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.

Airbnb Refused to Refund Fees Despite Obvious Mistake!

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BEWARE OF AIRBNB!!

This is a warning and a true story of what happened to me when I rented a house using the Airbnb service.

I had a project in the USA and I rented a house using Airbnb. I found a nice 2 year old 2 bed room + garage house with a reasonable price of 105€/night. I made the deal with the house owner using Airbnb from August to December, 2015.  In November I found out that my project would last longer than the original move out date in December.  I agreed with the house owner that I would stay at the house until January 26th, 2016. Airbnb sent me an offer stating that I could continue renting the house until January 26, 2016 at the same price of 105€/night. I accepted the offer and everything was OK. Middle of January I found out that my project would not be finished earlier than February 8th, 2016. I ask the house owner if it was possible for me to stay at the house until February 8th, 2016.  The house owner said that it was OK and Airbnb sent me a new offer for the additional 13 days of renting. I was busy with my project and also very stupid and accepted the offer without checking the offer carefully.  Afterwards I noticed that the rental price had risen from 105€ to 137€. It was OK for me that the rental price increased for the last 13 days, but it is not OK that the rental price ALSO increased for the PAST 165 days from August 8th 2015 to January 26th 2016 considering I had already paid! I sent a message to the house owner to see if it was possible to correct that mistake. The house owner said that Airbnb refused to correct the mistake. I called Airbnb and the guy on the phone said that according the Airbnb policy, if the customer accepts the price it cannot be corrected by airbnb anymore.  The Airbnb agent asked me to contact the house owner to ask if I could get money back. Why didn’t Airbnb want to help a customer with this kind of obvious problem?  Instead they asked me to directly contact to the house owner… is it because Airbnb wanted to keep their additional fees?  I think so! I talked with the house owner and he agreed that I had paid $5,940 USD too much and he understood why I would like to get my money back. The house owner said that Airbnb had already taken their fee, so he could only return $4,339 USD!  I made the deal with house owner and received the $4,339 USD refund for the mistake, but I still had to pay $1,601 USD extra because Airbnb would not refund their fees!

Don’t be as stupid as I was and never accept any Airbnb offer before you have read it very carefully. My personal advice is to never ever use Airbnb’s services because the company policy is not to correct an obvious mistake if it means giving up any of their booking fees!  Please share this warning with all of your friends so nobody else will have the same problem I had.

Airbnb Hosts Destroying Bali for Cheap Profits

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Charming Bali Home, Wifi RiceFields Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. Google it, or go through the Airbnb website to find it. The accommodation is so so, but apart from the stench of pigs, not too bad for the money.  What is really terrible about this listing is the fact that the “hosts”: Jacques and Anita Goudreault are not the real hosts at all, but merely brokers (“calo”) who take advantage of local people, who are often computer illiterate and don’t speak foreign languages well.  These leeches spend most of their time and efforts looking for the next hosts, latch on and suck free money for doing nothing. They claim to be Jesus and will tell you that the world is better off, thanks to them, but they have very little regard for their fellow man and certainly don’t care about the long term consequences for a rapidly choking Bali, once a paradise, but fast becoming a heavily polluted open sewer, which fails to connect to the ocean, thanks to many tons of plastic. Criticize them and you will unleash Jacques fury, a clear sign that he knows he’s in the wrong. His playboy lifestyle is heavily supported by sucking out naive and often simple, hard working Balinese. Find the accommodation yourself and deal direct with the owner(s). Jacques and Anita Goudreault “host” many listings… Find their name linked to a property, then avoid it. Or, like mentioned above: Find the property and book it direct from the owner. Both sides will be much better off! Airbnb has no control over the rotting and contributes to the new colonial mentality of some scrupulous ex-pats who couldn’t make it in their own country….. By-pass them and make a difference.

Guest attacked by Host, Airbnb does nothing!

