Tim’s Airbnb cancelled last-minute. He was offered a bunk instead

What happens if your Airbnb host cancels at short notice? Traveller reader Tim Ryan of Seaforth in NSW found out when he received a message from the short-term rental platform cancelling the apartment he’d booked for a one-week stay for himself and his wife in Los Angeles’ Venice Beach neighbourhood.

After Tim Ryan’s Airbnb host cancelled his booking, he was offered a bunk in a hostel as an alternative.Credit: iStock

He’d booked the apartment more than a month earlier, but barely a week before their departure, late last month, came a message from Airbnb saying his host had cancelled the booking. Instead of being hosted, he was ghosted. The property he’d booked was with a Superhost, supposedly the cream of Airbnb properties.

Hosts can cancel a booking for legitimate reasons, for example, if the property has suffered damage or there’s a problem with the electricity supply, but hosts will sometimes cancel when self-contained accommodation is tight and the host can re-advertise the property for a higher price. Some concertgoers were left high and dry when Airbnb hosts cancelled bookings at short notice in the lead-up to Taylor Swift’s 2024 Eras Tour of Australia.

Guests who booked months in advance have also been left out in the cold when they booked Airbnbs to attend Eurovision competitions, Formula 1 races and other mega events that see a sudden surge in demand for short-term rentals. Without an explanation for the cancellation from Airbnb and nothing from the host, and shortly before the 2024 Academy Awards ceremony, Ryan’s suspicions were aroused.

How to handle Airbnb host cancellations

If your host cancels your reservation before check-in, you’re entitled to a full refund. However, if your host sends a message asking you to cancel your booking, don’t do it. It’s important that they cancel, not you. If you cancel, you won’t be eligible to receive a full refund.

Legally, there’s very little recourse for customers when an Airbnb booking goes wrong.Credit: Bloomberg

According to Airbnb, “if check-in is within 30 days, we’ll help you rebook a similar place to stay, depending on availability at comparable pricing”. Yet that’s not what happened in Ryan’s case. Instead of what he initially booked, a “Delightful Unit by Venice Beach Boardwalk” with a user rating of 4.85 from 39 reviews, what Airbnb offered was a room with bunk beds in a hostel, 5.9 kilometres from his original booking location. The price was a bargain, just $250 for a one-week stay, but in what world is bunk beds in a hostel with a shared bathroom a suitable alternative to a vogueish beachfront apartment?

Ryan needed to make another booking, but with the arrival date drawing near, the supply of suitable accommodation had evaporated. He ended up booking another Airbnb property, paying $500 more than the original $2500 booking cost. Some of that $500 went straight into Airbnb’s pocket by way of its commission fees. Is it any wonder the company is not too fussed about helping guests who have been hung out to dry by their host?

Airbnb’s cancellation policies are tilted in favour of hosts, and there’s nothing the dumped guest can do about it. Depending on the circumstances, Airbnb might impose a penalty of a minimum $US50 ($79). If it’s a Superhost, that status might be in jeopardy. If the host cancels 48 hours or less before check-in, or after check-in, the penalty is 50 per cent of the total amount for the nights not stayed. However, that ends up in the pockets of Airbnb, not the guests’. Guests who have been shafted can’t even post a negative review, since that’s not an option for non-stayers.

What if the Airbnb accommodation I’ve booked falls short of expectations?

At an Airbnb I stayed in several years back, in Istanbul’s Cihangir district, it looked as if the hosts had just left in a hurry. Dishes and cutlery were piled on the drying rack in the kitchen and cupboards were stuffed with the hosts’ clothing, so much so there was nowhere to unpack my case but on the floor. Photos can lie, and some hosts are not above using images that suggest majestic views from the bedroom when what guests are getting is a basement accessed through a parking lot.

If your accommodation is not what you expected, check the listing to make sure you were promised something different. If it’s a problem that can be fixed, contact your host and give them time to offer a remedy. If that doesn’t work, report the problem to Airbnb. It can’t do anything more than contact the host to make sure they address your concerns, but ultimately, Airbnb can arrange other accommodation, or help negotiate a discount.

Proof is important. Take photos, videos, keep a record of interactions with the host and with Airbnb. An honest, fact-based review will help others decide whether a property is what they’re looking for.

Consumer protection for Airbnb guests affected by host cancellations

If your host cancellation happens to be overseas, there’s very little chance that local consumer protection legislation is going to offer financial compensation. Even in Australia, your options are limited. Australian Consumer Law has no specific provisions that entitle Airbnb guests to claim a refund or a discount for misleading listings, or cancellations at short notice. It’s Airbnb’s own cancellation policies that set the compensation provisions.

NSW Fair Trading has a code of conduct for short-term rental accommodation hosts and guests, setting out the minimum standards of behaviour and requirements that apply. Under the heading “Obligations to guests”, the Fair Trading website says: “the premises must be provided in a state consistent with how it is represented in advertisements or in communications with guests”.

For those that don’t live up to promises, Fair Trading has a short-term rental accommodation Exclusion Register, a list of hosts and guests who have been excluded from participating in the industry. To be listed on the register, either a guest or the premises must have committed two serious breaches of the Code of Conduct in a two-year period. Since August 2022, Airbnb has applied sanctions to hosts listed on the Exclusion Register, including preventing an excluded host from operating on its platform.