Airbnb Chile: Freak Forest Fire and Ash Everywhere

Our flight was delayed putting us in our Airbnb apartment over 24 hours late. There was a devastating forest fire that broke in Chile the night before we were to arrive. Our penthouse apartment had glass walls on two sides for air circulation; there was no air conditioning. I texted the host expressing concern about the smoke and ash. His response was that it wasn’t bad at all.

We arrived to a city filled with smoke and ash. We had to have the windows/walls open because it was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit each day. In the morning, we had to wipe off our cell phones and wash the ash off our faces. It was very bad. We wore our sandals around the apartment because the ash would turn our feet black instantly. Every time we wanted to sit down we had to wipe down the chair or leather couch off.

I contacted the host our second day and told him that the ash was pretty bad and also to ask for additional towels. We had reserved the apartment for 11 days and he only provided two towels. Guess what? He couldn’t help me because he left town the day I arrived; the ash was so bad from the forest fires. He was not willing to release us from our contract so we spent as much time as possible away from the apartment and pretty much only slept and showered there (which was bad enough).

Our last day, I hung the towels over the tub (no towel racks) and took out the little bag of trash that we had accumulated. We were frustrated that he had not let us out of the contract due to the extenuating circumstances, but we made the most of our trip. Then I got home and discovered the man had said hateful things in his review of me. His review stated that I am a filthy person and no one should rent to me. I was shocked and devastated. I have never had anyone speak so horribly of me and now the lies are out there. There is nothing I can do to get them retracted. It wasn’t filth; it was ash and he knows it was ash all over his apartment through no fault of mine.