Illegal Airbnb in LA Means Sneaking Around

Posted on June 13, 2018

We booked a two-bedroom apartment in Hollywood for 18 nights as our son is autistic and has allergies so we sometimes like to cook. A few days before our arrival, we received a message from the Superhost not to discuss Airbnb anywhere near the apartment or building; this was because the hotels in the area are losing a lot of money and are going to court to have Airbnb banned.

On our arrival to the apartment it was clear that Airbnb subletting in the apartment building was illegal as there were signs in the lift, entrance and parking lot. The person with our key was not the host but a friend. We also noticed that the carpets were heavily stained, the balcony light had blown out, the Sonos sound system was missing and one of the stovetop burners didn’t work. The next day we went to Walmart and spent $200 on food which was placed in the fridge and freezer.

When we woke the next morning we discovered that the freezer had stopped working; everything had defrosted and was ruined. I sent a message to the Superhost and discovered she was in Europe. I told her we wanted everything fixed. She made no mention of compensating us for the food. She then asked me to take the keys to her friend so they could arrange the repairs. As I was on holiday, I refused (I should not be running around after her). She couldn’t ask management to fix it as she was illegally subletting the apartment.

After much to-ing and fro-ing and abuse from the Superhost we requested a full refund and went to an hotel. Airbnb was good and sorted the refund out quickly. The Superhost gave me a refund because she knew she was in hot water with the apartment if they found out. I’m not sure we’ll use Airbnb again.

Locked Out After a Late Arrival at Airbnb

Posted on June 12, 2018

We traveled from Indiana to Iowa for a friend’s wedding that I was the personal attendant for so we were ready for a busy weekend and only planned to use the Airbnb to sleep. The hosts texted us about an ETA and sent a detailed message about wifi and the room, but failed to mention anything about the keys or doors.

The door was unlocked when we got there so we walked in. The hosts were there and were welcoming when showing us the room and bathroom accommodations. We set down our stuff but quickly had to leave for the rehearsal dinner. The host had texted if we had any questions to let her know but I didn’t think to respond since I had a lot on my mind and didn’t have any questions at the moment. We didn’t talk to the hosts much because we wanted our privacy, knew we would be gone most of the weekend, and didn’t really know what the “social rules” of Airbnb were since this was our first trip using the platform.

We arrived back on the first night around 10:30 PM. The door was unlocked but we didn’t see the hosts. We were practically gone the whole entire next day due to the wedding and didn’t arrive back until almost midnight and we found the door was locked. We were exhausted and tried calling the hosts because we didn’t see their car in the driveway. The back door was also locked. Finally, one host answered the door (in his underwear) saying they had fallen asleep.

At this point we were not comfortable staying there since our things were still inside and we were without a place to stay for a while. We had to drive two hours away to find other accommodations around 3:00 AM. The host texted us the next day saying she heard everything turned out okay but I never responded because I wanted to go through Airbnb for a refund. I later messaged the host through the Airbnb Resolution Center to see if I could have a half refund since we only stayed one out of two nights.

She proceeded to say I was extorting money from her, got back late, and that we were unfriendly, racist, and rude. I’m not sure how we could’ve been all those things if we didn’t talk to the hosts much other than to text them about the door being locked multiple times. There also was never a rule saying we had to be back at night at a certain time or keep in constant communication with the hosts. It was a busy weekend and we were just looking for a place to sleep at night.

I have read other reviews of this host where guests said the accommodations were wonderful but the hosts were kind of loud and that was frustrating. The host replied back to this review calling them racists as well. This is slander and defamation of character and a host should not be able to throw that word around lightly.

Booking Cancelled by Host and Refund is only 40%

Posted on June 10, 2018

This was the first time I used Airbnb. Two days after having a confirmed booking, my host informed me that her house rules did not allow single men. This was actually stated on her page but only if you clicked to expand the rules list. The first line dealt with “no smoking”, etc. As it was the first time I used the site, I didn’t think to check carefully through this as I assumed it dealt with “do”s and “don’t”s at the property. The booking was accepted, payment taken and two days later the host informed me of her rule.

