I booked two Airbnb rentals by accident. Can I get a refund?
No one needs more than one vacation rental in Paris at a time. So how did Virginia Wong end up booking not one but two accidental Airbnb rentals in the City of Lights?
AIRBNB PROBLEMS
These tales cover a variety of Airbnb problems that guests — and sometimes hosts — have brought to Consumer Rescue. Each article tells a dramatic story and highlights our advocacy team’s efforts to investigate and resolve the issue.
A filthy vacation rental is not my thing! How do I get a refund?
When an Airbnb host directs Andrea Walker to use the service elevator in the building where she is renting an apartment, she’s slightly suspicious. However, when she opens the door to the unit, she knows she definitely won’t be staying. The Airbnb host apologizes for the state of the filthy vacation rental and quickly agrees to a refund.
So why does the host later tell Airbnb that Walker spent the whole weekend at the property?
Why is this Airbnb host asking me to sneak into the property?
What if you traveled halfway around the world only to find the vacation rental you booked on Airbnb is likely illegal? That’s the situation that confronted Alex Tarce when he tried to check into his Tokyo rental, and the host asked him to sneak in behind the doorman’s back.
What’s going on here?
I accidentally locked myself out of my Airbnb. Whose fault is this, really?
What if you locked yourself out of your Airbnb rental thousands of miles from home? Would your host or the caretaker immediately come and rescue you?
Xiamin Qi discovered the answer to both questions after she locked herself out of her Airbnb rental in Barcelona. Despite the host warning her about the self-locking feature of the front door, she says jet lag caused an oversight. That fatigue led Qi to walk out of the vacation rental and leave the keys inside.
Now she is asking the Airbnb host to refund $500 for her trouble. But is this a reasonable request?
Is this legal? Here is the most excessive Airbnb cleaning fee ever!
James Parker just got hit with the most excessive cleaning fee I’ve ever seen as a consumer advocate. Soon after checking out of his recent Airbnb rental, the owner sent him a $1,470 bill to clean up the mess she says his family made.
But what mess was she really cleaning up?
Hackers stole $34,250 from this Airbnb host. How did this happen?
Airbnb host Nancy Isa recently got a terrible shock when she discovered hackers had broken into her payout account. Unfortunately, by the time she noticed something was wrong, Airbnb had been making regular payments to the scammers – for five months.
In total, the hackers stole $34,250 from Nancy’s Airbnb host account.
Then things went from bad to worse. With all that money on the line, Nancy contacted the listing giant in a panic. She was hoping for some calming reassurance that all was not lost. Instead, Airbnb immediately locked the host out of her own account and then went radio silent.
That’s when Nancy reached out to the Consumer Rescue team. She’s hoping we can convince Airbnb to give back her access to her host account – and her $34,250.
But after six months, is that possible?
Orbitz canceled my flight by mistake. Am I stuck with the $3,400 bill?
What if Orbitz made a mistake and canceled your return flight home from vacation, leaving you stranded abroad?
Why did a worried Airbnb host ask me to pretend not to be a guest?
If your Airbnb host asks you to pretend not to be a guest during your stay, would you?
That’s the odd situation that confronted Josephine Avina last July when her family planned a short trip. But pretending not to be guests wasn’t the only thing the Airbnb host wanted the Avinas to do. She also expected them to be OK with living in the remnants of a bachelorette party held the night before.
If United Airlines convinces you to cancel your flight, can it keep your money?
If an airline convinces you to cancel your flight during a pandemic, does it get to keep your money? That’s what Lon Allan wants to know.
My Las Vegas Airbnb rental was a gamble I lost. Can you help?
When Mary Scholtz planned a trip to Las Vegas, she was not anticipating that her biggest gamble would be on her Airbnb rental. Unfortunately, this thoroughly unsatisfactory illegal Airbnb rental was anything but a winner, and now Mary wants a complete refund. Can we help?
