Category Archives: Airbnb Guest Stories

These are real, uncensored stories from Airbnb Guests.  We encourage our site visitors to read and share their Airbnb Guest Stories to help warn others of the dangers of using Airbnb, and consider using alternative options in the sharing economy.

No Toilet, No Concern, Old Plumbing… Our Fault?

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My husband was working in France over the weekend of our anniversary so we decided that I would meet him in Toulouse, a city we previously had enjoyed. I picked <a href=” https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/15017680″>this Airbnb listing</a> because it looked comfortable, had a great location and most importantly, had favourable reviews.

To start: we never met our host. The meeting spot where I was going to pick up the keys from her was vague and I only figured it out the day before I left. I was having travel issues and let her know as it would affect our meeting time. Not only did she not respond to me but she did not call my husband to make sure everything worked out; he had to call her once she arrived. Her brother let my husband inside but gave him no warnings that would have been helpful like: the door is very difficult to lock and you need to jimmy it just so; only one of the windows opens; the plumbing is old and the toilet doesn’t work properly so even though I haven’t included toilet paper, you should probably not use it and not put anything inside of it because it’s due to fail at any moment.

After a weekend of the toilet making strange noises, it finally overflowed our last morning and went immediately into a hole in the floor and flooded the downstairs neighbour’s kitchen. We had a confrontation with her because it was not the first time this has happened. We cleaned up the mess and could see how to fix the toilet but as it is not our apartment (nor our responsibility), we chose not to fix it and let our host know instead. She said there had never been any problems and didn’t seem concerned that we didn’t have a toilet to use for six hours. This also didn’t factor in the importance of the Airbnb customer service team. Our host also didn’t meet us to take the keys back, stating that we should just leave them under the doormat.

A day later, we received a claim from her for 1048 euros to fix the toilet. She completely changed the machine that chews up matter from the toilet and then sends it down the tubes. She did not contact us at all, or make a claim for the security deposit. She immediately went to the Airbnb resolution center for the entire plumbing bill. My husband and I were completely baffled by this, even enraged when after all the information I gave them about her lack of empathy, how this machine works and why it fails (never from regular use), my happy cooperation was only to end in the resolution that we pay half of this bill.

We would understand if she wanted the security deposit as that is what it is for, even if we were not at fault. However, to include this as a part of the bill in any way was enough for me to cancel my account and never considering work with Airbnb again. They made no effort to act as an actual mediator, and did not send us paperwork and related material that would have helped us understand not only where the case stood but would have given us an opportunity to get more information and paperwork to strengthen our position. They feel resolved in their final decision and there is no compromise. We are going to keep fighting their lack of neutrality and pursue this as a civil case outside of Airbnb for recuperation of the cost and lawyer’s fees if need be. As someone who is skilled at mediation, I doubt the customer service agents at Airbnb have the ability to be objective in their cases; they seem to only create lazy and quick resolutions. I am furious. I will use the resources listed on this site and email the founders (as they can be found on the airbnb site and then through social media) if need be to complain.

Valuables Stolen at Barcelona Airbnb, No Resolution

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My daughter and her friend checked into their Airbnb in Barcelona on May 13th, 2017. They went out for the night and came back to find all their valuables gone: two Macbooks, two GoPros, one gold bracelet, and my daughter’s baby blanket that always travels with her. They called the police who came to the apartment. They called Airbnb who told them to go to a hotel, but it was the grand prix that weekend and they had trouble finding one at 2:00 AM. The girls filed a police report and stayed in a hotel for the next four nights because they were afraid to stay in an Airbnb at that point. Airbnb was very supportive at first and offered to help. The apartment host changed his name and picture the next morning for the same place but my daughter could not review on it because they did not stay there. Airbnb has done nothing about that. We have been trying to contact Airbnb for the past nine days. I have called five different times and spoke to five different people all with a promise to call me back about our claims. To this date, nobody has returned my calls. I waited on the phone today for over an hour to talk to a manager and was then finally cut off with no call back (they took my number). When I called again, they would not transfer me to a manager and I had to start all over. I am unable to contact them through the website. I only have a few standard questions but there is nobody to contact. This is pretty frustrating and for such a big company, you would think they would have amazing customer service. Shame on them!

