THAT SINKING F
FOR more than 11 months, Fiona Williams had carefully planned every last detail of her husband Mark’s 50th birthday. They were to rent a large house for a week in one of their favourite places — Galway — for them, their two children and eight pals.
Then, in the early hours of the day they were due to fly, Fiona was woken by a text.
The 53-year-old accountant said: ‘It had been sent at 1.30am and was from the host saying the booking was cancelled. Normally I’m fairly calm, but I was shaking. I woke Mark up. He was furious and started pacing around the room.
‘The host’s excuse was the neighbours had complained about the house being rented out. All the way to the airport I was messaging Airbnb to find an alternative. The only option they offered was six miles outside the city. It cost another €400 — and wasn’t available for several days after we arrived.’
It is ten years since Airbnb, the online marketplace which arranges short stays for travellers in other people’s homes, revolutionised travel. For cash-strapped holidaymakers, it’s been a godsend, giving cheaper alternatives to hotels in 191 countries.
But when things go wrong, some say they have found themselves left with little support or understanding of their predicament. Fiona felt stranded as she desperately called the firm asking for alternatives on a busy bank holiday weekend last month.
After a stressful flight not knowing whether she had anywhere for her guests to stay, it was only when she arrived at Shannon airport that she managed to find a hotel several miles outside town.
She says: ‘Airbnb did give me a refund when the house was cancelled. But over that week, I paid €1,455 more on hotel accommodation, food and taxis in and out of the city. We’d planned it all so we’d be in the middle of town to enjoy the night life. Yet Airbnb insisted €200 was all they would give me towards those costs.’
A paltry sum considering the company has been valued at €26.5 billion and is said to be preparing to go public and start selling shares on the stock exchange. But as it becomes a global force, questions are being raised over its customer care.
One critic is travel researcher Asher Fergusson. He and his wife rented an Airbnb flat in Paris in September 2017, paying €875 for a week. But when they walked in, the sight and smell of mould was so overwhelming they left without unpacking because they were so worried for the health of their ten-month-old son Kingsley.
Guests pay for Airnnb properties up front, so Asher and his family had nowhere to stay and no money for a hotel, despite sending photos of the mould to Airbnb and asking for help.
When Asher, 32, tried to rent another property, the Airbnb host offered an alternative that looked nothing like the chic apartment in the pictures — and asked for cash, in violation of the company’s terms and conditions. It was four months before Asher got a full refund.
He then analysed 1,012 complaints about Airbnb. Of these, he found over a fifth were triggered when hosts cancelled a booking 24 hours before it started or didn’t turn up to let guests in. One in seven involved ‘unsafe’ conditions such as infestations, mould or intimidating hosts.
A report for the European Commission last year analysed the main problems for consumers. It stated: ‘Over 40% of users of Airbnb experienced one or more problems at least once over a 12-month period. The most frequent related to accommodation not being as described — 19.1%; — poor quality rentals — 17.8%; cancelled reservations — 11.2%.’
These statistics, too, are dismissed by Airbnb as ‘completely false and dangerously misleading’ as the sample of 736 users comprised ‘just 0.0001% of our over 400 million guest arrivals’.
The company said: ‘We strive to provide exceptional customer service. With over two million guest arrivals staying in an Airbnb every night, incidents and issues are incredibly rare.’
WHILE the frequency of such failures remains a matter of debate, those affected can see once-in-a-lifetime celebrations wrecked.
For Shaunna Lee, her sister-inlaw Sam’s surprise 30th birthday was ruined when the host cancelled their stay 15 minutes before they were due to arrive.
The plan was for insurance exam coach Shaunna, Sam and their husbands to spend October 27 in London, enjoying dinner and a West End show before walking to a swish rented apartment in Soho, costing €240.
Shaunna, 26, said: ‘We were due to check in at 3pm. At 2.45pm, I saw an Airbnb message from the host. She said the booking was off due to a problem with the bathroom.
‘I froze. When I said it was cancelled, everyone thought it was a joke. Then my husband said: “She’s serious. She’s gone white.” I rang the host, who insisted we couldn’t stay. I heard a foreign ring tone, which was odd, as she was due to let us in.
‘She said my issues were with Airbnb because she’d already refunded the rental fee to them.’
Over the next three hours, the group racked up a €45 bill ringing Airbnb’s customer service line.
Shaunna says: ‘They were so unhelpful. They wouldn’t say when they’d call us back and when they did, we got cut off. About two hours later, they sent two alternative Airbnbs. The first was on the outskirts of London, and wasn’t even available. There was no link on the second.
‘We started calling hotels but they were either full or would have cost Cancelled: Shaunna’s outing was left in tatters