> Besides issuing a prompt refund and hopefully banning the fraudulent host, what exactly is Airbnb supposed to do in such situation?

They could take a deposit in advance from the host that is forfeited (and goes towards compensating the would-be guest) in case of a major problem. This would remove the financial incentive for bad actors.

Same can apply for delivery drivers, etc - if the law can't be enforced (or if the law doesn't cover this bad behaviour), you need an incentive to keep them honest.

Problem is, doing this would eat into the company's margin - bad actors still provide "supply" in this marketplace and as long as the actor isn't bad enough to land them in significant PR/regulatory trouble, they are actually still an asset to the company. Most people for example, would settle for this scam when stranded in a foreign location late at night, so in the end both the scammer and Airbnb benefits. In terms of food delivery, a dishonest driver nibbling on orders here and there is likely to go unnoticed for a long time and is better than throwing an error about no delivery drivers being available, and the occasional complaint for an outright-stolen order can be stonewalled as most people (even here!) don't seem to be aware that payment card chargebacks are a thing.

Weeding out most bad actors would mean that prices on the marketplace will rise as the downwards pressure from less scrupulous hosts (if not outright scammers) goes away, to a level where it's no longer competitive with hotels.

I doubt people would make these booking if they were fully aware of the risks. The fact that the product exposes its customers to glaring risks should be a serious issue and it is upsetting that the company is just throwing up their hands at the issue. Some thought: 1.) A refund doesn't make the customer whole. If there weren't an arbitration agreement then I would expect that a court would expect more than just a refund. There are travel expenses, there are last minute booking fees. The customer had reasonable expectations of having a place with a core set of features for a specified duration. They need that and airbnb should foot the bill (which is typically higher than just a refund due to the last minute nature of the problem). 2.) Banning scammers is not enough, airbnb should take legal action. As mentioned a court would find that this scam costs the customer and the platform a lot of money. Well Airbnb should make it a point to punish scammer and the courts are the proper medium to take action. 3.) They should audit listings. If someone is making ~$2-5k a month on a rental and airbnb is taking ~3% or ~$60-$150, they could easily afford to send someone out to visit the unit, check the boxes and write an official verified review.

> Besides issuing a prompt refund and hopefully banning the fraudulent host, what exactly is Airbnb supposed to do in such situation?

I think the ask is that they do these things at a bare minimum; at the moment, it appears they do neither with any reliability.