50 customer reviews of airbnb.com
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Based on 50 reviews from Airbnb customers, company has accumulated an average rating of 1 stars, indicating that majority of customers are not satisfied with its service.
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Description: Airbnb is a marketplace for short-term vacation rentals, room rentals, apartment rentals and sublets. Home and apartment owners (or renters) pay a fee to list, market and rent their places.
Address: 888 Brannan Street, 94103
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The house had no AC, which she had listed on the property description. However, it was during a heatwave in L. A, she only provided one fan, (This was for 2 bedrooms), and worse even, two windows had screens missing, one on the master bedroom, so those windows couldn't be left open at night to cool the house down. She also charged a $75 cleaning fee, per reservation, yet when we checked in, the kitchen counters were dirty, and needed wiping, and the kitchen was also moderately dirty. For a $75 cleaning fee, you don't expect to have dirty feet after going barefoot for 10 minutes, or to find popcorn and other debris sticking to your feet in the kitchen. Her front door also had a broken doorknob lock, (working deadbolt) and the front door stuck SO bad several times during our 3 night stay, we had to go out the back patio slider, around to the front, and physically push our way in through the front door, just to leave the house. It's a very unpleasant thing to do in 100 degree heat, in a sweltering house, as you're trying to leave.
Those were moderately irritating, but the worst was discovered as we opened the house up to cool it down. A large window in the dining area not only was missing a screen, but the lock was also completely missing. NO lock whatsoever, not even a dowel. The patio slider, (Very old, with plate glass), also had a lock that was completely GONE. Missing! It didn't even close all the way leaving a 1/4 gap, even when it was slid shut all the way. The slider had a large dowel in it, but in fact, the slider could still be slid open 6-8 inches, allowing a slender person to possibly slip through and get into the house. Now, we're talking about a house in Los Angeles, not some country town in the middle of nowhere where you can leave your doors unlocked. It was a huge security concern, and we ended up fashioning dowels and adding some makeshift security measures, that made the house feel slightly safer to leave our valuables in. We didn't feel comfortable leaving our laptops, jewelry, anything! I emailed the host, who have a bunch of excuses, but bottom line, it was ridiculous to deal with that. Of all the things you expect from a rental, door and window locks being present and in good working condition are an absolute MUST, and not a trivial complaint.
Air bnb has a double blind review system, to keep people honest. If the host and guest both write reviews for each other, they publish publicly simultaneously, to keep people from basing what they say on what the other person says. Once that's done, the host has one chance to reply to your review, however it's written. Kendra G wrote a pleasant review of myself, and my daughters, as guests. My review was very honest about the lax security, and the hosts blasé attitude about it. I was not directly rude towards her as a person, but I stated the obvious, no one willingly pays for a rental, even in a "peer to peer" community, with broken door. Window locks, and substandard security for yourself and your belongings. She was VERY unhappy, and wrote an extremely snarky response to my negative review. Interestingly, she never denied that the doors/windows had broken locks and missing screens, she just used the public format and her degree in public relations to call me a poor guest, and say my dissatisfaction was "unwarranted." I guess it's laughable that she only had that to say, when she read my negative review. So, in theory, the double blind system is good, keeping people honest. However, the fact that other reviews can either be faked, or not really trusted, makes me leery of EVER using Airbnb again. I certainly would NOT use it if I was going to foreign country! At least, close to home, you can figure it out if your reservation goes completely wrong!
Stay away from Kendra G's L. A home, unless she's made those few small door/window lock and screen fixes, that would make her guests so much more comfortable. Other than that, be very wary going into a Airbnb reservation, and DEFINITELY have a back-up plan!
We checked in on Friday evening as directed and went to bed early after driving for 20 hours to rach Denver. At 10:00 PM that night I received an email from Airbnb stating " I'm reaching out to inform you that Airbnb has determined we are unable to support reservation HM4C33AXNH with Effortless Stay Thompson and will be moving forward with canceling it".
When I saw this the following morning I reached out to Airbnb indicating that we would not move out having just arrived. The repsonse was "Air bnb experienced a technical issue that resulted in dozens of our reservations being cancelled. We are currently waiting to hear from them on when the issue will be resolved. " This was followed by an email that stated, "You do not have to leave or check out early. "
The following day I recieved another email from Airbnb that said, "Airbnb has determined that we are unable to support this reservation, and will be moving forward with cancelling it. If check-in has already happened, we ask that the checkout process begin as soon as possible.
Please reply to this email to confirm that you've received this message, and provide an estimate of how long you'll need to complete checkout. We will follow up with your host once you've confirmed that you have checked out."
Again I responded that we were not vacating the unit to which I receive this response, " While in accordance with our privacy policy, we are unable to provide specific details, Airbnb has been made aware that there may be a potential breach of our terms of service by your host. We have taken proactive steps and decided to cancel the reservation.
I understand your frustration and I want to stress again that these situations are very rare. We don't make these decisions lightly, and Airbnb are only made in the best interest of our community and maintaining a safe, trusted marketplace. But, again, we must stress that this reservation will have to be cancelled."
My wife and I had traveled from Atlanta Georgia to Denver and my son, his wife and my grandson had traveled from San Francisco. It was nealry impossible for us to find other accomodations without spending additional funds on top of the monies paid in advance to Airbnb.
On the 22nd I receive an email that stated " We have just cancelled this reservation, and you should have received an email which confirms this.
Airbnb protections are no longer in place and you are at your own risk by staying."
They did call that day and left a call back number. When I called the help center i waited for on hold for nealry 45 monutes and no one ever picked up.
In retrospect, the unit was not as advertised missing items indicted in the offering. The carpets were stained and the living room chnadelier cover was sitting on the floor when we arrived.
I have noted to Airbnb that this was my first and last rental with their company.
The Airbnb Nazis telling me Airbnb would close my calendar and do an 'investigation' took my earning power. They are corporate billionaires associated with Nazi-style authority against consumers. BEWARE!
I HAD A RESERVATION IN SIESTA KEY FROM SEP/2 TO SEP/7 2021. WHEN I GOT TO THE HOUSE THE VERY FIRST NIGHT, EVERYTHING WAS OK. THE NEXT MORNING WE WERE AWAKE AT 8 AM BY THE GARDENING COMPANY WITH STRONG NOISES THAT DID NOT END UNTIL 10 AM. THE REASON WHY I WENT TO SIESTA KEY WAS THAT WE WANTED TO REST AND HAVE SOME QUIET TIME AFTER 2 YEARS WITHOUT TAKING VACATION. AFTER THAT INCIDENT THAT MADE ME FEEL SO MAD, MY HUSBAND CONVINCED ME TO RELAX AND CONTINUE WITH OUR VACATION AS WE HAD PLANNED. THE NEXT MORNING IT HAPPENED AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME IT GOT WORST, THE MANAGEMENT OFFICE OF THAT PROPERTY HAD SCHEDULE A ROOF CONSTRUCTION WORK FOR THE HOUSE ( THEY KNEW ABOUT THE CONSTRUCTION WORK SCHEDULED TO HAPPEN DURING THE DAYS I WAS RENTING THE HOUSE), BUT THEY DID NOT HESITATE IN MAKING THE RESERVATION AND TAKING OUR MONEY FOR THE 6 DAYS AND 5 NIGHTS WITHOUT AT LEAST ASKING US IF WE WERE OK HAVING THOSE PEOPLE WORKING DURING OUR STAY. THAT MORNING SEP 4,2021, AFTER WE WERE AWAKE BY THE NOISES, I IMMEDIATELY STARTED CALLING THE HOST, BUT AS I WAS EXPECTING, THEY NEVER ANSWERED TO MY CALLS. AT AROUND 10 AM, THEY STARTED TEXTING ME WITH THE EXCUSE THAT THEY DID NOT RESPOND TO MY CALLS OR CALLED ME BACK JUST BECAUSE THEY DO NOT LIKE TO BOTHER THEIR CUSTOMERS BEFORE 8 AM (REALLY). YOU SCHEDULED ROOF CONSTRUCTION FOR 8 AM IN THE HOUSE I AM RENTING, AND YOU DID NOT RETURN MY CALLS BECAUSE YOU DID NOT WANT TO BOTHER ME. WELL, AFTER MANY TEXT MESSAGES, THE PERSON AGREED TO REFUND HALF OF THE TOTAL AMOUNT ($4213. 89) OF WHAT I HAD PAY WITH THE CONDITION I LEFT BY 1 PM THAT SAME DAY, SEP 4. SO I DID IT, I LEFT BEFORE 1 PM, AND GUESS WHAT, ONCE THEY SAW US OUT OF THE HOUSE, THEY CALLED ME TO TELL ME THAT THE REFUND THEY AGREED WITH ME WAS 350 DOLLARS LESS THAN WHAT THEY SAID IN THE TEXT MESSAGES, (THAT IS WHY YOU MUST TAKE PICTURES OF ALL THE TEXT MESSAGES THEY SEND YOU TROUGH YOUR AIRBNB ACCOUNT) BECAUSE ONCE I LEFT THE HOUSE, THEY DELETE ALL THE EVIDENCE THAT WERE THE TEXT MESSAGES. IN THE END, I STARTED TRYING TO SOLVE THE SITUATION WITH AIRBNB; AT THIS POINT, I JUST WANTED TO GET MY MONEY BACK BECAUSE MY VACATIONS WERE CUT SHORT BECAUSE OF THEM. AIRBNB RESULTS BEING WORST THAN THE HOST AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PEOPLE. I HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT THE ABOVE REVIEW FROM THE OTHER AIRBNB CUSTOMER IS SO NICE FOR WHAT AIRBNB DESERVES. I HAVE RECEIVED THE WORST CUSTOMER CARE FROM THIS COMPANY. NUMBER 1- YOU MUST BE CAREFUL AND TAKE SCREENSHOTS OF ALL THE TEXT MESSAGES YOU GET FROM THEM BECAUSE AS SOON AS YOUR CONVERSATION WITH THEM HAS FINISHED, THEY GO AND DELETE ALL THE MESSAGES BETWEEN YOU AND THEM. NUMBER 2- BE SURE TO RECORD YOUR CONVERSATION WITH THEM, IF THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO RECORD YOUR CONVERSATIONS, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO SO TOO; THAT WAY, YOU WILL HAVE THE PROOF (IN CASE IT HAPPEN TO YOU, AS IT HAPPENED TO ME) THAT THEY PROMISED DURING OUR CONVERSATION TO REFUND AN AMOUNT OF MONEY AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE CONVERSATION, THEY TEXTED ME A REFUND CONFIRMATION WITH OTHER AMOUNT TOO MUCH LESS THAN WHAT WE AGREED. (THE ITALIAN MAFIA IS JUST A BABY IN COMPARISON TO THE AIRBNB EMPLOYEES) THEY ARE WELL TRAINED TO WRAP YOU UP LIKE A SNAKE. I NEVER THOUGHT IN MY LIFE THAT I WOULD HAVE TO DEAL WITH SUCH A THIEF COMPANY IN THE UNITED STATES. WE MUST UNITE AND REQUEST THE CLOSURE OF THIS COMPANY TO THE BUSSINES BUREAU. WE MUST PREVENT THOSE RAT AND THEFT COMPANIES FROM STILL USING OUR MONEY AND PLAYING WITH OUR INTELLIGENCE. WE MUST SAY ENOUGH TO ALL THE ABUSE THAT THOSE WELL-TRAINED THEFTS ARE DOING WITH THE HONEST AND TAXPAYING PEOPLE. THEY GOT MY MONEY, I COULD NOT STAY AND ENJOY MY VACATIONS, AND ON TOP OF THAT, I SPENT MORE THAN 3 DAYS TRYING TO SOLVE THE ISSUES AND GET MY MONEY WITHOUT RESULTS.
