THe was a 100-year-old oak fell on the first day of the holiday. He crashed into the terrace, where James and his partner, Andrew, had breakfast a few minutes ago, breaking the table and chairs and crushing the windshield of their hired vehicle.
A Airbnb Cottage in Provence, France, was covered by branches that broke the window of the living room and damaged the roof. “I was sure that the ceiling would come,” says James. “If he fell a few minutes ago, we would be seriously injured or killed.”
It took the owner a day to squeeze a tree from the cottage and make an emergency repairs, but the injured couple was afraid that property could be structurally unfulfilled, and decided to book at the hotel until the end of the holiday of her week.
Airbnb was calm. “We understand that this could cause some inconvenience for you,” he wrote in the first of many identical messages generated by AI before closing the unresolved business with joyful “to save safe. Stay healthy. “
The owner was also calm. “Everything that happened to you is that you heard a loud noise and saw a tree lying on the terrace,” she said in response to a request for a return of a return. “You decided to recall anxiety and injury instead of celebrating a unique memory.”
Now the summer season is over, festive terrible stories are circulating the money of the guardian.
Unfortunate travelers report that they are locked in their housing or outside – if he existed or left in a difficult position at night in strange cities, if not so. There are stories about dirty bedrooms, unsafe equipment and illegal subleases. One factor unites these destroyed holidays: they were booked through online platforms that refused to return.
The growth of sites such as Airbnb and Booking.com caused the growth of travelers who collect their own holidays. Companies pour a portfolio of the world on the web site and promise SATED WANDERLUSK with a limited budget.
However, consumer protection did not catch up with their popularity.
Customers with packages have legal processing for festive nightmares for PuctushaBut those who book housing through third -party platforms will find themselves in the power of their master.
Some platforms advertise additional protection, but your contract is that a person or company providing housing.
James and Andrew paid 931 pounds for their week in the extended cottage, and when they felt too unsafe to return, ultimately escaped twice as much as for the hotel. They have not yet heard whether they are responsible for the damaged car rental. Despite him The key to AirCover To compensate customers, if there is a serious problem with the rent, Airbnb said that the owner should agree on compensation; The owner claimed that the decision was Airbnb.
After 10 weeks of reports about the automatic generation of Identikit in response to James Airbnb, he announced that the case had lasted a long time, and as a result it was closed. The presenter came to the conclusion that since the repair cost it 5,000 euros (4350 pounds), she would also not drown out the return. She suggested that instead the couple celebrated their survival and “turn the event into a wonderful story.”
Airbnb released a full return of funds together with the voucher for £ 500 after we questioned his health and security policy. The representative says: “We apologize for the original handling of this case, which does not comply with our usual high standards. We will consider this inside. ”
In a trap
Kim Dagon used Booking.com to book an apartment for a two -day stay in Barcelona. She and her daughter remained in the property for most of their only full day in the city after the guarded lock on the front door is faulty.
“The host sent a person on maintenance, who could not help,” she says. “In the end, they sent a locksmith, who for several hours tried to access the castle outside. He had to buy a rope that he threw to our window, and we raised a wrench and pliers. With us, blocked from the inside, and the locksmith pounded it outside, we finally managed to remove it. He turned the free, the screws blocked the mechanism. Then almost 4 tbsp.
Dag requested a full return of funds to compensate her for the destroyed trip and stress. Booking.com said that it was at the discretion of the host. The owner not only refused, but also kept her deposit of 250 euros to pay for the replacement of replacement. The deposit was ultimately returned by Booking.com, but the generok felt that she was from a rental cost of 446 euros.
“We would be at risk if there was an emergency when we trapped, but the owner accuses us of using blocking,” she says.
Another Booking.com Philip (surname was held) was trapped outside the London apartment, which he booked for 70 pounds, when, trying to register, he found a key safe empty one. The owners told him that they were abroad, and could not help, and advised him to find somewhere else at night. He spent the additional 123 pounds in the hotel room and spent four months, trying in vain to get this return.
“Booking.com basically said that since the owner does not answer them, they cannot do anything,” he says. “I cannot understand how a business is able to work in this way without responsibility. An additional bite in the tail is that the property under consideration is still advertised on the platform. ”
Booking.com returned both clients after the intervention of Guardian Money. The platform confirmed that the owner, who was left by Philip, locked from his lease, could not answer his requests. When he was asked why unscrupulous housing suppliers were not excluded from the list, he said that customers should consider the reviews about guests so that the property is “suitable”.
Reviews do not always tell the whole story. A Last year report from the consumer group, what? He emphasized that the default system. This means that it is easy for users to skip the recent stream of reviews warning that the list is a scam or inaccessible.
Booking.com objected that customers can easily sort reviews by the latest or lowest points to make their own decision on real estate.
The same? The report claims that lists that were repeatedly reported, as fraud were not deleted. Booking.com replied that it was relied on to the hosts to comply with their conditions and guarantee that the availability is updated.
Gray area
The problem for travelers who do not receive what they paid for is that their contract is concluded in the housing supplier, and not with the reservation platform.
Airbnb and Booking.com promise to help find alternative housing in an emergency, but receiving compensation for violation of stay is a tougher battle. Both, as a rule, rely on the owner to do the right thing.
The sector needs more regulation, according to the consumer participant and journalist Martina James. “Since online platforms are effective by the police themselves, the only course of actions, if the dispute is not resolved, is a lawsuit,” says James. “But who is against it? Since the contract between you and the owner, you had to accept the lawsuit in their country. ”
He adds: “You can say that the online market could not correctly investigate your complaint and try to continue them, but this is a gray area, legally. Both firms are registered abroad and have deep pockets. ”
The Department of Business and Trade (DBT) states that digital markets, competition and consumers of the 2024 law, which entered into force in April, requires that online platforms “carry out professional zeal” in relation to consumer transactions, promoted or made on their platforms.
The representative of DBT says: “This government is on the side of consumers, and we brought in force difficult new financial fines for violating the law on consumers to protect people's money.”
They added: “Companies selling services to British consumers must comply with the UK law, and we have strengthened the authority to compete and markets to make sure that they are faced with serious fines if they do not do this.”
