Airbnb lost my reservation, banned me and I’m out $1,780
Q: I’ve had the most harrowing experience with Airbnb. I recently had reservations at an apartment hotel in London. When I arrived, my host told me I didn’t have a reservation (despite paying months before and receiving a booking confirmation from Airbnb). I had no place to stay.
I contacted Airbnb, and it issued a coupon to stay at another apartment. But the pictures were a complete misrepresentation of the apartment. The host even admitted that some of the images were wrong and apologized. Since it was getting late, I spent one night in the apartment and checked out the next day.
I ended up booking a hotel out of my own funds, spending $1,875. I spoke with an Airbnb senior ambassador, who agreed to refund only $500 of the hotel and issue the rest as an Airbnb coupon.
There were pretentious apologies with no real solution for the duration of my remaining trip. I was short of funds to spend during the rest of my vacation because of this new hotel I’d booked with my own money.
Forced to use the coupon code for my next stay despite the horrible experience we had, I tried logging into my account to utilize the coupon, only to find that they had blocked my account. Can you help me?
A: Wow, talk about a bad stay. Just about everything that could go wrong with an Airbnb experience went wrong.
First, Airbnb should have conveyed your reservation to your host in London. It’s not clear what went wrong. Did the host have the reservation and then turn you down when you arrived? Or was this a glitch with Airbnb’s reservation system? Either way, Airbnb should have taken full responsibility for it.
Airbnb’s rebooking guarantee (found at www.airbnb.com/help/ article/2868/rebookingand-refund-policy) promises to assist you with finding “comparable or better” accommodations. But that didn’t happen.
Discovery Center & Museum, nearby in the Dalles, includes displays on the Corps of Discovery.
ASTORIA
Founded as a fur-trading post a few years after the Corps’ visit, Astoria later became a 20th century salmon-packing boomtown before the fishing dwindled. Those passages are captured in two worthwhile local museums: the Columbia River Maritime Museum, and the Clatsop County Historical Society’s Heritage Museum.
The city is about a twohour drive northwest of Portland, where the river meets the Pacific. The sense of history here is palpable, whether seen on the Astoria Column’s murals or in displays at the Hanthorn Cannery Museum.
History comes alive at nearby Fort Clatsop, a reconstruction of the site where Lewis and Clark’s party wintered in 180506. Here, rangers dress in period clothing daily from late June to Labor Day and over Christmas week, describing the Corps’ daily routine and their desperate winter.
Instead, you ended up in another apartment, the pictures of which were not representative of the property. Two strikes, Airbnb.
But Airbnb wasn’t done with you. After promising you a credit for future use, the company disabled your account. That’s three strikes.
So are you out of luck? Maybe not. I reviewed your correspondence with Airbnb, and you were clearly upset. That may be why Airbnb banned you, although I can’t be sure. Your chats and phone interaction with the company may have crossed a line.
What would have worked? First, you want to invoke Airbnb’s rebooking guarantee in your correspondence. Airbnb promises to take care of you when a host cancels your reservation. You also could have reached out to one of the customer service managers at Airbnb. I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of the Airbnb executives on my
You can hike the 6.5mile (one way) Fort to Sea trail, or circle the 2.4-mile trail around Coffenbury Lake a short drive away at Fort Stevens State Park, which also has extensive bike trails.
From your room at the luxuriously appointed Cannery Pier Hotel & Spa, newly renovated in 2022, watch giant carcarrying ships crawl past, destined for Portland.
You can borrow a hotel bike and pedal along the waterfront, or stroll the downtown shops, including Finn Ware, a nod to the region’s longtime Nordic connections. Drive past the colorful hillside homes, park your car, trudge up the Astoria Column’s steps and launch a balsa-wood glider into the wind.
WALLA WALLA
In fall, the rolling hills surrounding Walla Walla, about four hours east of Portland, shimmer with ankle-high harvested wheat. The yellow-gold is interspersed by green vineyards heavy with grapes awaiting harvest and their future home inside a wine bottle.
When Joan Monteillet consumer advocacy site at www.elliott.org/companycontacts/airbnb-customerservice-contacts/. I also have a free guide on how to book your next vacation rental (www.elliott.org/ answers/how-to-rentvacation-home-ultimateguide/) so that this never happens to you again.
I contacted Airbnb on your behalf. The company restored your account and issued a refund for the full $1,875 as a coupon code. You also report having a productive conversation with an Airbnb manager about everything that went wrong with your apartment. Hopefully, Airbnb will use that information to ensure this will never happen to anyone else.
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/. was growing up here in the 1960s, she said, “it was just a Podunk town surrounded by wheat farms.”
That assessment arrived while we sampled a selection of creamy, subtle sheep and goat’s milk cheeses that she and her husband, Pierre-Louis Monteillet, have perfected over the past 25 years at Monteillet Fromagerie.
The area’s food scene has evolved during that span to keep pace with Walla Walla’s burgeoning reputation as a winelover’s destination. More than 120 wineries call the Walla Walla Valley home today, more than double the total in the early 2000s.
The downtown core is thriving, with restaurants, shops and more than 30 wine-tasting rooms.
Vestiges of Lewis and Clark’s journey remain. At the Fort Walla Walla Museum, a diorama demonstrates the Corps’ exchanging of gifts with a local Native American chief. About 45 minutes northeast of the city, the Patit Creek Campsite’s metal silhouette sculptures represent party members, a lingering reminder of their passing.
In Episode 3, Albie, Bert and Dominic make an excursion to Fiumefreddo di Sicilia to the palatial Castello degli Schiavi villa — the famed “Godfather” home and hideout for Michael Corleone where his first wife, Apollonia, is killed. Meanwhile, just north of Taormina is the tiny village Savoca, where the granita di limone — a frozen lemon treat — at Bar Vitelli are divine, and the backdrop is a step back in time.
ETNA
The altitude, intense sunlight and notable temperature differentials make Etna the place for winemaking. Take a tip from Harper, Ethan, Cameron and Daphne (minus the awkward tension) and go to Passopisciaro for a day of wine tasting at Planeta’s Feudo di Mezzo, an estate on Etna’s northern slope.
“Etna is an inimitable terroir unique to the world,” Vito Planeta, head of Planeta’s cultural projects, said in an email. “Remarkable temperature ranges, mineral-rich volcanic soils, a mountain viticulture with great personality and a concentration of beauty, nature and landscape.”
For thrill-seekers and