Author Archives: Natasha

Airbnb: A Horrible End to our Honeymoon

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I booked this property for the last part of my honeymoon in Italy. Upon arriving the place was great. The day we got there we had travelled from Turin to Rome to Naples to Sorrento so it had been a long day; we wanted to shower and nap. When trying to shower, I got only ice cold water. I told the host about the issue and she sent someone to look at it shortly and told me it should be fixed. However, she wanted to send them again in the morning just to be safe.

The next morning they came and take a look and then we left for a tour. After coming back from the tour we really needed a shower but again, there was no warm water. We had a special dinner to go to so it was very uncomfortable coming from a full day tour and not getting a proper shower.

All the way through I communicated the issues to the host through Airbnb. I even told her that this issue would be in her review. Her review for me said I was dishonest and would not recommend me. Why would I lie about this? And how is it a lie if she had someone look at the issue multiple times?

This was an extremely horrible experience especially as it was for my honeymoon and the first time I’ve used Airbnb for a trip. I tried getting the review from my profile removed and compensation for the horrible experience but Airbnb did not help. They only said if I had called during the stay, then they could have done something. This made no sense to me because their site recommends that you work it out with the host.

Airbnb Host Attempts Extortion Over Damages

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My story is a classic case of an extortion attempt by a host. I have stayed at several Airbnbs in four different countries, and have had unique and enjoyable experiences each time. Because of my past success in being connected to great hosts and accommodations through the website, I decided to use book an Airbnb for three months while I began my new job after college, before moving into a place longer term.

My first impression of the place was that it seemed nice enough. I simply wanted my own quiet room to sleep in with functional appliances and plumbing while I worked my full-time job over the summer, and it initially seemed on par with my requirements. Sure, the wallpaper was peeling off the bedroom walls and there was a board covering a hole in the wall at the foot of my bed with a rusty nail sticking out of it, but I felt that it wasn’t a big deal so long as I didn’t stab myself with the nail as I slept.

Unfortunately, as time went on, I uncovered a number of issues with the place that made my stay unenjoyable. The washing machine didn’t work for two out of the three months I stayed there, leaving me no choice but to walk a mile to and from the laundromat each weekend. Furthermore, the place wasn’t nearly as quiet as I’d hoped, with neighbors blasting music into late hours of the night.

Other issues included A/C that was kept at too high a temperature in the humid summer months near DC, a shower that would rapidly switch from hot to cold without touching the dial, and water pressure troubles in the shower that would essentially render the showerhead to a drip while trying to bathe. All of this was tolerable as I was not trying to complain to her too much as I desired to be left a good review following my stay.

About halfway through my stay, something happened that left me unable to remain silent any longer. The scam this host was trying to pull off on me centered around a restroom that is shared among two guests in the upstairs hallway. For the first month or so, this restroom was shared between myself and a girl staying in the room next door. I had no issue sharing the restroom with her, as she kept the restroom tidy. She moved out for a short time before a new guest moved in, and in that hiatus I had the bathroom to myself.

However, I was unaware that she had moved out at the time, and thought nothing of it when I heard activity from the restroom, as I thought it was just her. Since the bathroom was in the hallway, it was fully accessible to anybody in the home. I woke one morning to an email from my host saying there had been a leak in my bathroom, and when I went downstairs, it was clear the leak had spread downstairs and caused drywall and ceiling damage below.

I assumed there had been an issue with the pipes, but later in the day, my host told me I was responsible for the damage. When I asked the host what transpired, she claimed that I pulled up the sink plug, ran the sink, and left the sink to overflow and flood.

First and foremost, I didn’t ever touch the sink plug and there was no reason I could conceive of that would cause me to even need to do so. Second, leaving the sink on full blast and walking away in conjunction with the pulling of the plug is as improbable as it is false. What was most frustrating about this conversation with my host was that there was no discussion about the events – she simply told me to my face that she would give me the invoice.

I tried to explain to her that I was not responsible and there must be an alternate explanation, but she wouldn’t listen. She believed it was impossible that there was either another guest using the restroom (which I certainly heard) or a plumbing issue (which I experienced with the water temperature and pressure in the shower). Just because I was the only one supposed to be using the restroom doesn’t mean that I was. The myriad of prior plumbing issues makes her story suspect as well.

