Author Archives: Maria Rosa Banic

Bait and Switch Airbnb in Bilbao, Spain

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I booked and paid for a three-night stay at an Airbnb within walking distance to the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain in a really lovely looking place with a Superhost. Unfortunately due to falling ill in San Sebastian, Spain, I was only able to get to Bilbao for one night.

On arrival, I noticed that there were three bedrooms which I knew were not part of the description. After taking a nap, I had a better look at the apartment only to realise it wasn’t what I had booked. In contacting the host to ask to move me to the apartment I paid for, I was told that it had been given to someone else.

I was not provided with the apartment number at the time of booking. I was not advised before or on arrival of the change. I was given a substandard alternative which, amongst other things, was dirty and had exposed power points which let off sparks. The entrance and lift smelt of urine. These are photos of what I was given.

Rats in House: Airbnb Sides with Host

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I rented a place on Philip St. in New Orleans. It was not where the host had said (not in heart of nightlife, but a bit at the edge of an industrial area), and there were many other ways that the place was not as promised. The capper was when all three guests saw a rat running along the baseboard. We were up and out in 40 minutes.

We contacted the host immediately. She denied it. Contacted Airbnb. They said we needed proof, e.g. did we take pictures of rat poop? Sure, we crawled under the stairs where it had disappeared… only not. The host got an exterminator to the house five days later, and go an all-clear report: five days in which to clean out the place.

Airbnb continually sided with the host as we fought this. We stayed 2 of 30 nights (moving to New Orleans) and got no refund. The host lies and Airbnb sides with them. Avoid some Airbnbs in New Orleans, unless you want rats climbing all over your possessions.

Airbnb Cancels 3 Hours Before Check in for a 17-day Stay

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Now that I am home from my trip, the time to post a bad review has expired. Zero stars for the performance of both the Airbnb host and Airbnb. I made reservations for my stay and flights to Paris five months in advance. The apartment was in a good neighborhood and was a good price.

After 15 hours of traveling, I arrived in Paris. Two and a half hours before I was supposed to check in, I got a call from Airbnb. My accommodations had been cancelled. I was staying for 17 days. It is almost impossible to get a hotel in Paris at twice the cost with zero advanced notice. Airbnb had five-some options at twice the price a mile or more away. Location is everything in Paris.

Beware, a last minute cancellation of a long stay is disastrous. If you dare, make multiple reservations and cancel on them within their cancellation rules. They did refund my money and offered a $200 discount with a three-day expiration for rebooking a more expensive place. My alternate accommodations cost $1800 more than expected.

Classic Bait and Switch in Districts of Algiers

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First time Airbnb user back in August 2019. l booked three bedrooms apartment in chic location of Algiers called Hydra. We were four people: myself, my husband and my two kids.

We were surprised as the first thing we did was to call the number listed with the apartment when we booked it; the phone number was not working. We went to find the address provided to us; the address doesn’t exist. We parked and tried to ask people there.

We were told that this address doesn’t exist and they had heard that there is a guy who meets people here as renting them the apartment but it turns out that he takes them somewhere else. Effectively that’s what happened to us, after a stressful afternoon trying to find the location and that phone number of the host was not working.

My husband checked his email and suddenly he found a message from the host providing a different number to call him. The host gave us a public location to meet us. We went there and met him. We were surprised right away that the host changed the apartment in Hydra, claiming that there was a water issue so he would take us to a different apartment that was nearby.

We were forced to accept this and follow him because our money was gone. We followed the host to the west side of Algiers which has new divisions far from downtown. We parked and went with him to see the apartment. We were surprised that the apartment was a very small one bedroom while I paid for three bedrooms. We told him to change it, that this was too small for us and we paid for a larger apartment.

The host then told us to stay that night in this apartment and he would try to find us another apartment next day. Just a note: while he was there I checked the dishwasher and found dirty dishes inside that had been there for days; just when I opened the door of the washer there was a fishy smell.

Anyway, in the morning we called him to check if he had something else. He told us to meet him in this apartment located in a popular neighborhood close to the airport (Bab Ezzouar). We went and met him there. The house was large and again supposed to be clean as he charged us $71 just for cleaning, $10 extra than what they charge in Algeria for cleaning.

Again checking the house I found the toilets had been used and never been cleaned. The apartment looked dusty. It had been closed for a long time and the fridge was messy with spills from other people who had used it before us. In addition, as we were forced to take this apartment I had to clean it myself and all the linen that was poorly taken care of.

