Blood on Sheets Made us Leave Airbnb Early

Posted on August 28, 2018

On March 21st this year my niece, her husband (visiting from the UK), and I stayed at an Airbnb property in Merimbula NSW. On arrival we were horrified to find blood on the bedding in the main bedroom. I rang the host who sounded genuinely horrified and asked if I could send photos, which I did. She called back and said she was unable to help as she was in the Blue Mountains but said she would give us a full refund.

We spent a very uncomfortable night at the property, as we had no other options. There was no clean bedding in the unit and thus we had to make do by sleeping on a spare doona cover. It was very unhygienic, unsettling and totally unacceptable. Despite both myself and my niece repeatedly trying to contact the host since March by telephone and email, she has not responded and no refund has been received for our stay, as she had promised. This was extremely poor on her part and I would urge anyone considering a stay here to find somewhere else. The host should not be permitted to continue to offer this property for use. Extremely disappointing.

Creepy Airbnb Neighbor Spies on my Daughter

Posted on August 27, 2018

I couldn’t make this up if I tried. My daughter had used Airbnb in Paris the year before and she knew how to navigate the site, so we asked her to make our reservation. We made our reservation in September 2017 for July 2018. We flew into Paris after a week’s stay in London (also an Airbnb stay). We called our host once we landed as requested in writing by the host. We took a taxi and were about 20 minutes late due to traffic.

Our host then proceeded to chastise my daughter for our tardiness because she was late getting back to work (her ad stated the check-in time was flexible) and she was informed while we were in the taxi of our arrival time to her flat. Our host gave us keys at the bottom of the stairs to the flat and a magnetic key to work the entrance door. She asked my daughter to follow her upstairs to explain the air conditioning, electrical and door lock. We were told to stay downstairs.

Our host then came racing back downstairs with a large bag full of trash and then proceeded to explain to us where to take the rubbish when we left. When I entered the unit, I saw dirty footprints on the bathroom floor and black hair in the sink. The bathroom mirror and tiny sink had crusty residue from previous guests. I ended up cleaning the shower, sink, mirror and floors before we could use. The shower was gross and in desperate need of re-caulking due to mold stains.

The flat was four flights up (not the two stated) with steep and narrow steps. There was a hot plate and two sets of dishes (for three guests). Not a kitchen as stated in the Airbnb ad. There was no air conditioning. There were two small electrical upright fans. The mini fridge didn’t stay cold enough to keep perishables fresh for more than half a day at best and was next to the far wall. We had to open the windows of the studio flat to get air into the tiny unit.

The neighbor one floor up would sit in a chair and stare into our flat while his cigarette smoke had no where else to go but from his window into out flat. The walls between the atrium were about 12 feet apart and our only two windows faced the apartment directly across from us. It was disgustingly humid and we ended up opening the windows in an attempt to cool down the room.

My oldest daughter woke up from her futon “bed” to find the neighbor staring at her from his open window while she slept. When my daughter caught him, he laughed and made a disgusting gesture which I witnessed and pulled the curtains closed over the two windows. He followed this behavior up with us having to listen to him and his partner have sex. I ended up closing the windows and hurried my girls out the door to find breakfast somewhere. It was close to 6:30 in the morning. This jerk pulled the same thing the very next morning. No lie. At least this time I didn’t let my daughter sleep in her underwear.

We thankfully had a flight to catch and needed to be out of the unit by 6:30. So, my best advice to you is do your homework when booking an Airbnb. Read all reviews from all sites that your unit may be posted on. My daughter told me the next day that the owner had taken her ad off the website. Looks like she made enough money off of us to make some repairs. Paris was beautiful but this Airbnb was disgusting in every way.

Aggressive Airbnb Host Falsely Advertising Lakeside House

Posted on August 27, 2018

We made a reservation for four nights at a lakeside house in Langstini, which the host advertised as having free wifi (and I have the screenshot to prove it); this was essential for us. When we arrived and asked about the wifi he said he decided to disconnect it because he thought people should appreciate nature and not be addicted to the internet. He was talking in a very aggressive way so I didn’t want to argue with him and tell him he couldn’t change the terms after he promised something. It’s also not his job to educate us, so I just told him that it’s crucial for me to have the wifi for my work, for our trip planning and most of all because I have a son at home who has some problems at the moment – I needed to be in touch with him.

