Author Archives: Jessie

Airbnb Protects Hosts at the Expense of Guests

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We booked a house near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France for 10 nights. When we arrived we discovered it was in a different location than that on the Airbnb map and actually right next to the highway. The host, Virginie, misled us into believing her house would be suitable for two small children using public transport (La maison MAChaBaGa, 194, Avenue du Camp de Menthe). It was the opposite of this. The doors did not lock, there was construction work taking place around the house, the pool she said we could use was very dirty, and there were no shops or restaurants – the host told us there would be. She told us the bus stop was right outside the property to get to town, but the nearest stop was actually a 15 minute walk along a dangerous road into oncoming traffic. Clearly not suitable for small children.

Workmen lit a fire next to the house, there was no privacy with the workmen appearing at the non-locking glass sliding door windows at random times, a plug socket fell off the wall exposing dangerous leads, and the host said she would provide towels and there were none; this seems like a minor inconvenience but is a real pain with two small children. It was a horrendous experience overall. We only stayed two nights and left as soon as somewhere else became available. I passed all of this information onto Airbnb who said that “we needed to let them know within 24 hours, we don’t qualify for the refund policy and the case is now closed”.

I’m in absolute shock at the appalling customer service. The host has taken almost £1000 from us and nothing is being done to stop her. We stayed two nights and she knew we had left after two nights, but has chosen to keep our money even though her house was unsafe and not at all as described. We’re very upset and now realise why Airbnb has been so successful – they avoid ever paying refunds to guests. They have offered us a pitiful refund, a fraction of the amount we are owed. They have even taken away the opportunity to write a review of the property to warn other guests. Hopefully they will find the information they need here. I will never use Airbnb again.

Horror, Thy Name is Airbnb NYC

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We (a family of four) were travelling to New York for the first time. We tried to make bookings on the Airbnb site, but many hosts either did not reply or refused. The response time from hosts was a minimum of 48 to 72 hours. We then chanced upon a place on East 13th Street, Manhattan which was reasonably priced. We paid up in full two months (for our 5-night stay) before our proposed trip. We confirmed with the host the night before check in. We had an email also from Airbnb. Eight hours before check in, we get an email from Airbnb cancelling our reservation. The host informed us that the reservation was cancelled abruptly by Airbnb. We could not find a reasonably priced hotel. Airbnb was of no help. They just refunded the money after two months. We lost money on the exchange rate and conversion charges for no service provided. You are pushed in a loop on their website trying to contact them for a resolution.

Airbnb Doesn’t Care About its Hosts

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What a joke! Airbnb offers hosts a “house manual”, but I recently discovered that once a guest has paid, they can do, say, or wear anything they wish. I put everything in my house rules – which the guest apparently chose not to read – and he got cozy with the neighbors (after I asked him not to), didn’t clean up after himself, did about 20 loads of laundry (in 12 days), took three showers a day, and bitched that I didn’t have sports on my TV. In addition, he told me stories about his crazy ex-girlfriend. He finally had to go, but I found damage to my computer desk (I took photos beforehand showing no damage), my house reeks of cheap cologne, and my neighbors know things about me that I didn’t share.

Airbnb Kyoto: Not Everything in Japan is Pristine

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Our first booking was cancelled by the owner, and it took some persistence to get the money refunded on our return. Our second booking in Kyoto, Japan turned out to be ghastly. The “owner” had a profile picture 0f his baby in his arms with a spiel about how friendly he was, how much he loved the neighbourhood, and how he would let people know all the good places to eat! We never saw him! The apartment was not clean, and the bedding was appalling. No spare linen, and it looked like the linen had not been washed – there were only two pillows with cases, and one of them was dirty. For the price, it was sub-standard accommodation, even for Kyoto, and the only people who may not have complained would have been five backpackers sharing the price. Never again. The shower, which was always damp, was a haven for footrot, and there was barely enough light. The only thing which worked was the wifi, which was good enough to check out some good hotel accommodations in the area and get the hell out of there. I selected this because it was close to the railway station – it would have been preferable to have slept at the station.

Finding yourself Stuck in an Airbnb Drug Den

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We are a young couple who has been using Airbnb for more than a year traveling in many countries. Unfortunately, our last stay in Casablanca wasn’t as pleasant as previous ones. There were 6 or 7 people living in the apartment. The first night everything was fine, but the second night they held some kind of party and were smoking weed and probably some other cheap drugs, and drinking a lot of alcohol. Did I mention the listing stated that apartment was “quiet” and suitable for “families traveling with children”? Maybe a family of meth heads.

We wanted to complain, but our host was never in the house; those people were all her “friends”, or permanent tenants we should say. It was really late so we decided to contact our host in the morning. When we woke up, we found this message from our host, informing us that we should pay “additional” fees to the other tenants, because they “took care of us”. We didn’t even understand what the hell was going on – what additional fees? – and thought the booking transaction had already been completed on the website. She was probably high too.

