Hello, In November 2018 we booked a large barn through Airbnb for a friends hen do for May 2019 - paid the £1100 non refundable deposit which equated to 50% of the total accommodation costs Unfortunately the wedding has been cancelled and we cancelled the booking for the hen do last week -giving over 4 month notice Airbnb and the host are refusing to refund our substantial deposit even though within a day of cancelling the barn has been rebooked by another party. Clearly they are taking advantage - I have complained but haven't got anywhere and am just ben ignored by the host. Any advice on what to do next would b great.

Hi Guys I've been using Airbnb during my travels for the last 8 years. I recently stayed with a family in Scotland and on arrival was introduced to the family dog (a golden retriever). The listing stated that it's a friendly dog and I know that this breed has a good reputation for being a great family pet. When I arrived at the house I received a warm welcome from the host, her husband and their children. I was then introduced to the dog and was encouraged to stroke her so that she would be familiar with me. Later that evening the host, her son and the dog came into my room and we were chatting and again I was stroking the dog and there was no problem. However, on the 2nd evening when I saw the dog lying outside the kitchen door which is opposite my room, I approached her and was stroking her on the head for about 30 seconds when I saw her lips curl up as she started growling. Obviously, I knew that wasn't a good sign so I quickly jumped back but she still managed to bite me on my right hand but because I jumped back she didn't break my skin. I know this is unusual behaviour for this breed but what the host told me on arrival was that the dog is terminally ill with cancer and she pointed to the dog's stomach to show me that she has a massive tumour. The following night when I had to go to the bathroom in the midddle of the night, the dog started growling as I was coming down the stairs to go back into my room (the dog sleeps outside the kitchen and I had to go upstairs to the 1st floor to use the bathroom). I believe that the illness is the cause of the dog becoming temperamental but the host is blaming me for approaching the dog. when I reported the incident to airbnb they suggested that I request a refund from the host. However, when I made the request the host said they disagree and put the blame on me. I had stayed 4 nights that cost just over £200. I would appreciate some advice on where I stand with this. I'm not trying to gain a large sum of money out of this as I wasn't injured but it was a frightening experience and I was very wary of the dog after that. I personally don't think a refund is an unreasonable request but as they're blaming me for approaching the dog that they introduced me to I am now considering the next step. I would appreciate any legal guidelines on this matter. If anyone has any factual information then that would be really helpful.

Hi, Recently some friends and I went on holiday to a villa rented through AirBnB. While there we cracked a plant pot, and some soil leaked into the pool. We spent the penultimate day cleaning and scrubbing the place because we felt guilty and left the place in pristine condition. We left at 8am, the host had guests in at 12 noon the same day. Upon being home a few days, the host put through some damages for us to pay amounting to a staggering 684€. This included; - Cracked Plant pot (80€) - Damaged IKEA towel and damaged IKEA bedding (50€) - Pool Cleaning (50€) - Cracked pool tile (500€). We were shocked. - Despite scrubbing the place clean and actually checking for damages, we did not see any cracked tiles and do not believe it was us at all. - The plant pot was heavy, so we are assuming shes damaged the tile herself replacing the plant pot. Regardless, we think this should be covered by insurance. - We payed a £237.49 cleaning fee up front; we think the pool should be covered by this - The IKEA towel and bedding was damaged by bleach that the host left on the floor. This also ruined all the girls bikinis, by bleaching them! We refused to pay the sum the host demanded. She then responded with "We just had an email from the tile constructor who thinks that the tile would cost 250€ instead of 500€". At this point, her costs include 0 receipts or proof of cost of any kind, and we found the IKEA towels online for £4.84 (IKEA website). Anyway, we declined the payment and she went to the resolution centre. The resolution centre is supposed to ask for both sides of the story and come to a fair settlement. The "expert" got in contact to say she was getting information from Hilde and would then contact us. We then went to support and asked about the Security Deposit. There was no security deposit set on the property, and from research, to us this means anything we pay is on our sole good nature. The expert never contacted us; the next message from her was a breakdown of the costs she told us we must pay and our AirBNB account is deactivated until we pay. There was still no proof at all of any costs either, no receipts, nothing. We will not pay for absurd damages that we did not cause, knowing she has tried to ripp us off and certainly not when the "expert" never got in contact with us! - Can AirBNB force us to pay without a security deposit? - What can we do here? Please help, Ryan

Hi all. Really could do with some good advice please. I will try and sum up concisely... A friend and I went through the process of booking an apartment in Brighton with Airbnb. We are both new to Airbnb. We found an apartment and communicated with the 'owner' through the Airbnb site system. When it came to booking we received an Airbnb branded html email. With payment details. I forwarded the email to my friend who made payment... before i could stop him as I realised it was bank transfer details which seemed wrong to me. Long story short... as soon as payment was made the Airbnb user disappeared from the Airbnb site. Removed his apartment and profile. We felt so stupid. The email was so convincing. Fully branded and all links correctly heading back to the airbnb site. I immediately contacted Airbnb and my friend contacted his bank to see if he could halt the payment. This was two weeks ago and all I have had from Airbnb is apologies over the phone and referral to the appropriate team who deal with situations like this... but ONLY communicate via email. These emails have offered nothing more than an apology for my experience and then a referral to their terms and conditions, pointing out they state not to make offsite payments. Then a paragraph informing me this will be their last communication with the matter. When someone signs up to put their property on Airbnb... there must be checks? They must have to give property details, addresses, ID, contact numbers? Airbnb have provided me with none of this! They have washed their hands of the whole affair. As for my friend... his bank are still 'seeing' what they can do' and have stated it maybe too late. Even though my friend contacted them within 12 hours. I do realise we may have been naive. But Airbnb must take some responsibility? New users of their site could easily fall into this trap and the user has been allowed to advertise falls without proper investigation. Does anyone know what rights I have or who i should complain to regarding Airbnb or my friend's bank? Airbnb did say i should inform local authorities. But who? The police cannot do anything! Help please!