He said that tomorrow he would give us the wifi, but only for WhatsApp, not for media. That evening the wifi stopped working and when we told him he just said “I told you it’s just for WhatsApp. Now if you want more you’ll have to pay for it and charge it at the gas station.” I found this very unacceptable: not because of the the money but because he actually lied about the wifi and I don’t have to waste time during my vacation looking for the specific gas station where I can charge his wifi.

That wasn’t all: the place was filthy, with hair and dust everywhere (he said the cleaning lady couldn’t come). The beds weren’t ready and I had to put on all the linen; not all of them were the right size. There wasn’t enough hot water for the shower and on the third night when my daughter was in the middle of a shower the electricity and the water stopped and we were left in darkness. We wrote to him (he wasn’t there) and he didn’t respond at all. The water and electricity returned after about an hour but he never contacted us.

Worse than anything was his attitude: he was always inpatient, arrogant and vulgar, like he’d really prefer we weren’t there at all. Even when he explained about some places we wanted to visit and I asked something he started to shout: “Are you gonna listen or not?!” My son got really scared from his shouting.

He also entered our room whenever he wanted without knocking on the door. We really felt uncomfortable there and after the incident with the water and electricity my kids didn’t want to stay there anymore. I also didn’t feel that we had to feel so bad during our vacation that we waited, planned, and saved for so long, so we decided to leave after the third night.

I’m not asking for refund for the nights we stayed, although he clearly didn’t fulfill what he promised and didn’t provide what he was supposed to. His attitude was terrible, and I think we definitely deserve a refund for the night we didn’t stay because we just couldn’t suffer anymore.

Airbnb did not transfer money to host, booking was cancelled

Posted on August 26, 2018

Well this is a strange one as I never even made it to my holiday. I had booked an apartment in January 2018 at the same time Airbnb had started up their new “pay less up front” system. I had funds in my bank but decided to take advantage of this feature because the booking was eight months away. Everything was fine and the initial payment for 50% of the full bill went through when booking.

However with time passing I had my payment method bank card lost/stolen in July, just a month before my trip. Now my future holiday was not on my mind at this stage, the only thing on my mind was to cancel my bank card and order an updated one. I still thought all was well and Airbnb next contacted me shortly before my trip to state they had been unable to take payment via the ‘cancelled’ bank card that was still on my account. The email simply told me to “update my payment method” so this would be seamless: I had my new bank card so I logged in, added a new card number to my account, and set the card as the “default” payment method.

Now was the time to get excited by my upcoming holiday… wrong. Airbnb never tried to take payment from this updated card. The email that had told me to update my card details forgot one important thing – “they would not be taking any notice of the new details so unless I got in touch with them my booking would be cancelled.”Well I assume that is what was left off the email as the days elapsed and whilst I thought money had been transferred it had not. The day came a week or so later where by I got an email to notify me that my booking had been cancelled due to non-payment of the final installment.

What an absolute joke of a system. Offering a split method of payment feature but having no system in place to take money from an account via a different payment source than the first installment. It is beyond ridiculous. I immediately contacted the German host who told me I had “cancelled” the booking. I explained the stupidity of the above and she seemed to take notice. She notified me that she would contact Airbnb to find out more after I asked her to keep the dates of my upcoming booking available for me, as the money was in my account ready to be sent.

Unfortunately after this I was met with an eery silence from my host. Her apartment had now been strangely ‘de-listed’ from the website. I presumed this was my host protecting my booking making it impossible for anyone else to book the dates. The de-listing of the apartment lasted more than 48 hours before it resurfaced. I initially asked my host if she had an update for me but was greeted with further silence. Then later on when I looked at the calendar my dates had been ‘re-booked’ by another customer.

My money had been swiped from January and under Airbnb’s rules I had cancelled. The fact remains I had not cancelled and Airbnb had failed in their duty to act as the agent and make sure payments were made. I had finally found an email address for Airbnb during this debacle before I had found out my host was busy recouping money from duplicate bookings on her property. They were quick to respond and notified me via a voicemail on my mobile and via email that they would try and resurrect my booking and send payment to my host.

