We booked an Airbnb to share with friends in Arlington, VA. It looked great and the host was responsive when we asked questions before booking. When we arrived at the complex and called the host, his number was disconnected. He did not respond on the Airbnb App and no one at the complex knew anything about an Airbnb listing. In fact, the management told me that owners were not allowed to list on Airbnb.
I called Airbnb (thank you Airbnbhell for the number) and got someone. He tried to contact the host with no luck either. After an hour of this, he said he would refund my money and help me find a place for us to stay. It took nearly three hours to find a place and I had to pay an additional $995 on top of what we had budget to get this place. When I pushed Airbnb to pay the extra they said all they could do was give me 10% of my original payment of $104.50. This was a terrible experience for me and my guests.
Sorry, you had this experience.
You can always contact airbnb via the reservation and you will always get a refund if something like this happens. As another said airbnb is a booking platform – lots of amateur hosts – if you want to make sure of a good experience book with a Superhost. They never cancel and gets 5 star ratings all the time.
Sorry this happened to you. It had to be difficult. So Airbnb refunded your full reservation plus 10%? I’m glad you were able to get the refund.
If your replacement reservation was over $900 more than the original, perhaps the original cheap price was a clue. If something seems to good to be true—it usually is.
Airbnb is a listing platform. I doubt VRBO, or booking.com would’ve given you the extra 10%.
I hate you went through this but I’m glad you were able to enjoy part of your trip
Looks like your host was operating illegally and got shut down some time before your arrival.
It would be interesting to know how many reviews the host had and the host’s star rating. Sorry this happened to you.