Stranded in Seattle, Airbnb Host just Ignores Us

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We booked a room through Airbnb for three nights in Seattle. There were four of us staying in the room. We are all from Orlando, Florida, and booked this vacation because we were headed to Alaska on a cruise. We left May 10th and had a layover in Houston. We were supposed to receive an email confirmation for check-in 24 hours before the 10th but never received a call or email. We decided to call them in Houston to make sure we could check in at our scheduled time. When we called they proceeded to explain to us that the guest who stayed in the room the night before had completely wrecked the place and it needed to be inspected to make sure it was safe for us to live in for the remaining days. The man on the phone sounded sincere at the time and said no matter what happens he would set us up in one of his other places if the inspection came out negative. He also offered to send a shuttle to the Seattle airport to pick us up and bring us over to our room.

At this point we figured everything would work out okay when we landed. After a 4.5-hour flight to Seattle we made it and called Saigon Hospitality (the host) to let them know we were waiting on them. There was no answer. We called a few more times; again, there was no answer. We all called from our phones probably 5-8 times each. At this point we decided to get an Uber and go to the Saigon Hospitality Office so we could check in and get settled. We arrived at the office; the door was locked and there was a large window in the front through which we could see inside. Inside there was a lot of furniture. It looked like the furniture to the room in which we were supposed to stay. It was all stacked in the office front room as if they were using the office for storage.

We headed over in another Uber to the address of the room we were supposed to be staying in. It was a large building that was locked with no numbers or indentification outside. I asked some people going inside if it was residential and they said it was strictly an office building. At this point, we were on the side of the road in Seattle, with nowhere to stay and an Airbnb that was paid for in advance. Once again, we called Saigon Hospitality. There was no answer. After thirty minutes of waiting outside in a city with which we’re unfamiliar, we called Airbnb to see if there was anything they could do.

Let me just say that I used to love Airbnb and never had issues with them until this day. However, I will never use them again because of this event. Airbnb told us that they would try to call Saigon and see if they could reach them. They got no answer. We spent anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour and a half on the phone with Airbnb back and forth. Airbnb said there was nothing they could do for us except refund our money. They also said they would pay back our Uber rides and $25 for food. So they told us to wait it out and they would call us back.

Imagine being in a new city with four huge pieces of luggage on the side of the street without a place to go. We paid over $500 for our Airbnb and it wasn’t guaranteed when we got there. Airbnb said they wouldn’t find us another place until we waited a few hours to hear back from Saigon. We were already on the sidewalk of 1st Avenue for two hours. We started looking for hotels, only to discover a convention was in town and all hotels were $400 a night. We struggled all day to find a place that was available to us for three nights. Airbnb never called back so we called them after we finally found a new hotel, and sent them our receipts for Uber.

Ten days later, and we still have heard nothing from Saigon Hospitality or Airbnb. Airbnb is a big company all around the world, and I will never use them again. It’s their responsibility when a hospitality management company leaves you stranded to find you a new place. Nobody helped us from either of these companies. Honestly, it takes very heartless, selfish, and terrible people to leave their guests on the streets for hours with no place to go. They didn’t have to tell us they would send a shuttle; all they had to do was call us back. Saigon Hospitality has some terrible people working for them – this is not a company worth giving your money to. Don’t book with them. If you do you could end up starting your vacation miserably.

Airbnb is unreliable and that’s why I can’t book with them anymore. We got lucky that we were stranded in our home country. Imagine if we had booked a property in another country and were left on the side of the road. Airbnb should have something to fall back on when their hosts screw you over. They don’t and therefore they are an unreliable company that doesn’t deserve our money. I would rather book a hotel and know there’s a roof over my head on vacation.

