Snafu-travel lesson learned

Oh, no. That sucks. However, I don't imagine she would have any recourse. The cancellation and no-show policies are usually stated on the listing. Also, why should the landlord be out the money they could have earned by renting to someone else for those dates? Sorry that happened to her, though.

Doubtful. She made a reservation and forgot about it. It's her fault. If the owner refunded her money then he would be out income. He can't rent an apartment yesterday. It's not his fault.

It's like a hotel. If you make a reservation but don't show, you will be charged. She has to read the fine print of her AirBnB agreement but it's highly doubtful.

Chalk it up to experience.

What are you expecting? Strange question to put up. She makes a reservation, forgets about it, receives a reminder that doesn't remind her, she ignores it --- and now expects some type of relief. There is something else going on.

Frank, no need to be snarky. As stated, I understand this may be just an expensive travel lesson learned.

I too am a bit puzzled by this question. Why should the Airbnb host be made to pay for something that obviously wasn’t their mistake?

No-shows and last-minute (literally) cancellations are starting to become a real issue in the hospitality business, although this mainly affects restaurants. All these available table booking apps and websites make it very easy to book a table and cancel one. So people book tables in different restaurants for one and the same evening, only to pick 1 on the day and cancel the others. Other people, like your friend, simply forget they made a reservation. Several high-end restaurants now charge a deposit because of this and I fully understand why.

The only thing she can do is accept responsibilities for her own actions.

But what does this have to do with "General Europe"?

And another way of looking at this is that not only is the AirBnB owner out a rental that they thought they had, but somewhere out there is someone with their group who was unable to get this rental and maybe even canceled their trip. Goes the same for reserving tables at multiple restaurants., or multiple lodging reservations. Not cool.

What are you expecting? Strange question to put up. She makes a
reservation, forgets about it, receives a reminder that doesn't remind
her, she ignores it --- and now expects some type of relief. There is
something else going on.

Good example for the post Douglas from Michigan wrote.

Good example for the post Douglas from Michigan wrote.

Yeah, I don't see the similarity in posts at all.
.
Maybe the folks who are Forum Members, and also AirBnB hosts, can chime in on their take on the situation!

Tammy,

This is a cut-and-dry mistake on her part that she'll undoubtedly learn from. You can't just not show up for a booked accommodation reservation, with no attempt at explanation or communication, and expect the contract to ignored.

I see from your profile that you are both a seasoned traveler and regular contributor. I admire the heart behind your post -- I reckon you are a "true blue" friend, as they used to say. And I get it ... I often want to jump in and save less-experienced friends from rookie mistakes and bad trip-planning snafus. But you, and I, and all the other seasoned travelers on this Forum also stumbled somewhere along the way. And we learned, and got better at it. So will your friend. Someday she'll be the one doling out the advice, and it might begin: "Let me tell you about a huge mistake I made back in the day, but never again..."

When I book a trip where we go on our own, I have all hotel/BnB, airline and tour reservation confirmations sent to me by email.
I place them in a new file for later reference. Like recently, I had to cancel a cruise and two weeks in Italy because of family medical, so it was easy, just go right to that fine and methodically cancel them all.

Well, this is a legitimate question. Perhaps the owner will allow a rescheduling to an off-peak time?

A lot of people assume that non-refundable hotel reservations are always charged, but this isn't true. Many allow rescheduling if you cancel that day, or won't bill a no-show if the hotel isn't full and no revenue is lost (which is the ethical thing to do).

Some ways to help prevent this from happening:
1. Don't make reservations casually on a smart phone, get out the computer and make a full procedure out of it.
2. Pay off your credit card in full each month, there's no way I would forget a $500 charge going through and covering that a few months previously if I had paid that bill.
3. Put emails in a specially created trip email folder so you have it all in one place to review from time to time.

...no need to be snarky. As stated, I understand this may be just an expensive travel lesson learned. .... Not trying to be snarky but am trying to understand the purpose of the question or what kind of answer you expected. You are still saying " this may be just.." but that also implies you are expecting (hoping for??) a creative answer that would get her of the hook?

We all make mistake. I once booked a flight for 12.10 am, checked-in on line, printed boarding passes, and was totally surprised to find no airplane when I showed up at 12.10 pm to board. Felt real stupid because every printed time on the schedule and boarding passes had a large AM behind the time. Haven't make that mistake since.

