The Pros and Cons of Airbnb

I have been an avid Airbnb lover for years now. The site is simple and streamlined and I've always been able to book my rentals effortlessly. However, I had a particularly poor experience that has made me a little more aware of the pros and cons of using the hoe rental company.

I began planning a trip to Paris months ago and had all of my ducks in a row. I'd booked my train tickets, made an itinerary that included some possible volunteering at Paris Fashion Week, reserved what I thought was an excellent Airbnb rental, etc. Everything seemed to be in order. That is, until a few days leading up to my trip.

My trip to Paris that went awry

In preparation for my Parisian retreat, I reached out to my rental host through the Airbnb messaging portal days prior to my departure. I sent the usual “Hey, I just wanted to check in to be sure we are all set for my arrival.” A day went by and I messaged again. No response. I was starting to get worried. Because it was Paris Fashion Week, there would surely be no availability anywhere else on such short notice.

The day finally came for my trip and I still hadn't heard back from the host. So I gave Airbnb’s customer service a call. And the service was fabulous. Although I hope you never need assistance from customer service, if you find that you have to give them a call, I'd request Jeffrey (sorry, I don’t know his last name!) - he was a godsend and was very patient considering that it was about 1:00 AM for him in the States when he took my call.

I explained that I had not been able to connect with my host and was unsure what my next steps should be. Jeffrey kindly walked me through my options. Basically, since I could not get in touch with the host, Jeffrey would call the rental owner and leave a voicemail and if he got no response within an hour, he would cancel my reservation and help me find alternative lodging in the area.

Well an hour went by and I heard back from Jeffrey that he cancelled the reservation on my behalf when he hadn't heard back from the host. In addition, he refunded the full amount of my payment and even gave me a travel credit that amounted to 10% of how much I'd originally paid for the rental (since I paid $299 for my reservation, I received a $29 travel credit). 

Unfortunately, because it was such short notice, I couldn't find alternative lodging for the same price as I'd spent initially. So Paris was going to have to wait. And I ultimately lost the money I had paid for my train tickets (roughly $75) because I had booked non-refundable passage.

I had stopped over in Brussels for a few days beforehand as I was under the impression that I’d be continuing onto Paris, and Brussels was the perfect halfway point between the Netherlands (where I was studying abroad at the time) and France. I was actually sitting in a Brussels train station getting ready to board a passenger car to Paris when I finally called Airbnb’s customer service and was connected with Jeffrey.

I had even considered just jumping the train and figuring out my lodging situation when I’d arrived in Paris. I read from other travelers that had been stuck in my situation that they just went to their destination and were ultimately successful in reaching their hosts once they’d arrived. But I didn’t want to take that chance - and I’m glad I didn’t.

In the end, I got that full refund from Airbnb, a $29 travel credit, a loss of $75 worth of train tickets, and the displeasure of having to go back home when I’d been gearing up for some quality time in Paris.

Although I know that it was wholly the host’s fault for not responding to my messages, I do wish that Airbnb had some sort of system in place that mediated the communication between the host and the renter in the days leading up to the rental period. For instance, if Airbnb sent a confirmation message to the host two weeks prior to the rental period and that message went without response, then Airbnb would send me a notice allowing a little more time for me to prepare alternative arrangements.

There’s no sure way to avoid situations like this. I planned months ahead of time and chose a rental with only high reviews to curb the chances of being shafted. But it still happened. The most I can recommend is making sure that your train/plane tickets are refundable or exchangeable, even if it costs a little extra at the time of purchase.

In addition, perhaps stay in constant contact with the host so that the lines of communication are open and you’ll get a hasty response to all of your messages. I think I could have improved upon my timing and should have reached out to my rental owner sooner so that I wasn’t totally sidetracked when I didn’t get a response.

But, of course, there will always be the chance of something coming up unexpectedly. No amount of planning and organizing can fully prepare you, so try to take each trip in stride and be open to compromises or sudden shifts in your plans.