Talk is cheap. What’s in your terms and conditions is the only thing that matters
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Rental owners lie—at least the one who rented Jing Wen Xiong and her husband a private room in London did. He told the newlyweds they would only have to share a bathroom with another room.
But, as it turns out, there were seven bedrooms that had to share one bathroom — a fact that the Airbnb host didn’t reveal until after Xiong had made her nonrefundable reservation.
“We are devastated,” she said. “You are our last hope. Please do us justice.”
Well, it turns out they are not alone. My advocacy team and I have been fielding questions from readers who say their Airbnb or Vrbo owners have misrepresented their property to them. Often, Airbnb and Vrbo can’t — or won’t — help them. (Related: Companies are lying about their accommodations again.)
How do vacation rental owners lie?
Here’s how they lie:
“I’ll bend the rules for you”
“It’s all relative”
“You’ll get a refund if you cancel”
Will this Airbnb host get away with it?
But still, seven rooms? The host might have disclosed that sooner.
I thought Airbnb might want to take another look at this case. Not only had the host withheld critical information, he had also told Xiong she could cancel, leaving her with the strong impression that the refund policy would be waived. And that didn’t happen.
So I asked Airbnb to take another look at this case. Shortly after that, I heard back from Xiong.
“We’ve got a full refund of $2,500 from Airbnb,” she reported. “I didn’t expect it to be solved so smoothly. You rock big time! This is definitely the best wedding gift ever! Thank you!”
The takeaway: When dealing with a vacation rental host, make sure everything is in writing. There are no exceptions.
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Christopher Elliott is an author, consumer advocate, and journalist. He founded Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems. He publishes Elliott Confidential, a travel newsletter, and the Elliott Report, a news site about customer service. If you need help with a consumer problem, you can reach him here or email him at [email protected].