This is not a bad apartment though not great. Really bad experience though due to poor instructions about how to leave the key. They confiscated our security deposit because we left the key incorrectly even though they were at fault for late communication. That’s the gist; buyer beware. They can and will take your deposit over a minor detail. Specifics: The communicator sent us an email 48 hours prior to our arrival with instructions about how to get the key from the lockbox (including details like “Can be sticky”, “Use a key for pressure”). The lockbox flung itself open before the code had been fully entered, and the face fell off. We had the key then and got in, and with some difficulty re-assembled the (old rusted) lockbox. We’d retrieved a message from the AirBnb site about our occupancy and instructions for check-out, but no word about where to leave the key. Reluctant to leave it in that hinky lockbox where it was not secure, we left it on the kitchen table. The apartment was spotless when we left. I received a literally screaming voice-mail message from someone associated with this apartment (female), and numerous angry texts later; “WHERE IS THE KEY?” I think there’s a disconnect between the person who appears to be advertising this AirBnB and the staff person who seems to be pretending to be that guy. Your messages go to the person who will scream at you if any problem occurs. Your deposit is in her hands. I will never go back to this place.
Author Archives: Anon.
HOSTS BEWARE! AIRBNB’S DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS!
HOSTS BEWARE! AIRBNB’S DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS! LEGAL PROBLEMS: Airbnb has been banned in many cities. Hosts have been sued by the city, and fined thousands of dollars for hosting Airbnb guests. Neighbors and communities are protesting Airbnb hosting.
GUEST PROBLEMS: Airbnb hosts have had their homes totally trashed by guests, property damaged, stolen, requiring police intervention and legal action.
INSURANCE PROBLEMS: Airbnb’s “$1,000,000 host guarantee is a scam!” Airbnb runs hosts through hurdles, only to deny, greatly reduce, or ignore the claims in the end.
HOSTS USED, ABUSED & KICKED TO THE CURB: If a host exercises their right & files claims against guests security deposits due to damage, theft or violations of rules, they are kicked to the curb with no warning. Their listing(s) are deactivated and all bookings cancelled.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE TO GUESTS: When a host is kicked to the curb, so are their guests. Airbnb lies to the guests, telling them it was the host who cancelled their bookings, when in fact, both host and guests are victimized by Airbnb.
AIRBNB’S GREED: Airbnb collects a fee from both ends, the host and the guest. If a booking is cancelled, the only one guaranteed 100% payment is Airbnb.
SELLING YOUR SOUL TO THE DEVIL: For a little bit of money, hosts sacrifice their home, their privacy, their time, their freedom, their lives, and their pocketbook, only to be kicked to the curb by Airbnb after they have used and abused you, and replace you with new unsuspecting hosts that Airbnb pulls into their web of deceit.
Airbnb took 40% of host payment
As a host, I cannot know how much AiRBnB and their bank will take from my money, I got 40% less than expected!
AirBnB simply cheated me and after all didn’t answered on my questions, I as a host still don’t know how much money I will get after guests left. AirBnB payment option is not reliable so I had to double the price.. and still don’t know how much my payment will be. It’s funny how much time I have lost asking AiRBnB to solve this problem. Imagine, you want to rent a flat and don’t know how much money you will get after commission of AirBnB and his intermediary banks. I sent all proofs and papers from my bank (my bank takes only 2 euro) to AiRBnB, and still have no answer. This is bad, very bad experience with this site, for my first (and probably last) renting I got almost 40% less money then expected… and still without proper answer.. Be careful of their “pleasant, sweet word mails” without solving problems.
1 BR Condo in Ideal Location Listing #1023861 User/show/5636158
Host, James Boykin cancelled the prepaid reservation I had with him for three months just a couple weeks before my travel to a family wedding without notice or my consent. When I went to write to arrange the key for my stay, only then did I find out that he had cancelled my paid reservation. The reason James cancelled the reservation was because he found another guest who wanted to stay longer so he dishonored his commitment. As this is not a home that is lived in, but an exclusive rental property, there was no legitimate reason to cancel other than his personal greed. I warn every Airbnb customer to avoid this listing at all costs as my money was kept for four months and I was left with no place to stay. I cannot be strong enough in expressing the hardship that his cancellation has caused me in increased expense longer distance to travel to my location and the truthful experience that this awful host seriously did me wrong. The Airbnb policy is to allow such people to continue to continue to list on their site. This is a bad policy. When a host is this mercenary he should be dropped immediately. Airbnb could not find another listing in the area to rescue my situation, but they did help me find a hotel. I am thankful to them for this.