AS THE PREVIOUS CUSTOMER, I WILL SPEND THE REST OF MY DAYS LETTING AS MANY PEOPLE AS I CAN STAY AWAY FROM MAKING BUSSINES AIRBNB.
Beautiful Garden Unit Close to the Water Host Jacinta
2022 Beach Street, San Francisco, California, 94123
We rented this unit for a month and regretted it. Read this to understand what you might experience at this AirBnB location. When we arrived the owner gave us a key, took us through a dark garage, opened the door and wished us luck.
When we walked in the place smelled bad. The owner gets paid for cleaning between AirBnB visitors but it didn't look clean we arrived. But we had been traveling for 10 hours so we just collapsed.
There was no welcome card, no information about the area, or even basic information like which day the garbage would be picked up.
It turns out that the regular entry to the apartment is down a dark, dank, dusty hall that looks like no one has been there for years. Spooky!
The bedding looked very used, On top of that, the mattress squeaks with every turn. When we took their bedding off we found stains and rips in the mattress protector. If you are allergic to dust mites, good luck. No amount of Zyertec will help. So the next morning we went to Ikea and bought our own bedding.
My husband was starting a new a job the next day. When he left for work I bought my own cleaning supplies. There was no mop or broom or anything else to keep the apartment clean. No paper towels. Nothing. Yet the minimum rental is a month. I guess you're just supposed to let it get dirty.
So I started cleaning. It took days. When I mopped the floor the water was black. Whatever I wiped showed layers of dirt - the tables, chairs, headboard, cushions, the shelves, everything. I took videos to show my family and friends. Airbnb couldn't believe that such an expensive place was in that condition.
We decided it would better if we covered the couch. It smelled bad. There was an old carpet that looked very dusty. And it was. When I lifted it to clean there was a cloud of dust. We set it aside, not wanting to it to foul the air through our visit. The kitchen utensils look like a mixed bag of whatever other visitors may have left behind. The sprayer on the sink is rusty and there's rust on the refrigerator too.
We didn't want to touch the dishes so we ate off of paper plates and plastic utensils. When we sat down to our first meal at the table, we could see sticky spots from previous visitors.
When you see the picture of the outdoor patio it looks inviting. In fact, all the furniture is covered in dirt and mold. I tried to clean it but it was way too beat up and old. The chaise has a couple of old, moldy cushions. You can't sit in the furniture anyway because it's falling apart.
It would be nice to open the sliding door to the patio for the pleasant air. Unfortunately, there is no screen and the bushes are filled with mosquitos. When we did leave the door open, bugs and flies would come in. On the walls you will find squashed mosquitos left behind by other visitors. My husband was bitten many times I took pictures of the red blotches on his face.
The door to the unit is next to the Host's garage. Several times we opened the door to find that their car had blocked our exit. Either we had to climb over the bumper or push through the bushes to get out. Unsafe!
I hope you're not looking for a quiet evening. On random evenings you'll hear pounding on the ceiling. It's the kids jumping and running around above you.
Now about safety; the address is "2022 A." The main house is "2022." The only indication that there is an entrance to "A" is a tiny 1/2" letter. So if you have any mail or packages, you're in for trouble. Twice the owner took my packages and opened them.
A bigger problem is theft. Two very large packages were delivered at the owner's door. They were new clothes that I had specially ordered. After a couple of days, I noticed that they hadn't been delivered to 2022 A. They were stolen. So we had to file a police report. I have my copy.
Here's something else creepy.
I was in the kitchen and I heard a noise in the bedroom. I went to see and found that someone was trying to get in from the main house through the door from the owner's garage. It was a woman who called herself Nanny. If I hadn't remembered to lock the door while I was cleaning, the owner and other people in their house can just come and go unannounced.
Don't leave anything valuable!
Good luck. We left 10 days early. And we were glad to go.
I know what the owner will say. "Why didn't you tell me?" But shouldn't an owner who constantly rents their property do more to make it livable, clean, sanity, and safe?
Is it our job to point all this out to the Host? Who lives upstairs?
And then the second bad experience trying to post a review on AirBnB.
We posted our review at the end of our rental which means it was available for AirBnB to review at any time. They wait 14 days to see if the owner is going to write a review too. After 13 days and 18 hours (late in the evening) AirBnB sent an email saying
"This is Zakee with Airbnb Experience Team. I wanted to reach out to you about the review that you left about the host (Jacinta). We wanted to let you know that we investigated the review and in the review you give out the address of the listing which is a violation of the Airbnb Policy, so because of that we will have to remove the review."
We hadn't listed the address, only the street numbers because of the problems we encountered. But, okay. No problem. We could make the tiny edits. But by the next day they said the "time limit" to edit the review was up. So the review did not appear.
I called AirBnB four times and also emailed them. The operators were pleasant but in the end, no one would listen. I simply explained that they had not given us any time to make the tiny correction and that we wanted to post the review
So we let the Host know about our review. She immediately threatened us writing, "Do not spread a bad review and rumors. I would consider it libelous to do so. The AirBnB lawyers will handle this."
AirBnB prohibits "extortion" saying, "Reviews are a way for Airbnb guests and hosts to share their experiences with the community. Any attempt to use reviews or review responses to force a user to do something they aren't obligated to do is a misuse of reviews, and we don't allow it." And that includes, "Hosts asking a guest to take specific actions related to a review in exchange for a resolution to a dispute between the parties."
Beyond that they say the Hosts and Guests agree to follow all Airbnb guidelines and policies, including the Extortion Policy and that failure to do so may result in the restriction, suspension or termination of your Airbnb account. "If you think you've experienced extortion, please contact us" which we did. No response.
I know this is a lengthy review but if your experience was like ours, you will regret not paying attention to this story.
The short version: From start to finish, Airbnb's customer "service" team was extremely unhelpful, impossible to get a hold of, and I never got a consistent answer from their team. The actual service Airbnb are providing (home rentals) is a good concept, but if something goes wrong and you actually need to speak with their team, you're hooped. You will have no luck in getting any sort of help from them at all! Their website is poorly designed, and it took at least five minutes to even find a contact phone number. Want to speak to someone else? Nope, no way to escalate any concern you have. They definitely do NOT want to talk with you or help you; they have taken every measure to avoid that. Even after you call, they want email communication only—but those emails bounce back! STAY AWAY from Airbnb.
And it's only appropriate to share that owner/unit information here as well... Haim Kovos, MGM Hotel Signature. He owns several properties that he rents out in the States. Staying at his unit started all this nonsense.
So, the long version: This started back in October and has still not been dealt with due to a number of issues from the side of their customer service team. After a pretty horrid stay in a Las Vegas hotel/condo (lack of cleanliness, ill-equipped room, shady behaviour from the host, even resulting in me leaving three days early), the host offered us a small refund. As the severity of the issue was pretty bad and I had been charged for the entire stay, close to $3000, I called Airbnb's team, and they said we could escalate it in the Resolution Centre after a period of time. I thought, great, we can get them the info, our requested refund, and they will help us handle this. Wrong! After giving them a very detailed explanation of our concerns about the stay, the only measure Airbnb took was a single email to the host, having told us they had "reached out." Again, when we followed up, they told us they never heard back from the host, and the issue was "closed due to lack of response." That was it! The case was "dismissed" and the "decision was final." How the heck is it my fault that the host didn't respond, and now I don't get a refund or at the very least an explanation... or even be able to leave a review about the host of Airbnb!? I was not able to leave a review on the host, as I left three days early, and even though I was charged for all those days, they started the 14-day cutoff for reviews on my day of departure! Great for the host, just ignore it and you don't have to fix your issues or give a refund when it's due. Huh?
After a few more bounced emails, calls, and frustration, I got an email from Austin, a Supervisor. So managers do exist! Since apparently we provided no photos, Airbnb can't issue a refund. Not sure how I'm supposed to send photos of essential items missing from in the suite that I had to go and purchase. I was NEVER told in the beginning I needed photo evidence. I sent them every possible email and text information I had, did all that I could on my end to at least get a reply from their team other than "sorry, you didn't send us exactly what we wanted within the stringent time frames we never told you about, and since the host hasn't gotten back to our one email, we can't help you anymore"!
The really frustrating part is that there is only ONE email, and ONE phone number where they can be contacted. Yet that email keeps bouncing back our responses, and I have to re-explain every time I call and I get nowhere. What could have been a very simple solution has turned into a giant mess thanks to their extremely poor customer service. Then I go to my "open cases" in the Resolution Centre a few days ago, and it still sits there "open" when they tell me it's been closed. It's unbelievably frustrating. No wonder they're rated 15% on www.ReviewFeeder.com.
So in short, stay away from Airbnb, because if you have a problem, it won't get resolved.
PS… My daughter spoke to Airbnb after we wrote this review informing them that we were going to share our experience on social media and did they have anything to say, and lo and behold, we were offered a small refund. We are SO done with Airbnb.
We arrived at the property at approximately 15:30, and we were disturbed and extremely disappointed by what we were greeted with. Yes, the Airbnb photos were of the property, but Airbnb were VERY old.
The outside of the property was unwelcoming and off-putting, with overgrown weeds and litter strewn on the driveway. Security was a concern, as the front door was only secured via a single deadbolt, due to the whole mechanism for the door handle being totally removed. Entering the property, we were immediately struck by how tired, dark, and filthy the property was. It seemed like the property hadn't been properly cleaned or repaired in years: lights that didn't work or missing; dirty grubby walls and doors; ceiling fans caked in dust and dirt; a bathroom that hadn't been cleaned since the last occupant, complete with an unflushed toilet featuring a toilet seat caked in what looked like mould/urine; the heating was turned off and could only be controlled by the owner - which he refused to turn this on despite calls and messages; the bedding was dirty and beyond worn, and was only good for throwing out; the ironing board was covered in stains. I could go on, the flat was just DIRTY and a dive. Obviously, we refused to stay here and contacted Airbnb immediately.