Unfortunately they soon realised my host had re-booked the apartment and decided to deaf me from there on in despite further emails to them to ask for the situation to be fixed. Ultimately I have currently lost £319.68. My host benefitted mainly from this but Airbnb took their percentage without any thought and have laughed at my requests for a refund of any money.

I opened a resolution centre request for a refund. My host told Airbnb I had cancelled so was owed no money, and Airbnb closed the case straight away. I have used Airbnb with no problems in the past, but if they are going to offer new payment plan options and not have the resources to make sure these are bulletproof then they should not be offered. There was no excuse for my cancellation booking and failure to provide the rightful compensation that I am now owed.

As all this occurred only a few days before my intended trip I had to book hotels at the last minute costing a further £600 on top of the funds Airbnb and my host had received. They do not believe they owe me a penny. Their customer support replied to none of my messages after their initial contact to ‘rectify the booking with my host’. I have full evidence of everything but no way of raising legal action to this company. The only method I can use is to contact various media outlets and show their company up as inefficient, customer ill-friendly and greedy.

Did I even mention that on my morning of arrival at my destination city of Berlin my host contacted me via WhatsApp to ask for a ‘suitable time to meet’? How amusing – she was in such a rush to take my money she had forgotten to rearrange her booking plans and contact numbers. On the first day of my holiday I was left with the option to reply and arrange a meeting to cause her problems, or just ignore her and try and enjoy what was now the most expensive short break I’d been on in my life.

Airbnb owes me the entire amount they received directly from me and they should be compensating me for my host’s greed. Hopefully telling this story will help make others aware of the greed of some hosts and the incapability of Airbnb to provide an efficient, stress-free holiday booking service. I will not be using Airbnb again unless this matter is resolved to my full satisfaction.

Edinburgh Fringe Hell After Last-Minute Cancellation

Posted on August 26, 2018

I booked a central location for myself and eight actors for the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe on October 13th, 2017. All was good until four days before the largest arts festival in the world, I got a message from Airbnb saying my reservation had been cancelled: no apology, no reason, and a mere £100 compensation to find somewhere else for nine people, four days before the festival.

I phoned the host who told me Airbnb hadn’t charged festival rates so I had to pay an extra £1,600 if I was to stay. I then phoned Airbnb who constantly read from a script, thus never giving me a clear answer. They constantly put me on hold and hung up on me on five occasions, only for me to go through the whole process again.

Three hours later, at 2:30 in the morning, I finally got a call from a case manager who told me not to worry and they would find me somewhere. They also told me to keep looking myself. Two days passed and I didn’t hear a peep from them. This was at a time when accommodation for so many at a festival for my cast number was constantly getting rarer and more expensive. I finally (and very luckily) found a place costing an extra £650 out of town, meaning I also had to pay for each cast members travel expenses.

I emailed the host saying how disgraceful they had acted and they replied immediately saying I could still have the room at the original price… too little too late. They informed me it was Airbnb who had made the cancellation with no explanation to them and to me. Throughout the Fringe Festival, on top of performing in two shows and producing and directing one, I emailed Airbnb on four occasions with no response.

After the festival I phoned once more to be told that the case manager wasn’t responding but my case is of urgency so they will find me a new case manager who will phone me in 24 to 48 hours. Still no response. I contacted Trading Standards who told me to email them saying they had clearly breached my consumer rights. I emailed Airbnb; two days later there was still no response. I phoned them and spoke to someone yesterday who said my case is ‘urgent priority’ and she will continue to pursue my case manager and let me know by the end of her eight-hour shift or today.

I still haven’t heard a thing. This spat between the host and Airbnb should not have affected me as I paid the said amount nine months in advance. They should have honoured this but instead have made me suffer both mentally and physically on top of all the other work I had going on at the festival. They ruined my experience as I could no longer afford to network and eat as I had planned due to my losses. They have also wasted a lot of my time.

Terrible host was ready for us to check in at 11:08 PM

Posted on August 24, 2018

Our Airbnb host informed that he would be abroad during our booking dates but we did not need to be worried because he would have a friend who would come to give us a key and was in contact with the cleaner. When we got there, no one was around. We could not find his place following his directions. We had to text him so he gave us all the details and all the codes that he had not given to us. When we got in his place, it was dusty and dirty. There were even leftovers in the refrigerator. The check-out time on his profile was about noon and the check-in time was about 2:00 PM, giving him about two hours for cleaning.