Lying Lisa and her cross-listed Hilton Head Property
AirBnB should be more explicit about the illusion of booking a place to stay, having that booking accepted and approved by a host, and actually having a guaranteed place to stay. This service is all a gamble. Sure, you can a book a place to stay and even have the host approve and accept your reservation, AirBnB will even hold the money for you so you know the host is just running off with it, but all this does not always equate to having a place to stay. It is within the hosts’ right to cancel on a guest, whenever, with no penalty towards them that would remotely benefit the guest who now has nowhere to stay. AirBnB does not take responsibility for the hosts, therefore allowing the hosts to do as they please when it comes to cross listing their properties elsewhere, double booking, misrepresentation of who there are, and providing false or inaccurate information about the listing. AirBnB should be more explicit that they are not responsible for the validity of anything the hosts posts on their respective sites. AirBnB and their hosts will give you the impression you can secure a place to stay but if it falls through at the last second, you are pretty much up a creek in most cases. Numerous reassurances would be made on their part that they would find you a place to stay if it falls through, but when there is nothing out there, too bad. Or if there is anything left out there, it’s twice as much as you paid originally and/or an hour away. AirBnB will expect you to pay the difference because it’s “not their fault, its the “host” you chose that cancelled on you. We just put you in touch with the host.” AirBnB is not accountable for any of the hosts, just as they are not accountable for the guests. As a frustrated and duped first time user of AirBnB I feel that they have little to offer in order to protect guests from being stranded without lodging. But just as the feeling of being bamboozled and stepped on sets in, you’re offered a form of coupon to put towards the “next time.” As much as one would like to put it towards an immediate re-booking, what if there is nothing to re-book? And how can there be a next time if you couldn’t come through the first time? Ultimately, this coupon is like luring in a sucker for another gamble at the game of “will you actually have a place to stay?” while AirBnB holds your money until you find out days, hours, minutes before your check-in for an actual confirmation of having a place to stay,(which I believe involves physically arriving, being able to check-in and stay. Any other implication that you have guaranteed yourself a place to stay via AirBnB is just an intangible sense of security). What does AirBnB have in place for guests who have the rug pulled from beneath them by a host who cancels last minute? Another gamble at whether or not there is any other options to choose from that again, may or may not fall apart yet again. So far, in my experience as a first time user, AirBnB does not seem to be interested in going ‘above and beyond’ for their guests. I feel as though they go through the motions of helping out and when there are no solutions within their network of properties, they dole out a coupon towards the next reservation within (what a new user such as myself would now deem) their unreliable network of hosts.
Worse experience ever
My first hosts cancelled on me a few days before arrival when I only wanted to change the day of arrival and kept $400 airbnb refunded that. The next host which I had to find in a hurry because of first hosts incompetence was nothing short of a con woman. She wanted me to pay out side airbnb which I reluctantly agreed to. I paid her $180 for two nights and I was taken to what can only be described as a hell hole which stunk of dog..It was a dirty untidy thread bare flat in social housing block in Hermossa beach with two big stinking dogs. She looked like a homeless woman all her clothers were creased and clearly she had no interested in her appearance. Her car was an English mini with wing missing and back cut off and looked like a skip on wheels in side of it, with no silencer on it, very classy. My bag was put in the back with the dogs and it was being rained on. Her name is Aparna Hermossa beach. We arrived there and I ate my takeaway and then decided to leave as the host had gone out to pay poker after dropping me there and left me with the two dogs , which I knew nothing of the temperament of. I left and I am still awaiting the repayment of my $180 dollars of which I have been given the run around trying to get it back. The third host, was an equally untidy house in a run down area player del rey and on the flight path from the airport so I had to listen to planes taking off every 1 minute of the day and night. I thought I had booked Marina del rey area but that was my mistake. The house was full of dog hair and the kitchen looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for months. My room was nice but the bed wasn’t made and the bedding was dumped on it and still wet, so I had to dry it and then make my own bed. The host was nice to begin with, but I have never met any one so noisy, he shouted instead of spoke and had the tv on until all hours of the morning on high level watching basket ball and it sounded like it was in my room as the house was open plan. As if this wasn’t bad enough he was up at 6 making more noise every day talking loudly as if no one was staying in the house.. Sorry but I was bought up with manners and respect for others and I seriously can not ever imagine behaving in such a way even if a relative was staying let alone a paying guest. On the 5th night of the sleep deprivation when being woken at 2.30 in the morning by him and his friend coming in drunk and watching tv on cinema sound level, I had enough and told him what I thought. He has kept one night of my money clearly because like most people on the site they have no money and prey on unsuspecting people to pay their mortgage they cant afford. This host was Hythum in Payer del mar so avoid!!.. He is an asshole and a sex pest to go with it. He is unfit to host anyone he can barely look after his dog properly!.. I am now with a nice family in Melrose and so far they seem lovely so I will start my holiday from the 9th day of arriving and hope for the best..