We expressed to Airbnb the urgency of getting this matter resolved before night fall, as we didn't want to be roaming unknown neighbourhoods in the dark for another Airbnb property we knew nothing about. Our requests were ignored and 5 Airbnb agents and 10 hours later, we were advised to book into a hotel for the night which they would pay for. When I enquired into the refunding of my booking, I was told that I would only be receiving HALF of it, as I had made the mistake of contacting Airbnb first and not the host - I was furious. It was now 12:30am, and after a stressful night with an unsatisfactory result we booked into a hotel.
The following morning we received an email stating that our original booking had been cancelled and that we would be receiving a partial refund. Still, a replacement Airbnb booking had not been arranged, and we were left with nowhere to go. We spent another day being passed around from agent to agent with no resolution in sight. Once again, we were left with no other choice and booked into the same hotel for the remainder of our stay that evening. Luckily we were eventually passed through to an understanding agent who went above and beyond to get us a satisfactory result (had we received this service from the beginning, I'd still be an Airbnb advocate to this day, but the damage had been done and it was too late). I took us a week, but we eventually received a full refund, and one nights hotel booking paid for.
Booking with Airbnb resulted in us losing two days of our holiday (waiting for correspondence from both host and Airbnb), being pushed beyond breaking point trying to resolve the matter, and leaving me short of £497 (a combination of hotel fees, phone call costs, and transport).
Take note, DO NOT BOOK WITH AIRBNB!
I would like to reply to this thread. It was issue with specific person dealing with my case at that time. My issue was resolved by another manager assigned to my case, who dealt with it very diligently and helped me through resolving all issues. He reassured my trust back in AirBnB. Thank you very much
ISSUE Before:
I booked an apartment in London and found various issues with cleaning. So i decided to call AirBnB and give them feedback and ask for suggestions, this is how Airbnb handled my situation:
1) I was told at the starting of the call that cooker is being used by me as she can see in pictures that it is hot - She wasnt even looking at right pictures. She was looking at "Siemens touch stove" rather than cooker - which she didnt want to agree to me and was telling me that if its not clean then its because i have used it. Then without listening, she said lets move to next point.
2) Mentioning for more "general amenities" for 10 days is not to be called as an issue - on which i explained that i have clearly mentioned that in my original email -"Doesnt really matter but SERIOUSLY?"
3) She said she can get the cleaner and that's all she can help with.
4) I asked if she is ok with my family staying in apartment where flush doesn't work for next 10 days- This didnt sound an real issue to her. I would like to know ANY person who would have paid 1700 for 10 days and you let people aged 60 live in apartment where flush doest work for more than 24 hours, to answer how good they feel about this?! - But as per tone of agent at AirBnB this wasnt something to be concerned about. - At the end of that "argument" - she mentioned she will let host look into it.
5) She kept mentioning, i cant get refund and stuff. To which i replied i dint ask for refund at first place when i called first time about issues to AirBnB. I was told if issues that i mentioned are there, that means i am not happy and i should look for another apartment in same range and can get refund. - So, i clarified that i was told by AirBnB and it wasn't me asking for refund.
6) On point of kitchen shelve being broken, i was told, this doesnt seem to be an issue - I WOULD like to let you know, my family is stayin in that apartment that i booked through AirBnB for 10 days, i dont think i would like them to stay in apartment that has broken shelves where glasses can be crushed because of upper shelve falling off because off no hook.
I tried explaining agent at AirBnB that what she is in video is after i have put a hook in the hole to let shelve take support of hook myself, otherwise when my parents opened the cupboard, it was diagonally aligned on glass cups - but again, she was reluctant to accept that this is even an issue.
--- In my defense -
A. If I would have been paying small amount, i will expect these things but not when i am paying way more. I COULD have easily booked AMAZING HOTEL rather than booking apartment through AirBnB and would have costed me less.
B. I would consider this also as a fact that i have seen this on first day and shelves are in this shape, i dont want to wait until something falls apart and injure my parents.
7) On point of utensils not being clean and stained - after resending pictures of what i was talking about ( Point number 1 mentioned) - I was told, well, base of utensil is clean but may be not top part so its ok. Not a big deal. I would like AirBnB agents to be more careful and sensitive to what they are saying and talking to customers. Agent basically asked me to go ahead and cooked in half dirty stained utensil because according to her its fine. Seriously?
Overall, i am very unahppy with booking, host and top of it, AIRBnB. I have been staying in apartments my friends book through AirBnB from last 1.5 years, across the world. After this experience, this is last time i have booked through AirBnB and wont book through AirBnB again.
Upon a closer look, we were quite disappointed with the following discoveries:
There was a water leak from an air vent over the toilet. Water was accumulating on the floor. We didn't want to take our time to continually mop the floor or have water drip on us while we sat on the toilet. I believe I fixed the leak by turning off what seemed to be an a/c unit. Adam explained that the leak was from all the rain before we arrived. It rained every day we were there and it didn't leak again.
Upon arrival, we put in a good bit of effort cleaning the floors. It looked like Airbnb hadn't been vacuumed in quite a while. The long black hairs, dust and dirt in the bathroom alone was disgusting. We swept and vacuumed all of the floors. Hair and dust were throughout the apartment. It was probably the long black hairs that caused the shower drain to clog. We could only run the shower for a minute or two, then let it drain. The last night we were there, it clogged entirely.
There were wet bed linens in the dryer, so we attempted to dry and fold them. The dryer doesn't dry clothes. After several cycles, we hung our clothes in the flat to dry. Adam explained how to use it. We followed his directions. The dryer simply doesn't dry clothes well.
There was no trash can in the bath, so we used the bucket holding cleaning supplies located under the kitchen sink.
The toilet had soap in it, but was not cleaned. It looked as though the cleaning person left early.
My wife took one short, warm shower before the hot water was gone. My first shower after flying from Atlanta, GA was ice cold. When Adam came by to address the issues we found, he explained the water heater was on a timer. He didn't know what settings were used. Obviously it was a setting that doesn't allow much hot water. He changed the setting to continuous and seemed to imply he was doing us a favor.
The water pressure was barely a drip. Upon checkout, Adam told us a new shower head was coming.
There was supposed to be a book of information about the flat and things to do in the area that wasn't supplied until we'd been there a couple of days.
Such problems are surprising given the other reviews for her rentals. There were no reviews for this rental. After a long day of traveling, we do not expect to spend our time cleaning a flat, doing laundry or taking a cold shower.
We asked for compensation for our troubles since the flat was paid for in full before we arrived. The last email we received said Veronique would get back to us about that. Haven't heard from her. Veronique was great about answering our initial questions before we paid for the flat. Adam was on time to meet us and was very friendly. Overall, the customer service we received was sketchy at best. We checked in on a Saturday. Once we noticed the problems, we called, texted and emailed the emergency number provided, but didn't hear from them until Tuesday. I would not rent from these folks again. Our first rental with Air B&B was enough to cause us to use another service next time.
Each time I call Air BnB I get someone from India who tells me Airbnb case is marked Urgent and it will be dealt with properly.
I was coerced by Air BnB to accept this instant booking because I was told that I could only cancel one reservation and my vacation rental period is only 8 weeks long.- additionally, I was told, in writing, that if I cancelled instant booking that my rental property would be placed at a lower viewing position that other homes because Instant Booking on your account raises your home to a higher viewing position. I attempted to message with this guest and thought we were on the same page insofar as the House Rules. We were not, my home was destroyed by this guest and his band of cigarette smoking animals. Because I was requesting payment from the guest myself (wherein he admitted to the damages and violating the house rules-in writing) when I called an Air BnB representative and advised them of the damage, I told them I was dealing directly with the guest and it appeared that he was going to pay for the damages and extra cleaning necessary, I was never advised on TWO separate calls to Air BnB that I had no recourse after 14 days. It appears as though the guest knew this. I actually advised Air BnB that I had damages within three hours of the guests departure and I further advised that I was asking the guest for payment. The Air BnB representative were sent a copy of all written communication from the guest wherein he admitted to the damages and all other problems and agreed to pay.
Air BnB is not a USA based Company. They do NOT give a crap about your home. They simply want to make money and leave you hanging when there is damage. All I receive from my calls is a representative from India, 'glad-handing' me and telling me that my case is re-opened, marked as "Urgent" and I should not worry. Believe me folks... WORRY! Air BnB does not give a crap about you or your property their only concern is: about making money!
DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT BOOK THROUGH THIS COMPANY!
I had rented a cottage in Gatilnburg, Tn, 3 weeks in advance. The week before the reservation, I was admitted into the hospital and tried during the whole 6 days to get in touch with the rentor to cancel the reservation, due to my circumtance. Might I say, first, that I booked this reservation via booking.com and somehow everything went through airbnb. Everytime we reached out to airbnb, Airbnb stated that we needed to reach out to the rentor, but the would not provide the contact information, and finding any info like that on the website is impossible. We finally got in touch with a gentleman named Allen who stated that he would process a full cancelation and refund due under an "abolishment under special circumstances". I had reached back out to airbnb to confirm this had happened and they had informed me that nothing of that matter was in the file or notes, and they advised me to contact my credit card company to dispute the charges. ( that advice came directly from airbnb) I did so, and my credit card company filed the dispute. A day later I got an email from airbnb stating "your payment was reversed for your reservation... our bank has notified us that you are disputing a transaction for your reservtion and we wanted to follow up with you. Please click 'this link' to let us know how to proceed." I followed the link and once I could finally get routed to the link they sent, after repeadetly gettng sent to their main page, I followed the directions there. I selected the option of unexepted circumstances, which was supposed to provide a full refund. There was no area to explain the situation or an area to upload any proof of the hospital stay (which is against hippa laws). I processed through expecting to get my full refund of over $600, instead i was refunded $226. I called airbnb to contest this and spoke with Elizabeth who stated that there was nothing that they could do since I reached out to my ceditor (which they told me to do). I called my creditor and informed them of all of this and they stated that airbnb should not be reaching out to me during the dispute. They should only be reaching out to the bank. I then informed them that I had gotten this email from them to follow this link and the outcome and my creditor stated that they should not be doing that, I should not be in contact with them during this process and I should only be hearing anything via my creditor via mail or phone call. So now, with not only recovering from my stay at the hospital and several other severe family medical issues that have happened in the last 2 days, I now have to deal with the stress of wondering if I am going to get the remaing $400 refunded. Customer service has been the worst I have ever dealt with while trying to do business with a company that is supposed to be such a "convenient and postive" one to work with. They are rude, do not let you speak, do not listen to a word you say and do not follow through with what they promise. I would NEVER recommend anyone using this site to travel, and highly advise anyone who uses booking.com to double and triple check that they did not reroute you to airbnb. It is a horrible company with horrible customer serive and absolutely no concern or care for their "clients".