I went to cancel the booking and despite the fact that the host rejected my booking and I selected that option, Airbnb informed me that I would only receive £45.00 GBP back on a booking of £105.00. Either Airbnb or the host keeps the balance. Interesting that the host – who I emailed at the time of booking – had waited two days to respond, which brought me just within fourteen days of the booking date. According Airbnb terms, a cancellation within 14 days returns only 50% of the booking fee and 0% of the administrative fees.

Hosts are free to cancel on you and it would seem, keep half the booking fee. Presumably they are then free to resell your room. I have searched to find a way to contact Airbnb and they are clearly another internet giant hiding behind anonymity: no obvious numbers, no contact forms and just not interested in anything but your money.

Airbnb Host Won’t Acknowledge Paint Fumes

Posted on June 8, 2018

We had the most horrible night at this Airbnb due to the host recently painting all of the woodwork in this Victorian bedroom with gloss paint. My eyes were stinging, my nose and throat were burning. My husband was exhausted as our check in wasn’t until 4:00 PM so we had from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM walking around sightseeing to kill time in Kirkwall.

He didn’t want to leave to find alternative accommodations. I saw a hotel down the street, which he agreed that if they had availability we would move, but they didn’t. We could only get one window to open; the rest of the windows were painted shut. When we saw the host we told him the paint bothered us. He just said it was recently decorated and that it should air out by keeping the window open; it didn’t because all of the painted woodwork was around the windows.

We found a fan and had that in front of the windows and my husband found a face mask in his first aid kit for me to wear. The next morning we asked the table of two other couples if they were bothered by paint fumes, one couple also noticed the fresh paint smell, the other couple didn’t (their room wasn’t painted). When the host came into the room and asked how we slept I told him that the paint fumes bothered me and he acted like I was crazy and stated that no one else complained (the other couple didn’t speak up). Frankly, it was embarrassing.

On the way out I asked for a receipt and they couldn’t be bothered to get me one. Instead, they rehashed why I should be so bothered by paint fumes. When we got home, I made a list of complaints which I posted on Airbnb and Tripadvisor. When he read them he went off his rocker and started accusing us of being nightmare guests and advising people to avoid us like the plague.

He even went so far as to read through four years of my Tripadvisor reviews and to look me up on the internet trying to look for any dirt on me he could find. The worse he could find was that I complained about odours a few times and had three complaints of food related illnesses out of 250 reviews. I’m just hoping his nasty response shows him in a bad light. They are nothing but a pair of liars and scam artists.

There’s a Reason Everyone Should be Present at Checkout

Posted on June 7, 2018

Well, this was first experience with Airbnb, and it’s already a nightmare. Long story short: I booked an apartment in Bucharest for three days. I paid, contacted the host, and was told to speak to a cleaning lady who deals with everything. The booking was made for three nights but as I finished what I came for, I informed the host and his cleaning lady that I would be leaving after only one night; I didn’t need a refund or anything. I was asked to leave the keys in the post office box as nobody would be there for the checkout. It seemed strange but I did just that. Two days later, I was informed by Airbnb that the host was asking for 1000 euros for a broken TV. I felt like I was about to faint as I left the TV in perfect condition. Someone must have broken it after my checkout and passed the blame onto me. If they would have been there for checkout I wouldn’t have had to go through all this. Please let me know what I should do and if I should go ahead and get legal help, maybe even ask for compensation.

Airbnb Charged Full Amount… And Then Kept Charging

Posted on June 6, 2018

When booking an apartment through Airbnb, I chose “payment in installments” but was charged the full amount of about 1500 EUR by Airbnb from my PayPal account, immediately. I only realized this three weeks later when I was charged by Airbnb, again, from my paypal account. That time it was the first installment of 770 EUR which is to be followed by the second one in a few weeks.

I contacted Airbnb several times via telephone and messaging explaining that they had charged the full amount by mistake and asking for them to transfer the amount back to my PayPal account. So far, one week has passed and I have not been helped at all. On the contrary, one Airbnb person wrote to me that the amount of 1500 EUR was shown but not charged, which is a lie. All transfers are documented by PayPal.

