Airbnb host cancels, and now I have to pay $1,300 more

Q: I recently reserved a two-bedroom apartment in Washington, D.C., through Airbnb. My host canceled our reservation within 24 hours of my arrival. Airbnb sent me substitute listings, but all of them were much more expensive and smaller than the one we had booked. I quickly chose a one-bedroom apartment that cost $1,300 more. Airbnb offered me a $200 coupon for a future booking. That’s it. They won’t even talk to me.

I think Airbnb should cover the $1,300 difference from the original booking. Our original booking was one block away from where we needed to be. Our new location is 1.1 miles away, which means we also have travel expenses that we wouldn’t have had before. Can you help? -- Curtis Rahman, St. Louis Park, Minnesota

A: If a host cancels, Airbnb promises a full refund, according to its Rebooking and Refund Policy. And if a host cancels a month or less before your check-in, and you contact Airbnb, it promises to “assist” you with finding comparable or better accommodations.

But here’s where things get a little fuzzy. Airbnb says that as part of providing rebooking assistance, it may --but is not obligated to -- pay for or contribute to the cost of new accommodations. “We may also provide guests with the option of applying the value of a canceled reservation to new accommodations, or of receiving travel credit in lieu of getting a cash refund,” as written in the policy.

In other words, it’s up to Airbnb to decide how much of your new accommodations it will cover. Interestingly, it recently changed its rebooking policy to remove language that required hosts to cover the extra expense of rebooking. That leaves you in a gray area for getting your refund. When you rented the new place, I think you could have asked Airbnb to pay for it. If it agreed, you should have asked for that promise in writing.

Instead, it looks as if Airbnb believed you asked for your money back. “Unfortunately, your host needed to cancel the reservation due to unforeseen, extenuating circumstances,” a representative wrote to you in an email. “In compliance with our terms of service, we provided you with a full refund plus a coupon for the value of $200.”

I think you may have gotten your wires crossed with Airbnb. The misunderstanding continued as you asked for a supervisor but just found yourself talking to another customer service representative. Worse, you didn’t even see the $200 coupon, and by the time you did, you had already booked a new apartment, and the coupon was a few weeks away from expiring.

In a situation like this, you can reach out to one of the Airbnb executive contacts that I list on my consumer website at www.elliott.org/company-contacts/airbnb-customer-service-contacts/.

I contacted Airbnb on your behalf. A representative contacted you a few hours later. Airbnb provided you with a full refund of the $1,300 and another $200 coupon that expires within a year.

Christopher Elliott is the chief advocacy officer of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers resolve their problems. Elliott’s latest book is “How To Be The World’s Smartest Traveler” (National Geographic). Contact him at elliott.org/help or chris@elliott.org.