He informed us that after the previous guest checked out, a cleaner had not come in to do the cleaning yet. He asked us to open the door for the cleaner at 3:00 PM. The cleaner spoke Russian; we did not. I texted him to send someone to stay with the cleaner so we could go out to do our travelling and come back when everything had done. He informed us that he had no one. Since there was nobody there, we had no choice but to become the cleaner’s supervisors.

When the bed sheets, pillow cases and blanket covers were done in the washing machine, I asked him for the dryer. He informed us that he had none so the cleaner hung them in the middle of the room to let them dry. They were soaking, with water dipping on the floor.

Time passed until 7:00 PM came around. Then the cleaner finished her work. The host informed us he wanted us to help him by paying the cleaner, and he would return the money to us later. We did not want to get involved, so we had to refuse. The cleaner looked at us with her sad eyes. It is one of the most terrible memories that we have to carry with us in our life.

It was about 7:30 PM. We informed him that we did not have clean and dry bed sheets, pillow cases and blanket covers to use for the night. I informed him that we cancelled the booking for his place and let him know that we would leave the room key at the same place that we got it. He asked for two more hours to solve the problem of the wet sheets.

When the two hours passed, we left the room. We did not get even one single contact from him between about 7:30 PM to about 9:30 PM. We looked for a hotel and checked in at about midnight. I found out later that at 11:08 PM, he texted us that there was clean and dry bedding in his place. He could provide us a proper place to sleep in at 11:08 PM, about nine hours after the about 2:00 PM informed check in time. He informed us that according to his cancellation period rules in his profile, we cancelled the booking on the check-in date, so we would get no refund.

The good, fair and prudent rules and regulations should not protect the one who did wrong. He made mistakes in his job as a host. He needs to take responsibility. While he was on his vacation abroad, we were suffering and being burdened during our vacation in Moscow because of him. We are contacting Airbnb and asking them to investigate the case for getting us a full refund.

Airbnb Host Does Nothing About the Lack of AC

Posted on August 23, 2018

I was flying into SoCal for business. It was hot that summer. The host confirmed I was coming in after midnight. It was a second floor walk-up. She had the windows all closed up, and it was hotter than hell in there. I opened the window and plugged in the wimpy fan across the room because the cord was too short to place it near the window.

After an hour of trying to air it out, it was still 90 degrees in there. There was no way I was going to get any sleep in that stuffy room. I left her a note that I couldn’t stay for the above reasons. I posted a two-star review that the host could’ve opened the window to air it out a bit, and/or turned on the fan before my arrival, knowing it was so hot in there. The carpet was also quite dirty and dusty. It’s just not a great place to sleep. The host had some nerve to send me this nasty message in response to my objective review.

Problems with Airbnb Platform, then Customer Service

Posted on August 22, 2018

I had an issue with the Airbnb app so this is a horror story about that. I was trying to book one night somewhere I was passing though and wanted to check out the outdoor scenery for a day. The app kept saying error every time I’d click to the end to book. I found out apparently two of the places were booked, but I wasn’t made aware they had even been booked.

I didn’t stay at either of them; I ended up at a hotel instead. Now I am being charged for two places on the same night, neither of which I ever visited. Airbnb is being monumentally unhelpful. The first time I called, the “customer service” lady hung up on me while I was talking. Then I talked to some guy that supposedly opened a case and I could message him on the site. I messaged and got no response in over twelve hours.

I just called again a few minutes ago and got a dial tone then an auto hang up. I really feel like this is a legitimate scam and not just a tech problem. If this isn’t a scam like I suspect I hope their whole customer service department gets fired and replaced.

Huge Damages to Property After Guests’ Stay

Posted on August 21, 2018

Airbnb “vetted” a group of people to stay in our home for one month. When their stay was over, the cleaning people refused to clean after them. I went in to clean. I found bags of drugs (pot, etc.), broken lamps, broken bar stools, and broken chairs at the dining table. The furniture had been moved around and was broken (bed frame, book shelves). There were four 55-gallon trash bags full of liquor bottles and beer bottles in the house. The refrigerator had not been emptied. It was stuffed full which had to be thrown away by me. The inside lamps had been taken outside and plugged in. They were damaged from the rain, and could have caused a fire.

