I am about to litigate against air B N B

[Lizmontague]

We holidayed in the USA last year, and had not one but two problems with two places. When reaching out to theses scumbags, they were absolutely atrocious.

So we plan to sue. I won't go into details, but suffice to say, they told both these places to cancel the bookings even though the hosts were at fault, "they would help us find new places." and then utterly failed to help us, as this was a Bank Holiday weekend. We are out of pocket £3,000.

We have EVERYTHING documented. All calls, etc.

So now we wonder whether to take them to Court in the USA, namely California, where their head office is, or the UK? Obvs we would prefer the UK. They have a company in the UK called 'Air B N B payments', who appear on your bank statement as the people paid, here: AIRBNB PAYMENTS UK LIMITED

Company number*09392688

Registered office address Suite 1, 3rd Floor 11-12 St. James's Square, London, United Kingdom, SW1Y 4LB Company status Active *And also:

AIRBNB UK LIMITED

Company number*07797907
* Registered office address 100 New Bridge Street, London, United Kingdom, EC4V 6JA Company status Active Company type Private limited Company



This is from their website: Company Details

Provider of the website:

Airbnb Ireland UC, private unlimited company
The Watermarque Building, South Lotts Road
Ringsend, Dublin 4
Ireland

Directors: Aisling Hassell and Dermot Patrick Clarke
VAT-ID: IE9827384L
Trade Register Number: (Irish Companies Registration Office) IE 511825

Contact us:
terms@airbnb.com
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/contact_us Contracting party for payment services:

Airbnb Payments UK Ltd.
Suite 1, 3rd Floor
11-12 St. James's Square, London, SW1J 4LB
United Kingdom

Company number: 09392688
Directors: Sharda Mehta and Hadi Moussa

Airbnb Payments UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Electronic Money Institution with reference number 900596.

Online Dispute Resolution website of the EU-Commission:
http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr

[R0b]

Many businesses have multiple companies in the same group with similar names so it is important that you take action against the right one otherwise you could potentially leave yourself with a bill of costs for not going after the correct business entity.

The basic principle of contract law is to work out who you actually contracted with, and easiest way to do this is to look at the terms and conditions. Bear in mind that Airbnb is a platform for third parties to advertise so that is likely to be their defence. However, if they told the hosts to cancel and decided to intervene then you might have a case.

If you do issue a claim I don't think you can use the online MCOL system because the address is outside the UK and you will probably need to serve using the N1 form.

[Lizmontague]

Seems to be Ireland according to their terms: "If your country of residence or establishment is in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you are contracting with Airbnb Ireland UC (“Airbnb Ireland”), The Watermarque Building, South Lotts Road, Ringsend, Dublin 4, Ireland and your Agreement with Airbnb is subject to the*Terms of Service for European Users."

Does this mean I can take them to court in the UK?

[R0b]

Yes it does, read clause 21.3 of their terms and conditions.

Because Airbnb are outside out the UK, you will need to comply with rule 6.33 and 6.34 of the CPR - see link below.

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...es/part06#6.33

Serving claims outside the UK are a bit more complicated than your average claim using MCOL because of the need to comply with the above rules and you might want to seek some initial legal advice on it through a free consultation if it's too expensive.

Otherwise you can do it yourself you'll need to study those rules and set out what you are relying on.
*