Airbnb Resolution Center
 

 

 

Background

 

           

Shonda Williamson reserved a room on Airbnb for a three-day work trip to San Diego. The room she reserved was described in the listing as a sunny, modern space with big windows facing toward the ocean. The listing made clear that the room was a guest room in a house, but it had a private bathroom. Shonda agreed to pay $220 for the room for each of the three nights, and she entered her credit card number. The owner, Robert Rodriguez, lived in the house, but said in the listing that he would be out of town for the latter two days of the reservation. He was responsive to Shonda’s messages, and he said he would meet her at the house to get her set up when she arrived.

Shonda flew in to San Diego late on a Tuesday, got a taxi, and arrived at Robert’s house around 9:45pm. When Shonda got out of the taxi she saw the house was a little different than what she was expecting. It wasn’t a free standing house; it was half of a duplex. When she rang the doorbell Robert met her at the door. He was friendly, but younger than she thought he would be. As they walked upstairs he mentioned that he was a student at nearby UCSD. They walked through his living room to Shonda’s room, which was the room pictured in the Airbnb listing, but it seemed kind of hastily cleaned, and the towel on the bed for her use was kind of gray. As Shonda put down her bags Robert explained that his plans had changed and he would not be out of town during her reservation, and that he had two other friends also staying in the house. Shonda didn’t want to be rude, so she didn’t complain at the time. But after Robert left her in the room and she was unpacking, she heard someone else enter into the “private bathroom” connected to her room through another door, and they began taking a shower. She had to wait for them to finish and exit the bathroom before she could brush her teeth and go to bed.

Shonda made do with the room through the reservation, and her work meetings went well, but it was awkward being in the house with three college-age men, so she left quite early each day (killing time in a nearby coffee shop until her meetings began) and came home late. Robert and his friends made noise in the living room until about midnight each night. She didn’t say anything during the stay, and she wasn’t going to file a complaint, but after she returned home to Philadelphia her annoyance with the situation got worse (with the cleaning fee, the total charge ended up at $720) and eventually she decided to file for a refund through the Airbnb Resolution Center.

When she checked it out on the website, Airbnb’s guest refund policy explained that “Eligible travel issues” (meaning situations that may be eligible for a refund under the refund policy) “generally fall into one of three categories:

1. The host fails to provide reasonable access to the booked listing.
2. The listing is misrepresented (ex: number of bedrooms, location, lacks promised amenities).
3. The listing isn't generally clean, is unsafe, or there's an animal in the listing that wasn't disclosed prior to booking.

The site explained: “Airbnb will either provide you with a refund or use reasonable efforts to find and book another comparable accommodation for any unused nights left on your reservation. The amount of any refund will depend on the nature of the travel issue.” Shonda felt that the listing was misrepresented because she did not get a private bathroom.

The Airbnb policy further stated that: “Contact us to bring the travel issue to our attention. If you notice the issue during check-in, contact us within 24 hours. If the issue occurs during your stay, contact us right away. We'll ask you to provide photographs or other documentation that show what you're experiencing. We also require that you:

1. Are responsive to our requests for additional information and cooperation.
2. Have not directly or indirectly caused the travel issue.
3. Have used reasonable efforts to remedy the circumstances with the host prior to making a claim, including messaging your host on Airbnb to notify them of the issue. We'll verify this in your account.
4. Review the Guest Refund Policy Terms for more details, including info about the minimum quality standards for accommodations, and what qualifies as a travel issue.”

Shonda filed a request for refund, and Airbnb notified Robert. Their case was assigned to a mediator working with OnlineMediators.com for resolution.

 

Robert Rodriguez confidential information

 

Shonda seemed nice when she stayed in your place – not that friendly, but not hostile. The other guests you’ve had in the room had seemed perfectly content, and had given you good reviews. Some of them even turned out to be pretty cool, and they had had a few beers with you in the living room during their stay. Shonda was very quiet, up and out early, and not chatty at the end of the day – which is fine, that’s her call to make. She didn’t complain while she stayed in your place – maybe if she had you could have tried to make some changes. You thought you were going to be driving to Los Angeles with your friends while she was in town, but your sister said she needed to use the car so you all just decided to stay in San Diego at the last minute. You tried to be respectful of Shonda’s space and to keep the noise down. It was true that the listing said private bathroom and your friends had used the bathroom a couple of times while she was in the house, but it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. You told them to be quick and keep things clean. Money is pretty tight, so you’re not too excited about giving her a refund – though you don’t want to get a negative review from her on Airbnb, because that might scare away future guests. Again, if she had said something during the stay maybe you could have handled it.