Bait and Switch at Airbnb in New Orleans

Posted on June 29, 2022

We arrived at our Airbnb after being moved due to an AC failure at the original place we booked. We booked it six months in advance and notified the host of the change the day before arrival. The new place at motor works is nice, but has some issues that management could have resolved and didn’t.

The refrigerator never worked and it was 100 degrees everyday; the door handle on the entrance door was falling off — that was finally fixed; the glass was falling off of the upstairs tub and that was fixed; the downstairs shower leaks into the bedroom closet and the water runs under the bed. There was no hand soap in the downstairs bathrooms, so we bought our own; there were very few paper towels and no hand towels. The beds were comfortable and the AC worked well, so I gave it one star.

A working refrigerator in 100-degree weather is a must and a maintenance man that says he will be back and actually shows up again when the door handle is practically falling off would be nice as well. We paid $200/night for the place we originally were going to stay, then they moved us to a place $200/night less with a refrigerator that didn’t work and they never replaced it like they said they would.

Airbnb removed the above review as it violated their community guidelines. I was told the host disputed the relevance of my posting the distance to a homeless camp… seems like that’s something people would want to know. As of right now we were offered a $517 refund. The difference in house pricing was $1,000 alone.

One of the Worst Things that can Happen when Traveling

Posted on May 23, 2022

Some travel bans are temporarily lifted, so I thought it would be the right time to take a chance and travel abroad. Normally I am a bit wary about using Airbnb, but since the date I was looking for was precisely during Easter, prices were pretty high as well as limited availability. So, I thought why not give this a shot? Although at the time, there really weren’t many options for these days.

I saw one that looked reasonable and I took it. What I immediately noticed that this person was already fully booked for three months and he had recently registered. I didn’t get a direct message right away, which was already a bad sign: usually hosts send a welcoming message or a thanks. As the days passed I noticed that the host rarely said anything. He was evasive, concise and slow.

Then after a week I started to worry, if this guy was fully booked then why does he only have a few reviews? The given address was also difficult to find in Google Maps and he refused to provide step by step directions. The numbers were oddly numbered and a jumbled mess. You would assume 58 comes after 57, but not in this area. Then I arrived at the exact time at the exact door, but the neighbourhood seemed very out of place and the antithesis of something that resembles U.K. architecture, reminding me more of a commie block in the former Soviet Union. It was full of Slavic immigrants and the place looked so poor that the price I paid was probably way more than the weekly rent, I am not exaggerating.

I checked the address, but it didn’t have a name tag, a buzzer and it looked more like a shed than an apartment. When no one answered the door, not only did I realize I’ve been had, but I didn’t want to stay here even if it was a real listing. I know Edinburgh quite well, only you have to keep in mind it was Easter Sunday and most hotels had no availability. Hotels that had any availability were not in the position to quote any rates they wanted. Even one that I am a regular guest with told me they were full, on which they offered me to go around to one a few streets back that had only one left for $180, saying “you want it or not?”

This is a common trick they will always play, because you are desperate and will make quick decisions. So what was left to do than to stay in the Edinburgh streets, with all your luggage, all the shops shut and without any tap water? Sit and wait as the hours pass slowly…. Happy Easter.

Fortunately it was a very great trip in Scotland with splendid stays at several great hotels — only this particular Airbnb booking was a hiccup. When I finally returned home, I found it strange that the host never emailed me. He never tried to call me either, nor were there any new messages in the chat box. No “where were you”s, or “were you alright”s.

When I asked for a refund he immediately responded and blamed me for everything. He apparently left work early and spent fuel to drive home to answer the door. Which to me, gives it all away because at first he refused to say anything, but now that I am far away at home he can after all respond within ten minutes and very detailed? Typical.

This also may seem like I went to the wrong address, but I can assure you that I’ve asked around several times where it was, and people said “Oh, that is over there.” There can be only one, and it was the address he claimed it was. It doesn’t matter if I get my money back from Airbnb or by credit card chargeback; what is important to me is that you can get scammed at any time. It will not be safe even if you look before you leap. Hosts can always claim that you didn’t show up and provide a fake address, that way they can always get away with it and Airbnb will probably side with them.