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I sensed something strange when I arrived. The hostess was a middle aged Italian woman called Floriana. She seemed nice at first, but immediately told me she has a cat that is very unfriendly and attacks people, so I need to shut the door wherever I go. Also, her son is staying there. None of these were mentioned in the airbnb description. Though I felt strange, I thought I could live with that. So I continued to smile brightly to her and tried to be nice to her.  At the first breakfast the following morning, she came into the kitchen, saw I was having coffee and tea in the same time. She told me I cannot have tea or coffee anytime after breakfast. Because only breakfast is included. Then she screamed at the little bit of water I just spilled on the table, not knowing how to work the kettle. She screamed to me with a very loud voice,”ah!!! Look at this! What you have done! You have to clean everything you use, ok?!” So I said I’m sorry, cleaned everything immediately. She then said “You are not allowed to be in the kitchen after 10:30am, because I have to cook for my son. You can only stay in the kitchen from 8am-10:30am, you understand?” Even though none of this was mentioned at the listing, and I would have never booked the stay if there were such restrictions, as a long term practitioner of Byron Katie’s Love and Peace belief and the philosophy of Taoism, I said to myself, it was all just me, in my own head, that I am projecting this. She is a nice person and I don’t need to pick a fight with her to ruin my stay. And so, I didn’t have more tea or coffee after breakfast, and didn’t set my foot into the kitchen after 10:30 am for the rest of my stay there.

Then on the day of my departure, my flight was at 3:30pm and I planned to leave the apt. at 1:30pm. Since she asked me about my arrival time, but never the departure time, I assumed it was quite flexible. I walked out of the apt. around 11:30, sitting at a cafe quite far from the apt. I texted her just to inform her and ask her if it’s OK that I check out at 1:30pm? She said “no, the check out time is at 11.” I wrote back, “I’m sorry, I didn’t see that earlier and normally, all the hosts on airbnb have asked me before I leave to arrange the departure.” She wrote, “It’s written on the side of your bed. How could you have not seen it? You need to come back and get your luggage.” I said, “OK, I’m sorry I didn’t see it. I’ll need 20 minutes to come back and pack my luggage. Or…I’ve already packed my luggage, you can take it out of my room and leave it in the living room. Please let me know what you prefer to do.” She wrote back. “I will move your luggage.”

When I went back, she immediately fired at me, screaming at me hysterically. Calling me blind, I don’t have eyes, i don’t say thank you, (which is really not true. I feel I’ve said the most thank you and I’m sorry in my life in these three days, also a few of them recorded on my sms exchanges with her.) She called me a bad person, and many ugly names, and did not seem to want to stop after more than 10 minutes of screaming at me. Meanwhile, her grownup son was at the apt., which added more to my fear. At first, I was stunned by the violence and anger coming from this woman, then I thought about an earlier news on NYTimes about an Airbnb user raped by his host. I realised how helpless I was in that situation. Being in a foreign country without speaking the language. Even if she doesn’t physically attack me, though it felt she could any moment, she could have called the police and accused me of some crime. And I would have no way to defend myself in a place most people didn’t speak English at all. Being a 5’3 tall, rather petite Asian-American woman, I never felt unsafe traveling the world. It is what my professional and life requires, and I was proud I didn’t have problems with it. But this time, for the first time, I was seriously scared. The best I could do was to take some short videos of her screaming at me. I think every time I raised my phone, she saw it and would quiet down a bit, walk away. You can view one of the videos here https://www.facebook.com/jenny.q.chai/posts/573688777541.   As soon as I put down my phone, she would come back and scream at me again. This went on for a few times for another while. At some point, I told her I have to use the bathroom before going on the long ride to the airport. She said “no, this is not your time anymore. You cannot use my bathroom.” I said, “I can’t even use your bathroom? I really need to go!” She then screamed to me with this abusive attitude, “say ‘thank you!’” I was too afraid that time, thought the best way would be to comply to her craziness. So I said “thank you.” She seemed to be pleased a little, so I used the bathroom. As soon as I came out of the bathroom, she started firing at me again. At a certain point she went into the kitchen, I thought I saw her coming out from there grabbing something in her hands. I grabbed my things and ran out of her apt.as fast as I could I got on a cab and was still worried that she could call the police to accuse me or harm me somehow. I called the Emergency help line of Airbnb on the cab. Broke down to tears as I was describing the situation to them. I told the representative I was so traumatised. The person was very nice. Said he will wait for me to upload my videos, meanwhile, he’ll cut the contact from that host, because for me, to hear or receive anything more from this person would add more to the trauma. Even though I appreciated the empathy I received from Airbnb, I now feel, what can they really do if terrible things happened to me in that apartment in Bari, Italy? If I were in U.S. or even China, where I speak the language, I could have called the police immediately. I would also like to take legal action to the abusiveness this person demonstrated on me. But in a foreign country, without speaking the language, and Airbnb being the official party, who operates all the way on the east coast in the U.S. while real trauma was happening to me, what could they have done?

