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What was your experience with Airbnb?

philliphaydon 5y ago
I needed a serviced apartment, and decided to use Airbnb because between Agoda and Airbnb, it was ever-so-slightly cheaper. When I searched it said the 100% refundable cancellation policy. So I made the booking, I adjusted the dates to 30 days, it didn't tell me that changing the date range to > 28 days changes the cancellation policy to an entirelly different policy that is dictated by the host. So when the Taiwan border opened by 3 weeks before I was due to go to the serviced apartment, I couldn't cancel without losing 100% of the money as the 'new' cancellation policy was 100% non-refundable. Contacting Airbnb they said there's a different policy if the booking is for more than 28 days, and so it's up to the host, so in the end the host reluctantly agreed to a 75% refund. I could have paid 10% extra on Agoda for the same serviced apartment, and cancelled 24 hours before checking in and got 100% refund. Airbnb letting hosts dictate cancellation policies, and not properly relaying information when paying, prevents me ever touching airbnb again.
- saiya-jin 5y ago
  So you agreed to a contract, didn't bother to read the fine print, this fired back and so your emotional response is schadenfreude... I believe you can do better than that
  - wccrawford 5y ago
    It's not always available to the user. We recently did AirBNB for the first time, and nothing was said about the checkout process until after about a day before our stay. In that process, we were expected to do (light) housework to help prepare the house for the next guests. We did it, but it really left a negative feeling for us to have to do housework on vacation when it wasn't expected. The owner left us a slightly negative review saying that perhaps we weren't the right kind of customers for AirBNB and that we'd be more comfortable with all the amenities of a hotel instead. True, but a nasty thing to leave in a review. There were other problems with the house that prevented my wife from sleeping well there that the owner gave half-assed suggestions for, and left negative comments about in the review, too. Obviously we won't be using AirBNB again and won't be recommending it. Anyhow, with the lack of regulations, there's no guarantee that you know what you're actually signing up for on AirBNB, especially with policies stating that the cancellation policy changes to whatever the owner says. Had we known that, we probably wouldn't have stayed there at all. Luckily it didn't affect us like it did the other poster above.
  - philliphaydon 5y ago
    Hmmm. During the search, it states that it’s 100% refundable upon cancellation. Because I booked for 30 days it exceeds some apparent 28 day duration threshold where the cancellation policy is dictated by the host. It only stated that it’s $0 refund on the cancellation screen. So unsure how I read fine print where it’s stated1 way during booking but in reality there’s some hidden rule you find out when you cancel.

I needed a serviced apartment, and decided to use Airbnb because between Agoda and Airbnb, it was ever-so-slightly cheaper. When I searched it said the 100% refundable cancellation policy. So I made the booking, I adjusted the dates to 30 days, it didn't tell me that changing the date range to > 28 days changes the cancellation policy to an entirelly different policy that is dictated by the host. So when the Taiwan border opened by 3 weeks before I was due to go to the serviced apartment, I couldn't cancel without losing 100% of the money as the 'new' cancellation policy was 100% non-refundable. Contacting Airbnb they said there's a different policy if the booking is for more than 28 days, and so it's up to the host, so in the end the host reluctantly agreed to a 75% refund. I could have paid 10% extra on Agoda for the same serviced apartment, and cancelled 24 hours before checking in and got 100% refund. Airbnb letting hosts dictate cancellation policies, and not properly relaying information when paying, prevents me ever touching airbnb again.

saiya-jin 5y ago
So you agreed to a contract, didn't bother to read the fine print, this fired back and so your emotional response is schadenfreude... I believe you can do better than that
- wccrawford 5y ago
  It's not always available to the user. We recently did AirBNB for the first time, and nothing was said about the checkout process until after about a day before our stay. In that process, we were expected to do (light) housework to help prepare the house for the next guests. We did it, but it really left a negative feeling for us to have to do housework on vacation when it wasn't expected. The owner left us a slightly negative review saying that perhaps we weren't the right kind of customers for AirBNB and that we'd be more comfortable with all the amenities of a hotel instead. True, but a nasty thing to leave in a review. There were other problems with the house that prevented my wife from sleeping well there that the owner gave half-assed suggestions for, and left negative comments about in the review, too. Obviously we won't be using AirBNB again and won't be recommending it. Anyhow, with the lack of regulations, there's no guarantee that you know what you're actually signing up for on AirBNB, especially with policies stating that the cancellation policy changes to whatever the owner says. Had we known that, we probably wouldn't have stayed there at all. Luckily it didn't affect us like it did the other poster above.
- philliphaydon 5y ago
  Hmmm. During the search, it states that it’s 100% refundable upon cancellation. Because I booked for 30 days it exceeds some apparent 28 day duration threshold where the cancellation policy is dictated by the host. It only stated that it’s $0 refund on the cancellation screen. So unsure how I read fine print where it’s stated1 way during booking but in reality there’s some hidden rule you find out when you cancel.