I was able to get these people out of my home; however, horrible guests do not have to leave. Please know that when you are opening your home to these type arrangements, you are taking a huge risk. It is not Airbnb's policies that govern the arrangement, but the STATE LAWS in which you live.

AirBnB takes a completely one-sided approach to the rental process... ie the renter is always right and the owner is always wrong. What does that mean to you as an owner or manager listing your property on AirBnB? It means that guests who make exaggerated complaints, unreasonable complaints, or even outright false complaints are unquestioningly handed refunds with no recourse or appeal. Doesn't matter if you can document the false or exaggerated nature of the complaint, AirBnB doesn't care about owners. Savvy travelers know this and take advantage of it. Owners are better off putting their time and energy into advertising elsewhere.

Stay away.
The hosts reply to your reservation requests in their own good time.
The host can cancel your accommodation with 24 hrs notice; can you imagine what situation this puts you in when you have flights booked for a family.
If you you are not happy with your accommodation you can't leave bad feedback on the airbnb site.
DON'T TAKE THE RISK.
Its all one sided towards the host and you can be stranded in an unfamiliar city with no accommodation.

After using Airbnb for years with no problems, when a serious issue finally did occur with one of our bookings, they (Airbnb) were not only unhelpful but rude and disingenuous when contacting them about this issue. They took NO responsibility for this major problem we were having and wasted both my time and money... Would not recommend using their site

There are two things to be aware of when dealing with this shyster company. First of all, when you save a booking in your wish list, they will show a misleading price with all the taxes, services fees and extra charges left out. Then, when you book it they are hoping you won't notice that the actual price is 20-30% higher than expected. They also have a very sneaky practice of changing the cancellation policy without notification. For example I booked a place and then changed my mind almost immediately assuming the 24 hour cancellation policy that had been in place last time I used the service 3 months ago. I ended up getting ripped off for $1100 Cdn because they had changed the policy (probably hoping to capitalize on the fact that people wouldn't check because they thought they already knew the policy).

Horrible experience with a host and unit, host did not care, dirty, lots of non working things, air bnb did nothing, I ended up paying full price, I left a negative review and airbnb took it down for ridiculous reasons and the host posted a negative review on me! So in the end I spent a ton of $ on what should of been a nice unit, and got no customer service from air bnb and myself got reviewed negative. I will never use them again. Their reviews cannot be trusted! They don't care about you or your stay, they just want to prop up their slum lord hosts and continue bilking money from consumers.

My husband and I are going on vacation i was looking at Airbnb as I have never used them before but heard great things. I found a place, created my account and then we booked. Our card was charged. I got a confirmation email then not 30 seconds later I got an email saying my account was deactivated. Spent 45 min on the phone with customer service to have no resolution. We created an account with my husband and the same thing happened. Now we have 2 charges on our credit card for Airbnb and are expected to wait up to 15 days for our refund. Stay away from Airbnb. We like many work hard for our money and they are quick to take it but don't want to return it. No reasonable explanation was given as to why our accounts where deactivated. STAY AWAY.

They put ‘free' cancellation policy - full refund without telling us the hidden info. Then we chose a cheaper booking and when we cancelled the first booking and they charged us $100 for services fee due to overlapping booking. Why would you charge $100 if we still choose booking with your website? That's ridiculous. It is difficult to contact them, then the rep Jonalou, the worst representative (useless, unhelpful, and didn't answer my main query) said it was my fault for not clicking to the hidden link with several confusing paragraphs when booking. This website is not user friendly and tried to scam money when people cancel. Charged services fee of $100 but didn't deliver the services. Terrible experience, never happened in any other hotel websites for overlapping booking.

I have tried to use the site and in order to reserve a place, even if the owner does not require it, you must load a picture. I am a private person who does not want their picture plastered over the internet so I cannot use the site. I would be happy to say I am an older white woman if that helps, but the policy of adding pictures is not only invasive, but it also supports racism and xenophobia. If you are black, or color, muslim, etc. you will not have renters nor will some people rent to you. This is not based on a landlord requirement, but just in general. It is offensive and I would hope, illegal.

Because my train was 2 hours late, my host refused to check me in, leaving me stranded at 10pm. Then the next morning they cancelled the entire reservation. Airbnb did not help me find somewhere else to stay, so I had to pay for an expensive hotel. Airbnb offered me $32 and informed me that their policy did not require refunds in these circumstances. This trip was to help my mother during an illness. I wasn't given the opportunity to leave a review on Airbnb so who knows how often this happens without customers knowing about it. It is shocking that Airbnb does not cover unavoidable travel delays, given how common they are. There is no penalty to the host for doing this.

I had to cancel our trip due to a possible retina tear in my left eye which I explained fully to all three reservations we had. It happened suddenly. We took a loss on the first 2 because it was so close to the time but the 3 one was within the cancellation policy. Below is only one of the nasty responses I received from him. I was shocked but I guess he doesn't care about his guests only the money. Don't use Clark, in Marion, MT.! He isn't as nice as he portrays himself to be.
"You waited until one day before the seven day cancellation policy went into effect to cancel. I hardly think that is a coincidence. People like you are the reason people like me have to impose strict cancellation policies and deposits on other travelers. It's really sad when folks won't do the right thing. It ruins it for everyone. And of course you won't be staying at my home. As I said, you aren't welcome."

We booked a 3 bedroom 2 bath condo through Airbnb for Steamboat Springs colorado. We paid in full. The person who messaged us was Ryan with Short Stay Resorts. When we arrived we were told that no such unit or reservations existed. In fact the lady at the front desk told us we were the third family that day that showed up with a fake reservation through Airbnb with the name Ryan. My family was left out on the street in 17 degree weather with no where to go and they had our money. We made multiple calls to Airbnb only to be put on hold, told we would get a call back and never did, and simply got the run around. I will never use this company again and warn you against using them. We were the ones treated like criminals.