AUSTIN, Texas — Planning a trip can quickly turn into a scramble when a short-term rental host cancels at the last minute, and consumer advocates say what guests do next can determine whether they get their money back and find a new place to stay.
Austin resident Zach Tufenkjian said he has had two Airbnb stays canceled in the last couple of months. “Each time it’s just been a huge hassle and just a really difficult situation,” he said.
Texas Watch Executive Director Ware Wendell said his organization is hearing more about guests dealing with last-minute cancellations. “That’s a very troubling trend,” Wendell said. “It should be a two-way street. But where hosts are just canceling for no good reason or because maybe they think all of a sudden there’s a lot of demand that weekend.”
Tufenkjian said the first cancellation happened a few weeks before his fiancée’s bachelorette trip to Chicago. He said the host told them there had been a flooding issue at the property, forcing them to find a new place. “This was just a huge headache and a huge wrench in the whole system of planning this trip,” he said.
Then, just days before Tufenkjian’s Labor Day trip to Atlanta, he said his host called his phone, not through the Airbnb app. He said he did not take the call, and instead messaged the host through the platform. “So I asked the host, ‘What’s up? What do you need?’” Tufenkjian said.
He said the host called again, and he again returned to the app to ask what the host needed. “The host messages me like very randomly, very suddenly, Airbnb will be contacting you about your full refund,” Tufenkjian said.
Tufenkjian said Airbnb later told him the host claimed Tufenkjian was the person who wanted to cancel. “At no point in any of my communications to the host did I say, ‘I want to cancel,’” he said.
Planning a trip can quickly turn into a scramble when a short-term rental host cancels at the last minute, and consumer advocates say what guests do next can determine whether they get their money back and find a new place to stay. (CBS Austin)
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Jason Meza with the Better Business Bureau Heart of Texas said it is critical to keep communications on the platform. “Staying, paying, and communicating on the platform is paramount; it is key. Not going offline, because those might be, you know, attempts to get around the system and be deceptive,” Meza said.
Wendell said a host trying to move communication off the platform is a warning sign. “If a host is trying to take you off of the site, that’s a red flag,” he said.
If a guest does take a call, Wendell recommends creating a written record by following up through the platform with a message noting what was discussed.
Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said hosts can be removed from the platform if they are acting in bad faith. Asked whether there are consequences for ill-intentioned hosts, Chesky said, “Ask them very nicely to stop doing that and if they don’t do that, we will remove them from the platform.”
Airbnb also says hosts who cancel can face fees, a block on rebooking those dates and a hit to their search ranking. In Tufenkjian’s Atlanta case, the company said it “took appropriate action on the host in line with our policies.”
Tufenkjian said the first credit he was offered after a cancellation was $23, even as replacement stays sometimes cost hundreds more. “This was an all-day process,” he said. He said Airbnb later provided a larger credit that covered the replacement he found.
Chesky said the company tries to help guests quickly find another place to stay. “We try to make sure that we find a fast track of customer support to find them an alternative place to stay and if there’s no Airbnbs available we’ll also even put them in a hotel,” he said.
Texas Watch and the Better Business Bureau recommend researching listings before booking, documenting everything and keeping all communication in writing on the platform. Tufenkjian said that approach helped him. “You have to be an advocate for yourself,” he said.
The BBB also recommends paying with a credit card, which may provide another way to dispute a charge if a guest cannot get a resolution. Meza said, “Credit card is still the safest option to go.” He added, “You can also look to charge back on your credit card as well and dispute through your credit cards. That’s another avenue for consumers if they’ve been wrongfully canceled by a host.”
Meza said guests should avoid verbal commitments and keep detailed records. “Keeping everything in writing, no verbal commitments, everything has to be detailed,” he said.
If a problem cannot be resolved with the rental platform, the BBB says consumers can file a complaint with its office, which creates a record and allows the BBB to contact the business and work toward a resolution. Meza said a review is not the same as a complaint: “People think they submit a review to BBB that it’s official, but actually a complaint needs to be issued on the platform.”