Time elapsed and toward the tail end of my stay, I didn’t hear anything more about the incident from her, though I did see some contractors repair the damage. I contacted Airbnb and explained my story, and they were understanding. However, since I didn’t hear anything else from her, they weren’t able to help unless she took action.

Two days before my reservation concluded, I received a request for money from her with for nearly $2000 with pictures of the damage and an invoice that she typed up herself. I promptly declined the request, explaining once more that I wasn’t responsible for the damage, and that I didn’t appreciate her extortion efforts. She then involved Airbnb, and that is where we currently stand.

In the images she provided, there is one that is clearly staged where the sink plug is up and the water is running, but you can clearly see the water is only half full in the sink (being optimistic here), and anybody taking the picture could have easily stopped it from overflowing. Additionally, there is a picture of the overflowing sink with the plug down, which is illogical because in a functional sink, the water would have just drained downward.

Moreover, while she told me she wouldn’t charge for anything beyond to the damages, she listed “oversight” from herself as a $250 charge. Not only is she using me as the scapegoat, but she is trying to profit from repairing damages that I didn’t cause.

I am remaining optimistic due to her poor evidence and fictional charges on the invoice, and am hoping the truth prevails here. If anybody has had a similar experience, I would encourage you to share it, as knowledge about how to handle these situations is one of the best tools of preventing hosts from taking advantage of their guests in the future.

Nightmare Host Has No Time to Deliver Keys

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I booked an Airbnb flat but suddenly the host didn’t have time to answer me and give me the details. The waiting time turned out to be a nightmare in cold weather. After I made the reservation, the host acted strangely and didn’t give anything more than her address. All other information was missing. I tried to ask couple of times how to arrive, what was around there, etc., but got no answer.

Then the host told me she was abroad and guests had to search for the keys in the cellar. I was thinking the host was in the same city, especially because she brought keys before to other guests as I saw her positive reviews. She didn’t have “time” to bring keys to me at all.

Then we agreed about an arrival time in the evening but the host suddenly changed her mind and sent me only one message, telling me she would be busy for 2-3 hours and couldn’t give me instructions to find the keys. It is incredible behaviour which I haven’t experienced before. The host knew I was already in the corridor waiting but suddenly she just became busy. The host didn’t ask her friend to bring the keys; it felt like the host only wanted money.

I tried to contact customer service but had to wait many days before getting any help. Then I got help and the host already lied to customer service by saying that she had given me all the instructions and she couldn’t be available for guests 24/7.

I never asked host to be available 24/7, only for the time I told her about my arrival that had been agreed upon. It seemed like she didn’t want to rent out her property. I think the real truth could be the host is living at her flat, kept the key with her, and there was no respect for guests. There were not any keys left in the cellar; I searched for them.

I felt terrible, especially because I walked 1 km to the apartment on a cold evening and ended without a key to the corridor and stuck outside. The host tried to ask customer service to remove her feedback so she could still do the same thing to others.

I know when people are really busy they will tell others “I’m busy” but not just suddenly change their mind and say they’re busy when guests told them their arrival time. I had to pay for an expensive hotel that same night because the host didn’t want to bring her keys.

How Long Will Airbnb Allow Communities to be Ruined?

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My partner and I live in a rural, wooded gated community that must have decided to look the other way as far as regulating short term rental houses. When neighbors complain about short term rentals, the Airbnb hosts (who are homeowners in the gated community) probably just get small fines or warnings, which makes us believe they haven’t got any tickets; the same problems occur over and over with the same rentals: loud music, and other kinds of loud noises (guns, fireworks, parties) all day and night, burning fires without a fire pit (a rule in our community), garbage and littering, speeding, overusing our amenities, like the pool showers.

We think the community management doesn’t want to make waves with these homeowners because the community charges them fees to allow short term rentals. So it’s screw the homeowner who just lives here, because the Airbnb hosts are giving “revenue” to the community. At what expense? If the community doesn’t regulate them, the homeowners who live here will just move out.

Call us conspiracy theorists, but maybe that’s the management plan: make it so miserable for the full time homeowners that they move out, and turn this place into a rental community, where nobody lives here; it’s just a community of rentals. Another big problem is that they allow more people in the house than is permitted. For example, they have a four-bedroom house, but they advertise that it sleeps 24. Our so-called police safety crew will come if you call them, but they don’t do anything. State police won’t help because we are in a gated community. Bottom line: our serenity and peace and quiet and safety is regularly disturbed and we are stuck here until someone starts to regulate the short term rentals.