He Said/He Said Airbnb Dispute with Surveillance Cameras

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My host planted surveillance cameras in at least one area. I am posting my original review, the host’s review, and my response. When I first arrived I took photos of the guest facilities as they were a mess, and stank. I had the sense that I was being watched during my entire stay, including in the bathroom. There is an area that he calls a kitchen but there was no new dining room table, and no cooking utensils or appliances other than a coffee maker that I used. I placed their large cup underneath it in case of further dripping and threw my coffee filter in the trash. I sat and ate lunch at a wooden table for twenty minutes and there was no leakage, no water or coffee damage when I left. Perhaps one of the other two guests spilled the coffee I was blamed for? The important point is his admission of checking the camera to note the time that I was in the kitchen. Does this mean I was monitored in my room and the restroom? A surveillance camera is a violation of my privacy and constitutional rights in a private setting. Here is the review that I left: “Peaceful, quiet and comfortable with many perks!”

I said more positive things but for some reason they’ve disappeared. Here are the host’s remarks:

“We would not host Jerry again, even though his other reviews were great. Jerry was polite upon arrival, but that’s the only thing he had going for him. With over 60 guests we’ve had in our home, he’s been the first guest we’ve had to call Airbnb to document a complaint about. He’s also the first guest that’s made us question continuing being hosts. He originally booked two nights, Wednesday and Thursday.

Arriving home Thursday after work to clean between my two jobs, I could only smell a strong coffee odor. I came to find out an entire cup of coffee had been spilled over the brand new kitchen table, down the side, and all over the hardwood floor with zero effort to clean it up, despite Clorox wipes and paper towels being two feet away. We looked back at the camera footage to confirm he spilled the coffee around 3:00 PM that day and got up and left it there. Up in the bathroom, soap had been poured all over the bathtub floor, causing a slipping hazard. It took a while to clean that up. I went to check the hamper in the room for towels. The hamper was half full of garbage, which ended up staining the brand new cloth hamper. Even though there’s a trash can provided right outside the bedroom door, in the dining room, and a third one by the garage, he chose to use the hamper. Instead of using it for towels, he just tossed them on the floor despite them being damp. He left the lights on 24/7 and even took our entire roll of Clorox wipes into his room without permission. I had the bathroom clean when I left for my second job. I came back to a filthy bathroom again, with toothpaste spit all in the sink and on the floor. A huge puddle of water was also on the floor that I had to clean at 11:00 PM. Friday, checkout day, he waited until 3:00 PM to checkout. Since our next guest arrived at 1:30 PM, we had to place him in a room that wasn’t meant for him. Jerry thought he’d booked for Friday night as well but had not and left upon the realization he’d accidentally booked one day too few, complaining about having to now book a hotel. After checkout we found half a dozen towels, hand towels, and wash cloths used for only a two-night stay. We only charge $30 per night to help travelers out and to help with our renovations of our new home, but his stay has cost us much more than what we made due to the damaged hamper, and ruined kitchen table that was brand new two months ago. Hopefully our hardwood floors will be fine. I work too hard to have my home treated so poorly. If he books again, I plan to ask Airbnb to cancel it.”

Finally, my response:

“Wow, I’m shocked! I wish Staunton had said something to me about all this. First, regarding toothpaste spit? I don’t have toothpaste at all. I noticed the towels being used by two friends of his that stayed one or two nights. I figured there was a shortage of towels. I did try to make coffee but only got half a cup. I did not notice any spills and I put the used filter in the trash. Maybe he’s talking about another guest? I gave him a great rating out of kindness as he’s new to the business and I overlooked a lot of inconveniences, e.g. the smell of animals in the house, no small refrigerator for personal use, no way to boil water for tea or coffee, no way to lock your room in spite of three guest rooms and finally the inconvenience of three guests/strangers using one small bathroom. The home itself was in disarray, the front yard was growing weeds and the parking was too tight. I did mistake the length of my stay but apologized profusely to his partner for the error and made no complaint regarding finding a motel room for Friday night. Based on his inaccurate and hostile comments I wouldn’t recommend this not-so-private Airbnb to anyone. By the way, I called Staunton on Friday to see if an extra night was available as he had told me originally that after Wednesday I’d be his only guest. He sent a cryptic note that he was at work and too busy to talk. This has been an unfortunate experience, the only such one since I began using Airbnb. Staunton should have talked with me about his grievances before going off on me after my kindness to him in my rating.”

