Holiday horrors: Airbnb and Booking.com users battle for refunds as stays go wrong | Consumer rights

TThe 100 -year -old oak fell on the first day of the holidays. He crashed on the terrace where James and his partner, Andrew, had breakfast a few minutes earlier, breaking the table and the chairs and crushing the windshield of their rental car.

The Airbnb chalet in Provence in France was engulfed by the branches that broke the living room window and damaged the roof. “I was sure the ceiling was going to enter,” said James. “If he had fallen a few minutes earlier, we would have been seriously injured or killed.”

It took a day to the host to split the chalet tree and make emergency repairs, but the traumatized couple feared that the property was structurally non -solid and decided to book a hotel for the rest of the holidays of their week.

Airbnb was not disturbed. “We understand that this may have caused you disadvantages,” he wrote in the first of many messages generated by the identical AI before closing the unresolved case with a “keep safe.” Stay healthy ”.

The host was not disturbed too. “All that happened to you is that you heard a loud noise and given a tree lying on the terrace,” she said in an answer to the request of the reimbursement couple. “You have chosen to remember worry and trauma instead of celebrating a unique memory.”

Now that the summer season is over, the holiday stories flood the goalkeeper’s money.

Unlucky travelers declare that they are locked up in or out of their accommodation – if it existed or left blocked at night in strange cities if this was not the case. There are stories of dirty rooms, dangerous equipment and illegal sub-wooks. A factor unites these ruined holidays: they were reserved via online booking platforms, which refused a refund.

The growth of sites such as Airbnb and Booking.com has caused an increase in travelers to set up their own vacation. Companies pay the world’s property portfolio on a website and promise to seduce Wanderlust on a budget.

Consumer protections, however, did not make up for their popularity.

Customers of the packaging packaging have a legal appeal for holiday nightmares as part of the travel package and linked travel arrangements, but those who reserve accommodation via third -party platforms will be at the mercy of their host.

Some platforms announce additional protections, but your contract consists of the person or the company that provides accommodation.

James and Andrew had paid £ 931 for their week in the Provencal chalet and when they felt too dangerous to come back ended up twice for a hotel. They have not yet heard if they are responsible for the damaged rental car. Despite his commitment to the cover to reimburse customers if there is a serious problem with a rental, Airbnb said that it was up to the host to agree with a reimbursement; The host said the decision was Airbnb.

After 10 weeks of automatically generated identikit messages in response to James’ complaint, Airbnb said the case lasted long enough and closed it summarily. The host concluded that, as the repairs had cost him € 5,000 (£ 4,350), she would not make a reimbursement either. She suggested that instead, the couple celebrates their survival and “transforms the event into a beautiful story”.

Airbnb published a full refund with a voucher of £ 500 after questioning its health and safety policies. A spokesperson said: “We apologize for the original manipulation of this case, which is below our usual high standards. We will examine this internally. “

Trap

Kim Pocock used Booking.com to book an apartment for a two -night stay in Barcelona. She and her daughter were trapped in the property for most of their full day in the city after a safety lock on the front door.

“The host sent a maintenance man, who could not help,” she said. “They finally sent a locksmith who tried for several hours to access the outside lock. He had to buy a rope, which he threw at our window and we hoisted a key and a pliers. With us, we delete it inside.

Pocock asked for a full refund to compensate for it for the ruin trip and stress. Booking.com said it was at the discretion of the host. The host not only refused, but he retained his deposit of € 250 to pay the replacement lock. The deposit was finally returned by Booking.com, but Pocock estimated that it should be due to the rental cost of € 446.

“We would have been very at risk if there had been an emergency while we were trapped, but the host blames us for having used the lock,” she said.

Another customer from Booking.com Philip (last name retained) was trapped outside the London apartment, which he reserved for £ 70 when, trying to register, he found the key in complete safety. The owners told him that they were abroad and could not help and advised him to find elsewhere for the night. He spent an additional £ 123 in a hotel room and spent the intervention four months trying in vain to obtain this reimbursement.

“Booking.com essentially said that, as the owner does not answer them, there is nothing that they can do,” he said. “I cannot understand how a business is able to work in this way without responsibility. The additional bite in the tail is that the property in question is always announced on the platform. ”

Booking.com reimbursed both customers after the intervention of Guardian Money. The platform confirmed that the host who had left Philipt locked up with his rental had not responded to his investigations. When asked why the unscrupulous accommodation providers had not been struck off, he said that customers should examine customer comments to ensure that a property was “the right match”.

Critics do not always tell the whole story. A report last year by the consumer group who? stressed that the default system of Booking.com displayed the opinions which it was considered to be “relevant”. This means that it is easy for users to miss a recent deluge of criticisms warning that a list is a scam or not available.

Booking.com replied that customers could easily sort opinions by the most recent or lowest score in order to make their own decision on a property.

The same who? The report said that the lists that had been reported on several occasions as scams were not deleted. Booking.com replied that he was counting on the hosts to respect his general conditions and ensuring that availability was up to date.

Gray area

The problem for travelers who do not get what they paid is that their contract is with the accommodation provider and not the reservation platform.

Airbnb and Booking.com promise to help find alternative accommodation in an emergency, but obtaining compensation for a disturbed stay is a more difficult battle. Both tend to count on the owner to do the right thing.

The sector needs greater regulations, according to the activist and journalist of consumers Martyn James. “Because online platforms proceed effectively, the only line of conduct if the dispute is not resolved is legal action,” explains James. “But against whom against? Like the contract is between you and the host, you must bring legal action in their country.”

He adds: “You might say that the online market has failed to investigate your complaint properly and try to continue them, but it is a gray area, legally. The two companies are recorded abroad and have deep pockets.”

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) says that law 2024 on digital markets, competition and consumers, which entered into force in April, requires online platforms to “exercise professional diligence” in relation to the transactions of consumers promoted or carried out on their platforms.

A DBT spokesperson said: “This government is on the consumer side and we have put into force new difficult financial sanctions for consumer law violations to protect people’s funds.”

They added: “Companies selling services to British consumers must comply with British law, and we have strengthened the powers of competition and markets to ensure that they are facing serious penalties if they do not.”