True story… It’s pretty simple. Just find an area with the following constraints. High demand for long-term housing (say students) where new building growth is barely none. How does it work? It boils down to the fact that Airbnb will always side with the host for cancellations. This means a host can be malicious or aggressive, and Airbnb support will cast off all complaints as a “personality conflict”. Next, even though a place may be listed with a cancellation policy as “Flexible”, any long-term rental automatically turns into a “long-term” policy in which the tenant must cancel within thirty days. Herein lies the trick and scam. Once a tenant books and cancels for any reason (e.g., personality conflict even before the date of the booking), then it is entirely up to the host’s discretion of whether or not to issue a refund. What does this mean? It means that a host can collect money even if they don’t rent out to the tenant. Additionally, the host can rent out the place to another tenant, thus earning 2x the original rate. Rinse and repeat, and the multiplier is as far as the host is willing to push the system. Real exchange from the head of customer service at Airbnb defending the host’s rude and aggressive behavior. “I am the head of this department and I’m afraid our decision is final. Please understand that is conflict took place after the reservation was already cancelled, in fact it happened because of this cancellation.” Exchange with the host where he denies receiving the money and he will be unable to find someone to book again. Even though he clearly received the money (since he must approve the refund) and the cancellation was more than two weeks before the check-in date and that in this area listing typically are filled within two days. “I have received nothing and let me tell you that it is really rude to block a room for so long and reverse it a week before. It’s interesting that you mention that you can’t afford to loose that much money, because I refused a lot of long term requests and now I loose the money (what means that the room will be empty for that time anyway I have to pay the rent). You would go ahead and rebook? WTF, do you think I will let such an irresponsible person into my home? good luck and hope you get your money back soon.” Checking on this host, he is in fact booked for the entire month. Simple and easy to pull off with no deterrant not to. In fact, it is encouraged by Airbnb head of department.
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.
Host cancelled at checkin, airbnb was useless and didn’t allow me to review her
I booked a trip to Boston for a convention about 3 months out. Hotels in the area had convention rates that made it affordable to stay in a downtown hotel but we wanted an interesting Boston experience. Well we got one. The host cancelled as we were standing outside trying to check in. My phone pinged with the alert, the host chose to ignore my repeated phone calls and attempts to contact her. Her explanation was a single email stating that she could only accommodate one person and not two but we were renting her whole apartment that is advertised for couples or small families. So 4:30pm on a Thursday, major convention downtown and a triple header Yankees vs Red Sox weekend. All hotels booked for at least part of the 4 nights at rates 5 times the airbnb place (all convention rates no longer available), and all the replacements that airbnb could find us were at least 3 times the cost and nowhere near downtown (had to be at the convention 7 am so staying close was important to us). We had to stay in multiple places to piece together the trip and spent a ton of money. I get that hosts are human and things will happen but Airbnb has no legitimate system in place to help travelers when a host doesn’t honor their commitment. And they don’t allow you to review the host if you didn’t actually stay at their place, so their star rating and reviews mean nothing. Never rent from Phoebe Fleming at 63 Melcher st Boston MA, and probably don’t ever book a trip with airbnb that you aren’t prepared to have go totally awry!
NEVER BOOK WITH JOE IN WEST LA!!!!!
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3968522?s=DhzE First of all- the loft he rents has potential to be a nice place but is so clearly not fit for airbnb guests. The parking lot is controlled by valet, there is so much traffic congestion in this area that if your not familiar you get stuck waiting 10 minutes before getting past everyone waiting to be parked, they were always seem annoyed and rude. He is definitely renting his apartment out under uncomfortable circumstances because the neighbors and valets glare at you with disgust, they obviously don’t want you there, this makes for an unsettling stay. The building has restaurants under the loft level and the entire place reeks of asian food alllllllll the time, it was nice at first but nauseating 10 minutes in. His furniture is disgusting (tacky and the pull out sofa has stains and crumbs all over it), towels are dirty and old, no privacy (you can hear everything through the walls, including a really loud fan on the roof that runs all night and makes everything shake) I left a huge detailed review and AIRBNB DELETED IT!!!! This was the worst allocation of vacation money I have ever spent, next time I’ll just stay at Holiday Inn, lesson learned.