Who is going to compensate me for the lonely night in the streets without a toilet and water? Needless to say I won’t do this ever again. Have you ever heard of a hotel canceling your reservation for no reason? Have you ever heard of any hotel not opening the doors or not existing at all when you arrive?

Fraudulent Charges without Record of Receipt

Posted on May 23, 2022

Recently I was charged $2,800 by Airbnb: $1,800 for a booking and then two “mysterious” charges of $499 each which were not linked with a booking on their platform and for which I did not receive a record of receipt or any record of the charges on their platform whatsoever. Airbnb has thus far refused to provide a record or receipt of these charges. I received a refund for the charges, but was not provided any information on their basis or cause of the charges, and the charges were somehow linked with a mysterious login from California into my account. It would have been impossible to make these charges through an external login and so it must be assumed that these charges, two charges of $499 each, were made internally without cause through their payment processor.

Airbnb also erases records of logins from the consumer-facing portal once it is discovered that the login is fraudulent, thus erasing your ability to log the history of such. So I have no ability to show that the charges were associated with a separate login to my account, but I could honestly just provide this other information as well as the arbitrary nature of the booking (a booking for December made in May, seven months out). I’m considering suing Airbnb for breach of fiduciary duty.

Host and Airbnb Failed to Resolve a Nightmare

Posted on May 23, 2022

My family and I were traveling to New York for my graduation from NYU. We arrived to the Airbnb around midnight and found the room unlocked and dirty. The sheets on the beds looked slept in. They were stained with white and there was a white powder on the table as well (my six-year-old nephew was joining me the next morning and god knows what would’ve happened if he tried to taste it) The floor was unswept. There were hair balls everywhere and counters were not clean. The bathroom had been used with used towels hanging. It was entirely unacceptable.

We were tired from flying coast to coast and did not expect to arrive to a mess. I tried to contact the doorman then they told me to speak to the host. I asked the host for a solution. She offered new (not washed) sheets that we would put on the beds ourselves. I asked for a refund and she essentially said we had no choice but to stay there because places nearby were booked. I reached out to Airbnb who had me take photos and explain what had happened.

After investigating, the Airbnb support representative told me that the host told him that I had other guests that left the room in that condition when I had literally just arrived. I was appalled. My family and I immediately tried to find places to no avail. I spoke with the Airbnb representative a few times and was ready to leave but my family and I had nowhere to go and we slept on the fitted sheets of the bed. That night I was promised a refund of the nights I would not be spending there and compensation on a hotel I ended up booking.

The next day came and the Airbnb representative told me I could only get a refund for the rest of the nights and no compensation for the hotel I ended up booking, which cost me over two times more than for what I booked the Airbnb. They also tried to force my hand in authorizing a solution by saying I had 30 minutes to an hour to accept a partial refund. I tried to escalate the issue to a supervisor for which they told me I would have to wait a business day.

Airbnb hasn’t tried to assist and compensate for an experience that was unforeseen and unplanned. I came to celebrate an achievement with my family and did not expect to have to worry for my family and my safety. This entire experience cost my family sleep and plans I had with them. Two days later I am still waiting for a resolution.

Beware of Sonder Properties on Airbnb

Posted on April 30, 2022

More than a month ago I booked accommodations for my wife and her cousin in San Diego at a property owned by a group called Sonder (seems they own a lot of properties on AirBnb). About a month before the stay, I changed from my originally booked location called ‘The Baker’ to one called ‘The Leo’. This change was confirmed by Airbnb. The second property had room for two and a kitchen.

As the check-in date approached, I was concerned as I had not received an email with building and room codes. I contacted the host through Airbnb’s message center. They said the emails were going to an email other than my account email (but would not specify which: red flag #1), so they resent them. I noticed right away that the message referred to ‘The Baker’ property, not the revised property.

I contacted them again. The first agent ended the call as soon as I explained the situation (red flag #2). I called back and was told that no, the information was correct, and that although it said ‘The Baker’ on the message, the address and entry codes were for ‘The Leo’. I even messaged again and asked them to confirm again because my wife and her cousin were arriving at 11:30 PM and I did not want them to have nowhere to go.