A brief review: At my age of 74, I am compulsively clean:

1. I hang my towels up to dry. His guests threw theirs on the floor.

2. I do not use toothpaste as I have dentures. I noticed the toothpaste spit from the other guests. I don’t clean up after other guests.

3. Soap naturally sinks to the bottom of the tub when washed from your body.

4. Three guests for one bathroom is too much, especially with only two towel racks. I kept a dry towel in my room in order to have one when I needed it.

5. My room was not cleaned once during my stay.

6. There was no communication that anything was wrong.

7. I apologized profusely to Staunton’s cleaning man for the late checkout and my confusion about booking dates. I at no time complained about having to get a motel room.

8. There was a tiny trashcan in the bathroom that was full. There was no trashcan in my room.

9. I am totally offended by this young man and his hostile review. This has become a nightmare that I will not repeat. His review and the surveillance camera are unacceptable and deceitfully full of allegations harmful to my good standing with Airbnb with which I am now done with unless they take action in admonishing this young man.

This has ruined me to Airbnb. They are not available to hear or follow up on complaints. They need to investigate this particular listing for the surveillance cameras and take them off their site.

Update 5/23/2017:

The host has contacted me again and is now saying my coffee grounds ruined his coffee maker. He also saw a host in Darlington on my wish list and he has contacted her warning her about me. Is this legal? He also tried to message me on Facebook. Here is his latest email:
Hi Jerry,
I wanted to take a moment to message you in response to your comment left on the review. Fortunately no one can see your inaccurate response from my end. I just wanted to address some things in your response. You stated you didn’t have toothpaste, but Thursday night you were the only guest that had been there between my cleaning of the bathroom at 5:30 PM and when the next guest that arrived that night whom I personally greeted. Before their arrival is when I found a blue paste (maybe not toothpaste, but some blue goo) spit in the sink and on the carpet. Meaning no other guest could have done that between my two cleanings. As for the spill, I’m not sure how you didn’t see that since the entire table was covered, as well as the river of coffee that had ran down the side and onto the floor. Again, that was between my lunch break cleaning at 12:30 PM and my evening cleaning at 5:30 PM. You were the only one there between those hours since my two uncles and partner were all gone before 10:30 AM. I do apologize for your “inconveniences” due to the animal smell even though we’ve had several reviews, including one that stated “warm, cozy, and smelled like a resort” along with other praises on how nice our rooms smell since we keep fragrances plugged in all throughout the house. Even though the smell of dog would still be expected in a listing that states dogs live inside the home, even though we bathe her frequently. Though she’s never allowed outside the bedroom unless she’s going out the back door so she’d never be in the guest portion of the home, ever, and never has been even since moving into the home.
The next day after you left, we noticed you’d used the Keurig with raw coffee grinds which ruined a $100+ machine, since they’re meant for coffee pods only. A mini fridge was provided for your use, as well as our large, empty fridge in the kitchen. Airbnb’s typically don’t provide a mini fridge in every single room, as we are not a hotel. In the kitchen, you’d have also found ways to boil water in a pot on the stove so that’s incorrect too. We also had several notes posted in the room and our listing stating that we provide room keys so that you can lock your door anytime, but you never once asked for a room key despite it being mentioned in three places and expressed verbally. As for the inconvenience of sharing the bathroom, you could read the following on our listing: “We have two other rooms listed along with this one. If other guests have booked those rooms the same night as your stay, the bathroom would be shared.” The bathroom has a lock as well as your bedroom. We get last^minute bookings daily, sometimes as late as 3:00 AM. So if I told you we’d have no guests Wednesday night, obviously that could change at any minute. Also, you’ll have to excuse the weeds in the yard as I work eight jobs and haven’t had time to cut the grass since my cousin committed suicide recently after her father had an accident, and I’ve been too busy tending to family matters to bother with weeds in the yard. You also stated you called me Friday, but I never received a phone call from you. Only a message asking me to call. And I responded saying I was at work and could not talk. I’m unsure how that could count as cryptic since it was just a few words and stated the obvious: 1) At work. 2) Can’t talk until 5:00.
I also see you have a place in Darlington on your wishlist, a home that the woman who actually referred me to Airbnb owns, so I’ve sent her an email with fair warning. I’m sorry you had an unfortunate experience, and I’m just as sorry for how insulted and abused we felt in our home with the constant messes. I should have brought my concerns up to you, but working so many jobs the only thing I can do in my spare time is clean between guests and then I’m right back out the door to my next job. I only even remember seeing you just once during your stay. I’m sure you’re a fantastic person, as I can tell from your other three reviews and how friendly you were at check-in, but unfortunately we just had our first horrible experience and were upset with how the house was treated. Unfortunately I didn’t get to know you very well and was only left seeing bad things, and that saddens me. I want to assure you that I’m a Superhost for a reason; this past week has just been a long and upsetting week for me. I wish you the best in all of your future travels.
What are my legal rights on Airbnb, or do I need to get an attorney involved?