Anyway, we refused to pay the amount she was asking for. That’s when things got really weird. She asked us to hand in our passports along with a fee to make a “copy” for the police. We were just standing there thinking: “Well, time to GET THE HELL out of here.” It was clear that she just wanted to confiscate our documents so we wouldn’t leave… or for some other purpose. It didn’t really feel like she was asking; it felt like she was threatening us. Apparently, all guests “were asked to do the same for legal purposes.”  So you’re trying to tell me that you actually follow the law yet allow drug parties in your house? Anyway, we just went back to our room, immediately packed our things, and left. The only good thing was that Airbnb responded quickly to our complaint and gave us our money back, in a matter or hours. Anyway, be careful guys!

Airbnb Policy on Refunds Leaves Much to be Desired

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I am a foreign student studying in Canada and used Airbnb for my one-month holiday to the US, switching from one accommodation to another during the process. The hosts and the listings were fine in general, but AIRBNB DOES NOT HAVE A COMPREHENSIVE REFUND SYSTEM. During the trip, I had two bookings that were cancelled by the host, totaling a refund of about $600. The cancellations were made early and did not cause me much inconvenience. However, the issue is that I had just finished my studies and closed my Canadian account before leaving for the US; hence, the refund was made to a closed account. I thought that this would have been a small issue, since all Airbnb has to do is to retrieve the cash and transfer it to an alternative bank account.

How wrong I was.

1. AIRBNB HAS NO WAY OF RETRIEVING CASH THAT IS RETURNED TO THEM. The standard procedure for a cash refund in Airbnb is this: “Your money can only be refunded to the account you used for the booking. Your bank will issue you a cheque if your account is closed.” You cannot refund your money to an alternative account that you didn’t use to make your original payment. The bank does not always issue you a cheque. I have made numerous calls to the bank and found out that my bank’s policy on closed accounts is to return the money to the source, and Airbnb has no way of retrieving this amount.

2. AIRBNB PROVIDES NO WAY OF COMMUNICATING WITH THE PEOPLE WHO DEAL WITH MONETARY TRANSFERS/TRANSACTIONS. The people in Airbnb customer service center know very little about where your money goes. All they know and can do is to give you standard replies to standard questions. When questioned about what happens to the money that gets returned to Airbnb, the customer service center gave me the same response that I posted above (1). Want to talk to higher-ups? Want to discuss compensation? NOPE! All they have to do is to repeat this same standard answer again and again until you give up and put down the phone! So, that’s the tale of how I lost my refund and Airbnb lost a customer.

Cancelled, Stranded in Miami

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I spent hours looking for the perfect spot for my romantic getaway weekend in Miami. Today, in trying to coordinate with my host on the arrival time I was told to call Airbnb directly. Airbnb informed me that my host cancelled my reservation today, less than 24 hours prior to my arrival. Their only solution is to either give me a 10% surplus for rebooking another unit or a refund. I am at work and leave on a redeye flight to Miami. I have no time to contact other hosts and line up a place that took me hours to find. Another unit in the same building is $300 more for the two nights and it has a $45 parking fee when I was supposed to have parking included.

Airbnb has ruined my weekend plans and they have no solution other than for me to spend many more hours trying to make a new booking or spend hundreds more for a hotel. TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. Not to mention it will take 5-7 days for my refund to clear!!! GRRRR!!! They don’t even allow you to write a review about the host without having completed a stay. I should be allowed to warn other potential patrons of his inexcusable behavior. I am not booking anything with Airbnb again.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Airbnb Hell

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We booked a stay with a couple in Edinburgh for the 2015 Fringe Festival. It was our first experience using Airbnb. Although the room looked nice in the photos and was fine in real life, it turned out the young couple renting the room were renting themselves – evidently from a very cruddy landlord – and had decamped to the lounge for the Fringe in their one-bedroom flat (up six flights of stone steps). We therefore had access to a cramped and windowless kitchen and a cramped and windowless bathroom only. The water pressure was ridiculously weak throughout the flat and the WC didn’t flush without pouring a bucket of water (which took ages to fill from the low pressure taps) into the cistern. The shower also leaked, as did the wash hand basin.

The couple were obviously getting drunk every night on their rent money from us and the woman barged into our room one night and nearly got into bed with us, evidently having forgotten they had rented their room out! They also needed to go through our room to get to their washing machine, which was in a tiny room behind the bedroom. The kitchen was very poorly equipped and we were given nothing with which to wash up and no space to put our breakfast things. The man was pleasant enough but his partner was sullen and avoided us. Luckily we were out most of the time at shows or our stay would have been unbearable. They had the cheek to press for a review when we left, but we felt the kindest thing to do was say nothing as we had nothing good to say about our stay. Never again!

Stranded by Airbnb after a Rock Festival

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My daughter took her first trip out of the country and booked Airbnb for a rock festival… the host never showed up, never emailed her, and didn’t even have the decency to answer her phone! She, of course, phones home in a panic, after hours of phone calls to Airbnb, calling hotels in the area (of course nothing was available – it was a rock festival weekend!) thinking she and her friend will be on the street, crying and upset! Worst experience ever! Three hours later and still, nothing happened! Airbnb said they will refund her money but when someone needs a place to stay what help is that! My advice: STAY AWAY!