Well, the only benefit I can see from a mistake like this (I've made a few), is that they remind me to be a bit more compassionate with people making similar dumb mistakes - and try to help if I can - even it's just saying we've all been there.

Frank - I did the same thing once!

Good example for the post Douglas from Michigan wrote.

Yeah, I don't see the similarity in posts at all.

I think what Allan was saying is that there was no need to be so critical of Tammy for posting this. She asked a legitimate question and got some decent responses, but there were some responses that were a bit harsh. As far as I can see, this fits the category of travel questions allowed in this forum. If someone doesn't feel it's appropriate, just report it and see what Andrew does - there's no need to harangue the OP. We've all done things we regretted but it feels much worse when we are chastised for doing so.

Is there anything she can do or is this one of those expensive travel lessons learned?

I see no (legal) recourse for her. She could contact the owner and explain her absentmindedness and see if they want to extend her some mercy.

She and her 'partner' need to communicate better on 'who is doing what'.

Sadly, it probably fits best in the category of 'tuition payment' for a learning experience.

Your topic title is a succinct and accurate assessment.

Honestly, sometimes I wonder if people actually read the post! Carol states why did I put this under General Europe, duh, I stated I was not sure where to put it. Also, obviously, this is not a mistake that a seasoned traveler would make, and I didn't make it as stated.

Thank you to Tom_MN, Estimated Prophet, Allan, Mardee, joe32F for the appropriate tenor of their response. I have to say disappointed in some other comments by other long time posters on this forum.
My friend spoke to Bnb owner and has come to a satisfactory resolution. She got the cleaning fee refunded. Not a lot, but helps.

Now you know why I have the ridiculous name “Carol now retired”. When one of the millions of Carol’s in my generation posts something a little differently than I would want to be associated with, I have some differentiation …….

My husband and I had an actual budget category for mistakes like this. We called it a “stupid tax” and used this category far more than we wanted to. These type of mistakes, while painful, happen from time to time to all of us.

Thanks Amann! Good advice and I will pass on to her. What I don't understand is that when I book Airbnb, there is a charge that shows up on my credit card, so I don't know why she didn't catch her mistake then. I'll have to ask her about that when she returns. My dad once booked a flight for the wrong day and had to buy another (expensive) flight at the last minute. I learned from that, and am somewhat obsessive about checking flights, dates etc.
I also had another friend a long time ago, book a flight for San Juan. She thought she was going to San Juan, Costa Rica, but no, she booked San Juan Puerto Rico! So she went to Puerto Rico!

Yes, mistakes can happen, in travel as in any other area of life. I was on a tour recently where a couple had accidentally booked their return flight to the U.S. a day early (it was from Asia and they may have been confused about the date line), and couldn't change it without great additional expense. So they had to miss the last day of the tour and farewell dinner. They were cool about it (at least in public!).

periscope and Allan, it’s exactly what Douglas was talking about.

I showed up a month early in Carmel, California with family, in-laws, nieces in tow and a day late for a flight to the US from Paris. I also showed up a day early in Bayeux.
Forgetting a reservation is something I'd do. At least my husband keeps things straight for us. Your friend is a single mother with two kids. It's a wonder she can make it out the door. I'm so sorry about the $ down the drain. She'd better leave trip planning to her partner and stick with tasks that make use of her strong points.
I have no magic formula to help her or even a similar situation that worked out.

Ha-ha, Carol now retired. I (too late) saw myself put a $5 bill into the wrong slot on a grocery store self-checkout machine recently and then didn't know where to post it in my bookkeeping system. I think I just put it in Misc. and called it "stupidity charge." I'm grateful it was a small amount.

Ha, I'm glad I'm not the only one making dumb mistakes. When I went to Munich in 2010, I was traveling with a friend but I had made all the bookings (or so I thought). When we got to the hotel in Munich, it turned out I had emailed the hotel, set the dates, gotten a response and then forgot to confirm the booking!

When they said they had no record of my reservation, I started frantically searching through my emails and realized what had happened. I was so mortified! Luckily they were able to accommodate us for the right number of nights, but it cost us (well, me) an extra €40. After that, I did something like what Aimee does, but I put it in a spreadsheet and mark off every booking, whether it's a hotel, ferry or train ticket, once it's paid and confirmed. Never again!

