We found a place in Boston for the Charles River Regatta. The city was extremely crowded that weekend so we took one of the few places left. Once we made contact with the host via Airbnb, he contacted us via phone to say he could save us the deposit fee but that we had to discontinue our quest for his place through Airbnb. So we did.
His place was an absolute dump. He slept on his couch and we slept in his room. He had two other guests in another bedroom and we all shared the same bathroom. There were many unsavory issues about this place: the cat sleeping on top of the coffee maker; not being allowed to use our own soap; one bar was shared by all five people.
The fact that Airbnb thought we had turned down this particular place meant that we could not leave any comment on the site to warn other people. Our host made a very pretty penny that weekend and honestly, I’m extremely hesitant to use Airbnb again.
Teresa Berlin portland oregan was given my $800 deposit for June1st through July 15th. I canceled today and she’s stating she can’t refund me the money. I saw her place through the sight and we exchanged via email and sent through venmo. Now she is saying she can’t refund me my money and I’m so upset because I feel taken granted because I’m poor and seriously need that money to survive!
But you did turn down this place. You went outside of airbnb to try and save a buck, therefore you have no recourse through the website as you did not book through them.
You are essentially using airbnb to find out information and then going around them, then blaming airbnb for your own mistake. How in the world would airbnb even know about this transaction after you moved off site to pursue it? There was no record of your stay so obviously you can’t leave a review. If that was possible, fake reviews would be submitted constantly by guests who never stayed.
This company is terrible for a myriad of reasons. But this ones 100% on you.
You didn’t use Airbnb. You went out of your way to NOT use the platform. And you learned the hard way that it will screw you over. Blame yourself.
I am a host and one of my first airbnb guests reached out to me to see if I would rent to him 3 days a week for a few months since he was working in the area (outside of airbnb). I allowed it and he was a great guest!
I’m sure hosts do that like you’ve experienced (I never would myself). And I’m sure some are actually genuine and would not screw over their guests. I think you just ended up with a really shitty host.
As a host, I’m cancelling my bookings with the exception of the ones in the next couple of weeks lest I inconvenience my guests at the last minute. Airbnb ratings mean little or nothing, although guests and hosts pay for support, support isn’t there when you need it, and the majority of hosts, including superhosts lack knowledge of housing regulations. This industry needs to be regulated for the safety and security of the people using it and benefiting from it….my opinion but I’ve been in the rental business for over 30 yrs.