I absolutely will not book an Airbnb ever again. We recently booked a house in LA which wasn’t as advertised or reviewed. We subsequently came home, wrote an honest, but ultimately negative review, which a couple of days later was taken down by Airbnb. It seems they give more protection to their hosts than their guests, quoting that they are purely a platform for people to host their homes. The house we stayed in was filthy, unhealthy and not secure.

I appreciate that reviews are given based on each individuals personal standards and expectations, so I have tried to give an honest account of this Airbnb to try to give a true impression of what you can expect should you wish to stay there. If you’re in LA to visit Disney then the house is ideally placed, just 25/40 mins from both parks, in a lovely area just south of Walnut. If there are 8 to 10 of you, then the size of the property is great – two of you will get an ensuite, whilst the rest will share two further bathrooms, and there’s room for three cars on the drive.

However, once you get in the property, things turn a little grubby, especially in the kitchen. I got the impression that the previous occupants, or more likely the owners, do a lot of cooking at the hob, with a lot of oil. There were splats of grease all over the hob splash back that clearly hadn’t been cleaned. The hob itself was greasy, with a greasy cooking pot left on it: clean inside, but a bit splattered with grease on the outside.

All kitchen cupboard doors and handles were sticky to the touch. The Venetian blinds in the kitchen were thick with dust, stuck with grease, and had also trapped insects by the look of it. Two kitchen drawers were hanging off and being held to the worktop with sticky-tape. The dishwasher wasn’t working, which is ironic, as there was no crockery to eat off of, just bags of paper plates and bowls, and a big box of plastic knives, forks and spoons. There was a token gesture of some cutlery, a set of four from IKEA still in its packaging.

There was no kettle. There were only three mugs, so we took it in turns to drink tea or coffee in the mornings, once we’d boiled the water on the hob. There were no glasses to drink from, just tiny wax paper cups, slightly bigger than a shot glass. The kitchen was the most disgusting part, but other parts of the house clearly hadn’t been cleaned for a while either.

There was thick dust on a number of surfaces, most noticeably on top of one headboard, the kitchen lights, and extractor hood. There was black grime on some light switches and air conditioner controllers. The TV had a layer of smeared grime all over it. Personally, I’d sack the people who do the cleaning, because they’re not cleaners. If the owners do it themselves, use the cleaning charge to actually pay some professional cleaners to do it. I would like a refund of the cleaning charge.

Some bed sheets looked as though they’d been slept in a couple of times (very creased around the torso area). Windows, patio doors and mirrors had been wiped, but were left really smeary all over, and hand prints left on them from previous occupants. The mantle piece looked as though it would fall off the wall at any moment. One of the bathroom sinks was cracked, and was badly repaired, as was a toilet seat in the ensuite.

One of the double beds had no base, so the mattress was on the floor, with the bed frame around it. The mattress subsequently sinks lower than the frame. The TV in the same bedroom was covered in white paint splatters, where they had painted the ceiling with a roller and not covered the TV.

In another bedroom, the window frame didn’t actually fit the size of the window opening. I thought my wife had opened a window, only to find a 4-cm gap either size of the window between the frame and the wall of the house. There were no bath towels in the bathrooms, but found a pile in the garage.

The house didn’t feel secure; I won’t go into detail why in this public review though. There were four sun loungers outside, two of which had collapsed, with the screws sticking out. There was a can of 7 Up left out on the patio, which had clearly been there for some time as the print had all faded. The BBQ was disgusting (wiped, not cleaned), and even the patio had large grease patches over it.

Personally, on the whole, I feel that this Airbnb needs a good freshening up and clean. It could be lovely, but it isn’t. In its current condition, I would never ever book this house again, and I would advise anyone to do the same. Don’t take the very high risk of disappointment. In its current condition, my view is that this house is not fit for holiday rental.