That night we also found out that the wifi didn’t work. We called the host. He said he would come and check it. He came very late at night after we begged him and he said that it was not working but he would buy us a temporary modem. Guess what? We never heard from the host again and even we were tired of calling him every time.

The host called the evening of our check out to confirm that we were leaving. The day of check out we had until 12:00 PM to vacate the apartment. Suddenly around 8:00 AM I woke up to the door bell and found the housekeeper who came to “clean”. We told her that it was too early and that we have until noon. She was rude and started talking under her breath.

It’s not our fault that the host didn’t tell her or communicate with her. We called the host and informed him. He said to leave the apartment key with the housekeeper. I didn’t trust her; it looked like she was not a housekeeper in first place.

This was our bad experience with Airbnb. After I came back to the US, I called Airbnb to make a complaint. They said there was nothing they could do. We also wrote a long review but they never published it. They just included one sentence from a whole paragraph. I’m very disappointed and will never use Airbnb again. Guests are not protected and those listings are not verified. You never know what you will find.

Airbnb Stealing from my Dying Husband

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Airbnb has stolen money from my dying husband. I will not stop until we speak to the legal department. Airbnb has been totally disgusting in how they’ve handled this simple but now costly and insulting mistake they have made.

We have been loyal and dedicated and successful Superhosts for several years now, with multiple listings and an established tree house retreat. We have provided ample evidence to support our case to show we were in no way near or under threat by bush fires. Airbnb has given nothing to support their mistake to say we were and they only have been secretive with no transparency. They have stolen money from us and hence my darling dying husband right now is in the hospital with brain tumors.

We are so totally upset that we have been treated this way and my husband and I have not been supported as good Superhosts. Airbnb does not want to understand that the whole Hinterland was not on fire and we were not affected. We had two very positive reviews from guests that stayed through that time demonstrated in their positive reviews they loved the stay and showing no fire or smoke in our area. This was brought to Airbnb’s attention; there was still no response from them.

Airbnb has allowed a guest to get a full refund out of our back pocket at the very last minute on a strict cancellation policy. Based on their event being cancelled that was half a day event at best in a totally different area to use with no associations with us or the stay agreement. This basically tells everyone and anyone is entitled to a full refund for any external event or outing that is cancelled no mater how short the event is to the stay, and on a strict policy, on the night before check in are allowed to have a full refund.

Three guests were coming and no doubt were going to enjoy themselves like all the others had been doing so. But no, security for the hosts. No professional process or interactions have been received as of yet. Why risk placing valuable property in their care? If there is support for hosts using this platform, where is it?

Airbnb seems to think they are allowed to pull the rug under hosts’ feet whenever they feel like it, despite host and booking agreements in place. They do this arrogantly without providing any evidence or sharing any professional or appropriate communication to support the decision. They refuse to share what they are looking at, where they are located, and only taking money out of our pockets. It is unacceptable.

We only have received a secretive and uncaring response, and a very unprofessional response. The case manager was aware my husband is dying, and we rely on the rules of this platform for income for his medical bills as he can not work ever again in his life. I juggle everything, giving several years of positive business dealing with Airbnb through our property spaces.

This counts for nothing with Airbnb it seems; they hide and refuse to share a map with us. One employee even said she saw the map Airbnb had and we were nowhere near the fires. So why does the supervisor refuse to show us? They ignore maps that are official and clearly show we were not near the fires at all. No warnings for our area at all. Water is all around us; it’s a huge area, no smoke or anything.

Airbnb needs to compensate us for their mistake. They should have never refunded money out of our account based on incorrect information they refuse to share with us. We do not deserve this treatment or problem at this time of our lives and we have only done everything right towards Airbnb. We have received no support whatsoever and it’s such a disgusting process. There is no excuse or justified reason to receive no explanation of their process.

Airbnb has affected my ability to pay a medical bill. I will not rest until Airbnb looks at this properly and acknowledges they have made a mistake. Just because a small majority of the Gold Coast was effected by bush fires does not mean the whole of the Gold Coast needs to suffer. Through the worst of the hinterland fires, we had fantastic views you could see the water and city views from our hill, and beautiful reviews of guests on the same weekend.

Airbnb gave a full refund to a guest the night before check in on a strict policy booking. Airbnb is hiding and needs to come out and deal with this properly and start appreciating good hosts and what they sacrifice for a successful business partnership. Airbnb is not providing a stable, supportive, intelligent and respectable platform for dedicated hosts who are providing wonderful spaces for them to actually have guests using their site.

