I booked a one-month reservation in Lima, Peru, and paid over $1,250 for a listing that purported to be a luxury apartment in an upscale neighborhood. Upon my arrival, it was a lower income neighborhood and clearly not the type of place you would feel comfortable walking around at night.
Upon my arrival to the apartment I thought I had the wrong apartment number as I overheard several people inside. I also observed a large bag of trash outside of the front door. I rang the doorbell and was met by two women with the dress profiles of streetwalkers, and some unknown male, all who were inside of the apartment drinking beer. I could immediately smell marijuana in the air. I also noticed a stained carpet and sofa, in addition to a stove with the remnants of grease along with a nearby unconsumed line of cocaine.
I immediately walked back toward the door and made my exit. I had a beer can thrown at me as I made my way to the elevator and down the long shoddy corridor toward the exit. While I waited for an Uber, the three individuals made a hasty effort to leave the property. One unknown women began firing off an assortment of profanity laced insults, in addition to telling me I should “go and die.”
I have now been stranded in a hotel for the past three nights with no material support or compensation from Airbnb. My account has been deactivated. Airbnb is a scam company that should be avoided at all costs. Brain Chesky and his rich friends are nothing more than white collared corporate scumbags and criminals hiding behind their corporate lawyers, or SFLAW located in San Francisco, while they enrich themselves at the expense of the victims that get defrauded every year by using this sham and disgustingly corrupt and incompetent short-term rental service. Beware of Airbnb.
I hate that you found yourself in a scary place. Because they left so quickly it sounds like you walked in on squatters.
You make no mention of contacting the host when you found the rental occupied. Did you contact the host?
How did you contact Airbnb?—phone, Twitter, Facebook? Contact them as often as you can on Twitter until they respond.
Airbnb rarely suspends guest accounts, especially when the guest is reporting an unacceptable rental. Did the host give you a key or entrance code? If the host didn’t give you access, Airbnb policy is to refund.
Did you pay for the rental on the Airbnb platform? Did accidentally book on an Airbnb look-a-like site? They’ve popped up with a listing or two and the listings have only a few pics. The thieves get payment and close the site down. Airbnb can’t help because they were never part of the process & never received the reservation.
Closed account. No mention of host communication. Address not matching pictures. This feels like you were tricked into booking on a scam/fake website.