Yesterday, I insisted in speaking to a person with more authorization. Finally, I was called by somebody who literally hung up on me in the middle of our conversation. This morning, I received a message telling me that if I have an issue with a suspicious credit card transaction I should first check on family members who might have used my card information. This was totally off topic as the charges for my booking were made from my PayPal account. I have the feeling that there are very limited means to get any further than the “customer support shell” which is doing anything but solving problems for Airbnb customers.

Host Cancelled Less than 24 Hours Before Arrival

Posted on June 5, 2018

Our host cancelled on us less than 24 hours before we were due to stay. This left us with no accommodation in London and our travel was all booked to North of London. It was difficult getting in touch with Airbnb and once I finally got through a person, he was just reading from a script and only offered £27 to help us which I felt was completely unacceptable. They showed us five alternative properties and four were so far south of London they were unacceptable. The final one we tried to get but were rejected due to it being so last minute. After we got rejected, we tried to contact Airbnb again. We got no reply until the next day, which was too late as we were traveling. We had to book alternate and much more expensive accommodation through another website and have been offered no other apology or compensation. The host has removed the property from Airbnb.

Frustration at Airbnb After NYC Host Lied

Posted on June 4, 2018

I experienced stress and frustration with the place I chose to stay at through Airbnb in NYC. The host happened to be a fraudulent and shameless person. Below are my comments to Airbnb. To my surprise the comments are not published, with the explanation that the message has private information. I asked to remove whatever was considered private but nevertheless, my comments have not been published. Airbnb, rather than protecting and helping the perspective clients, protects the fraudulent hosts. Airbnb refunded me 130 USD and closed the case without publishing the comments that explain the reasons for my frustration.

I do not recommend this place in any condition. It is dirty, and has never been cleaned for at least a month or more. The host was also inhospitable. I snapped a picture of the apartment’s condition for the proof of my complaint. The only advantage of the apartment is its location, but this doesn’t cover the stressf and frustration that you get staying in this place even for short time.

I paid for a master bedroom but instead I was placed in a much smaller messy bedroom, because somebody else had lived there already. The host informed me about the change of the room just minutes before my planned departure to NY. Due to my visa, I arrived three days later than planned. To my surprise, I found an apartment that looked like more like a warehouse of boxes, items, and stuff scattered all over the places. The guests are forced to maneuver between those to be able to move in the apartment.

Due to the conditions above I was not able to use the kitchen. The oven was dirty and piled up with items around it, and using a gas stove may have even caused a fire. The apartment has not been cleaned for a long time, nor was it cleaned while I was there or before my arrival. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust.

The host didn’t sound friendly at all. Prior to my arrival I called him to confirm my arrival time. Instead of a greeting, his reply was: “Follow the instructions given by email,” which I didn’t have with me at that moment.” The host’s name and the address advertised are not the same in reality. The host is trying to hide himself (it’s not clear why and from whom). My guess is that the host manipulates guests, only to get money from them with zero investments like cleaning the place.

I suggested settlement of 50%, due to the fact that instead of the master bedroom I was placed in a much smaller room, I arrived three days later, and the terrible condition of the apartment. The reply was rude and negative. In addition, I left my shoes and asked the host to sent them back. However, the host, in spite of what had happened, requested 100 USD to send them back. Of course I refused. Attached is a picture of the apartment.

Pointless Bookings with no Immediate Refunds

Posted on June 3, 2018

This was our first and last booking with Airbnb. Having booked an apartment in Spain for two weeks, the booking was accepted and we paid the total amount. I was then informed by the “host” that she was now talking to another party who was interested in the same dates plus additional days. She cancelled my booking and I was informed by Airbnb that would I be refunded within five working days. This is not good enough and totally lacks any aspect of professionalism. Once a host accepts a booking, it should a commitment, a contract. Otherwise they should be banned from any further dealings with Airbnb. Secondly, the refund into one’s account should be immediate. Not everyone can afford to wait for the refund whilst financing an alternative accommodation.