Turns out that they outright lied. The property was still ‘The Baker’ and ‘The Leo’ was not even available as it was being renovated (red flag #3). Of course after over seven hours on the phone trying to figure this out, it is not even possible to find a room at a similar rate in San Diego on such short notice.
Sonder won’t even respond to my comment to which they lied outright.

Airbnb is working on a ‘solution’, but their solution is: no refund (the host won’t agree) and Airbnb protects them. The host will provide a substitute — yes, one that has horrible reviews and is located directly above a loud bar (property called ‘The Marin’) — but don’t worry, they will provide ear plugs and a white noise generator so you can sort of sleep. I am cancelling my Airbnb account as of today.

Airbnb Customer Service Line ‘Disconnected or No Longer in Service’

Posted on March 31, 2022

I made (and paid for) reservations for a farmhouse outside of Frederick, Maryland for a weekend stay in summer 2020 so that my siblings and their children could all be together when we buried my mother’s ashes at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick. The pandemic caused us to postpone our stay until the summer of 2021 (after paying an additional amount representing the difference between the 2020 and higher 2021 rates).

Several months prior to our 2021 stay, my brother-in-law informed me he had a scheduling conflict, and because he is a preacher and my mother specified that she wanted him to officiate at her burial, I informed my host that we had to postpone until summer of 2022. She said she had no problem as long as dates were available (and they were).

Using Airbnb’s website, I attempted to make the date change, fully expecting to pay an additional amount representing the difference between the 2021 and the higher 2022 rates. Once I started the process of making the change, the website informed me that the stated rates were only good for a short specified period of time, and if I didn’t complete the transaction within that time, the rates would go up. The problem was I could not complete the change-of-date transaction without first paying full price for the new 2022 reservation — the website was not giving me the option of applying the funds from the fully paid-for 2021 reservation.

I sent the host a message asking for guidance, and while she had always gotten right back to me prior to this moment, for some reason, I did not hear back from her prior to the transaction deadline. I went ahead and charged the full 2022 reservation on my credit card, assuming that of course, the already paid full 2021 reservation amount would be refunded to me. I wasn’t trying to rip anyone off, but at this point, I had now paid the full amount twice for a weekend stay at the farmhouse. I thought surely I’ll be refunded the funds for the cancelled 2021 stay. I mean, I was using Airbnb’s website and the host didn’t respond to my request for guidance.

I contacted Airbnb’s customer service department who told me the host had to agree to me receiving a full refund of the cancelled 2021 reservation. I contacted the host who agreed to the full refund, and I informed Airbnb’s customer service of the host’s agreement. The customer service representative explained how my full refund would consist of two amounts: the amount paid for the original 2020 reservation ($1,980.87) and the additional several hundred dollars I paid for the 2021 reservation, representing the increase in rates between 2020 and 2021. The customer service representative repeatedly used the term ‘full refund,’ which frankly were the only two words I was listening for.

Within minutes, I received a full refund on my credit card for the smaller, several hundred dollar ‘increase in rates’ amount. As the minutes ticked by and the bigger $1,980.87 amount never showed up on my credit card account, I started to get worried. When I called Airbnb customer service back, I was informed the ‘full refund’ of $1,980.87 was actually a credit for future use. I told them I’d like to take that ‘credit for future use’ and apply it to the 2022 reservation. I was told that couldn’t be done. So my promised ‘full refund’ morphed into a ‘credit for future use’ — a future use of their choosing.

Airbnb customer service did suggest a possible resolution: I could cancel the 2022 reservation and make a new reservation and apply the ‘credit for future use’ funds toward that. I pointed out that their suggestion would certainly resolve the ‘credit for future use’ funds left over from the 2021 reservation, but now I’d be stuck with a new ‘credit for future use’ from the cancelled 2022 reservation. They suggested I work it out with the host. I called the host, and explained to her what had transpired. She seemed to be sympathetic, but she asked me to have Airbnb customer service call her and walk her through the process of fixing the situation because she didn’t want to make any mistakes, which I could understand after trying to use the badly coded ‘change of reservation date’ section of the Airbnb website.