Terrible host didn’t bring the keys and closed her phone

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This Airbnb host didn’t tell me anything and had no information. All I got was the address and that the host also had some positive feedback (probably from her friends and colleagues). Immediately after I made the booking, she started to be rude. I tried to ask her how to arrive but got no instructions from her; I had to search by myself.

The apartment was also expensive, a similar price to 3-4 star hotels – I would have expected more customer service skills. Then when I was looking for the apartment, I had to call and ask which street it was. The host didn’t know any shops or banks near the apartment even though she said she was “living there”. Then suddenly the host told me she was in another country or place for a work and the keys were in the bike shed.

That’s when I knew things were not as they should be. She told me I had to look for the keys in a bike shed in some box that I didn’t see there. I had to ask for the door codes multiple times. If she had any advice for me, she wouldn’t share it. She expected everyone to have an iPhone or similar smartphone to use Whatsapp. I believe I’m not the only one who doesn’t have Whatsapp for messages. It was possible to send information through Airbnb but she played phone games and didn’t want to.

In the evening, I found the apartment (but no keys in the bike shed). She sent one message with a smile emoticon: that she was not available in the evening for 2-3 hours. Then she turned off her phone.

What a rude and impolite person; she just wanted money. The host knew I was coming and at what time but she decided to hide and turn off her phone. There were a lot of people coming and going in her building and I could not wait in the corridor for 2-3 hours until she would open her phone, assuming she would.

I would never have booked a place on Airbnb if I had known the host would ignore her phone and that she wouldn’t bring the keys. I also think a bike shed is not a safe place to keep any important things such as keys. It would be easy and simple to ask a friend to bring the keys; it would take about 5-20 minutes, which apparently she didn’t have.

This happened in Sweden. I don’t know if I’ll get any refund or not but the host has already tried to get more money: 180 euro because I cancelled the reservation. I had to go to a hostel because I didn’t have the keys.

Complaint Regarding Airbnb Host in Istanbul

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We only wanted a one-day stay with this host in a clean and at least half decent room. The photos were decent and the information stated it was on the entrance floor. However, on arrival the young boy at the entrance took us to a room deep under a staircase, not the entrance level. It was dark, humid and smelt damp and wet, a room which was located between the electricity cable cupboards. Inside it was filthy and the furnishing was completely different from what he had in the photos. The reality was the furnishing was old and dirty (see photos).

We contacted the host immediately but he refused to help us. He told us to cancel if we wanted; there was nothing he could do. I told him it was frightening walking down dark staircases, as that is not what we were expecting. He said, “You are scared – no one else is, deal with it.”

I also told him the room had no real window and he continually disagreed and shouted there was a window. The “window” was a small storage window (see photos).

I have used Airbnb multiple times before and I know the many host policies, specifically: listing photos fairly represent the condition and layout of the space. I have not seen such drastic differences between the photos and the actual room: such filth and no hygiene. I also had to deal with a rude host. We had to stay in the room because we had no choice. If I knew about the situation, I wouldn’t have paid 315 TL for a rubbish room under a staircase. I want others to know about my experience and not to trust this host and his fake photos.

Airbnb changes calendars’ set prices regularly

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Hosts, If you haven’t noticed Airbnb will change your set prices so they can sell the room. It seems there is an algorithm that lets them override your set price so the room will be booked. I offered a holiday weekend at a high price. Frankly, I didn’t care if it rented or not, so I set it high. The rates were fixed, not variable, and about $20 more than my usual rate. The room was rented for $10 per night less than my “set” price. This times four nights =$40. I doubt the company kept this money but rather they made an override so the room would be rented. I have initiated a service ticket for this. I was looking back at my bookings and noticed actually a number of nights that were let for odd numbers that ended in cents and were not the set prices of the calendar. If they are going to do this we should be notified. Otherwise it is at worst fraudulent.