Now Airbnb does nothing after even receiving the video.

Hosts were scam artists and AirBnB did nothing to help!

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I hosted my boyfriend’s birthday at an AirBnB cabin in a ski town in California. As all 15 of my guests were driving several hours up to the cabin we were contacted and told that our booked cabin was flooded.  Airbnb helped us find another cabin large enough to hold all 15 guests, however the new cabin cost additional $600. There was also a huge increase in cleaning fees. We had a lot of trouble with parking our cars since we were told we could park four cars and there was no parking due to a snow-covered driveway which the host had not cleared of snow. In the end, we went home frustrated but we were not too upset about the overall experience. However, several days later after I wrote a review recording that there was nowhere to park at the cabin, the host accused us of breaking a rod iron stove grate. They told us it would be $245 to replace it. I let my case manager through Airbnb know that we did not break the grate. But because I did not have pictures of the grate, Airbnb charged me the money through my deposit. After this happened I went through the reviews on yelp about the cabins rental company and discovered 10 other accusations from other guests that the same rental company scammed them out of their entire deposit. When I tried to share this information repeatedly with Airbnb I was never given any reconsideration of my situation. In the end they told me there was absolutely nothing that could be done and that the reviews on yelp had nothing to do with my case. I have rented homes all over the world but I will not go through AirBnB again.  They really didn’t care at all that there was obviously a trend where this hosting company took advantage of guests.

Another Bad Airbnb Experience… 2 for 2

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After confirming my reservation for a house in New Jersey through Airbnb, the host said she “Is not current on updating her website”, and double booked the home she rents. Airbnb took the $560.00 from my Amex after the host canceled my reservation. I had to dispute it with Amex because Airbnb takes five days to refund money they should never have received in the first place. This is my second time dealing with Airbnb and my last. The first was just as bad. They are dishonest and impossible to contact. Stay away from this company! If you have a problem, report them to the BBB, Consumer Affairs, and the FCC….I am.

Aibnb Guest Robbed -Had to Flee Town with Police Escort

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Over the last couple of years I have been a satisfied user of Airbnb with an exceptional rating. On a recent trip to a supposedly sleepy fishing village I was robbed within 30 minutes of arriving at the the house by a window left open by the hosts cleaners. When the police arrived, they basically told us “Welcome to Paternoster”, I found this quite bizarre as it’s meant to be a very quaint town where South African’s can escape the crime ridden cities of which they live and work. After contacting the host he was completely disinterested and a refund was not possible as per his terms and conditions, this meant I was stuck in a house that was invaded by criminals. A few days later some more locals tried to rob us on the beach (with knives) and we defended ourselves, this resulted in calling the police to protect us while the house was surrounded by at least 30 locals (some of which where armed) throwing rocks at us. The police had to provide an armed escort to escape this town alive. After filing a report with the police, they informed me that this is an area notorious with robbing the tourists and even the landlords are sometimes involved. The police in the last year have given up all hope of resolving the crime in the area due to the increase of drugs and “maffia” presence. At first I didn’t believe it and thought I was the only one until I read such articles as listed below: http://goo.gl/AbrI68 http://goo.gl/EoLWtg https://goo.gl/eT6L43 http://goo.gl/vmwhVd After this ordeal I contacted Airbnb for two reasons, firstly to get the ad removed to protect future travelers from the dangers of this area and secondly to request some kind of insurance. Airbnb is refusing to assist unless I provide receipts for lost goods and told me that I should research the area. Maybe I’m naive or should Airbnb offer equal protection to their customers as they do to their hosts?