Ultimately, if they do not have good listings, they do not get guests and there would be no Airbnb. Let me stress that our property was not affected by any bush fires. Airbnb says they can justify taking a two-night booking away from us; this was a mistake they are refusing to acknowledge. I have sent them photographs and the reviews and official maps clearly demonstrating there was no fire associated near or in our area.

Still, we get nothing back from them on an intellectual or acceptable level. They only write back saying we have reviewed it and we will not be giving money back. This is without showing anything to support their claim or belief. Where is the map they are looking at? Believe me I have asked and demanded to see it, but they refuse to show anything. I now don’t believe they do have a map that is at all relevant to our area or contains anything factual.

Some cock up from an Airbnb international office has circled all of the Gold Coast to be on fire. Ridiculous. We have shared the maps from official authorities of the bush fires of Queensland to demonstrate all the history of the bush fires as we were monitoring them very closely. Still, Airbnb ignores this. It’s bad enough to lose a lot of summer bookings out of the type of fear associated with the word bush fire. Then for Airbnb to take away your bookings for no legitimate reason is inexcusable and they need to compensate us.

I have worked so hard to support my husband and through this livelihood we have been making it with Airbnb. I see no reason to continue my listings with Airbnb if they can not deal with this properly and correct their mistake. There is no real security or support with Airbnb. I will update this if it changes. They are totally incompetent in their due diligence or they are simply hiding a mistake they don’t want seen.

Give us our money back Airbnb. We provided a beautiful space. We will never get that weekend back and there are policies in place for good reasons. Airbnb needs to respect the agreement they had with us. I’m very disappointed to write this. We have a responsibility to the community to tell and warn anyone about Airbnb in how they have been treating us. At no point in time our property was ever listed in a danger zone. We had fantastic views beautiful water views and happy number of guests through that period of time.

Only one guest capitalized on Airbnb’s mistake, an event that was half a day at best in a totally different area. We had a two-night booking on a strict cancellation policy. They were bringing three people around for the stay. On Friday the 13th in the late afternoon Airbnb allowed them to have a full refund. Based on what? Based on an event that had no relevance to us on the property.

Now I believe that if I book or anyone else books a long stay through Airbnb and their event gets rained on, or their bus gets cancelled, or the singer gets sick, they are entitled to a full refund despite any level of cancellation policy. This is what Airbnb has done to us. Now I know If I ever book with Airbnb as a guest, I can cancel for any reasons for extenuating circumstances.

A full refund is expected. I would expect that for any reason I claimed to be my reason for booking I can get out of it, despite the accommodation having no association whatsoever with the excuse. This is absurd and Airbnb should see it to be otherwise. There is no security whatsoever as a host to provide beautiful spaces if there is no support for loyal and long-standing hosts.

Is there anyone in Airbnb who can salvage a long-standing and good business relationship and multiple listings and wants to rectify this accordingly? Refund us the two-night booking that we had secured. Airbnb cancelled a strict cancellation policy booking,taking money from us based on incorrect data without cross referencing information or sharing it. No transparency, nothing to support their actions.

Airbnb Inefficiency for Explanation on House Rules

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Airbnb does a great job helping guests with their suitable short-term accommodation, and hosts with extra income for accommodating guests. I have had great stays all this time, until I met this host who first of all posted confusing house rules, then ignored my messages when I tried to confirm if she was going to charge for any extras. Airbnb did not have any answers.

Why were there such misguiding house rules on the listing? Why was my host ignoring my messages especially where I asked if there was any extra payment she was going to charge me? Airbnb’s support team put my call on hold for 1.15 hrs and my feelings turned negative after observing a “no intentions to help” attitude from the first supervisor I was brought onto the call with.

In addition, they had no clue about the rules in the listing and they could not provide any explanations. They let my money go to the host even when I informed them about my discomfort within 48 hours of my booking. The host has kept the amount in full ($302.61 when the normal cost on other days are much cheaper) even when I did not visit her place, and kept on informing her that Airbnb has suggested I not cancel the trip because of her strict cancellation policy.

I’ve had very good experiences in past with nice hosts, but this was one terrible experience due to a very inconsiderate and selfish business. I want nobody else to suffer like I did. Please be extra careful with this listing, house rules, cancellation policy and double check with the host before booking.

Customer service was not helpful at all especially when it comes to accepting their own flaws and working on them. The only way to file a complaint is through a feedback form which again goes to the same people who give the same response: whether I get a full refund or not is at the host’s discretion.

Not quite what I expected from Airbnb

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How to begin? My wife and I had never stayed at an Airbnb but needed a place in Anchorage, AK. This place was reasonable priced so we booked it.

