Thread by @brandonhli

Hotels > @Airbnb, a horror story 🫠

It’s 2:30am in London. Flight delayed 3 hours. Raining.

I message our host that we’re going to miss the check in window. There’s a fee. Weird since it’s self check in, but ok

We get to the airbnb and the lockbox doesn’t work.

Rain, rain..

I message the host to escalate

“Too bad. You missed your check in window”

Ok, but what about our whole conversation about us coming in late?

“We change our lockbox code after the check in window”

But what about our convo?

🦗

Ok, sus. Malicious or fraudulent?

Remember, it’s 2:30am, so in desperation, we get a last minute room in a nearby hotel

Meanwhile, I check with the hosts on when we can get in the next day

No response, despite answering my other questions

Malicious or fraudulent?

At this point I get in touch with @AirbnbHelp

I walk them through the whole situation

I have a simple ask:

1. Please refund me

2. Please cover my last minute hotel costs

3. Please investigate if this is fraud

Their response is classic:

“I can contact the host and ask if they’re willing to refund you”

After all this, it’s at their discretion

I ask about AirCover. Isn’t this what the big announcement was about?

“Sorry, it’s against policy”

Wasn’t aircover supposed to be the policy?

Ok.. so maybe the rep can’t make this decision. I ask for a manager

“Ok, the manager will call you in an hour”

We are now 3am

I ask if we can talk to a manager in the morning since it’s already quite late

“Sorry, I need to hang up now because it has been escalated”

???

I’m far from being qualified to give @bchesky any advice but maybe a humble feature request:

Can we somehow make it so hosts can’t change the lockbox code during a late check in?

Especially if it’s self check in?

@bchesky

@bchesky Update:

It’s 9am

I wake up to check on the status

4:30 am, supervisor writes back “I’m sorry… we have reached out to the host”

Are there no other mechanisms for handling support at @AirbnbHelp?

5am: “as I have not received a response from you I am closing this case”

@bchesky @AirbnbHelp Airbnb has given up on us

The host has still not written us with a plan to get into the apartment this morning

I guess they’re just going to take our money and leave us stranded?

@bchesky @AirbnbHelp Update 2:

The host is now claiming we are a no show

And refusing us access to the place, 10am the following day

I’ve asked for aircover to refund us

“Your situation is still uncertain”

@TaraBunch1 I think this might be in your wheelhouse?

@bchesky @AirbnbHelp @TaraBunch1 Update 3:

The host is refusing to let us get into the unit

Also, they are refusing to give us a refund

Also, aircover can’t do anything about this?

So… they’re just going to take all our money and not let us use the space for the next week?

Update 4:

Airbnb support scores a win

After 18 hours of disputes, they agree, the host technically has to let us stay

But we've already booked different accommodation, naturally

Odds we get this refund?

I should add that this was not their original position

It took them 18hrs to decide that yes, I should probably be allowed to check into this stay that I have pre-paid for

And here’s the sad thing:

I’ve been using Airbnb for 10 years

Most of my experiences have been great

But 10 yrs of trust can disappear in a moment

80% of my travel has been hotels of late

There are use cases where Airbnb still makes sense… but they’re shrinking

Update 5:

finally, someone at airbnb who can help!

airbnb is sending a full refund. they've even offered to cover my next stay

obv, this is a happy solution for me

but one thing that's become obvious today is how many others have had similar challenges with no resolution

as 1 friend put it:

you shouldn't need to go viral just to get a resolution

i wonder how many others had to eat their costs?

My final boss: was this malice or fraud?

As I reflect on last night, it’s obvious they had to send someone physically to change the lockbox code

So either:

1. They went out of their way to lock us out at 10pm

2. They never intended to let us stay in the first place

I’ll never be able to figure this out on my own so twitter, do your thing:

Ha, I’ve had some astute observers call out that these properties have terrible ratings

Sadly, the one I booked was 4.75 stars

Only once I booked could I see the other properties managed by these hosts

Update 6:

In the last 5 hrs I’ve had two people DM me that they had the SAME experience with the SAME host

One even had receipts

Increasingly looking like a fraudulent ring of 20+ London flats

Surely @Airbnb will investigate?

@Airbnb To make matters worse:

I couldn’t even leave a review because the stay didn’t get completed

So others will never know

Seems like:

1. They accept bookings, pre-paid

2. They lock you out with no refund

3. They cancel and pocket 💰

4. No reviews

@amredman @ottio_o @Airbnb but what I have concluded from this experience is that my mix should probably be more than 80% hotels given the hassle cost of staying at airbnbs