Now if that were not bad enough, here is stage 2 of Airbnb at its best.
I was invited to join airbnb's Plus programme where they send a party to your nominated property to inspect and do a photo shoot. This according to Airbnb will elevate your listing to a preferred status whereby potential guests will be convinced to book your property because you are a trusted host whose property has been inspected by their professional team. I put forward the 2 properties Airbnb had chosen from my portfolio, a date was set for each property, and here are airbnb's requirements.
Schedule your home visit
Choose a date and time for an Airbnb partner to visit your home in person. The visit will take 1-3 hours and includes an inspection and photoshoot. You or someone who maintains your property should be there the entire time.
Well you know what's coming next don't you. Yes of course, airbnb did not turn up to either property to either pre arranged time and date, and I had to pay my staff for sitting on their backsides watching TV waiting for airbnb to turn up.
So once again I have to contact airbnb to get a credit for $236 which they charged for these 2 non visits. But then again, they are oh so solly for what has happened. We will arrange a credit for you. Now I know you are going to ask. Well did they credit you? You already know the answer. Of course not. Please go away and stop bothering us is the impression you get when you ring and get put on hold time after time after time. Todays call was on hold for 14 minutes. I am sure they were just hoping I would go away. They are like Insurance companies who receive a claim, and adopt the declined declined declined response, until they realize you mean business.
Today I have reached the end of my tether. I have been told that the Trust and Safety Team do not have phones and when I requested to speak to a Public Relations Officer, I was told airbnb do not have one. I just got the old smoke up the ass blurb from robots, and the round robin treatment of " well we cannot do anything from here as we are a call centre". So I asked to be directed to a phone number to speak to somebody who can actually act with responsibility. Oh I am so solly, we cannot give out other numbers as we are only a "call centre.
Time to go public and tell the news media. I know they just love this juicy type of story to get stuck into airbnb.
I am not afraid to give my name, phone number and email address.
Allan Prince - Palm Cove Real Estate - *******197 *******@gmail.com
In addition to this, on Saturday afternoon, I wanted to use the hot tub outside, which was dirty and inoperable. Also, on the back porch of the cabin, the outside string lights did not work, which made it impossible to enjoy the ambiance of a quiet warm night. This was yet, another utter disappointment as a hot tub was a requirement that I initially had for booking this particular cabin, which I didn't get to use unfortunately. Next, Saturday night I attempted to bake cinnamon rolls in the oven, which also did not work, in which I had to use the toaster oven instead. Lastly, on Sunday morning, about 10AM EST, I heard the sound of a Go Kart's engine roaring from afar, which I didn't pay much attention to, as the guests in the neighboring cabins had been using them throughout their stay. Minutes later, while inside naked and without any blinds, curtains, or window coverings at all, I noticed a Go Kart parked in front of my car and a man creeping around the house. Jolted and dismayed from this unauthorized person outside of my cabin, I, without haste, got dressed and went outside. From what I could decipher, he was a worker of some sort, perhaps maintenance … as he appeared to be fixing some cable wires or cords affixed to a boxed power source on the exterior of the premises. Upon exchanging pleasantries and engaging in short dialogue, he advised me that he was not made aware that anyone was occupying the premises that weekend and that he was the host's husband. He was super nice and continued to perform his job. He advised me that he was at the cabin to fix and clean the hot tub and to perform routine maintenance on other issues going on at the residence. After completing his task, as he was about to leave, I advised him that the A/C unit was broken and had been leaking water and the back porch lights were out. He advised me that he would notify the host of these issues to have someone come out and repair them. Although, I felt this was clearly a miscommunication issue between maintenance and the host, made unwittingly through no fault of his own, unfortunately I was inconvenienced because I was unable to relax comfortably and with serene tranquility in the space I reserved and paid almost $700 for. At this point, enough was enough. I did not feel comfortable and safe in such an environment, so I decided to cut my trip short. I cleaned up the space as per the host's policy guidelines, and vacated the premises that Sunday morning.
What started out as a bad trip, not being able to find my actual cabin that I had booked weeks ago, only got worse and this trip became more laborious and a headache from what I initially planned. After spending innumerable hours researching cost-effective places to travel to for a weekend, I came across this one. On Airbnb's site, the host is classified as a SUPERHOST with 4.5 stars out of a 5.0 star rating system. This was my very FIRST booking through Airbnb and upon seeing this, I had high expectations that this trip would be pleasant, I would be in a clean, comfortable, and safe environment with working amenities, and less reasonable human distractions. According to Airbnb.com, "Superhosts are experienced hosts who provide a shining example for other hosts, and extraordinary experiences for their guests." Unfortunately, my experience was anything but extraordinary. My abbreviated stay there was awful! This makes me question Airbnb's policy standards for allowing certain individuals such exclusive rights in attaining Superhost status. Other than the requirements listed on your site on How one becomes a Superhost, I cannot fathom how this host was able to "fly under the radar" in obtaining such a high-performance status level.
The situation got even worse, as on 6/15/21, I received an email from Hilda at Southerly Stays stating that my account will be charged an extra $50 due to the following: "As we stated on our house rules manual. (before and after booking) We do charge a $50 extra cleaning fee if there is any extra cleaning that its needed to be done after guests check out! We washed our towels and comforter and even so, stains won't come off! We cordially request to charge that $50 fee. Thanks B***y!" Included in the email, the Airbnb host uploaded 2 photos: 1.) the dirty towels I used to absorb the excess water from the floor from her broken leaky A/C unit, and 2.) a furry comforter, which I would like to add is unsubstantiated and false! The entire time I was in the cabin, I did not use the comforter at all! IT WAS HOT! The host claims: "We washed our towels and comforter and even so, stains won't come off!" Before booking this reservation, I made sure to read the house rules and guest guidelines, in which I was thoroughly informed and in agreement with the said terms as outlined in my contract. I lived up to my part! The host did not! If there are any stains on the comforter as the host claims, it was not done by me, but by another guest prior to my on-site check-in. This is absolute bunk and I duly reject such an exorbitant and unwarranted charge. This is extortion and I refuse to pay anything more. If anything, given the circumstances I endured: the level of difficulty in locating the property I initially booked to discover it had been reserved to another guest, the lack of communication on the part of the host in getting back with me when I expressed to her I was having issues, the unswept floors with used dirty dishes in the sink, inoperable back porch lights, a dirty and inoperable hot tub, an inoperable oven, the incessant, massive dripping of dirty black water pouring from a broken A/C unit, the labor I put in preventing water damage to the property, having to endure the remainder of my stay in an uncomfortable unit without proper A/C in the hottest month of early Summer thus far, and finally, the lack of safety and privacy due to the lack of communication between both the host of the property and maintenance, a full refund is in order as I did not receive goods and/or services as advertised by your site, in which payment was remitted. I have uploaded photos of the faulty A/C unit for Airbnb to review and investigate the host in addition to the list of aforementioned issues.
BELOW IS MY DIRECT COMMUNICATION WITH AIRBNB CUSTOMER RESOLUTION CENTER CONCERNING MY GRIEVANCES:
The host (H****), has made fraudulent claims against me concerning a dirty comforter and a broken leaky A/C unit stating that "she offered to fix the AC but you said it was fine". That conversation never transpired. Also, the host never returned my phone calls I made to her on late Friday night and early Saturday morning. Additionally, she forgot to address the other list of issues concerning my stay: dirty unswept floors, inoperable oven, inoperable outside back door lights, a used drinking glass and spoon in the sink, a dirty inoperable hot tub (which her husband came out to clean and fix that Saturday afternoon).
The host's communication to me states: "Starting with the fact that the cabin that you paid for was originally cabin 4 (honeymoon cabin) and that's clearly stating on your reservation. Not cabin 2 or 3!" However, my itinerary clearly states CABIN #3 (see attached). When I arrived on the property and went to Cabin #3, there was a family already occupying Cabin #3. I had to go to CABIN #4, which luckily opened. Clearly, this misinformation highlights the lack of order and structure of an effectively functional business operation.
Additionally, the host's communication to me states: "In the contrary, you sir, don't have any single review as guest since you have joined Airbnb in 2018. That right there says a lot of you as an Airbnb user/ guest." From what I extrapolate from this statement, the host is using her 5-star "Superhost" rating to weaponize against me for not having a single review and having not gone through the verification/authentication process, since joining Airbnb back in 2018. In addition to the false claims made against me for a "dirty comforter", which again I did not use, and her "offering to fix the A/C, but I said it was fine", she is using this known fact as leverage against me and my open claim against her through Airbnb, in order to further capitalize. This is not fair for any customer to have to endure. It is the responsibility of the host to ensure that all properties advertised online for rental are vacant, clean, well maintained, with operable and fully functional amenities as advertised on Airbnb's site. Meaning, if a host advertises that their property includes a hot tub, it is the responsibility of the host to ensure that said hot tub advertised is both clean and operable. If a host advertises that a cabin or unit includes A/C or heat, it is the responsibility of the host to ensure that said A/C and heating unit is also fully operable and without significant major issues, such as flooding. I feel that this host was unable to maintain order of her property and as a result, I had to endure. The fact that I do not have a review as a guest or gone through the verification/authentication process on Airbnb since 2018 is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that I am a customer, who PAID money for goods and services NOT rendered and I PAID money for a cabin (CABIN #3), that was advertised on Airbnb's site, which I did not secure or use. I secured the next vacant cabin over, which was CABIN #4, which was nicely decorated, but was dirty and had major issues. Again, this was NOT the cabin I initially reserved and PAID for, which was listed on my itinerary.
Lastly, the host's final communication to me states: "So many more things to mention to you and your guest in regards your poor reservation with us but like I said … please talk to Airbnb directly! Thank you and have a good night! Refund denied!" It is unsettling that this particular host is not taking responsibility for her many errors. Not once did she apologize for any of the inconveniences experienced. Instead, she gets "snippy" with me with aggressive and condescending verbiage, while still refusing to take accountability. This is not nice and not how you talk to your customers. As a 5-star rated "Superhost", I would expect much higher customer service standards from a host.
I made a reservation for a full 3-day trip to Roan Mountain, TN, but spent one full day in a "hot box" with no working A/C because I had to cut my trip short due to the numerous issues I experienced on the property, but yet and I am the one to suffer as a result of her negligence. This is highly unacceptable and I implore you to investigate the host, H**** and reevaluate her 5-star "Superhost" rating classification as well as S***, LLC."