When I contacted Airbnb customer service again, I pointed out that this all could be resolved within seconds, but the customer service representative insisted it couldn’t be done. The next time I called Airbnb customer service, I got a garbled recording stating that the number I was calling had been disconnected or was no longer in service. I figured I must have made a mistake punching the numbers when I made the call, so I called again, and again got the garbled recording.

Once I picked my jaw off the floor and pondered the thought of a customer service department of a major American corporation having a disconnected number and no apparent new or forwarding number, I was at a loss; it just didn’t make any sense. Then, a truly ridiculous thought entered my head: they didn’t block me, did they? To shoot down that ridiculous notion right away, I decided to call Airbnb customer service using my landline phone and not my cell phone (the number on my Airbnb account). Bingo: no garbled disconnection message when I called using my landline.

I got into customer service — that is, if you call answering a few questions put to me by a machine and being ultimately referred to an online FAQ page as ‘customer service.’ That is pathetic: I was blocked by Airbnb customer service.

Now I know what you’re thinking: I’m a hothead and I was speed dialing into Airbnb customer service 24/7, hurtling expletives at meek and mild customer service reps. Not quite. I called Airbnb customer service maybe four times total. I was always civil, and most of the time I was simply requesting information. The most confrontational (if you can call it that) was when I was told by the customer service representative “It can’t be done” in reference to the promised full refund. I very politely pointed out that actually it could be done — it was promised. A partial refund was accomplished within seconds after the first time I called in, and a full refund of the remaining funds could be done within seconds.

So as it stands now, I supposedly have a ‘credit for future use’ for $1,980.87, even though there is nothing in my account that indicates that. I guess I’d have to contact Airbnb customer service in order to access that credit, except they blocked me. I didn’t go to business school, but I can’t imagine there’s a business school out there that teaches business people that it is better to lie to and cheat a customer — a customer who is using your services so that he can bury his mother’s ashes and turn the customer into a lifetime enemy of your company than to put in perhaps twenty seconds worth of effort to push a button to issue a refund check. Whenever I hear someone utter the word ‘Airbnb,’ believe me, I let them know of my experience with them.

Mislead by Rental Description of ‘Entire Home’

Posted on March 30, 2022

At the end of January 2022, I reserved this place under the search setting “entire cottage.” I expected this cottage to be entirely available to us for two weeks.

At the time of the reservation, there was no mention on the description that this was a four-bedroom apartment on the main floor of a house. There was still no mention in this description of a tenant living upstairs. This was information buried under a large amount of text under “house rules” at the bottom of the page.

On the reservation page, the description said only “entire home”, “entire cottage” and ” you’ll have the cottage for yourself”. The picture of the entire cottage was there on the main page. The rental also came up under a search for “entire home”. There was no mention, in the description, at the time of my rental, that this was a four-0bedroom apartment on the main floor on a house.

After a few days, I accidentally found out on the web, looking for the address, from an old sale listing, that the cottage actually has two apartments. I went back and searched on the site of the cottage and I found the “house manual” where it was indeed mentioned under a long text about house rules that usually is read just before checking-in that there was another apartment upstairs with a live-in tenant.

This is not what I wanted to rent for two weeks as a cottage retreat. By then the cut-off for free cancellations had passed by a few days. I contacted the host and told her that unfortunately the cottage is not what I had in mind when I rented, and that I would like to cancel. She said it was fine and I went on and cancelled. Then I asked if she could confirm that I can be fully refunded, given the situation. The host did not answer for three days and then I requested the refund through the resolution centre.

I was charged 1,600 Canadian dollars although I cancelled 23 days prior to check in date and the host rented the unit for the majority of the two weeks to other people. I cancelled three or four days after the cut-off date and I explained what the misunderstanding was. I was left with this huge bill for nothing, while the host got $1,600 and rented her cottage for additional income during that timeframe.

What followed was a two-month long exchange with different employees from Airbnb: ambassadors, supervisors and I was told a manager, although I could not verify that I was indeed talking to a manager. I have asked to escalate the case further at each step. I have now waited for almost another month for someone to contact me to no avail. At all these levels I was told that the host did nothing wrong, that Airbnb allows for such important information as the type of the house to be under “house rules” and that I am to respect the Airbnb cancellation policy and that Airbnb apologize for the “inconvenience” — the inconvenience being that I am left with this huge bill.