Weekend Millionaires in Neighbour’s Airbnb Flat

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Just another neighbour complaining about living next to an Airbnb, hoping that something might be done one day. If not, maybe it just feels good to rant…

For the last few months now, my partner and I have been living next to what is now some kind of party den for weekend millionaires who appear to have no regard for other human beings who actually live in the area. We’ve had it all: thudding music, screeching girls, boisterous louts, fights, shouting, swearing, glasses being thrown onto the street (from the 8th floor), someone almost being thrown off the balcony (again, from the 8th floor), police turning up, etc.

It’s simply unfathomable to me how people can be so oblivious or simply apathetic to the fact that it’s a Tuesday at 5:00 AM and usually people are asleep or about to get ready for work. The flat in question faces over a large expanse surrounded by several blocks and the acoustics mean that any noise quite literally echoes around the area. God forbid you want to open your windows to let some air in during the summer. Isn’t it lovely having the choice to either sweat to death in (somewhat) peace or be cool but slightly insane from sleep deprivation in your own home?

The host has refused to even acknowledge the problem and has essentially disappeared off the face of the Earth since I managed to contact them, demonstrating complete contempt for the fact they’re disturbing roughly near 200 residents for financial gain. What’s even more hilarious is that with each complaint I submit to Airbnb (regarding separate occurrences), I get a lovely auto response saying they’re not going to do anything because it’s been flagged as a “duplicate” complaint. Their “neighbours” system only permits you to complain once and then that’s that. Despite all this we are in the process of building up a nice, juicy “nuisance diary” hoping that the local authorities can do something… if not then god help us all. I suppose we’re just expected to put up with it. What a day and age we live in.

Last minute demand for more cash or we cancel your reservation

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I reserved a two bedroom condo in the Grand Venetian in Puerto Vallarta. The “Superhosts” were based out of Oregon. I booked the condo in January 2018 for a stay in December, nearly one year in advance. I left a deposit of $1600. This holiday was planned with other families who were staying in the same complex.

On September 29th, I was contacted by the hosts and was told that I would need to pay an additional $2500 if I wanted to keep the reservation. They confirmed that they quoted me the wrong price in January – they made a mistake – and the owner of the condo was requesting more money. I naturally told them that they needed to eat this cost because it was their mistake.

I advised the hosts that I could not find similar accommodations so close to Christmas. The hosts did not care and advised they had the right to cancel pursuant to Airbnb rules. After lengthy discussions with Airbnb, Airbnb cancelled the reservation. Read the fine print: if an owner wishes to act dishonorably they can simply wait until the 11th hour to threaten cancellation of your reservation by demanding more money. During Christmas this could be ruinous.

Because of these hosts and Airbnb, I had to reserve another condo at a higher rate for from the original resort and away from our friends. You are better off booking through HomeAway or with a hotel. Do not book any accommodation managed by these hosts. Their word and agreement is worthless.

Airbnb Refunds 100% of Hosting Charges but not Service Fee

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I have used Airbnb a couple of times but recently discovered a few things while booking accommodation for our North America trip. Normally we would set a price range to search and compare accommodations. You are ready to pay what is shown while comparing but this is not the case with Airbnb. With Airbnb, you have to pay a charge for accommodations + cleaning fees + Airbnb service charges + city tax. It adds up very quickly; make sure you have compared prices properly.

What is a fair service charge for a broker/middleman or platform provider? I booked accommodation in Beverly Hills. The accommodation charges were less than $2000 but Airbnb’s service charges were around $200, which is a shockingly large fee to facilitate a deal. What was the $200 service charge even for? There was no reception, no room service, no linen changes when staying for multiple nights. On top of that, we also had to pay cleaning fees.

What pissed me was after booking I had the option to cancel and get a 100% refund for all the charges from the poor host but Airbnb didn’t want to refund the service charges after just 48 hours. That is a total rip off.

Now comes my worst experience of getting in touch with their customer support. Even though I run an IT company, I had to struggle to reach to a screen where I could write a complaint in my words and the robot didn’t try to take over my session. I literally had to go on their Facebook page to get some attention.

Finally, Airbnb gave me a refund but with the caveat that they could refund me only once or twice in a year; this was not acceptable to me. I asked to speak to a supervisor or manager in charge of policy to present a case for everyone, but no joy. There are a lot of such stories which I came across only because of the situation. My intention here is to highlight and inform everyone to be aware of Airbnb’s service charges, refund policies, and customer service. I am better off paying a little more for a hotel and get proper service provided by a human.