Ultra Terrible Airbnb Dublin experience – worst night ever and no refund
My wife and I booked a 4 night stay at an apartment in Dublin with a host called Alan. The reviews looked good – all the facilities we wanted were listed. Alan was not there, we were met by a friend with a key. When led into the appt there were two students in residence – unexpected to us and the key owner as we were to them. The key holder beat a hasty retreat.The apartment smelled very bad – a bit like a cross between a gym and the dustbin. There was no electricity in the kitchen, no lights in the living room. One of the students was sleeping on the couch. There was no one to contact or ask – Alan was absent. We left after one night after having paid for 4. We tried to get a refund from Alan but no joy. Airbnb got involved – still no refund though airbnb gave us a token £27 refund ( we paid £217 in total). This was the worst night we have ever had anywhere and our advice is not to touch airbnb. Coppo
Airbnb house from hell – and terrible customer service
It is very difficult to find a short term rental house in Southern California. I was working with a local So Cal realtor to help us find a short term rental and this house was the only thing she found at last minute. Every place else she checked with wanted at least a one year lease. She asked to see the house ahead of time so she could check it out for us, but Rose would not allow her to. Still, we reserved it because we were desperate to find a short term rental house and nothing else turned up for us. The house is advertised as cozy and newly remodeled. Have you ever seen the movie, “The Money Pit”? Compared to this house, the money pit house was a real keeper! So, we came here May 23rd, 2015 intent on staying thru August 31, 2015. The house was a disaster from the moment we arrived. But, we were stuck between a rock and a hard spot with regards to finding temporary housing. So we decided to stick it out and work it out with the AIRBNB hostess.
The following is the list of what we encountered in this appallingly filthy and wretched house.
THE REFRIGERATOR/FREEZER The refrigerator/freezer was scummy on the outside and even scummier on the inside. You know when packaged meat and fish thaw and leak that smelly and sometimes bloody liquid out of the package? There was so much of it all over the inside of the fridge and freezer that the glass shelves were stuck like glue to the plastic shelf holders. It stunk like hell. It took us over an hour to clean it with bleach and 2 rolls of paper towels. It actually crossed my mind that we might quite possibly find body parts in the freezer. The refrigerator was not only grotesquely filthy, it didn’t work! We threw a lot of food and milk out because they spoiled in the refrigerator. We couldn’t store any perishables in there. We kept the milk in the freezer to keep it from spoiling. We tried to keep ice-cream in the freezer, but it melted by the end of the day…while in the freezer. The refrigerator and freezer would get very cold and then thaw out, randomly. It was very temperamental, kind of like a female in serious need of hormone replacement therapy. It drove us bonkers!
THE DISHWASHER We wanted to put the refrigerator shelves in the dishwasher to sanitize them, but when we went to start the dishwasher, water shot out of the kitchen sink and sprayed all over the kitchen countertop, spilling down the face of the cupboards, into the drawers and all over the floor. The first repair guy came and looked at it but didn’t run a whole cycle to see if it worked properly. He said we could use it though, so we loaded it up with dirty dishes and ran the cycle. No water was running thru the cycle. He came back a second time to look at it and said that it just doesn’t work and he couldn’t repair it. Then another repair guy came a couple weeks later and fixed it. It took more than one month before we had a functional dishwasher. Even then, it still was not secure in its frame so that whenever we opened it to empty clean dishes, the bottom tray rolled out with a force from the weight of the dishes.
THE FRONT DOOR/KEYS We got one key for the front door. Not only did Rose never give us a second copy, but she asked to borrow our key from us a couple of times because she had lost her own copy. The key was useless for a couple weeks anyhow, because when we went to turn the handle to open the door, it fell off and landed on my foot. Ouch. We tried to put it back but it wouldn’t stay in place. For several days, we had to go in and out the back door of the house because the front door would not open from the inside or outside.
THE AIR CONDITIONER We were told not to let the temperature of the house go above 75 degrees or below 73 degrees. We have no problem with that, but it didn’t matter, because the AC unit didn’t work anyhow. It is at least 20-25 years old and very poorly maintained. When we complained to Rose that the house was hot and it was hard to breathe indoors, she said we should turn the AC off because the electric bill was too high and that we shouldn’t be running it 24/7. Never mind the fact that this is So Cal in July and it’s consistently in the high 80’s or 90’s every day. We were asked by our lovely hostess to shut the AC unit off IN ADDITION to being guilted about the electric bill. (eye roll)
THE WINDOWS The house faces East-West and in the front, there is a huge window; so big that the wall around it is more like a frame for the window. There was absolutely no covering on it. When I asked Rose about this, she said I could use a sheet and nails to cover the window and that blinds would be installed in early June. This was in late May that she said this. As of the writing of this critique July 19, 2015, there are still no blinds on any windows! The sheet she was referring to for use over the window with a few nails in the wall was crumbled up in the dining room cabinet. I picked it up with the tips of my thumb and index finger and held it at arms length, but it was still abundantly clear to me that a wet dog would have smelled better than this sheet. It was mid July before she hung flimsy, and somewhat transparent curtains over the windows. Thanks Rose. That helps the heat and lack of privacy problem about as much as a good bottle of Russian vodka helps a recovering alcoholic.