I have been made to wait, to start talking with ambassadors all over again. In one case I had to insist to have my case escalated and in the last instance the case had been closed even though I had requested to talk to a higher employee. It has been a nightmare to deal with Airbnb employees for the most part. I have asked for verification that the description did not contain the information “apartment on the main floor of the house” at the time of my rental. Nobody followed up on this.

I find this situation deeply unfair to me. I have been an Airbnb customer for ten years, have excellent reviews, and could very well be called a “superguest” if such a category existed. I know how to look for rentals on Airbnb and never had any problem. I was misled by the description on this rental property. Never in my ten years of experience was such important information — the type of lodging and whether there were other tenants — hidden under house rules.

A quick look at this category over other rentals showed that usually house rules are additional rules for when entering the house, while the description part — at the top of the page, right next to the rental details — contains all that is essential to know. I have never expected a cottage listed as “entire cottage” to have another unit in the same house.

While I understand that the host is protected under the Airbnb policy, I feel that customers are not. This is a case that might be okay by the Airbnb book, but it is a case that shows how some loopholes in the Airbnb policy can be used, intentionally or not, to mislead customers. If the host is not at fault in this case, I feel Airbnb should take responsibility and reimburse me. I also feel Airbnb should apologize to me for the way I was treated: lack of transparency for the most part, having to go in circles and explain my case all over again, no follow-up of simple verification demands.

It’s been three months of dealing with incredible frustration, loss of money, long wait times and frankly quite poor customer support and understanding.

Airbnb Bait and Switch Ruins Miami Birthday Trip

Posted on March 29, 2022

I posted a review on Airbnb of the drama but they took it down stating I posted ‘sensitive content’ but have yet to tell me what that is. The host sent me an email with an address that was not the actual address of his unit. He lied. There were multiple codes to enter the elevator and the unit that didn’t work all the time either. There were also signs posted at the elevators stating that they do not allow Airbnb.

Our flight was delayed due to weather issues. We had to overnight in Nashville. I told the host and he said to call when we arrived in Miami. A full day after our initial check-in time, we arrived. It was when I called a second time notifying him of our arrival that the host revealed that he purposefully emailed me the wrong address. The real address was two blocks away. Not only that, he said we could not all enter the building at the same time, could not bring all of our bags in at once nor could we talk to the staff. If they did speak to us, we were to say we were his cousins. The Airbnb ad also said there was free parking; there was no free parking on the street or in the building, just $45 per day.

There was pubic hair in the sheets and pee stains on the mattress. Fingerprints were on most surfaces, the light switches were dirty, there were wet towels in the washing machine, years of dust and dirt buildup in the louvered doors to the laundry closet, the bedsheets were dirty (crumbs, specks of glitter, pen and marker on sheets), and makeup marks on the doorframe of the master bathroom. The toilet cover and seat looked around 50 years old. The toilet bowl was not completely clean. There were dry food pieces in the microwave. The high chair back had no screws. Refrigerator was dirty.

There were fingerprints on the sliding glass door to the balcony that had two metal folding chairs. Blinds were missing pieces and not even long enough to cover the glass on the door that lead to the master bedroom. A few random suspect sheets to change out but nothing matched. The towels looked recycled. There were only three washcloths, recycled from a car wash I suspect.

The host had the nerve to tell us his ‘man’ who was supposed to clean did not have time to finish. How is that even possible when we were a day late? He had the nerve to ask us to wash the sheets and finish drying the wet towels. We immediately went to Walmart and picked up sheets and cleaning supplies. Beforehand he promised to reimburse us for parking, the day we lost and Walmart costs. The time we lost doing this and standing in the longest line ever can never be repaid.

We told Airbnb about these issues but the first thing they said to us was we should have called within 24 hours of check-in. How can we call when we didn’t find out until after the time expired? Despite proof of the legitimate flight delay and proof that he waited 24 hours to reveal the real address, Airbnb refused to refund us outright. Instead they said the host would have to agree. Which of course he did not. The guy even sent me a threatening text message a week after his refusal.