My husband made the date line mistake on his first trip to Taiwan. He booked the hotel for a day earlier than he should have and was, of course, charged for the night he was a no-show.

I flag all emails pertaining to a trip with a specific colour of flag. I forward them to TripIt and make my husband a traveller on the trip so that he has access to the TripIt info, also. I save any confirmations or passes as pdf files and put them in a folder in my Dropbox, and share the folder with my husband. So far, so good (touch wood).

Even seasoned travelers make big mistakes, trust me because I know. In Halifax NS printing our boarding pass. We had flown from Newark NJ the prior week. I always make all arrangements due to my years as flight attendant. I could not decide how I was going to tell my husband we were returning to LaGuardia in NY and would need to take two buses to get to our car in NJ. He was sort of quiet on the way home!!

I always fly out of Oakland for domestic flights. Always. Except one time. When I booked out of San Francisco because the flight was better.

Well, it would have been better, had I showed up at San Francisco. Instead, out of habit, I went to Oakland. Where TSA did the same thing I did... they looked at my boarding pass and said "sure, we're in San Francisco" and they let me through.

It wasn't until I was trying to find my gate that I realized what I'd done. One expensive same day ticket change later and I was on the next Oakland flight.

I'm a bit obsessive now about checking my departure airport!

Aimee, believe me, I may use a spreadsheet for that but I am a paper lover as well. I have my stack of blank notebooks that I write in every day and that’s what I plan my trips on, complete with multi colored pens and scrolling doodles on the side. 😊

Been there (or something fairly similar - I had a super angry French apartment owner in LIlle)

Done that (see above)

Got the T-Shirt.

(also got a 25 minute lecture and tirade over the phone)

This discussion about “snafu-travel” reminded me of a story I read in 1985. Lo and behold I found the story. I can understand how it could happen. :). https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi3z_nI8K79AhV1ATQIHRydACcQFnoECA4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2F920201fe8b75595d9653367946039dc4&usg=AOvVaw1JrV7Qpuvxdyf915i8aEYS

I remember that story, too, Janis. At least he got a bus tour Glad you found it.

Nothing to suggest for your friend - sorry. For "next time" planning: our fail-safe (safer?) thing is to talk through the trip together, about a week before we leave. As the main travel planner, I put everything in a paper folder as I plan, with electronic backups. Then I present each step of the itinerary to my husband, and we review it together. With fresher eyes, he spots things I missed. And it's a fun part of the anticipation, too.

I miss the app that used to work with Gmail and would flag all emails that seamed to be trip related and organize them and all attachments for you…

And then there is Charleston, WVa, and Charleston, SC. This was the days prior to the internet and our company used a travel agent nearly full time arranging travel for all the staff. You guessed it --- Arrival on the last flight into Charleston SC with the airport and services starting to shut down. My rental car was waiting for me in Charleston, WVa. And no cars available in Charleston, SC and about three decades before Uber.

Hopefully Tammy's friend has read these posts for whatever comfort it may bring knowing that she is not alone in having an "OOPS" moment.

As a VRBO veteran and self-proclaimed expert, I will offer the following:

Contact the owner to see if they'll meet you halfway with a refund. As Paw Paw said, "It never hurts to ask." You've got nothing to lose.

As for an oops moment, well, I hadn't had a flat tire in 20 or more years until I was driving to Reagan International last June and had a puncture. I worked as fast as I could to change the tire and almost gave up in frustration at one point because I couldn't get one of the lug nuts off. My wife looked sternly at me and said, "So you're giving up your man card?" I bore down once more and doggone it if it loosened up. I was drenched in sweat, which made the flight not particularly comfortable, but the consolation is that, for once, I came through in the clutch.