I have done absolutely EVERYTHING I can do to have this issue rectified and Airbnb refuses to take responsibility for their issues. I called Airbnb directly on multiple occasions in appropriately resolving the issue. I initially requested a full refund of all monies paid in the amount of $677.27, but between the Airbnb host and Airbnb customer service (both escalation points of contact), Airbnb have made this process both cumbersome and impossible for an appropriate resolve. When my initial request for a full refund was denied twice, I was advised my Airbnb Customer Service via telephone on 6/19/21 to go on Airbnb's Resolution site to submit a request directly through the Airbnb host, which I did to initiate a refund in the amount of $504.40. On 6/21/21, the Airbnb host denied my request. I then on 6/21/21, followed back up with Airbnb Customer Resolution Center about this issue and they advised me that I could dispute the charge directly through my bank, which I did; however, the Customer Service Representative advised me that Airbnb has a "very tight" process outlined, which can make it impossible for customers using their service to qualify for full refunds and the $677.27 chargeback from my bank would inevitably be reversed, which it was.
I went on to Airbnb's online Customer Feedback site to express my total disappointing experience; however, I received an email stating: "your review for reservation HMXSYETWKE about H**** T**** goes against our Review Policy, so we've removed it. The review didn't have enough relevant information to help the Airbnb community make informed booking decisions." This is complete bunk as I furnished Airbnb Resolution Center with the appropriate pictures and videos of the multiple problems of my stay WITHOUT including private and confidential information such as property address/location information, names, phone numbers, etc. I feel this was an attempt to silence me as a customer without having any negative reviews going against their host, which could adversely impact overall business operations for both Airbnb and their hosts. This does not constitute fair business operations and considered fraudulent swindling practices, which should vehemently be investigated.
All amenities included.
APARTMENT FEATURES:
- you get your own master bedroom with a private bathroom, closet, balcony
- Sleeps 3 (third person can choose to sleep on living room couch or airmatress)
- FREE WiFi
- Central Air Conditioning and Heating
- Hardwood Floors (carpeted bedroom/walk in closet)
- All brand new furniture and apartment
- Dishwasher, Microwave, Full Size Stove
- Laundry Facilities inside the unit (modern washer and dryer)
- Cleaned by professional maids
- Full Kitchen
- Extra Comfortable Mattresses, 600 thread count sheets, High Quality Comforter Sets
- Chic and modern design
- Stainless Steel appliances
We demand a refund for the following reasons.
Before reserving, we asked for more pictures, because only one was provided in the listing. A woman claiming to be Alex said that she did not have any at the moment. When we saw the apartment, we understood why she would not provide pictures.
We did have our own room with a private bathroom. However:
It was very sparsely furnished -- just a bed and a TV. No bedside table or lamp, no dresser, no chairs, and no sofa, contrary to what was shown in the picture.
We had to ask for the air mattress, which was stored in a pile in the dirty living room.
It smelled like cheap perfume in the room, as if someone wanted to hide a bad smell.
The bath, sink, and mirror were dirty.
The only linens that were provided were 5 face cloths and a hand towel.
The blinds did not work properly, missing many slats
The balcony was cluttered with stuff belonging to other people (and Alex responded that he wasn't responsible for the comings and goings of the people in the apartment!)
The room could only be locked from the inside, so we could not lock it when we wanted to leave. Furthermore, the front door was always unlocked. Alex only gave us the key to the building, not to the apartment, claiming that there was always someone there. Therefore, both the front door and the door to our room were always unlocked, so we could easily have been robbed.
When we confronted Alex about these problems, he made up excuses and said he would get the air mattress (which he did) and extra linens (which he didn't). When we explained our problems with the state of the apartment, he replied that we had only rented a room, disregarding the fact that we were supposed to have access to the kitchen, which was in a horrible state.
Now for the rest of the appartment:
There were 4 or 5 occupants in the living room and kitchen when we arrived (alone, because Alex did not accompany us). These were all temporary lodgers or couch surfers, judging by all the couches and air mattresses.
The kitchen and fridge were dirty and smelled bad, just like the rest of the apartment.
No coffee maker, no glasses. We only managed to find 2 cups.
When we woke up, six people were sleeping in that mess of a living room.
We have traveled a lot (often using AirBnB), enough to know what to expect from a room costing 123 $ CAD (plus fees) in Hollywood. We did not expect the Ritz, but we will not accept paying that for a room in a dirty apartment that felt like a bad youth hostel.
We also had the following problems communicating with Alex:
Alex made me repeat a lot of information before we arrived, while I was in Venice. All that information was already in our AirBnB messages.
I had to insist that he take our luggage on the morning of our arrival, as agreed, because he thought he might no longer be available!
So Alex arranged a meeting to pick up our luggage, not in front of the apartment, but across the street, and it wasn't Alex who met us, but a lodger who had been woken up at the last minute, and was late.
When we came back that night, we again had to meet across the street. He then gave us confusing information, and asked us to claim that we are family if anybody asked.
Alex did try to be courteous, and said he did not want us to be dissatisfied. He even made a brief attempt at tidying up the kitchen. But that did not fix anything.
We had to sleep there the first night, because we arrived at 7:45 PM (as Alex requested), which was too late to find any other accommodations at a reasonable price, though I searched for 3 hours. I did find something for the next 2 nights, but it cost more than my AirBnB booking. At such short notice, barely anything was available in Hollywood.
For all these reasons, and generally for false advertising, we demand a complete refund.
Attached you will find a few pictures. My travelling partner can corroborate my statement if necessary.
On a final note, I don't think Alex even has the right to rent out his apartment, because he always refused to meet us in front of the building, never came in with us, and asked us to claim that we were family if asked. I have contacted his co-op board to find out.
Thank you for your attention and your cooperation.
Dominique Bernier
N. B. I believe the language barrier did not help our case. So I translated my original letter from French to English as best.
But all we get after discussion is a flat no to refund. Ashley C. A case manager, mentions cleanliness or misclassification only as arguments to disengage from further discussion on this topic.
But there is much more. Obvious reasons for doing so even partially.
Moreover, we read the conditions of cancellation and we understand that we should be to say the least paid off for the 3rd night, given that I cancelled on the spot, 1st night.
Thank you.
Dominique Bernier
If you are planning to stay with Fernanda & Family via AirBnB, please read this till the end.
AirBnB was initially very supportive and processed my full refund BUT denied me the privilege of sharing my full story because I had initially mentioned the company who was managing the key collection. Airbnb did not ask that I remove the name of the company, but they removed my entire review as below!
Your rights to share your experience on AirBnB is very limited. Know your rights and be careful.________________________________________________________________________...⇄ /> We felt cheated staying with Fernanda and Family. The whole set-up seems like a scam.
Key collection area was unwelcoming - there was a notice to say that it was under construction. A man came up from the basement. No hello, no explanation and zero hospitality and handed a set of key to us. At this point, it all felt like a scam; and we were worried.
Apartment Entrance: As we entered the building, there were trucks with graffiti parked on the roads. Didn't give a welcoming feel for a place that is described as Modern 5-Star Apartment. It also claimed to be family-friendly.
There was a homeless man sleeping at the entrance to the building; blocking our path to use the ramp (we have a baby stroller)
Foot steps and dirt all across the common areas and entrance. This was our first impression of the place. Which we paid Premium price for AED805 per night (167 pounds)
Alcohol cans and rubbish at the entrance. Shelter to homeless (sleep during the days, take drugs and drink alcohol during the nights)
The Apartment: Although it was serviced, it was not clean (as a 5-Star Modern Apartment). We were also charged AED200 for cleaning fee (42 pounds). This was what we found as we walked in:
Pubic hair in the bathroom
Hair in the corners of the whole apartment
Mould on curtains and edges
Salt built up in the kettle - not washable even after I tried. I needed a kettle as I was traveling with young children.
Safety
1) We decided to come home before dark as the area felt unsafe. When we came home at 7pm, there was another homeless guy sleeping at the walkway. We decided to order food to be delivered to the apartment. We felt trapped as the walkway and building entrance was not suitable for our needs and always blocked by homeless people. Our delivery guy had informed us that our food was snatched by one of the homeless who on either drugs or alcohol. That was when we decided to look for an alternative accommodation for the remaining of our stay.
2) Our apartment door was opened from the outside in the morning WHILE we were still there. When my husband enquired she said she didn't speak English (Spanish speaker). We decided to check-out after our first night there as we were concerned about our safety.
3)This is not suitable for family. It is not a MODERN 5-Star Apartment if the entrance is a home for homeless.
The shower and bathroom was 2-star
The cleanliness is zero star
Both beds were sofa beds (not one bed and one sofa bed as claimed)
Very poor amenities
Unsafe area for families
The Host
She didn't meet me or call me even once although I called the emergency number. She only communicated using the AirBnB messaging and response was slow. Didn't provide any hospitality or assurance what-so-ever.
She claimed to have visited the apartment to take pictures on the cleanliness BUT didn't even have the courtesy to come up to check on us. She also said she lives around Camden!
It felt like the reason why she visited the apartment was to take pictures AFTER she has cleaned the entrance and walkway to defend herself. Very disappointing. We didn't want to ruin our holiday and left. I lodge an official complain to AirBnB and Fernanda and she only wanted to give us a 20% refund despite us moving our after one night!
I logged a safety complain with AirBnB and the case manager worked on my case and I have received my refund. However they have now removed my honest review of this case and all pictures that I have shared. AirBnB have stripped my rights as a guest who wants to share her poor experience to others.
This is the last time I ever use AirBnb, and I will be sure to inform others of how AirBnb treats emergency situations like this, and wants its guests to put themselves in dangerous situations just so they can use the excuse "sorry, you have no documentation" so they can keep their service fee money.
After reaching Hong Kong we (3 adult 3 children) were place in an apt - 2 bedrooms, 1 hall, 1 kitchen, I toilet at ladies mkt (as per my request) but very old bldg. Willy Li met one resident n was scolded for renting illegally again. Later he told us we Hv to shift out 2 days later cos this is not the units for us, ( he had many such units) but wanted to gv us 2 seperated tiny units run down n stuffy rooms at prince edward rd ( an apt partition into 5 units w toilet- but he call it studio apt- my god, so misleading). We do not agree to it after viewing. Immediately on the first night, I wrote to airbnb to complain our situation n the next day, the host came to talk to us again saying airbnb told them to settle our issue. Airbnb are confusing us w many reasons. Willy Li n Kitty Liu told us no need to tell Airbnb as they won't help us n difficult to get refund fm Airbnb etc n try to act kind to us but end up we pay them additional HKD750, as we do not want to be bothered w accomo ( also very blur n confuse). The mother Kitty Liu is adamant that we Hv to move out on 4thday ( actual book 5days) to the tiny rooms, despite we Hv paid them additional HKD 750 to stay for 3 nights (2nd day to 4thday) which they claim we are compensating to the guest who book the units we are staying ( my husband is sick, we are tired, confuse n con by them). Also we are there to travel w kids, we temporary agree to their suggestion n paid. It is stressful for the past 4 days. We taught our kids to learn fm dis experience. Made them involved n help to look for accomo online( difficult as most hotel fully book or either too small units or far away).