Airbnb’s response was that we would have to buy new stuff and turn in the receipt in 14 days, or we could not be reimbursed for our damages. How do you replace a bar stool in a matching set? How do you match a chair in a matching set, if it’s no longer made? I truly hope Airbnb reads this post. My lake home is special to me, and I just wanted to share it with others so they could have a positive experience.

These people (and many others who weren’t as bad) were not vetted. Animals would have been preferable to these “things” in my home. Also, Airbnb won’t allow you to charge an upfront deposit fee to take care of damages. Airbnb and I are about to be done. I hope Airbnb loses many customers, and I highly caution anyone thinking about doing this to consider other options. I’m about to. Thank you for allowing me to vent.

Hell’s Kitchen, Airbnb Nightmare Apartment in NYC

Posted on August 20, 2018

I just got back from four days in NYC. I rented an Airbnb from two guys who had an apartment in Hell’s Kitchen (okay, should have given me a clue). Upon arrival everything seemed okay; there were no dirty dishes in the sink, and the toilet looked clean enough. THe tub was stained, but acceptable (not taking any bubble baths in it anyway, so sufficient for showering).

However, upon closer inspection, I came to discover that the whole place was filthy. Dirty dishes were left in dishwasher (no dishwasher fluid to clean them with either). The couch was stained, and there were stained, dirty duvets and sheets. Sheets were crumpled and did not appear to even be clean. Baseball-size balls of hair and dust were around the entire apartment, especially on the baseboards and beds. There was a repulsive oven (it set off smoke alarm when we tried to use it) complete with an old hard, burned French fry, and a dirty refrigerator.

The list went on and on. We stayed in a tent in the Sahara Desert once that was cleaner than this place. I immediately texted the owner (he didn’t respond to us, so called another guy in charge) that a cleaning crew needed to be called. Of course, we were assured that one would be there first thing in the morning. We used the towels – that did seem clean – to cover the pillows and ourselves so we could sleep. Suffice it to say that the “cleaning crew is coming” lie was told to us for three days.

The final night the guy texted us at 9:38 PM wanting to send a cleaning crew. In retrospect we should have said yes, as my guess is he was bluffing then too, but trying to cover his #$%. By that time we had bought new sheets after hiking over two miles to BBB and back. Finding this was no easy task in NYC. Quite pricey too, as there’s no Walmart in NYC.

When I got my invitation to post my review, I was loaded. Like I said in my review, I’ve seen animal cages that were cleaner than this apartment. Every night when we returned to the apartment because we’d left for the day – so this magical cleaning crew could appear while we were gone sightseeing for the day, as we had been told over and over by the host – only brought more disappointment, frustration and a string of phone calls to the host and Airbnb. We came to believe that the elusive “cleaning crew” must have lived in the land of the unicorns and lost their metro passes because they never came.

I just got a review from the host. I use that term loosely, as it implies that these guys did something to treat us as guests. He slammed us (me) with a vicious lie saying that we put our used linens and towels in the bathtub (no exit instructions so we called Airbnb and told them what we were going to do; they okayed it. What do you do with dirty linens and towels anyway? This is what we do at a hotel) and urinated on them. What kind of sicko mind can even come up with a defense that gross? Of course you can’t photograph this and he knew that we were staying with a child – pretty low buddy, blame the kid. Little does he know that this child is not a “child,” but a mini-adult who definitely does not wet the bed if that was his implication.

Anyway, I was pretty much pleased with Airbnb for giving us a full refund and eventually resolving our complaint, but it did take five different reps and a lot of phone calls. I also had a lot of pictures (that I really don’t want to post in case I need them for further action) and evidence to present. Even though I probably won’t use Airbnb again, I can say that I’m overall satisfied with Airbnb. It still makes me mad that these guys are out there, ruining other people’s vacations.

Even after this review, they can just list under other names and open new accounts? And the reviews? These guys were Superhosts with 21 positive reviews. It’s not like I didn’t do my due diligence. Buyer beware. All I can say is the next time I’m in New Orleans I’m buying two voodoo dolls.