Airbnb Host Asked for More Money After Confirmation

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One week ago I found a good place on Airbnb to stay for a four-week holidays in Corsica (France). The price was good and I asked the host to confirm if the price included taxes, cleaning fees, or anything else unexpected. I asked the host to check the price, and he answered the price was the total amount. I booked and was asked by Airbnb to pay the whole amount as it was a “long stay”. Since that was finished, I purchased flight tickets straight away from Sweden to Corsica (the more you wait, the more you pay) – non-refundable tickets to stay on budget. I wrote to the host about my time of arrival.

Two hours later the host sent me a message, asking for more money or he would cancel the reservation. The reason? The price was wrong…

I have contacted Airbnb. There’s just one week now left before I’m supposed to arrive, but I’ve received nothing except an automatically generated reply: “we are working with your case.” There’s been no answer or anything from Airbnb. The host has sent me a request for an update of the booking and for me to pay more money (25% more). I have not confirmed anything nor rejected the reservation… yet. This is my first and last booking with Airbnb. I’ve never seen something so bad before. Has anyone been in a situation like this? What should I do?

Is Everything About Airbnb Fake? Scammed in Philly

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Is Airbnb just a fake company? Based on my experience, it clearly seems to be the case. I live in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I had plans to be in Philadelphia for a week to celebrate my ten-year MBA reunion, and had booked my Airbnb more than two months in advance. So, I flew nine hours from Sao Paulo to JFK, rented a car and then arrived in Philly after traveling for more than 15 hours. Once I arrived at the address of the Airbnb, I realized that I could locate the two adjacent properties but not the address on the reservation. So, I called the host and found out that the number had been disconnected. That’s when I realized that I had been pranked, except that there was nothing funny about it.

I immediately contacted Airbnb, and they tried to contact the host, as if that would help. After an hour or so, they said that I was right and asked me to check other locations on Airbnb. This was a fun exercise, given that I had just been through a long, international trip with plenty of luggage to lug around. Finally, I decided enough was enough and downloaded and got a hotel through the app HotelTonight (secretly, I am sure HotelTonight must be delighted that the incompetence of Airbnb sends customers their way). Once I checked in, I talked to Airbnb again and they offered me a subsidy on the hotel for the night. The next day, I went through the same routine and tried to book another Airbnb, but nobody responded on the site.