Willy mother, Kitty Liu is experience n tough woman, despite on 4th day we appeal to her to extend 5thday n ask for alternate accomo cos my husband is sick, she after collected the money, changed face n said we can book hotel if dont like the tiny units, So is Willy Li, he became heartless n unkind.
At 4am of 5th day, I found one big, spacious, cosy, clean n nice condo like unit, my children loves it, n we pay very high rental ( also book thru airbnb). We are happy n worth paying it and Had a good sleep n rest in dat apt. I later found out Willy Li Hv 10 units in hand, n 1 unit available on the 5th day but refuse to offer us (advertised in travelmob.com - his ad he put name as Wil w a rabbit n carrot pic at Airbnb webpage)
After we return home, 2 days later after a good rest, I wrote to Airbnb to complain our experience n ask for refund, but Airbnb offer to refund the HKD750 which we pay the host additional in cash at Hong Kong. Anyway, i gladly accept it n thank them for their help n did not argue further. We are happy at least we got back some money as Airbnb is able to help get some refund fm host n offer a USD100 discount for our next booking. The greedy hosts Willy n Kitty Liu did not got his bite, so they must be very angry n hopping up n down. Ha ha, to us if money can buy his pride, why not? Willy Li claim to be a Curtin U graduate, shame on him, mummy's boy, n for having low self esteem. We pity Willy n Kitty for hving no standard in life.
In fact, after we return, we saw another review on his page that Willy n Kitty also try to cheat another guest Lim but the guest did not gv in.
Wonder why they must resort to such tatics n make themselves popular w bad names. They Hv so many units, earlier preview were good but misled us. If can made so much fm rental, why still want to cheat n be greedy? To Wil n Kitty Liu, Money is not everything. Like the guest Lim said to Wil n Kitty Liu: wat comes around goes around.
To those who want to book online, ask many questions ( even silly qns) to test the hosts patience, if they sound rude, don book, n click the unit's picture u want to book ( anyway dis may not be true, as Wil sound ok when I email him) overall, Luck also plays a part, (as the 2nd unit, the host delay replying to my qns, ( but she is nice after meeting her) but I am desperate to get out of the situation, I proceed to book, u got to be prepared to lose out money n Hv guts to do so) I suppose.
I have never had such a bad experience as I have on at least 3 occasions with Airbnb as a "Superhost." I'd hate to see how Airbnb treat everyone else. Hours of writing in their little boxes managed to stir up just two "I'm about to end my shift" and "Bye, I'm leaving and will be back tomorrow" responses over a period of over two days when they LOCKED ME OUT AGAIN so I could not respond to guest inquireis or Airbnb's own emails that sent me dozens of times by clicking on their boxes to a "We can't find that conversation message." It is beyond belief but true.
WARNING to other hosts -- they freely text to landlines listed on accounts in second place and though you respond to texts with a series of authentication codes they send to your cell phone, your inability to receive or respond to texts to a landline is enough for them to sever your connection to YOUR SITE -- in the latest instance for over 2 days -- and NEVER EVEN DIAL THE LANDLINE NUMBER AND LEAVE A MESSAGE or message you re no-response to their misdirected texts.
They never came up with a reason for the severance -- never apologized of course given their attitudes -and if this latest nightmare of trying to get them to just please text a guest to say that the guest should call me because I am blocked out is any indication, they neither learn nor genuinely care about "hospitality" and "caring" that they talk endlessly about.
They will waste hours of your time on the phone, try to blame the problem on your internet connection, your browser, the number of requests you have declined, the fact that you just declined a request. No irrelvancy is out of bounds. Be ready to spend an hour at a time with cluless reps unprepared to even begin to understand that the system in place freely emails hosts directives with Respond, Decline/Approve. Review, View and Reply buttons that DO NOT LEAD TO ANYTHING BUT THE "We cannot find that conversation" message plus the idiotic little TRY AGAIN button below that you can press to get the same thing to reload.
So they sent me over 8 messages as a host today and blocked me from my host account, idiotically displaying Become a Host messages.
Once I was led by a support team member -- after about 9 before her failed to be of any help whatsoever -- past thee barriers and through the labyrinthe to a place where I could delete the landline number, everything functioned again. Airbnb never suggested the second phone number was the problem beyond rarly on at one point flshing a tiny message at the top of the screen saying You have two phon numbers. Well, I thought, yes I dpo and I'm right next to both phones and responding to the text messages you are sending me on one and the landline is silent.
Well, I got through the infuriating ordeal again and this time I think I may have fixed the underlying problem.
I
My host explained on his site, that his authentic address was incorrect, and that once my confirmation was confirmed, he would message me the actual location with directions (because google maps is 5 years outdated and even completely wrong for vast portions of rural New Mexico, fyi). This host had done this 79 times, for his own safety and security. He sent the directions and address. Well, this time, Airbnb blocked his address, and some location address landmarks that the host sends, to guide guests to his remote farm. I ended up lost in the mountainous high desert, in New Mexico because of this, and there is no cellular service out there, my friends! Had it not been for a kind farmer, I would have run out of gas. This was potentially deadly for me, as I have a seizure disorder.
So, the host refunds me all of the money that he received ($56.74 for one night). I paid $106.74... umm, why did Airbnb need an extra $50 for screwing up my one night work trip? They explained that their fee was non-refundable... fee for what? Fee for screwing with both the guest and the host?
I had a host tell me that she didn't know hiw much I was paying. When I told her, she was aghast! It seems that those webmasters for Airbnb can change the "cleaning fees" to whatever they want! The host has no actual idea what Airbnb charges for their part, which is basically NOTHING!
Plus, they tell you not to share personal information on their website, for your protection. Okay, NOTED! So, why would they decide to block that critical information that a HOST sends to a guest?
The answer is two fold... first, the right hand has no idea what the left is doing at Airbnb... they put out articles for both hosts and guest to read, so that they don't have to pay people to answer questions. Their answers are in legalese format, so they are broad and vague, and never actually answer anything remotely relevent to your issue. When you do finally get someone to answer you, they are from a bank of call center employees, who don't really make much for their time. It's called a "community forum".
Second, Airbnb doesn't want you exchanging personal information, because if you get to know your host, you can decide to knock Airbnb out of the picture, altogether, and just deal with them. This would render Airbnb inert!
I never got my full refund, and I sincerely hope that this review crosses the laptop screen of the CEO of Airbnb... because he is nothing more than a glorified scam artist.
It is my suggestion that if you need a place to stay, in an area that doesn't have any hotels or motels... call ANY local business there... they will tell you the name of a local bed and breakfast, or someone who has a room you can rent for the night!
You do not have ANY other protections that way, than you do with Airbnb... if they want to say otherwise, I would say, PROVE IT... because thus far, they haven't been willing or able to!
The one star is for a horrible experience that I encountered in Seattle and Airbnb still stands by their position of zero help, others on the trip were fine. Airbnb obviously care more for the money then a rentee's experience. YRMV.
After being on the road for 12 hours, I got to my rental in Sammanish. I hope it would be basic and clean place to stay as I booked it for nearly a week. My expectations were wrong.
No exterior lights were on. I used the front hillside terraced stairs which were at least 20 feet and could have been unsafe. A kid answered the door and directed me to the open garage to access the room more directly. He warned me about spider webs on the stairs. Okay.
So I went thru the garage and checked out the room. Basic okay. I started unpacking and settling in. I noticed there was no key. I went upstairs and another kid was there, smoking something. Foul smelling. MJ is illegal for anyone under 21. He called for his mom. His mom gave me a tour and told me there was no key for the room. I was uncomfortable with this. She said her husband would be back Monday night with the key. I was exhausted from the ride and made no comment. During the tour, the lights were out in two parts of the common area, the main living room and the hallway. She told me they were out for awhile, maybe she said a month or two. She asked me about them but I am no electronic and couldn't help. A broom was knocked over on the kitchen floor and water was spilled on the kitchen counter, she said from above. Okay.
The smell of whatever that teenager was smoking filled my room. The air was unbreathable and I have no clue what drug that teenager was smoking. I had enough. This place was not as advertised and beyond what I was comfortable with.
I called Airbnb, they could do nothing. Zack, the case manager, was unhelpful to say the least. At this time, I did not mention the drug use as I am no rat. I left after only 30 minutes to 1 hour of this foul environment. Zack requests documentation of the illegal drug use. I don't see how I can ask that kid to prove his license nor did I want to get into a discussion with the mother about supervising her children. I did not think to take pictures of the lights being out.
It is truly sad that Airbnb does not care about rentee's experience and doubts the word of an experienced traveler and user of Airbnb. What a headache and very disappointing of an otherwise excellent Airbnb experience. With a hotel, you know what to expect. Airbnb should be ashamed to have a garbage rental like this to be part of their business model. I sadly did not read carefully what other reviewers mentioned and failed to mention. I don't like talking nor using the word garbage but this experience definitely is garbage and not one I wish on anyone.
I am seriously considered using a known hotel chain for my future business. Zack's signature sign off is "Be the Adventure", the real truth is your room experience with Airbnb will be the adventure. Staying at a hotel and you will know what you are getting.
A few weeks before leaving for Vancouver I noticed her listing had disappeared from Airbnb. I messaged her and she said she had had to take it down. Too many requests. Mmmmmmm. She replied using the name Nicole P.
One week before leaving for Vancouver I contacted Airbnb to discuss my rising doubts. I was told there was no need to worry. Airbnb were confident all was above board. Mmmmmmm. Why were they so dismissive?
5 days before arriving I get a message reminding me she had no "contract" with the management at her condo for concierge services so she would meet me personally to let me in and show me around. Mmmmmm.
0830 on the morning of the booking I am boarding a plane to fly to Vancouver and I get a text saying to meet her at an address 38 Smithe Street Vancouver. Mmmmmmmm. WHAT?
I called Nicole/Ashleigh and she tells me she cannot now provide the promised apartment as her access pass had been blocked but she has "moved us" to a 1BR in a different area of town. She is "not prepared to explain or argue with you about this". The booking is changed and she has no obligation to do more.
What transpired is that she was (sub) letting an apartment illegally in a building and that the owner/building management had blocked her access. She had been doing it successfully for some time and had good reviews but now was caught out and barred. Obviously the assurance she had given Airbnb was falsified. When I raised this with Airbnb they said "we have hundreds of thousands of hosts. We can't verify all their claims".
Airbnb cancelled the booking and said they would find another apartment in tge same area and standard. We trusted them as we were just a few hours from arriving. We are a 35 minute bus ride from mid town, on a very busy highway and with only a gas station anywhere bear to shop. Our holiday is completely ruined. The Airbnb "service" person took us for mugs.
