Author Archives: Emrick Garam

Airbnb Guest Left the Bedroom in a Oily Mess

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A guest stayed for several months, then left without saying goodbye without paying for four nights. Inside the drawers remains an oily substance. I sent a message to the Airbnb resolution center, and this is what they wrote:

“I have taken a look through the details you have provided and I should explain that, in the case of the bedroom furniture, it appears that the damage can be remedied without the need to replace everything. Generally speaking, unless items are damaged beyond repair or beyond use, replacement cost will not be provided.

In addition, when replacement cost is approved the amounts involved are subject to deductions for both depreciation and residual value. Airbnb will always pay for the lesser cost of repair or replacement so please explore that possibility. On all items please provide invoices,estimates, or receipts covering the cost of repair (or replacement if appropriate). All documents should appear on company letterhead and Word/Excel documents are not accepted.

Please submit the requested documentation by November 10th. If you need more time to gather it, please communicate how much time you think you might need.”

Thanks for you answer, but please allow me to insist about the permanent damage to the bedroom. It cost us $3,200 five years ago, before we went into business with Airbnb. We have been trying to clean off this oily substance from all the bedroom furniture, including the bed, mattress, sheets, towels, mattress cover, night stand, dresser and chest, without success. All the furniture is still stained and seems impossible to be cleaned. On the dresser, the guest burned or melted some plastic that we tried to remove, resulting in some permanent damage. The carpet may be cleaned but we’re without hope the stains will go away. The guest also broke a lamp.

Ant-infested College Dorm Poses As Luxury High-Rise

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My recent Airbnb was undoubtedly the worst stay of my life. I live in Los Angeles and decided to rent an apartment in Downtown LA to celebrate my birthday with my girlfriends, somewhere more luxurious than my own home. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

The night before my trip I messaged the host to ask about parking. He didn’t respond, so the morning of my stay I called him to ask where we might put our cars. He said, without apology, that my apartment was under construction and he would be ‘upgrading’ me to another building. Taken aback, I asked if it had the same facilities, as the main reason I was paying $347.71 for one night was that I wanted a hot tub and rooftop pool to enjoy. He claimed it did and I had no choice but to switch.

He didn’t send me the listing but did tell me I had two parking spaces. At least our cars would have a reasonable stay. I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t called, and when he was planning on telling me my reservation had changed. Perhaps when I arrived and noticed that 80% of the building wasn’t there. We arrived that afternoon and while waiting for our host to show up, admired our temporary home. Instead of an early 20th century expression of luxury this place resembled a late 2000’s college dorm welded together with gorilla glue.

The next issue was parking. He didn’t have two spaces for us. My sister’s car had to be parked blocks away at some random building with no access to it until we checked out. Obviously this would have been problematic if we’d wanted to sightsee. Luckily we prefer drinking over culture.

Finally we got into the apartment and it was, frankly, a barren concrete mess. The interior was seemingly decorated by an alien whose only resource was a Pinterest board and a $20 gift card to the dollar store. There were numerous framed inspirational quotes, placed on the ground and the TV table, as I’m sure if you nailed anything to the paper-thin walls you’d risk breaking through to next door’s kitchen. There were also cheap plastic bushes placed strategically over floor stains and a couch that screamed ‘I filter by price not the best match’.

At this point, we still believed we’d have time for a quick dip in the pool (what fools we were). We quickly found there were only three towels. As a skilled mathematician, I immediately found this alarming as there were six of us. But, an even more pressing issue was the lack of any toilet paper. I called the host and he advised me to go and buy some. So, instead of popping a bottle of birthday champagne, we traipsed down to the nearest store to stock up on his supplies.

On the way back from our TP mission we checked out the pool facilities. Instead of the rooftop pool I’d booked, it was a dingy floor-level puddle. Even more pressing, there was no hot tub… honestly, the one thing I’d wanted from this stay. We double-checked with some residents who’d clearly learned to expect disappointment from this ‘luxury home’. Confirmation? No hot tub.

Disappointed, we headed back up in the world’s slowest elevator, arrived in the apartment and closed the door… at which point the handle fell off. With handle in hand, I decided it was time to call the host. On the phone, the host tried to convince me that there in fact was a hot tub. He asked ‘had I checked next to the pool’. Surprisingly, I had. I then listed all the other problems with the apartment including the door handle I was currently holding.

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He grumpily offered me a laughably small refund that kept him in profit and me losing my birthday and to an extent my mind. He also said that I was lucky he hadn’t just cancelled my booking earlier that day when he’d realized his error. How lucky I was that he still wanted to take my money and put me in this cardboard cutout of an apartment. Irked by this woman who dared to have an opinion, he then threatened to cancel my booking right then.

With the desire of wanting to sleep somewhere that night I asked him not to. He said that Airbnb wouldn’t care about my complaints because he has 37 (I’m sure, equally impressive) locations on the website. Basically, this guy was a big deal. At 5:30, with the hopes of salvaging what was left of my birthday afternoon (it was too dark for the pool now) we went to fix some drinks. Let’s not forget where we were: the apartment from hell.