There were plenty of fake listings. In one case, two professional realtors had put up the same apartment on the site with vastly different prices and exactly the same photographs. I tried to learn more, but was rebuffed as soon as I pointed out this discrepancy. To summarize, I had to pay for a hotel for the entire trip. So, the cost of me staying in Philly on Airbnb would have been USD900; instead, it ended up being USD2250, blowing through my budget. To top it all, an Amazon package I had mailed to the fake address was not recovered either. It has been more than a week after my trip and the “case manager” has stalled and not resolved the problem despite repeated followups on their website and Twitter. Their strategy seems to be sticking their heads in the sand and hoping the issue goes away. Airbnb may be a fake company, but my experience was real. Stories like these are not going away.

Terrible Experience with Airbnb: Homeless Night in Tokyo

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We had a very terrible experience when traveling with Airbnb in Japan. My wife and I booked a room on Airbnb in Tokyo. Unfortunately, we encountered a very rude and aggressive host. His room was very dirty, and lacked essentials. We tried to contact the host, and hoped he could do something to resolve the problem. The host said: “How much did you pay? Just 3000 yen. You want 30000 yen worth of service? That’s impossible.”

Even worse, the host became very aggressive, trying to force us to move out of his room at midnight after he knew we reported the problems to Airbnb: “If you think my room has problems, I don’t think you should stay there tonight. Move out… You’re staying in my room, right? Well, I have the right to refuse your stay. Are we clear?”

We felt very scared because we did not know what this aggressive host would do. We had no choice but to leave that room as soon as possible. We tried to contact Airbnb but no one came to help us. There was only a phone number. What was worse, we were not able to contact Airbnb using this number but had to wait until Airbnb called us back. After more than an hour, there was still no solution from Airbnb. They just asked us to wait until the next day to contact the host for a resolution.

We felt so scared and hopeless that we had to move out of that room. We walked around the streets all night, feeling cold and hopeless, with no solution coming from Airbnb. What else could we do but wait for Airbnb’s call? Around 7:00 AM the next day, we finally received a call back from Airbnb. The agent asked us to find another room on Airbnb, and promised this problem would be resolved by 11:00 AM. However, we did not get any call or email by 11:00 AM. After a long night, we felt very exhausted and sleepy. We did not have any energy to wait for Airbnb’s solution. We were exhausted dealing with Airbnb, so we found one of the cheapest hotels in Tokyo and booked a room.

The email from Airbnb arrived at around 2:00 PM, but there was nothing meaningful:

“How are you? This is XXX, one of the Case Managers, and XXX’s colleague. My sincere apologies for what happened. I can only imagine your frustration about it. My colleague XXX will be in touch with you in regards to the refund/compensation request.”

Around 11:40 PM, we got Airbnb’s email and agent XXX told us our payment had been refunded. That was it. No compensation at all. We tried to contact him about the hotel bills and our homeless night. Airbnb closed my case again and again. We just wanted to share this story with someone who has used or will travel using Airbnb. It is really a huge risk traveling with Airbnb when you encounter the kind of host I mentioned. Airbnb can’t do anything for you. Nobody comes, there is no solution, and there’s no compensation even you are in danger. You have to wait for their call or email during their business hours. We wondered what the service fee charged by Airbnb is used for, as there’s no supervision of the host, and customer service did nothing helpful.

Today, the Airbnb agent’s attitude made us very mad. We never saw a big company bully their customers like Airbnb. What Airbnb promised was nothing; they could go back on their word whenever they wanted. Their arrogant attitude left us no choice but to share our story with the public. We are puny to Airbnb but we believe there are some people who have experienced the same situation as us.