I put up a review, they take it down. Do they take down his bait and switch post? Nope. Airbnb is completely complicit in his scam.

I am going to pay the arbitration fee and go through the process which is required by their terms of service before you sue Airbnb. I will never use this service again. To make matters worse, the unit wasn’t even cheaper than a hotel; it was just a busy weekend in Miami and we couldn’t get anything else close by all of the events we were going to for my sister’s birthday trip.

Worst Airbnb Host Ever: Kicked Out for ‘Party’

Posted on March 28, 2022

Save yourself the time, money, and joy you will be stripped from. I’ve traveled around the world, stayed in hotels, hostels, and Airbnbs but have never in my life had such a terrible experience. What happened? Grab some popcorn, because this is a long one.

In all my years on Airbnb, I’ve only ever received five-star reviews from my hosts. Why is that? Because I’m a respectful, young adult that was raised with a sound moral compass.

The situation: I booked a stay at an Airbnb home in San Diego to take a break from work and relax for the weekend. The host had a pool, big backyard, and a nice home so it was the perfect scenario.

Little did I know that I was walking into a trap. From the moment I walked up to the house I was being watched and listened to on the ring camera and backyard cameras. Not only that, but within an hour of me being there, I get a text from the host stating that she was concerned because there was “a lot of movement” in the front yard. What was the movement? Myself and my friends unloading our groceries and bags going back and forth from the car.

Now I understand that hosts may get paranoid from time to time so I sent her a very nice text letting her know that we were simply unloading our cars. I even offered to give her a call so she could talk to me and have peace of mind that that was the case. After speaking with her for about 15-20 minutes, the host was supposedly relaxed.

The next day, we planned to sit by the pool, play corn hole, prepare some BBQ, and listen to some music from a small portable speaker. Just about what you do when you’re on vacation. To my surprise, I get a message from the host telling me that she got a noise complaint from the neighbors because we’re having a “party” and have too many guests. Keep in mind, I had let her know that during the day, we would have an additional two couples (four people) join us to hang out that were local.

If that’s a party, then don’t even bother bringing your family here because your kids might get arrested for having too much fun in the pool. Not only that, but I find it disturbing that we were constantly being watched through the camera. It felt invasive and weird. I felt like we were walking on egg shells the entire time instead of enjoying our stay.

I’ll finish with this. The host sent me a message on Airbnb mid afternoon telling me that we have to leave the property due to the complaint. No warning, Airbnb doesn’t contact me (which they have to according to their policies), nothing. So now we’re stranded in San Diego.

We end up having to book a hotel and still proceed to clean the house and grab our luggage so that it’s left in better shape that it was before. Our entire trip was ruined and on top of everything, the host is requesting $800 for “extra people and linens.”

P.S. She told us that she isn’t allowed to host vacation rentals in her neighborhood… weird.

Airbnb Asked Me to Cancel Non-refundable Booking

Posted on March 27, 2022

I booked an apartment for a week in London through Airbnb: $2,800 non-refundable because I knew I had to be there that week under any circumstances. About eight hours later, the host messaged me asking for my phone number and clarifying that the listing was for private rooms in a shared space and not an entire apartment. Then he called me explaining in detail how to cancel and request a refund via resolution center. He refused to cancel on his end because of the penalties.

I contacted Airbnb support instead of cancelling (I am not that dumb) to resolve this. They verified that canceling was the only way for me to request refund. So I cancelled even with the text ‘$0 refund’ staring at me (I am that dumb). Now I have no reservation, no refund, and can’t leave a public review against the host since I have no reservation. I am down $2,800 within eight hours — not sure about my mistake or a listing created for a scam. The host has 14 listings running in parallel for the exact same room… how many rooms does this house have?

This was his first message to me to after about eight hours:

1. You booked two private bedrooms in a shared apartment with strangers you do not know (other guests/ my co-host/ family/ friends ). There is no private entrance to the listing.

2. You will share the bathroom and other common areas with others, not from your group.

3. Shared kitchen/living area/balcony are only accessible during daytime, as written in “other things to note” and are occupied by the host.

I want to make sure you are 100% satisfied with my service, even if you change your mind about this reservation, so please tell me if you have any questions.