What is my complaint? Airbnb say Nicole told them she had a last minute hiccup and they accepted her excuse completely even though they know she gave us a completely different excuse. They agreed it was unacceptable but they had absolutely no plan to do anything other than help me find alternative accomodation: she was a successful host (aka she made big $ for Airbnb). I was told this really did not happen often and I was unlucky. I was told 4 times that Airbnb took great care to look after their customers and that my experience was unusual. I was left to understand that I should feel for the host and just get on with it.
The bottom line is that Airbnb will keep Nicole/Ashleigh. They said so. She is a valuable source of income to them. They understand what has happened looks dodgy but if she tells them she is OK to offer an apartment then they will take her word for it. And if she gives a blatantly false explanation to cancel, who is Airbnb to confront her?
Airbnb's model is set up to facilitate scamming and they know that and believe that they can "manage" victims when they emerge. It's a buyer beware portal.
So BEWARE.
Post script. Airbnb tried to charge me a fee for the cancelled booking.
WE WILL NEVER USE AIRBNB EVER AGAIN. PEOPLE HAVE BEEN RENTING PROPERTIES ALONG TIME BEFORE AIRBNB EXISTED AND WILL A LONG TIME AFTER THERE GONE. WITH ANY DEGREE OF LUCK THAT WILL BE SOONER THAN LATER. CHINGOW AIRBNB!
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I accessed the flat after 5pm that day with no issue
I unpacked some of my things, had a shower and got ready to go out and see some friends that evening
I returned to the flat after 5am and found that I could access the main door to the building but the key would not open the door to the flat
I tried for over 30mins and was very distressed - I was using my full body weight to try and get the door open, turning the key which and every way but it would not open
I then contacted the host via email and after 10 or so minutes she replied (as per the email conversations) she advised me to contact the emergency number
I called the emergency number about 6 times and Airbnb told me they were trying to get in contact with the host
Eventually after an hour passed (it was no after 6am) I was called by a man called Michael who said he was the host when in fact in the ad the host is a woman called Schchen
Mikael told me that he would be over in 30mins with a spare key
10mins later I receive another call from Michael informing me that he cannot get the spare key because the office is closed and will not open till 9am
My only options were to either sleep in the hallway or check into a hotel. Michael suggested I go and wait in a hotel lobby. I informed him that I would do no such thing as I would not want the staff at the hotel to perceive I was there doing something untoward
Mikael told me to call him later in the morning and we would arrange a suitable time for us both to meet at the flat and I would receive a refund for that night
After 7am I checked into a hotel and after 4 hours sleep called Mikael and we arranged to meet at the flat at 1pm
I arrived at the flat at 1pm, waiting for my outside was a young man who told me his name was Julius
We both accessed the main door to the building using the key I was given on the previous day
We made our way up to the second floor and stood in front of the door to the flat. I then handed him the key to open the door - low and behold the door opened. I told hi that it was not so easy to open the door yesterday
Julius then went onto insinuating that I went to the wrong door, was I at the right door. I responded that of course I was, its the only door with the metal panelling on the left hand side and there are only 3 levels in the building. He said that because there was no issue with the door I would not receive the refund for that night. I was very annoyed by this, I had to spend over £100 to book a room for the night due to the faulty lock
We both entered the flat I saw that Juliuss phone was in the flat by the desk - it was charging I relaid that this charger was in fact mine but it was in my bag and not in plain sight. This further exasperated and annoyed me further. That he was insulting my intelligence, accessed the flat without my permission and then used my property to charge his phone.
For that reason I told him to leave and to end the argument as we were getting nowhere and I wanted to leave - I no longer felt save and felt violated that someone who thinks its ok (regardless of whether he works for/owns the property) to let himself in without me bing there and to touch my property
I explained to him that I would be checking out and would no longer stay at the property because of his unscrupulous behaviour. I confronted him that there was an issue with the lock and he must have rectified the issue either himself/called a locksmith prior to my arrival. Therefore alleviating themselves of the promise to refund me for the night
Therefore I made the decision to leave and go back to the hotel
I contacted Airbnb and spoke to a representative called Joe. I explained the situation to him and he could clearly hear on the phone how upset I was upset by the situation
He informed me that is my decision to leave - my response was I no longer felt safe being in the flat. He said that he would send me an email and once I had checked into the hotel I should provide him with supporting evidence of what had taken place
I have been visiting for 2 years and go 2-3 times a year. I have stayed at hotels and Airbnbs - I have never had an issues with gain access and the hosts at whos properties I have stayed at have given me glowing feedback. I felt o strongly about how I had been mistreated a dutch friend of mine who lives in Amsterdam reported the host and the management agency to the Amsterdam city hall.
I have escalated and written to Airbnb twice to give me the contact details of their legal dept as I do not agree with the outcome of the decision made. My emails have gone unanswered!
We booked a room in a house in New Orleans. The house stated that it was on Frenchman Street for those of you who are not familiar with this area, its a popular destination in New Orleans, lined with bars and restaurants where all the locals go to listen to live jazz music. Unfortunately, Airbnb does not disclose the exact address of the house until the day before your stay, Airbnb give you a radius to give you a general idea of where its located. Well, when we arrived at the house it was on the very far end of Frenchman Street, not at all in walking distance to that area as described (nor would it have been safe to walk, day or night, male or female, EVER). It was in a very bad, crime ridden area with bars on many of the windows and doors, and wood paneling covering windows that had been blown out. The house was not at all how it was described in the ad. We stepped outside for a moment to contemplate if it was safe to walk just around the corner to Walgreens, and within a few minutes someone made an attempt to rob us. I will spare the long details of this but luckily we escaped the situation unharmed. When we ran back into the house we discovered that someone left the door to the back patio unlocked. This was a shared space, meaning other guests were staying in other rooms just down the hall. Luckily no one had entered the home from off the street but we feared that if the guests accidentally left it unlocked again, that someone could enter the home in the middle of the night and rob us or worse. Also, there were no locks on our bedroom door, leaving our belongings at risk while we were out exploring the city. I realize that New Orleans suffered awful devastation from Hurricane Katrina and is still recovering and its really sad, but, Airbnb should be more forthcoming about the state of these houses/rooms.
This place was completely misrepresented. It said there was a porch overlooking the yard as well as street and two sets of french doors that open up into Frenchmen Street, letting in plenty of light and allowing for prime people watching. The french doors in the kitchen were bolted shut, and the only view from the porch was a very tall fence that separated the back of the house from the street, we couldnt view the street as stated. In addition, the house was unsanitary. The pillows were stained brown (very brown, spotted, DISGUSTING), the towels that were folded and placed on the bathroom counter were damp and smelled like mold, the toilet wasnt completely bolted down to the ground, etc.
Unfortunately Airbnb has a refund policy that protects them from just about anything. We contacted their customer support line immediately and worked with a case manager in an attempt to get a refund but they refused. They said that they cannot refund due to neighborhood factors, only things pertaining to the house itself; so we sent the pictures of the house and everything inside that was dirty (including those nasty pillows) but they still refused. We were also shocked that there were no reviews about any of these things which leads us to believe that perhaps the negative reviews are being deleted. After the incident I decided to do some more research on the company, and found that other people have experienced the following situations (also without refunds): door locks being broken when you arrive, getting kicked out of the house by disgruntled ex-spouses, cancelling peoples stays hours before their reservation, hosts openly using drugs in common spaces, getting kicked out by HOA reps because the host doesnt have rights to rent, not refunding people who were supposed to stay in Napa Valley during the devastating fires just to name a few. I dont care what their policy states, they should operate by whats right and whats wrong. This company has no moral compass whatsoever. It sounds like just about anyone can qualify to rent their space through Airbnb and misrepresent it in their ad. I would highly advise against using this service.
I rented this apartment in Atlanta 5 monghs ago, paid in full and the host is cancelling my reservation
Because is not available?! Https :// www.airbnb. Com/rooms/37976706? Source_impression_id=p3_*******823_t%2FV3j9o6EXliC2uF&guests=1&adults=1
Contacted Airbnb and nothing Airbnb can do. I am going to Atlanta for 8 days in 2 weeks, now I have spent $1500 more to get a hotel room. Fist they told me they will going to give me a coupon for my next stay of 10% now they are saying they can not penalize the host, she is supposed to pay that 10%
Please read the customer service from AIRBNB
Airbnb Support5:27 PM
Hi Maria, this is Kristoferson one of the Support Ambassadors from Airbnb. This is a courtesy call/message. I am sorry to inform you that your host needs to cancel your reservation with reservation code HMCEKDMJBH. It was because he mistakenly set the instant book to "on" that is why your reservation automatically was accepted by the system.
You may check the help link below for reference.
How cancellations work
https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/3122/how-cancellations-work
Please feel free to reply to this message if you have additional questions or concerns about this case or if you would be needing assistance in finding a new place to book. We are here for you whenever you need us at: www.airbnb.com/help or https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/1542/how-do-i-contact-airbnb
Dec 27,2021
Message from Airbnb Support
Airbnb Support7:35 PM
Hi Maria, kindly check these alternative listings and let me know if you need additional assistance.
1.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/40115297?guests=1&adults=1&check_in=2022-01-08&chec...⇄ />
2.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/53891227?guests=1&adults=1&check_in=2022-01-08&chec...⇄ />
3.
Https :// www.airbnb. Com/rooms/52423559? Guests=1&adults=1&check_in=2022-01-08&check_out=2022-01-16&federated_search_id=1...⇄ />
Select to open user profile for Maria
Maria7:39 PM
No thank you. I dont like any.
I will book a hotel room for this trip.
I have not received the 10%coupon i am looking for jan30 to 4th ahain in atlanta
Message from Airbnb Support
Airbnb Support8:12 PM
Hi Maria, I'm deeply sorry with what happened to this particular reservation. If only I can show you how I tried to convince your host to proceed with the reservation unfortunately the final decision is still with the host.
Regarding the 10% coupon, it was supposed to be a penalty for the host for cancelling the reservation, but with the policy provided by Airbnb, the host is not required due to cancellation with regard to "instant book". Please see help link below for reference.
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2022/can-a-host-cancel-a-reservation-without...⇄ />
They are allowed to cancel without penalties due to the mentioned policy in the above help link. Again I'm so sorry about this situation. Thank you for your kind understanding and keep safe.
Best,
Just to let you know, my shift is about to finish for today and I'll be out of office until Dec. 28,2021.
While I may not be able to reply right away, please do message me if any issues arise and I'll follow up with you as soon as I'm back.
Meanwhile, there are lots of useful articles in our Help Center which may be of assistance.
Very dispointed with the way they have deal with the situation, They said they refunded my account the money still not there. I will see how long will take to get my money back.
