Booked a house in Fish Hoek, Cape Town from one Sonny Naidoo. In his listing he claimed the property had 2 bedrooms and a steep flight of stairs. The picture in his listing was of a flight of stairs that looked fine – however when I got to the address I found that the picture was taken in front of another property all together. The actual house had multiple flights of steep stairs to climb in order to reach it. Upon the climb I found that the house actually didn’t have a second bedroom, only a sort of pseudo loft in the kitchen accessible only by climbing a ladder. No safety gate of any sort on the platform either, making it very unsafe for children (listing claimed to be child friendly) AIRBNB support told me the following: “I’ve reviewed the video Joel and while I understand that the staircase shown was not the same as the one you actually climb to the listing but the whole point of the picture was to show the view. It was stated in the description that there was a steep climb and that you would need to be able bodied but that is why porters were supplied. At this point as the description covered the basis of the fact there was a steep climb I would be unable to process a refund for the reservation besides what I have already given.” So – it seems a host can post a picture of another property – inferring that it is the actual property, and airbnb doesn’t care. A host can claim 2 bedrooms, while not describing it accurately, and AIRBNB doesn’t care. I’ve attached a screenshot taken from the listing, showing the staircase from a different property – a clear misdirection – then the actual listing and pictures of the ACTUAL climb property taken by myself.
My neighbors are renting their house as air bandb. First time this weekend. It has 15 reviews. House was completely vacant when one review said charming cottage and great decore. Bogus rewiews so I will not use airbandb again. Cant trust em.
We booked an entire home for 1,000 USD. Only when we arrived did the host tell us that she had other renters living there and that not only did we had to share the living space, we also had to forfeit 1/3 of the house to the other renters (which just happened to be the entire floor with the TV and shower!) She completely lied about the rental! Because one of the people in our group was a lawyer, she quickly offered a small refund for 1/4 of the listing. What a terrible, terrible experience.
This is sooo true!! Something needs to be done about Airbnb. They will not post negative reviews so the unsuspecting renters are not aware. Airbnb needs to be held to the same standards as any hotel. There are safety issues, fraud issues. We stayed at a place that was listed as an “Instant Booking” and for $206 per night. Once you book, Airbnb takes their fee and with an instant booking you cannot cancel without paying the fee. Our booking was completed and suddenly the price jumped from $206 to $400 a night. We arrived and the place was not in the city we were lead to believe, it was supposed to be in Gig Harbor Washington when it was way, way way off the grid. So far into the woods=no where near the harbor–cell service was non-existent. We appealed to Airbnb and the “host” to no avail!!