Upon arrival, we were instructed to remove our shoes outside. Upon entering, we noticed a stairway down immediately adjacent to the front door… hazardous in my opinion, but we adapted. There was a faint animal smell to the whole place, but we have dogs; that was okay.

The room was one of two sharing a bathroom with nostalgic pictures of the host’s family. The mattress had one of those plastic protectors so I felt like an infant in a crib: very crinkly whenever I shifted in the bed. The oddest thing, among many, was that we were told that a certain cabinet held dishes for our use but we were not to use the floral dishes in the microwave. Why are they there? Why the extra rules? Just remove them.

We discovered that to go to Anchorage proper required a $20 Uber. We quickly learned how to use the bus which was its own adventure. My expectation was that we would be in a slightly or mostly separated part of the house and rarely see our hosts. Such was not the case. We got up early one morning and our host was at the kitchen table where breakfast was available. She greeted us nicely but it was just a little off putting. If you like going to your Aunt Mable’s and having her follow your every move you will love it.

We had spent two nights and got a message asking if we would like the sheets changed. The host entered our room and moved our belongings while we were out. No smoking, but the host smoked on front porch adjacent to our window. The smell of cat was pervasive. What can I say? Not wanting to be a jerk, I posted the briefest review possible and will ask more questions the next time we book an Airbnb. Not hell, but not the best.

Confirmed Airbnb Reservations Mean Nothing

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My wife and I had a reservation for Cologne, Germany from August 31st to September 3rd. We booked an Airbnb three months before. The apartment was confirmed and we send an email to the host. When we arrived in Cologne we reached the host at 6:00 PM. She said that she wasn’t in Cologne, and that she was in Berlin. She said she was going to contact the host, because, according to her, there had been a mistake and it was Airbnb’s fault.

After two hours she called us and said there was no apartment. That it was a mistake from Airbnb and that we should contact them. We did so and contacted Airbnb Germany. Airbnb said that the host was a mess and they proceeded to cancel the reservation. I asked them what to do, because we were alone at a city we didn’t know. We asked for Airbnb to find us a place, because it was not possible to leave us just like that in a foreign city. They said they were going to do so and they were going to contact us.

They never got back to us and we had to stay at a hotel. We asked Airbnb to help us pay the hotel. They said they could pay 50% of what we were supposed to pay on our reservation. That was 30 Euro. The hotel was 189 Euro. That was the cheapest hotel we could find that night, because there was a world event at the city. Airbnb said that was all they could do.

They never took responsibility for never contacting us and not helping us find a place to stay that night. Airbnb said they are only brokers, so they can’t do anything if a situation like this happens, because they are not liable for bad hosts. So if you don’t get a confirmed reservations you won’t be able to do anything.

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Not Airbnb Hosts, but Still on Mailing Lists

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I pity the poor investors who will eventually be parting ways with their money when (and if) Airbnb gets their act together to file for an IPO. Today I received the Airbnb Magazine in the mail. I am not a host or guest. The name on the “To:” portion of the address label was to a Mr. Richard Fabian. Mr. Fabian was the supposed “host” of our home when he set up a fake account portraying my family as Airbnb hosts.

The outcome of that story is buried somewhere in the Airbnb Hell server but basically we had people dropping by the house unannounced looking for their key. The fact that we never heard back from anyone at Airbnb regarding this fraud does not surprise me now that I’m receiving their magazine. Throwing away money by mailing on what looks like an expensive rag to a fraudster is par for the course of this organization.

Airbnb, you grew too big too fast. Stop for a moment and count the bedbugs.

Booked a Year in Advance, No Word the Day Before

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My husband and I went on the trip of a lifetime: Prague to Paris. We wanted to extend our trip just two days in Paris and I was interested in staying in the Le Marais area. I found an Airbnb and booked it a year in advance.

As the time got closer, I tried six times to contact our host… nothing. By the time we were ready to leave there was still no word. I called Airbnb and they could not get in contact with the host either. Then when I wanted my money back, they told me I had cancelled my trip (a lie).

After several times going back and forth I finally booked a hotel from Expedia for cheaper than stupid Airbnb. Now in order to get my money back I have to either give them my social security number (why?), my bank account and routing number (no way!) or they can’t give it back. I asked “Why don’t you return it to the card I used to pay?”

So, I have to trust these numbskulls who can’t even get their hosts to have what people paid for with all my personal information. I’m sure they won’t get hacked. The woman I spoke to was rude and condescending I will never use this horrible service again. I couldn’t even get the cleaning fee back on an apartment I never got to use, unless I provide them with my personal information… disgusting. Do not trust these people; it’s not a reputable business at all.