2 females (wise individuals) book a Villa in Marseille. Looks amazing online. In reality not so. We arrive exactly on time. All doors are open so we enter, a man is standing in the Kitchen with his back to us we say hello, he does not turn around and simply grunts. We are left to presume he is a guest. We wondered about on the ground floor. The first thing I see is the laundry strewn over the balcony with stones on top. Enter the living room a huge pile of sheets on the sofa. The dining room - once inside you are greeted by several huge paint splattered speakers of course not on the photos. Back towards the kitchen the man scuttles hurriedly upstairs. We step in the quite cluttered kitchen where said man has left the remnants of his bread and humus. A somewhat messy smaller room to the side housing the floor to ceiling booze some of which was leaking onto the floor and washing machine with odd pieces of laundry dotting the floor. Not a great reception at all. What to do? I suggest we venture upstairs to find our room and or the man we just saw. We are one flight up when the man reappears and blocks our path. He says nothing... I ask are you the host to which he replies are you so and so. Yes I say, he states, 'and you just come upstairs by yourself?' very aggressively. You just walked right passed us I state. 'I thought you were friends of my other guests who are english, why didn t you call me I gave you my number.' He never gave us his number (and why would we call him he was right there?) he was not forthcoming with any information prior to our arrival. I had asked how we would enter the villa and who would be there at what times, his reply don t worry all the taxi s know it.? I put that down to language barrier? We did not know till we got there at 6pm how to get in. I should explain that this is a villa quite high up not at ground level not so obvious. We found the gate and his name pressed the buzzer twice so i really don t understand how he did not know who we were? We presumed he had buzzed us in but we learnt later the gate was always open. He showed us to our room, presentable enough at first glance. He left to fetch towels and keys. He offered to show us the kitchen I replied I had already seen it. The atmosphere inside the villa was eerie and there was no sign of any other guests despite his earlier excuse for ignoring us. My friend went downstairs with him to be shown the washing machine I checked out the bathroom. The closet/wardrobe had been freshly painted so that couldn t be used due to smell. Behind the toilet were exposed wires where someone had done a very poor DIY light above the bathroom mirror job. The taps on the sink and in the shower were not clean the shower had a pebble bottom and several of these were missing showing age and wear. This led me to look under the bed and sure enough full of dust and a tissue? The bed seemed ok I pulled back the duvet to reveal a crumpled bottom sheet, I did the smell test Airbnb smelt neither clean nor dirty. My friend returned and informed me the host had left leaving the glass of wine he was drinking balancing on the garden wall. On further inspection of the towels he had handed us we realized they were in fact wet. We now also noticed the painting above the bed (not shown in the photos) of a female wearing a white basque which was revealing her pubic hair? Also above the bed at head level was a metal lever sticking out of the wall, for gas, water god knows? Definetely a hazard. We hadn t eaten all day so left to get a pizza nearby unsure of what we were going to do. This is when we noticed the opaque glass panel in the bedroom door which had 2 more see through circle sections and a further 2 scratched out spots which viewed the bed - our bed. Immediately to our left we saw a cupboard with a pair of scissors for a handle. As if all that wasn t enough there was no lock on the inside of the room. My friend told me that on her previous visit downstairs she had noticed a room with an open door which couldn t be a guest room she described an absolute tip with clothes and objects shin deep all over the floor. This door was closed now. In the entrance way we noticed a vase which had been smashed to bits and glued back together. All the plants from the photos were now covering the kitchen table dead. The host had left a cupboard open and plates balancing on the sink side. The fridge was completely full no room for us. On arrival we had noticed an animal hutch in front of the main door again not photographed not mentioned. So on our way out we noticed the 2 fluffy baby bunny rabbits? It did not reassure us. Also saw a plastic container containing dirty drinking glasses, many glasses just a step up from the front door so the entrance area, it had been there a while by the looks of it. We got our pizza and returned we ate outside as we did not feel comfortable inside. Turned out we were not comfortable outside either, we were completely on edge. We went to put the unfinished pizza in the bin which is when we saw the man s jumper and empty cleaning fluid bottle in the bin and I mean that was all that was in the bin. We immediately entered what is known as fight or flight mode, we didn t know where he was, he could have returned when were at the pizza place. I volunteered to go back upstairs and gather our belongings my friend stood guard at the front door. We locked the kitchen door he had left open returned the keys to the room and shut the self locking front door behind us and made our way down the creepy stone steps to our escape. With no phone ( my friend had issues with provider abroad) no access to internet we were forced to return to the city (30 min bus ride) and find a hotel. Luckily my friend had funds on her card to do this. With help from several members of the public and their phones we finally found our way to an Ibis to salvation. We were quite shaken up by the time we got to the hotel after 9pm. The staff were amazing they gave us discount because of our ordeal talked to us listened to us and the restaurant served us apple pie with cream and ice cream just what we needed after our ordeal. We contacted Airbnb as soon as was possible and for me that was before I had even returned home. We actually wrote a 4 page report sent photos that I even in my nervous state and had the foresight to take. We sent the hotel receipt. 2 weeks of the email game reliving that night over and over again to be told NO. The host won t refund and you didn t follow procedure. I mean its not real, right? Your emailing some minimum wage person who s first language is not english who are trained to say No. There are no supervisors or managers, my friend emailed the ceo s top dogs, nothing I don t believe they exist. For all we know it could literally be a 15 year old in their bedroom. This is not a real company at all. Its a sham. Appalling not just for us but this guy so called host is allowed to carry on, what about when 2 females not of our age and maturity book in there? It is not safe. You can t get anywhere with Airbnb directly its just not designed that way they have to be publicly outed and shamed and I would call for them to be shut down or boycotted so they just dissolve. This was my first and only experience with this cowboy outfit, thank goodness we had only used it for 2 nights of our 6 night break. We stayed with Ibis Hotels for the other nights and they were fantastic in every way. My friend has already contacted TV in the UK. They have to be brought to justice.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/33007141
Tried 2 times to add photos here, page locks and I have to start again. Also had problems on Airbnbhell.com just didn t work.
When emailing Airbnb I lost my account for 2 days after trying to open a mail from them. It said it couldn t connect to google yet my other google accounts were fine?
I'm replying to this forum Airbnb experience. I went to this site based on previous recommendations from friends to book a rental home in Italy. This was my first and only time booking on this service. I emailed several hosts to find out further information on variety of properties before I booked. I wanted to be sure of the location information and misc details that Airbnb listed on their homes. I received responses from everyone I contacted within 24 -48 hrs. I chose the property that I was planning to book, which looked amazing on the pictures, and a great price. Once I contacted the host, he replied back to me stating he was out of the country, and that I should contact his listing agent/consultant to find further details. He provided me with the email address which was "someones *******@consultant-airbnb.com). I didn't think anything of it, and contacted this person to ask further details on the property and to confirm the dates I needed. I received a response very quickly with the airbnb logo in the email from that email, stating it was "team airbnb". He confirmed the dates availability and told me to go ahead book the reservation on the site, provide my cc info, and then he will send me a separate invoice for the confirmation with further details and instructions. I followed this email and booked on airbnb with my credit card. After the booking was complete, I received another email from airbnb stating the confirmation of the reservation, and that they would follow up with the host to confirm availability. I then received the email from "*******@airbnb" also with response and instructions, providing me with an invoice of the reservation. The email stated that they canceled my reservation, but not to worry, the property is still reserved for me, but since the owner doesn't take a cc, I need to pay in cash by wiring them the money to the agent that represents the property. The agent will hold on to the money until 24 hrs prior to us checking in. The instructions on the invoice gave all the bank information, along with a UK phone number to contact for any questions on how to wire the money. I also had to pay an additional $500 deposit on top of my rental. Total cost of the property rental including deposit was for $2729 (US $). I didn't wire the money right away, since I was traveling on business. I received an update email from "airbnb" stating that I needed to reserve the property within 24 hrs, and if didn't proceed with the wire, my reservation would be canceled. Being unfamiliar with this site, and the typical procedures, I got nervous, and didn't want to lose the property, so I proceeded to follow the instructions, even called the phone number provided to verify I was speaking with an airbnb agent in UK. He told me on the phone that he is an agent of Airbnb, and he works out of the UK office, even provided me with their location in CA. He reassured me that all will be ok, once they receive my wire, they will further confirm the reservation and I will also get the $500 deposit back once we check out.
Once the wire transfer was complete, I continued to correspond with the "agent" and gave him confirmation of the transfer. He said it usually takes 3-4 days, but he did email me back and was happy to see that it took less time then that.
Within a day of the completed wire funds, the listing "disappeared" from airbnb site, and I was no longer able to access the listing, nor the photos of the property. Also all my communication emails were not on the airbnb site with the host or his "agent" The only email that showed was the initial one that I was told to contact another email address. Also it did show the airbnb reservation as being "canceled".
This is where I started to get suspicious, and emailed the agent again, asking about why the reservation showed canceled? They responded with "not to worry" they are having issues w/their servers, and it will be fixed in the next few days but for me to be assured that they have my info and have my reservation booked.
At this point I started to get further leary, and researched further properties in Positano, and found the same exact photos of the property I booked on other sites. I of course got concerned, thinking that the home we rented was really not the home, and that the pics were being randomly copied and posted. At this point, I still thought that I had the home reserved, but was just thinking it was a different home than the photos posted. I contacted the "agent" as well as the host/owner on airbnb asking for the physical address of the property and asked them to email me pictures again. I received a response 2-3 days later with the property address, as well as additional photos of the property, again with their apologies for delay in replying as well as stating my reservation is still valid.
At this time, I started researching reviews online on airbnb in general and came onto tons of scam alerts, as well as exactly the same situations and previous scams that I went thru.
I did contact airbnb in CA immediately once I realized what was happening. I spoke two different times to 2 different official Airbnb customer service agents, who were very nice, apologetic and assured me that they will investigate further into the matter. Since this all transpired during a holiday weekend, it may take an extra day to get back to me. I filed a case/claim with airbnb on Saturday as an urgent claim. I received an automated email response giving me their anti trust/policies and scam alerts. This was not clearly stated on their site when I initially signed up for an account though.
In the meantime, I also contacted my US bank to do a wire recall to attempt to get my money back. I'm waiting now for further updates from my bank if they will be able to retrieve any of the funds from the UK banks. I'm also still waiting back from airbnb on my claim.
The long winded review, is hopefully a warning to all reading this, and first time users of airbnb, to not do what I did, and do not wire any funds. The emails are very deceptive, and they look very legit! They all have some form of airbnb in the emails, also copied all their logos, and really are professional. This to me looks like a sophisticated scam operation. I am extremely distraught that I fell for it.
If any one of you who is reading this, got your money back and was able to pursue this in legal matter, please please contact me. I would love to hear any feedback or advice on this.
Thank you for reading!
Kira