THE BATHROOM SINK/TUB/SHOWER/TOILETS There are 2 bathrooms in this house. Both of them were repulsively filthy and unkept. In the 1st bathroom,there was a very thick ring of caked on dirt around the inside of the tub, mold and mildew inside around the the faucet and drain and in the grout lines; you know…not just old, but filthy. The rug on the floor stunk of BO. There was hair and dust on the floor, especially in and around the toilet. The inside of the toilet was filthy with urine stains under the seat. I could not find a toilet brush, so I went out and bought one, along with a soap dispenser, small trash bin, some new towels(because the towels in this “fully furnished” house were stained with… I don’t know…not sure I want to know.) The shower in the 2nd bathroom was old and grimy looking also with mold and mildew in and around the stall. The towel rack falls of the wall under the weight of…yep, a towel. The toilet was even older and dirtier looking than the other one. The sink and the tub in the 1st bathroom does not drain efficiently AT ALL. I complained about this to Rose in late May. Again, as of the writing of this critique, still nothing has been done about it. I bought and used 2 large bottles of drano, and still no improvement. I reported this to Rose also…so far…still no response.
THE MATTRESSES/PILLOW/LINENS The sheets, pillows, and mattresses are torn and urine stained. When I told Rose about the pillows, she attributed that to having washed them with the sheets! I bought 4 new pillows and Rose provided 5 more. I also bought blankets, sheets, and curtains for the bedrooms for our use. I would be happy to leave them if she wants to reimburse me for them.
THE WATER PRESSURE The water pressure in the kitchen sink comes and goes. When it goes, the water comes out slow and very cloudy. It looks like very watery milk.
THE INCH THICK DUST ALL OVER EVERYTHING In general, the ceiling fans(the ones that work as well as the one that does not work) are all covered with inch thick dust. But its kind of cute…because it matches the floors and the furniture. (yuck)
THE BEDROOM DOORS The bedroom doors are these sliding boards that are improperly hinged to some phantom hardware. You cannot open and close them because if you try to, you will hurt your self and possibly break the door even more than it already is.
THE PEELING PAINT You can tell by just looking at the built in wardrobes and the doors that a lot of stuff in this house was just painted over with what I’m guessing is not the best quality paint. It’s literally peeling off, sometimes in small sheets.
It took me 8 phone calls to get decent AIRBNB customer service. By that time I had been through the mill with this whole experience. And the absolute worst customer service was the initial case manager that was (finally) assigned – some narcissistic twat named Bill who, IMO, should be shot, execution style.
Rejections, Speculation and Waiting for nothing
Yesterday I tried to book a room in Zagreb. The first request was rejected and the host sent me a message telling that he forgot to update the price. The second rejected my request with no message and the third wasted me three hours waiting and finally I decided to cancel the request and book a room through booking.com. It’s my first and last time on airbnb.