Tammy, not that it helps after the fact, but it is a shame she didn't discuss the messages and reminders sent by AirBnB. If she had caught it early enough, but after final payment therenis a method to request refunds from the host directly...aside from the AirBnB or listing deadlines. One time I cancelled Barcelona when it was in the midst of their Catalan vote in 2017. I canceled and explained why and left it at that. 5 nights' rent lost. Closer to the time I would have arrived, I noticed that 4 of the 5 nights had be rented out, so I used the method to request a refund for the 4 nights rented, and he gave them to me. We had kept a congenial rapport, it was a known time of upset in the city, and thankfully the host was not greedy. Due to his good will, I have referred him to others in the city based on his professionalism.
So, AirBnB has a lot of layers and a few extra options many people don't know about but it pays to read all the rules and regs.
However, I doubt that option would be welcomed by the host after the no-show. Sorry for your friend's hard lesson.

My friend (in a different state) and I were planning a domestic trip that included a few days in one state before moving on to another. On the phone, with both of us looking at the flight options online, we discussed the flight to the second city, and I told her to select the flight time she liked the most. She chose. I hit the buy button on the website for my ticket. When we both went to check in for the flight 24 hours before departure, she couldn't find a confirmation number in her notes. Turns out she forgot to hit the purchase button and had never actually purchased the ticket. It cost her an extra $100, about double what she would have paid if done according to plan.

I miss the app that used to work with Gmail and would flag all emails
that seamed to be trip related and organize them and all attachments
for you…

@douglas, actually, that's still there - Google will gather the information about your trips from your emails and put them into an itinerary of sort. It's not as complete as something like TripIt, but it works pretty well. You can access it at https://www.google.com/travel

I’m a fan of TripIt because of these very instances (great stories, everyone!), and while it recognizes and picks up almost all travel-plans related emails, it has missed some along the way. So I always follow up and add to my itinerary manually if I need to.

I have to say disappointed in some other comments by other long time posters on this forum.

I associate travel with fun, excitement, and sophistication. So it's always a bit jarring to see harsh responses. Obviously there was a screw up. I have screwed up things - arrived to a flight a day early or a day late, or whatever myself - I am ashamed to say. But there was some way to mitigate the damage by contacting the airline. And I suspect the OP was hoping for some solution ... no matter how improbably as some kind of "Hail Mary" pass ... like maybe you can contact AirBNB and explain and they will let it ride. That sounds ridiculous ... but actually I have had hotels.com sort out a few things for me - not exactly this problem. But they actually gave me a credit for a night's hotel because of a problem that was not their fault (more the fault of the hotel). Indeed, I have been in department stores and seen people returning obviously well used clothing which is damaged and lacking any kind of receipt, and been astonished to see them get a store credit. So I don't think there is anything wrong with someone asking this question.

I’m a fan of TripIt because of these very instances (great stories, everyone!), and while it recognizes and picks up almost
all travel-plans related emails, it has missed some along the way. So I always follow up and add to my itinerary manually
if I need to.

I would not rely on anything automatic. thats a recipe for this kind of thing to happen. I keep a spreadsheet of every hotel for every night with its confirmation number, address, and phone. Also price. Is breakfast included? And is it refundable. I also put all this info into Apple Notes (which is stored to their cloud not just the device). I also include whether I booked it through this hotel app, or that one, or direct to the hotel.

On almost every long trip, there are a few mid-course corrections and changes. So this helps to know which things can be moved around. This redundancy helps keep things straight and is more reliable. Especially with booking directly, their confirmation email from a foreign country in a foreign language may not be parsed by TripIt or Google or whatever.

I use TripIt, but, besides saving confirmations as pdfs in a Dropbox folder, I add the contact information for each accommodation to a folder in my "Contacts" (which populates to my laptop, phone, and ipad) that I create for each trip. In the "notes" section of the contact card, I put in any pertinent check in instructions, confirmation numbers, etc. The contacts folder also contains contact cards for the nearest Canadian embassy or consulate, my credit card contacts, my health insurance contacts, contact info for tour companies I've booked with, etc.

The lesson is, as others have said, use Tripit or a similar easy convenient itinerary tracking app in the future.

Regarding the Airbnb, contact the owner and very politely and nicely pitch the hard luck case. Maybe they'll give a discount in the future, or a partial refund, or rebooking an off-peak period for free, etc. Propose a solution or two in the hard luck pitch. The owner might not agree with those, and likely won't do anything for your friend, but at least your friend has suggested the sorts of actions that might be taken and as such whet the owner's thinking.

Remember two things. It never hurts to ask, no harm in it. And the owner has every right to say no, and should be treated cordially and respectfully regardless of how they respond.