VERY RUDE CUSTOMER SERVICE ON AIRBNB CHATROOM

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My wife tried very hard to contact Airbnb via their website…. there is nothing there to complain against them. We had a coupon code issue that needed help, so they put us onto a chat room where their customer service guy called Dennis typed in responses. Dennis was very rude to my wife. Saying he insulted her intelligence etc. Later when I asked to speak to someone on the phone, Dennis gave me the real phone number and we talked to a real person. The other guy managed to resolve our issue no problem. It turned out that it is airbnb’s software problem. You cannot input a coupon code on instant booking.

Regardless of the issue, there is no excuse for a customer service representative to be so rude!  I’ll be taking my business elsewhere!

Airbnb is a nightmare when something goes wrong!

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Being a host on Airbnb since 2013 with 4 houses (I have only received 2 confirmed bookings via Airbnb since I started – all my other bookings have come from other sites that look much more sufficient, honest and effective), I unluckily went on to book a flat in Paris for a month through airbnb. After a very long search around the site I managed to book a property and fully paid for it in one go as was the owner’s policy. This was done in early October for a check in on the 19th of December 2015. One day later the host came back to me asking for more money (137 eur) with the excuse that she had not considered the Airbnb commission. I refused to pay extra money so the host threatened me with a cancellation of my booking. I didn’t really believe her (it was a young girl from Morocco who apparently had not a clue of respecting my trust) – being a host myself, I have never cancelled any booking from my side. I was surprised to receive the host’s cancellation 2 days later! Airbnb hastenned to propose me other apartments more expensive and promised me a bonus of 49 eur on my behalf. I finally booked another property which cost me an extra 88 eur charged on my c.c plus the 49 eur of the bonus. You will not believe what happens since then! I receive every single week (since october 2015 and till now) an e-mail from AIRBNB that I owe them 49 eur and this is under the reference of the cancelled reservation by the host. I have sent them copies of the invoices paid with 0 balance due again and again explaining the facts to them and asking them why they keep on annoying me, but no reply from them! They keep on sending me this stupid outstanding bill and I have found no way to stop them. I had to change my c.c used by them as I am afraid that they would charge me and now they send me messaging “problem with payment” all the time! I have searched everywhere to find a real telephone number to call them from Greece but I got one in USA which will cost me a fortune. After so much trouble faced being a guest, I seriously think I will also stop collaborating with them as a host – I really feel pity for AIRBNB guests trying to deal with it. Also, the host who cancelled my reservation does not have the automatic review mentioning the cancellation – normally this should appear at the host’s profile reviews, no?  How else will future guests know what this host did?

Scammed by bastards… Airbnb does nothing.

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I’ve just tried to book an apartment in London for 4 days. The Airbnb advertisement clearly said “contact me by email.. since Airbnb is too slow”. Of course.. the app didn’t work and I’ve tried to contact them.  Then after I emailed them… everything goes all smooth as expected.  Scammer asked me some fake details… then pushed me for transfer money urgently .. and that’s the story. When I tried to see my apartment after sending the money, the advertisement and user disappeared.  Bank was contacted.. no help there.  Police also.. no help there. Airbnb.. of course.. “let’s see… we’ll report it…”.. but I guess that was the extent of their response. No word back from Airbnb.. NEVER EVER.

Tips:

1) Don’t use email ever on this kind of things.

2) Don’t rely on someone that is pushing you “It’s urgent.. etc”

3) Don’t wire your money directly to them.. (yes .. I know I was stupid.. ).

Never Airbnb again…