The Airbnb booking service left Russia and Belarus “not for free”: according to the Baza Tedegram channel, the service finally “threw” hundreds of Russian tourists, removing reservations and not returning funds for these reservations. At the same time, in the service rules themselves, the current situation falls under the definition of force majeure, and in addition, the service management once promised that all bookings made by Russians and Belarusians before April 4 would be processed by the site. However, the scandalous American service was previously seen in throwing Russia as a state on the money that it had to pay as taxes.
At the same time, we are talking about quite serious amounts – the channel cites complaints from users whose accounts have hung from 40 thousand to 100 thousand rubles paid for the reservation. We are talking about bookings made in February-March, before the service left Russia. “Airbnb itself canceled the booking, the money was not returned,” the victims complain.
At the same time, the affected tourists note in a separate paragraph that the rules of the service say that “restrictions at the state level” are recognized as a reason for force majeure and a refund. However, tourists are ready to return the money only with bonuses – which they obviously cannot use. And, as tourists add, “mockingly reports: this is the only way we can save your money.” “It seems to me that this service left Russia, pocketing all our money,” the victims add.
Recall that in “peaceful times” Airbnb became the hero of scandals. Back in 2018, a loud scandal erupted: the company defiantly closed its office in Russia, preferring to pay taxes abroad, but did not stop making money in our country. In 2017, the tourist market was agitated by a scandalous memorandum of cooperation signed by Rostourism with Airbnb. The indignation about the contacts of Rostourism with this American service was so great that at that time a number of public organizations and specialized associations of the tourism business, such as ATA, Delovaya Rossiya and various hotel associations, decided to jointly involve regulatory agencies in order to stop Airbnb's activities in Russia as part of the measures by counter-sanctions. However, in the end, the service “dumped” itself, and even with the money.
By the way, experts have selected several alternative services operating in Russia for tourists. Among them:
- OneTwoTrip: the service works directly without intermediaries, so you can find better prices. You can order a sightseeing tour through the service.
- Avito Real Estate: a section where you can find housing for daily and long-term rent.
- Ostrovok: the actual analogue of Booking
- Tvil.ru – the service allows you to book both hotels and apartments and houses.
- Apartment
- Sutochno.ru — the database contains real estate offers in more than 500 cities of Russia.
- RussPass is a travel planning service in Russia.
Many popular services and transport services are also developing booking opportunities. companies – among them, for example, “Yandex” and Russian Railways. Finally, do not forget organized tourism.
For those who care about a healthy lifestyle, we recommend reading: “Experts called how many cans of tuna a week you can eat so as not to be poisoned by mercury.”
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