Bait and Switch… Airbnb no help whatsoever!
Weeks ago I booked several nights at a “bright executive apartment” in Shenzhen via Airbnb. Hours before I was to arrive the host sends a note saying “very sorry… room has power problem… must switch you to other room… hope you understand”. I arrived (via flight) late in the day and was hurried to my alternative room, given the key and the host quickly vanished. Without going into excruciating detail the room was disgusting. There were cockroaches climbing the walls and running wild in the kitchen. (some pics at https://imgur.com/a/3QclV) There were splat stains on the wall where one could assume that people had killed roaches in the past. I immediately sent the host an email (via airbnb) saying the room was unacceptable and that it needed to be fixed asap. Unfortunately it wasn’t until the next morning that the host showed me another apartment (it seems they have a couple dozen units that they manage). The second unit was nominally better though it had a mouse trap and noticeable droppings in the kitchen cupboard. I decided that I had *no choice* but to leave and find accommodation somewhere else. Trying to enlist help from airbnb was utterly futile and useless. Going to the help/support I left a message for support – which has never been responded to – despite the automated “someone one the team is working on your issue and will get back to you as soon as possible”!! I discovered their resolution page where I found that the guest only has an option to *request* a refund from the host. Again, no involvement from a human at airbnb… just a facility that lets the visitor send a request to the host – which I suspect they can completely ignore. Loooong story short… still not a peep from someone at airbnb… but fortunately the host accepted my request for a refund. So now we’ll see if it somehow actually appears. Bottom line. I will NEVER use airbnb again. Not only do I travel alot, but I was actually also thinking of being a host too. But after this terrible experience I will not. In my opinion Airbnb’s pathetic customer service is a terrible business model that will ultimately be their downfall. I will resume using mainstream booking methods (eg. expedia, priceline, booking).
Ripped off
I was using the Airbnb site looking for somewhere to stay in London for a few days after travelling from Australia. I found an apartment in Covent Garden, perfect, dates were free. I next get a confirmation email from what I thought was Airbnb. This asking for payment for almost $1800. After a few emails back and forth, I was still waiting to be given the address of the property, by this time we had traveled to the UK. I then realized that I had been ripped off and had to find other accommodation. The response from Airbnb was basically, sorry can’t help you, it wasn’t booked through our site. What a joke, lack of security to protect the customer and no help after from Airbnb.
keep using booking.com
Mostly AirBnB is a great idea but if anything goes wrong, you’re up the creek without a paddle. You’ve given your credit card details and the shonky host has got your dollars but at check-in time they’re nowhere to be found, uncontactable and your complaints are answered with another copy of their brochure, e.g. Luigi in Genoa.
Have you been a victim to scammers?
Hi, I’m currently working on a new TV series for Ch5 which is aimed at raising awareness about the various scams out there. We are looking for case studies, people who are willing to tell us their story and help stop others falling victim to these fraudsters. If you have been a victim of a scammer through Airbnb or a similar website, please drop me an email on yourstories@stv.tv. The aims to raise awareness of how to protect your self through a mix of case studies and expert advise.