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We opened the freezer to get some ice and instead of cubes we found an old slab of ice covered in cigarette burns. Warm drinks it would be. We gathered with our tepid beverages in the living area making sure to sweep away some rogue broken glass and carefully avoid the couch’s dried food stains. The sun slowly set and then, darkness. Not just outside: the only light source in the communal area wasn’t working… because the outlet was broken.

Six women, enveloped in blackness clutching increasingly warm solo cups finally realized there was nothing left to do but laugh (because I’d already cried). We moved the light, (still partially wrapped in its IKEA packaging) to the kitchen and decided that dim lighting could be atmospheric. I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that once we left the building, our evening really improved. We had a fun night on the town and temporarily forgot about the day’s struggles.

The next morning, we woke to the bustling streets of Downtown Los Angeles and the busy work of a family of ants. That’s right, the ants had arrived. I assumed they’d been attracted by the one solo cup we hadn’t thrown in the trash can which, I’m sure by now you can guess, was broken. One of the girls then explained that she’d noticed them the day before. She’d held back the information because she’d feared it would have tipped me over the edge and out of the poorly constructed window.

In the bright light of day, we could see the place for all that it was: a dirt-covered storage unit for humans masquerading as a modern living space. All the towels were stained and dirty, the bathroom floor and doors were covered in who knows what and after inspecting the sheets we’d slept in, we discovered blood stains and more. I feel like I’m flogging a dead ant at this point, but one last time let me iterate this stay was less than ideal and truly ruined my birthday and my poor willing friends’ weekend.

I’m very unimpressed that Airbnb allows this management style and low quality of rental. This guy and his minions run 37 properties which is very apparent considering he didn’t even know what facilities they have. They’re unwelcoming, unprofessional, and clearly see this as a high-turnover operation with zero concern for the enjoyment of their customers. I hope my cautionary tale can be used to help others. Others that were thinking of maybe staying anywhere this money-sucking moron deems worth $300+ per night.

Busted After a Vegas Host Decided to Cancel

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My nightmare began in April 2018 when I booked a Condo in Las Vegas for the SEMA convention. I selected a two-bedroom two-bath, five minutes walking distance of the convention center. I thought I had done my homework: I looked at all the reviews – all was well, so I booked.

Five days before the convention was to start (seven months later), I received a notice that my reservation had been cancelled. Out of the goodness of their hearts they gave me a 10% rebooking fee credit even though the prices showed they had tripled. I called Airbnb and they said the host had cancelled for security purposes… whatever that means. What it means is the owner got a better offer elsewhere.

I stopped by the condo and it was rented during the convention. After countless messages and multiple phone calls I ended up with a place at three times the rate, of which Airbnb only picked up a third. I have since learned and I want everyone to know that hosts tell Airbnb what they want to charge for a night and then Airbnb sets their price according to the demand. If you think you are safe after you book, you are not.

Airbnb Admits There’s an Unfixed Bug on their Site

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When we first starting hosting a year ago, I noticed that when you put the name of our city into the Airbnb search engine, you get zero results, even though there are dozens of hosts in our city. When I complained about this, I was told there was nothing that Airbnb can do, that they rely on Google Maps.

Fast forward several months. I started looking into Google Maps, and noticed that the map is correct for our city. Airbnb put up the wrong map. The one they put up was for a city called Capacabana instead of Copacabana. Armed with this new information, I was sure Airbnb would finally listen to me.

Each time I wrote to Airbnb customer service, they acknowledged the error. They said they had reported this to the tech department and then closed the case. I finally got furious and insisted they not close my case until this was fixed and I got this response: “I apologize for my previous colleagues, but if you have any other inquires you can message me here and I will personally answer you. I won’t close this ticket until the issue has been fixed. I give you my word.”

The next message I received: “This support case is closed. Still need help? Visit our Help Center.”

I’m sorry but what is wrong with Airbnb? Not only do they not care, now they lie to me. A customer service representative gives me his word that he won’t close the case and several days later, case closed, with no resolution. You can imagine how much fun it is finding guests when your city doesn’t even exist on the Airbnb search engine. I have been complaining about this for a year and Airbnb does nothing to fix it.

Airbnb Didn’t Exercise the Host Insurance Policy

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We had a bad experience with our Airbnb case manager. Our Airbnb guest used an iron on the sofa bed and burned it. We contacted the guest, and they denied causing the damage. They said they didn’t do it. We contacted Airbnb to exercise the host insurance policy. Airbnb asked for some documents like an “invoice or offer of the repair, age of the damaged item, photos, etc.”

We provided all the information. After a few days, they asked for a “repair offer letter” showing the stamp of the company. It was Ramadan season in Turkey, and I told them that, during Ramadan, documents are always delayed. 31 days after the damage occurred, I received the letter and forwarded it to Airbnb team. They said, according to the policy, all documents should be received within 30 days. I told them I sent them everything they needed, and the only thing delayed was a “stamp on an already sent letter”.

They didn’t accept it. They didn’t pay for the damage. I sent them the letter before the 30th day, and this was the only additional document they asked for. I even told them about the delay in advance, and they ignored it.