Cold House from Airbnb, Used Electric Oven to Stay Warm

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This is my personal Airbnb Hell story. I was born in Canada but had not been there in almost 50 years as I had moved to the United States when I was very young with the rest of my family. However, I had no choice but to return for personal reasons. I arrived at the Airbnb listed as “Comfy Room” at a house located in Surrey on August 21st, 2016. At first, everything went well. In fact, I lived there for several months before things starting falling apart.

I began to notice the following issues. Every time that Lyn Taylor (real name Evelyn Mercado) would clean my room she would turn off the nightlight that I had plugged in so that I would not be stumbling around in the dark when I woke up during the night to use the restroom. The nightlight only uses 0.7 Watts. She later complained to me that I was leaving that light on – how cheap can you get? The weekly housekeeping started turning into every eight days, then nine days, then ten or more days. Eventually it got to the point where I had to get myself a clean towel as I could not depend on either Paul or Lyn to take care of that.

They have Instant Book so people would be checking in at all hours of the day and night, including 2:00 AM in one case. Many times they were not even there when people would come to check in and I would have to answer the door and explain to them that I was only a guest. Many guests were told that the key to their room was in the lock box outside the front door, but when they opened the lock box there was no key inside. They were staying in the basement suite underneath the house but it began to feel at times like they were absentee landlords.

I stayed there only because I had no close family in that area. At that time I had not driven in over four years and did not have a drivers license. The weather was turning cold, so I did not want to take the chance of going through all of that hassle to find another place that might be just as bad, or even worse.

One time I was having trouble sleeping. It was almost 2:00 AM; I heard noises outside my room and noticed that some lights were on. I opened my door and discovered that Lyn was cleaning downstairs, in the middle of the night. Another issue I noticed is that several times when I was taking a shower the warm water disappeared and all that came out was cold water. One time the water was so cold when I got out of the shower I actually felt warmer. They rented out all five rooms in their house and were staying downstairs in the basement. When the house was full there could be nine people or more using the hot water to take a shower, wash clothes, etc.

I also noticed that as it got colder outside that I would feel cold in the house even when I was wearing a flannel shirt over another shirt. I mentioned this many times to both Paul and Lyn and they would always say “the thermostat is set at 22 Celsius” even though I complained numerous times. I know that 22 Celsius is the same as 71.6 Fahrenheit so I knew that was not the real temperature; 71.6 Fahrenheit is a very comfortable temperature. I told Lyn that I was feeling cold one time and she told me that “I am sweating inside here while I am working.” Of course this ignored the fact that she was dressed in very cold weather clothing and was vigorously cleaning around the house. Many other guests also complained to me personally about feeling cold. Eventually it got to the point where my hands felt like ice even when I was fully dressed. One evening another guest who had also complained to me about feeling cold took their meal out of the oven and then told me that they would leave the oven door open for a while to heat the room up. I noticed that soon after he did that the room started feeling warmer. This other guest and I began to use the oven to keep us warm. Otherwise, we would have felt like putting on our jackets inside the house. That is how cold it felt. We did that for about a week.

The other guest left on a Saturday morning as he was retiring and moving to a property that he had purchased. I continued to use the oven every now and then to warm things up and on Sunday, the day after the other guest left, Paul and Lyn confronted me about using the oven to stay warm. I told them that I had only been using it for a week and had only used it because I was so cold. Lyn became very angry and told me that “ever since you have moved in our electric bill has gone up.” She told me that “I want you out of here tomorrow.”

I truly believe that she would have thrown me out then and there even though it was cold with snow on the ground outside except for the fact that her husband Paul said, “Nothing is going to happen tonight.” Lyn threatened to report me to Airbnb and give me a bad review if I did not accept their cancelling my reservation. I left the next day as they requested. Lyn sent me an email in which she accused me of taking hot showers even though it was “minus 5 outside.” What does she think I am going to do, take a cold shower when it is so cold outside? She also accused me of leaving the oven on when I went to bed which is not true. I owned up to what I did and told them why I did it. I would never have done that if they had not ignored my numerous complaints, as well as the complaints of other guests about feeling cold.