Avoid Diana in Astoria, Oregon at all costs
Tons of red flags from the first email response from Diana in Astoria, who rents her upstairs attic room. Saying that I must be “new to this,” she scolded me for not writing a more detailed intro description of me and my family and our reason for being in Astoria. I added more info and she accepted us. We agreed on a 5 p.m. check-in time. Driving up from Lincoln City, I contacted her before we left informing her we would be leaving a bit later than expected and said we should be in Astoria at 5:30. She responded via email: “5:30 is no problem. Thanks for letting me know in advance.” The drive up took longer than we thought. Lots of one-lane roads with slower vehicles, lots of twists and turns. We went as fast as we could and did not stop for anything. About an hour out of Astoria, we called her to let her know we were going as quickly as we could, but were estimated to arrive in Astoria at 6. Below is her email response: “Got your vm. Not happy about it, but I’ll see you at 6pm. Please be more respectful of a host’s time in the future, especially when you have asked for a special check-in time. This is not a good way to start as a guest. I know this is your first time with Airbnb, so it’s a learning experience. I would be less frustrated if you had asked if it was okay to change the time and had asked me in advance, rather than messages throughout the day *telling* me that the plan had changed. It feels very disrespectful and inconsiderate, and not a good way to start. I will see you at 6pm. If it’s going to be later than that, please tell me now so we can make a decision about whether this is going to work. Thank you in advance for respecting my time as a host.” My wife read her response as I drove. We were shocked, upset and especially angry about her inferring that she might not accept us if were came any later than 6. My response: “We’re in Seaside right now. We’re going as fast as we can,” to which she responded, “I’ll see you when get here. We can just start again. I know you guys are new to airbnb. Thanks for understanding. I’ll be in the garden. See you then. We drove as fast as we could and arrived at 6 on the dot. We found Diana puttering around in her backyard with her dog. She was visibly upset and agitated. She acknowledged us, but citing difficulties with her dog’s surgery, she quickly and repeatedly reminded us how important it was that we be on time. My wife and two kids and I stood and listened to her prattle on about her dog and about needing to “reset” herself. She was about to put the dog in the house and show us around when she stopped, looked as us looking at her and said, “are you ok?” I said “yes.” She said that other guests who have come late normally offer an apology of some kind. She mumbled something about it not working out with us. I responded, saying that her email beat down was inappropriate and hostile and because of that, I didn’t owe her an apology. I reminded her that we were considerate enough to keep her informed every step of the way about being late, got there as fast as we could but because of traffic, were delayed. I said I was very annoyed that she inferred she might not take us in and I said that it might not work after all. Hearing this, she backed off a bit, saying that had lots of errands that day and was counting on us being on time. She talked about “reseting” and “starting over,” but when I said we were only 30 minutes late, she lost it. She started yelling at us on her doorstep calling me obnoxious and inconsiderate. After we argued back and forth, I asked for a refund. She refused. I said then she needed to let us in to our room. She refused. My wife said she was not honoring our agreement and that we already paid for the room. She said something about being a lawyer and told us to take it up with Airbnb. I protested, she yelled at me and my family to get off her property and slammed her door in our face. Luckily we found a decent, similarly-priced hotel room in the city. I immediately called Airbnb and explained my story. She listened, called Diana for her side, called us back 10 minutes later telling us that Diana’s side of the story was different than mine, said she is a great host with great reviews but after reading Diana’s emails, granted us a full refund on the spot. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Diana would have had us on egg shells had we stayed, not something I wanted on a family road trip to Seattle. My final email to her: Diana – your unprofessionalism and inflexibility today as a host was shocking. And your refusal to grant us a refund was unprincipled, something airbnb obviously agreed with by granting us a full refund. Your new at this – don’t lecture potential clients and don’t do this unless you can handle some measure of uncertainty that travelers sometimes encounter. Chill out! The rest of our stays in Airbnb locations in Seattle were wonderful. Hosts were kind, flexible and accommodating, as they should be. Had I not gotten the refund I deserved, I would never use their service again.
Wow, my tenants have a 5 star Host rating!
I’m not a Guest. I’m not a Host. I’m a LANDLORD. And yesterday I received a call from one tenant at a duplex that the other tenants suddenly have a lot of guests in the past month. And the latest guest has been there all week while the tenants are GONE! Turns out that couple has been subleting out my property thru Airbnb. Their 31 reviews in the six weeks average almost 5 starts because the property is so nice! The couple is now being evicted and I pity those who have booked thru September because Airbnb doesn’t think they should refund you. LOL The story is way complicated but pay attention -AIRBNB DOES NO CHECKING ON HOSTS OR GUESTS SO IF YOU ARE STUPID ENOUGH TO USE THEM YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE.
Lucky I found AirBNB Sucks only a little late
I consider myself lucky that I didn’t actually book with this outfit. It’s my own fault for not doing the research myself and relying on the opinion of others. I tried to book 2 rooms for the weekend, racked up close to $800 in authorizations on my credit card before I realized something was terribly wrong. Each “hotel” waited nearly 12 hours and promptly denied my request. “I should have blacked those days out”. I bet you! Don’t book with this company. Save yourself the hassle.
Chicago 4th of July Nightmare
The host for my stay at a luxury condo in Chicago over 4th of July weekend told me that if I didn’t accept an unsolicited offer for a ride from the airport, I couldn’t stay at his place. I know what you’re thinking, I have “negative energy” for not accepting such a gracious offer from the host even though they asked for my credit card information, well that’s what the host said. It was a nightmare as I was on the way from the airport in a cab to the place when he refused to host me so I had to reserve a two nights in the only hotel in town that had availability: the four seasons. That’s right it cost me a fortune but it ended up being great at the hotel. I will never use Airbnb again!