I’ve used Airbnb for personal and business travel. I’ve been a fan. Airbnb used to be the future, and it used to be cool. Recently, I had an experience with a corporate host that was not cool, and was not handled well by Airbnb. The host is called Air Concierge. They manage Airbnb properties in Southern California.
Planning a family reunion
This story starts in October, when we realize that our son, who lives in Los Angeles, is going to be too busy at work to come home to Colorado for Christmas. We start planning a trip to visit him, and I convince my parents to make a rare visit from Germany to join us as well. Next step, find a place to stay for 5 people. It’s only October, but there’s not much available. I manage to find a nice but expensive rental in Venice on Airbnb. I book it, make a payment of 50% plus fees, and make a mental note of the strict cancellation policy (48 hours for a full refund), and over the next couple of days keep looking for something closer to where our son lives.
Something opens up much closer, I realize that I’m coming up on the 48 hours, so I hustle to my computer … except, I missed the 48-hour cut-off by about 20 minutes! I shouldn’t have played it so close. I check with the host on refunding anyway:
Hi A.C., I just found out that another place is available down the street from where our son lives. I missed the 48-hour window by 20 minutes. Any chance I could still cancel the reservation with you? Thank you.
I get this reply:
Hey there Martin,
If you wanted to cancel now, the dates will be opened up.
And once we get those dates rebooked we can refund you the appropriate amount. Unfortunately we must stick to our strict cancellation as this is our companies policy that we are unable to bypass.
20 minutes
Missing the cutoff is my fault. 20 minutes earlier, and a refund would have been automatic. That’s frustrating. But it’s still 67 days before the check-in date, so I’m optimistic that they can rebook the property and then I can get my money back — after all, it’s sunny Venice at Christmas time, and they’ve got more than two months to do it. So I cancel the booking, knowing there’s a chance that they can’t rebook, but convinced that if they can, they’ll refund me. I set myself a reminder to check their availability calendar every couple of weeks.
After a few weeks I see that they’ve rebooked the property for all of my original dates. It’s still 6 weeks before my original check-in date. Piece of cake. I message the host:
Hi, I see that you have my original dates rebooked. I’d be grateful if you could process the refund. Thanks.
No reply from the host. I try a couple more times over the next 2-3 weeks, without any reply. The host has gone silent and apparently changed their mind about refunding me what I’d paid. I get curious about this host who is starting to seem like a jerk. It turns out “A.C.” stands for Air Concierge. It’s a company that manages 150+ properties in Southern California. They specialize in managing, designing, photographing, and pricing properties. And apparently in being jerks and reneging on promises.
With the host being unresponsive, I get in touch with Airbnb customer service to explain the situation to them, and invite them to read my message history with Air Concierge. I get this:
I have reached out to your host to resolve the refund to get this taken care of! I will follow up when I hear back from them! 🙂
That sounds promising, but after a few days I get this:
I reached out to your host and requested the refund for you. I requested the amount you desire, and the host denied and agreed to $25 refund. I understand this was not what you wanted, however, the host stated that they would provide a refund of the appropriate amount. They deem that $25 was the appropriate amount as normally you would not receive any of the $4,793.73 for this cancellation. I am sorry this was not the amount that you wanted refunded to you. However, the $25 will be in your account within 3-15 business days.
Not appropriate
Wow! Twenty-five bucks on almost $5k ??? And this after you rented the property to someone else within a few weeks of my cancellation and 6 weeks before the dates?
At this point, they’ve technically upheld their promise and issued a refund. We’re just really, really far apart on the definition of “appropriate”. I think Air Concierge is confusing a cancellation policy with a business model. I find the offer of $25 insufficient, offensive, condescending, and abusive, and I tell the case manager at Airbnb as much:
Thanks for your reply. I have to say that I find their offer of a $25 refund not only insufficient, but actually offensive, condescending, and abusive. Consider the facts:
- I cancelled after 48 hours and 20 minutes. 20 minutes earlier, there would have been no question about a full refund.
- When I cancelled, it was still 67 days before check-in day.
- They promised a refund if they can rebook the property (see my message history with the host).
- They were able to rebook, so they’ve incurred no economic loss, one more reason I find their position unnecessarily rigid and abusive.
I’ve been patient throughout this with the host, but I’d like to ask you to escalate this issue within your department. Apparently the host is a corporate host (Air Concierge), and I find that this behavior reflects poorly not only on them, but also on the platform.
The next day, I get a message from a supervisor at Airbnb apologizing for the inconvenience and thanking me for my patience and … blah blah blah …
Regrettably, at this time you agreed to the terms of this reservation and the terms of the cancellation when it was processed. Again, I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you but thank you so much for your patience throughout the process. I hope that I have been able to clear things up and alleviate any concern or confusion you may have had.
Half-time reminder: I’m not arguing that the cancellation policy does not apply to me — although, yes, a human rather than a corporate host might have given me a break right on the spot, considering the timing. I googled it, and it happens: humans being human on Airbnb. The issue is that Air Concierge promised a refund if they rebooked the property — they rebooked the property and then reneged on that promise. Also, 20 minutes. Come on, be human.
I tried one more time to focus the Airbnb case manager on the issue — the promised refund is now there, but it’s not anything close to appropriate. I get a reply sympathizing with my frustration and letting me know that “At this time, A.C. An Airbnb Property Host has not agreed to a full refund and wants to uphold their strict cancellation policy” and that “Going forward, this case is now considered closed.”
I don’t really have more time to spend on this, but there are few things that annoy me more than people and companies being jerks — like Air Concierge and Airbnb. Call it what you want, but I’m a stickler for fairness and keeping your promises. I’m so annoyed that it’s making me think out loud on my blog, which hasn’t happened in … years!
So what’s next?
My family (probably) won’t starve if I don’t recover the money from Air Concierge. And we’re going to have our family reunion at the other property I booked — which is owned and managed by a human, we talked on the phone the other day to confirm check-in details.
I’m weighing these options:
- Arbitration per section 19 of Airbnb’s terms of service.
- Dispute the charge with my credit card. Apparently there’s a category of complaint called “claims and defenses,” although since I paid the charge (in good faith that Air Concierge would uphold their promise), it’s not clear I can use this.
- Something else? Any advice from any Airbnb guests who’ve been in a similar situation?
I’ll post updates here.
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