Five-Star Accommodation in Italy Not as Expected

Posted on May 28, 2018

This is in reference to a farmhouse in Osmate, Italy reserved via Airbnb. We were a group of eight adults (four couples) who wanted to tour the Northern Italy lake area after a seven-day cruise which ended in Venice. We reserved a villa which received a 5-star rating on Airbnb – the pictures looked good and the reviews were excellent. We reached the “villa” at around 9:00 PM on a Friday night.

The person who opened the property for us was a friend of the owner. Our first shock was when we tried to reach the entrance to the property; the second shock occurred when we tried to get our car into the property’s parking lot; and our third and worst shock of all was the “villa” itself.

The owner advertises private parking. She doesn’t advertise that it’s nearly impossible to navigate a jeep in the extremely narrow alleyways to get to the property’s parking. At the entrance to the property, we were greeted by all kinds of leftover building materials. The area looks like a storehouse / garbage dump.

The first thing that struck us when we entered the house was the strong odor of mildew. There was mildew on the walls which is probably what was causing the very unpleasant odor.

The property’s lighting (and lighting fixtures) was extremely frugal – everything was so dark and depressing. The property did not look clean. Airbnb advertised two living rooms on the property. We only saw one living room with two couches covered with two different colored blankets and we were told that this is how we should sit. I assume they were covering up some very old couches.

The owner advertised 14 steps on the stairs. However, two of the bedrooms are situated on the second floor (17 steps) and the other two bedrooms are on the third floor (an additional 14 or 15 steps), a total of 31/32 steps to reach two of the four bedrooms. When I told the owner that the steps are a very serious problem for us, she offered this solution: bring the two beds down to the living room and have one of the couples sleep there. I asked her “what about privacy?” She couldn’t answer.

The beds in the bedrooms were like beds in very cheap motels: sloppy sheets, low beds with a metal frame. I’m not sure how much weight each bed can hold. The ceiling of the two bedrooms on the third floor is slanted so that when you go into the bedrooms, you need to bend down in order to avoid getting hit on the head.

The owner advertised four bedrooms and four baths. She doesn’t advertise that the fourth bath is two floors down from the bedroom and that this bath is more like a laundry room than a bath.

They advertise BBQ facilities, which are a joke. The grill (if you can call it that) was filthy and so old that you couldn’t call it even a simple, normal grill. We didn’t see the advertised ping-pong table anywhere.

The actual condition of the property and the surrounding area is much worse than what you see in the online pictures. Nowhere is it advertised that the building has three floors (without an elevator) and that two of the bedrooms are located on the third floor. After seeing the property, there was no way that we could have stayed there for even one night.

We decided to try to find four hotel rooms somewhere nearby. You can imagine how difficult it was to drive around in a foreign country, in an unfamiliar area, at 10:00 at night trying to find a hotel with four available rooms. We were tired and hungry and after driving in from Venice and touring some of the surrounding area (we drove nearly 400 kilometers on this day), the only thing we craved was reaching the property, taking a shower and going to sleep. You can imagine the aggravation we felt at seeing this terrible house. After several inquiries at local restaurants, we finally found a hotel that had four rooms available; this is where we stayed for the duration of our trip.

It seems to me that Airbnb does not visit the properties that they advertise. Because if they did, there’s no way that they would have advertised this on their website as a 5-star property, if at all. In view of all of the above, and in view of the aggravation that was caused us, we demanded a complete refund of all the money we paid (over $1,400 for four nights). The owner was willing to refund us the cleaning fee and Airbnb the service charge (100 Euros + $150).

I did not accept their offer. I was told by the Airbnb representative that they transfer payment to the owner only 24 hours after the guests check-in. The representative asked me why I didn’t notify them that we were not staying there. I did notify them the next morning (within the 24-hours from check-in time) but someone at Airbnb screwed up and did not handle our case properly. Besides, the owner informed Airbnb that same evening (while we were still there) that we decided to not stay at the villa.

I contacted the Airbnb office in Ireland and spoke to someone who promised to send my complaint to management, marked urgent, but I am still waiting to receive a reply. This is the second time I have made a reservation via Airbnb and both times, the advertising on their website did not reflect the actual condition of the property.