I had paid for the entire month of March yet I moved out on March 6th. I received a message from Lyn in a day or so in which she said that she and Paul were in line to become Superhosts and they would appreciate it if I could give them a good review as she felt I was a good person. Against my better judgment I gave them a good review and Lyn had stated that she would review the February and March billing for the electric and get back to me about a refund. I never heard anything back so I contacted Lyn in April about my refund. She stated that she was still having jet lag (even though she had returned home about two weeks before) and that she would get back to me by the end of April.

When May arrived I then contacted Airbnb to see what I could do as I was told by my bank that I had to contact them to see if I could resolve the issue as they were the actual merchant. Airbnb checked with Lyn and their last message stated: “Thanks for your patience. I wanted to give you an update on your refund request for your reservation. At this time, Lyn hasn’t agreed to issue you a refund for the adjustment to this reservation.” I have now filed a formal dispute with my debit card issuer as I am owed for the 25 days in March that I paid for and did not receive. The only refund I received was $18.00 Canadian dollars and a $75.00 credit from Airbnb. I am owed about $840.00 Canadian dollars. It is obvious to me now that Lyn never had any intention of refunding my money and just tricked me into giving them a good review to help them become Superhosts. I feel used, to put it lightly. Basically I got ripped off big time. I will never use Airbnb again. I could care less about the $75.00 credit they gave me.

Airbnb Customer Service Handles Lack of Wifi Poorly

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I booked an apartment through Airbnb in Madrid for a long-term stay, about 60 days. I never met the host. This wasn’t a problem, as I was shown around by her friend who was also the person I was to solely communicate with about any problems. The first thing I did when I arrived was check the wifi signal, as it was listed as an amenity on Airbnb. The connection was terrible and always disconnected due to the router being three floors away and shared by a number of other guests. I told the host’s friend about this problem as well as the host herself and they mentioned that they would bring a signal booster around within the next couple of days. I waited patiently whilst delaying my work and losing some income.

Eventually the host’s friend arrived with the signal booster which we set up and tried but it didn’t make a difference at all. The host’s friend also mentioned that some guests have had problems with the wifi in the past too. After fiddling around with the signal booster by putting it in different positions for about an hour the host’s friend gave up and left. At this point I phoned and complained to Airbnb, who told me that they would help me find a new place before my next installment of £1000+ was due. However, they did not keep their promise and this forced me to cancel my booking.

When cancelling my booking the website told me the amount due was for the next 30 days; to cover myself, I paid this so that after the 30 days were up I could move somewhere else. However, this was not the case. Upon canceling my booking on the Airbnb website it stated that I must pay for the following 30 days but it didn’t tell me that I was not entitled to use the apartment for these 30 days that I just paid for. At this point, I was in such a panic and contacted the host telling them what I had done. Luckily they agreed to still let me stay (as they should – I paid for those days). During the 30 days I was staying there I complained a number of times to the host and the host’s friend as well as Airbnb and nothing was done about the situation with the wifi.

After the 30 days were up, I moved into a new place and this time talked to Airbnb to request half of my money back. After a few emails back and forth with the woman who was dealing with my case, she stated that according to their terms and conditions I am only entitled to four days of staying there as after these four days is when I cancelled… even though I paid for 30+ days and lost out on thousands of paid work. On top of this, Airbnb could clearly see in the chat log that the host was lying through her teeth as she said that I sent her a message saying that the wifi was working when there is no such message; there were only messages of me complaining about it. I am never going to use Airbnb again. I thought being a modern company they would have some ethical consideration and take things into account rather than blasting ”according to our terms and conditions” in my face.

To sum it up, I spent £1300 on an apartment for 33 days, and they told me I was only entitled to four days’ refund as I cancelled my booking to prevent myself from losing out on more paid work due to the amenity problem. If Airbnb reads this then they can be assured that they’re going to lose a lot more money than the modest refund that I requested for being screwed over by them and the host.