Screwed over...

[Homestar]

Well, just a week out from our big trip to Darwin, the Airbnb host has cancelled our booking....

When we booked in January she had plenty of good review, but looking now it seems in the last few months she's pulled this trick on many others. My guess is she has now taken another booking that's paying more - I'll certainly be knocking on the door of the place when we are there and asking the residents when they booked as I believe this practice is against Airbnb policy. I might not get that place now, but I'll be doing my best to even the score if I can...

So, anyone in Darwin or surrounds want to earn a few thousand dollars from their house for 2 weeks? :D

Bloody ****ed off - everything was ready to go now it's back to square one. Being School holidays as well makes things even harder not to mention more expensive...

So, beware the aresholes out there on Airbnb and book through a proper site is my warning - they won't be getting another booking from me as this seems to be a common past time by Airbnb hosts.

[Chops]

Man that just sucks big time. :bat:

Here's hoping you can get somewhere to stay mate. The niece has moved from there, otherwise you probably could have stayed there.

[Don 130]

I'm sorry to hear that. I suppose there's always risk in these things. We've just come back from there and had our first airbnb experience. We couldn't be happier. We paid a good price for a near new unit (motel style) built on top of a double garage. We could barely see the main house, we had two aircons, two tvs, washing machine, close to town etc etc.
As we were handing in our hired camper ute, we overheard some other family dealing with the delays and grief as they found out the camper they'd booked had been crashed and there wasn't an equivalent replacement for them.
I hope you can work something out.
Don.

[Roverlord off road spares]

THAT REALLY STINKS AND SUCKS AT THE SAME TIME!

[Sitec]

Start making noise on social media.. Lots of it, and leave a review on ProductReview.com.. I won't go into details as to how well this worked for me but lets just sat that my post has had over 2000 views, and got the phones of a certain builders office running red within hours of placing the review. I'm not promising it'll sort your booking out, but it will make quite a few change their mind.

[Homestar]

Thanks guys - I just needed to vent.

Looking into this a bit further this person has in the last few months done this to a dozen other people - when we booked they had good reviews. I think they have worked out how to make an extra dollar and rebooking it outside Airbnb for more money - something that is very much frowned upon by Airbnb.

I'll certainly be knocking on the door to see who answers...

On the bright side, we have found somewhere else to stay - Looking on line there are slim pickings as it's School holidays when we are there, but to give credit where it's due Airbnb replied to our complaint within 5 minutes and found us similar alternate accomodation which they gaurentee won't fall through this time - it actually seems they take this sort of thing quite seriously - I'll see how far I can drop the first host in it after all this...

I have since spoken to this new host and I think we'll be right as she was shocked someone would do this and has a 100% rating. Mind you, it's a huge amount more money but we don't have many options - another $1,500 out of the Perentie fund... :(. It is in the heart of the City as well which I'm pretty happy about.

Better be a great holiday and Wedding or I'll be asking my Brother for a refund! :D

[Tins]

Thanks guys - I just needed to vent.

Looking into this a bit further this person has in the last few months done this to a dozen other people - when we booked they had good reviews. I think they have worked out how to make an extra dollar and rebooking it outside Airbnb for more money - something that is very much frowned upon by Airbnb.

I'll certainly be knocking on the door to see who answers...

On the bright side, we have found somewhere else to stay - Looking on line there are slim pickings as it's School holidays when we are there, but to give credit where it's due Airbnb replied to our complaint within 5 minutes and found us similar alternate accomodation which they gaurentee won't fall through this time - it actually seems they take this sort of thing quite seriously - I'll see how far I can drop the first host in it after all this...

I have since spoken to this new host and I think we'll be right as she was shocked someone would do this and has a 100% rating. Mind you, it's a huge amount more money but we don't have many options - another $1,500 out of the Perentie fund... :(. It is in the heart of the City as well which I'm pretty happy about.

Better be a great holiday and Wedding or I'll be asking my Brother for a refund! :D

Good result in the end Gav, but what Simon said, squared. This sort of thing is the only time I would use social media. AirBnb need to do what mobs like TravelAdvisor or Booking.com do, which is lock them in, with penalties for failure. Trouble is, the costs obviously go up.

Enjoy the hol.

[Homestar]

Yeah, but this is the only social media I do, so that isn't an option unfortunately.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Glad it all worked out Gav,, [smilebigeye]

[Grumbles]

Ripped off is ripped off and when it happens it engenders a terrible feeling of outrage at the injustice and the loss. You certainly have my sympathies.

[Gordie]

Most people I know who rent out holiday homes...pay a cleaner to clean, pay a groundsman to do the grounds, and pay an agent to rent it out...so plenty of wages and money going into the economy there. Renting a holiday house is a very valid, practical and accepted way of holidaying nowadays. Obviously the person renting the house out to Homestar had no scruples or morals at all...unless there was some genuine reason or emergency situation which made the house uninhabitable of course.

[bob10]

Time for a reality check.

Airbnb And Uber Are Terrible For The Economy - Business Insider (http://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-and-uber-are-terrible-for-the-economy-2014-5?IR=T)

edit- If these services are still viable when operating on a level playing field they will be providing real value to the economy. As it stands, they are hugely rewarding a small number of people for finding a creative way to cheat the system.