Airbnb Guest Brings 34 People to a House Meant for 6

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I would like to share my story with everyone. I recently published a listing on Airbnb that can accommodate six people. I had many guests who sent me inquiries asking if my place was available and many more questions.

After evaluating all the guests, I finally accepted one reservation as she had good reviews from other hosts. I immediately told her that my place can only accommodate six people and that she needed to pay an extra $30 for each guest she brings after the six confirmed guests. She agreed and promised me that only six people would be in my place.

Since I go to work every day, I was not there when she checked in but my caretaker welcomed them. Four hours after they checked in, my caretaker called me saying that there were 34 people in my place and that the guest told him not to tell me as she would be charged for such a big amount.

I called her right away when this was told to me and she admitted that there were 34 people in my place. I requested money from her via Airbnb but she refused to pay me and deleted her account. I called Airbnb and asked them to collect the money but they never helped me. They even gave me a deadline of 24 hours to send documents confirming that there were extra 28 people in my place when the guest already admitted it and even contacted Airbnb saying that she did not know what to do and how to pay me since she didn’t have enough money.

The case manager from Airbnb told me that they will not help me unless documents are sent when I told them a million times that I won’t be able to send documents as I live in a different place and that I had a business flight that day. Indeed the worse experience and customer service on earth.

Airbnb Host Left us Outside in Cold Weather

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My Airbnb host was responsive at first but suddenly became weird and unresponsive. I noticed the host rented an apartment on other sites. After making the reservation, I noticed the host became unresponsive. I was told the check-in time must be later because she must clean. I didn’t expect the cleaning would take 4-6 hours. I would never have booked if had known.

Previous guests gave positive feedback to this host by saying she was honest and always on time, which was not true for me. Then I found another page in which some guests had complained the host was late. She was a foreigner living in one city and renting in another.

We were waiting many hours and agreed to arrive in the evening. I thought it would be okay. I was wondering why the host didn’t have any time to respond; I thought she was cleaning and had no time. In the evening, I noticed the location was not 150 meters from the station – it was 1 km walking distance to the apartment. It was a cold evening and the host turned off her phone. I received a message saying I “can’t call this number right now” even though we agreed on the arrival time.

It’s so easy to lie because most holiday apartments don’t have a reception desk. It made me think the host only wanted to get money and has no responsibility. I tried to knock on the door but it was locked and no one was there. I also had the wrong code. I couldn’t wait outside the whole night so I had to spend the night in a hotel.

Around midnight, the host started to respond, asking where I was and if I was coming. I thought it was rude and crazy. The host agreed the check-in time would be in the afternoon, then changed it to the evening. Then she thought it would be okay to ask us to arrive at night.

The host tried to make stupid excuses like she was shopping for breakfast food for us in the evening (we didn’t ask for any breakfast and it would not take three hours to buy breakfast items). The keys would be just enough but we didn’t get keys. I’ve met angry and weird hosts before but this one was incredible; it felt she wanted to leave us outside. I froze and this is one of my worst travel experiences. I’m pretty sure I don’t want anything from Airbnb because I can’t trust them. I could end up being left outside and frozen without a key again.

What did customer service do? I’ve been waiting days to see if I will get a response but mostly they believe the host. The host says she has called multiple times (even though she did not) and gave an incorrect code. It’s difficult to prove the host closed her phone. I don’t have a conversation record of this because I had no chance to speak to the host.

I wonder how on earth could anyone think that guests can wait outside all afternoon and night and how any service could accept this behaviour. I booked just one night and the host expected me to spend hours outside without a key or expected me to wait until the night or morning without a response.

Drugged and Assaulted at Airbnb in Denver

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My first and last time using Airbnb was a complete and utter nightmare. I had just gotten the role I had been pursing in my career for two years. I flew out to Denver to take my drug test and start work that Monday. Everything was solid. I decided to stay at an Airbnb, thinking it would help save money. Little did I know the host has claimed to have been abducted by aliens, is on barbiturates and amphetamines, and was a former meth addict and who knows what else.

She seemed fine in the beginning but her stories got weirder as the days passed. I figured I was okay and I’d be gone soon enough. As for my own idiocy, I accepted a cup of tea from the host. She assured me it wasn’t weed tea or anything else funky; this was since I informed her I was supposed to get tested the next day.

I woke up a little fuzzy thinking it was the Denver altitude sickness. I went confidently and handed over my urine with not a worry in the world. I then woke up the next morning 5:00 AM to the host and her boyfriend beating the heck out of each other, then I was assaulted when trying to stop him from smashing her head into the floor any further. She climbed onto the roof, he ran, and the cops came. Maybe she was looking at aliens again…

Long story short, this was the most psychotic experience of my life. I failed my drug test, lost my job, and am now part of a criminal investigation. Airbnb has done nothing for me nor does it seem they care. I have other job offers and will stay in a homeless shelter until my first check comes in. My entire life has been turned upside down.

Airbnb sucks. Once I am back on my feet I am prepare to pursue and pay for a lawsuit until I regain my dignity and justice is served. This ordeal has ruined my name, upset my family and caused me to possibly have a breakdown.