I will file a lawsuit against Airbnb in two months, as soon as my upcoming non-refundable reservations end. I will also make a website called Airbnb Scams, Airbnb Lies and more domain names like this. I will explain all the scams, lies, misleading information, and Airbnb actions on my website in depth.
I had stayed at 28 Airbnbs in 17 months. I did hours of research to find a decent place in order to not to get screwed by Airbnb hosts. There are very few hosts honest enough in Airbnb listings, and Airbnb already knows all these scams because I have been telling them repeatedly for the last 17 months. Yet Airbnb does nothing to fix all these scams. Of course, if they remove all the scam listing, Airbnb cannot make any money.
1. You do not know where will you stay until you book and pay. If you are not familiar with the area , you will end up very dangerous place because even with 30 bad review, and a 2.6 review score there are lots of listings that still exist on Airbnb. Airbnb does not care if you are safe. They want your money.
2, Even though there are no bad reviews, it does not mean that the place is perfect because Airbnb deletes bad reviews reviews on some listings to do the host a sweet favor, just like an Airbnb case manager deleted my bad review about a host lying about me that I left his place dirty. I have recordings that show totally the opposite, and I am suing them in March.
3. Shows “kitchen” on the listing. Yet one mini fridge, one microwave and a coffee maker is not a kitchen.
4. Shows “gym” on the listing, and the gym is in the other building and belongs to some other company, or apartment. I even saw a gym listed but it was in the park.
5. Non-refundable bookings.
6. “Do not say you are with Airbnb; just say you are friend”. Most of the Airbnb hosts ask me or even say in their listing that I should tell anyone if asked that I am not an Airbnb guest. I should lie, saying I am their friend or relative. So, you are charging me $150/night and I have to lie for you? Then charge me $30 a night if you just want to scam your building staff, your neighbors, and the tax department?
7. No refunds if you stay there one night or two and find out the host lied to you about something. Airbnb may refund you the rest of the stay if you move out, but you still must pay the nights you were there just because a host lied to you.
8. Sometimes other very loud Airbnb guests will keep you up all night. There is nothing you can do.
I will write all my experiences when I make my website. One host said there was a gym, and I found out there was never a gym. In his words, Days Inn was letting them use their gym but not anymore. Surprisingly, the host found out the very same day I checked in that Days Inn did not let his Airbnb guests use the gym. Really? What a coincidence! I told Airbnb, and only got a partial refund. I lost $357 for one night, Uber payments, groceries, and wasted time and money.
28 places I have stayed, in three states and two countries. So many lies, scams, misleading information, and more. My only reason was the kitchen because I like to cook. Dirty utensils, lack of cooking materials, tiny fridges, more and more. They charge $50 – $250 cleaning fees, and yet I have to clean most of the places I have stayed.
As I said in the beginning, there are very few honest hosts. If you not spend many hours reading each listing word by word, you are screwed. There are so many hidden fees, such as for a jacuzzi, or two-bedroom apartment but the $38 price tag is for only one person, the second person is $16 extra per night, extra deposits and cash deposits. There are resort fees, this and that, and on top of all this, Airbnb charges almost $13% -15% and yet offers no real help if the host does not agree to anything.
Airbnb only helps if the host is willing to help. Otherwise you are screwed. No more Airbnb for me. I will continue to stay at hotels.
Me and my roomie went to check the place before move in to see if there was any glitches. I found 15 roaches dead and called host saying there was also a broken drawer but I would clean everything and start move in our things. Second day roomie said heard a noise near bathroom and while I was having my drinks a roach just fell on the table. I texted host she said move out after I made 4 trips to bring all my things for a monthly booking! Roomie said she was okay with that maybe just one random roach. I went to another city and when I came back sink was clogged (first days was slow down water) and again I complained to host she said would send a plumber. Plumber came but couldn’t fix so host said or you stay with all problems or you leave this near Christmas time! I told roomie I would be leaving but roomie said she rather stay instead move all things out of the house again! So I called police inspection in hollywood city and after inspection they said place is a type of garage even by entrance you can see the flooding bathroom area from the side house. He gave roomie his card in case any problem happened. I went to visit roomie she said she was having shower and suddenly heard a noise, she said who.s there he said sorry thought place was empty (it was host husband roomie told me next day!), Roomie finally left the place after a month but was sending me voicemail complaining about host leaving memos, telling her not welcome to the place, locked places where she used to walk in the backyard. Anyway, I waited 1 month for police shut down the place, I saw on their website unfounded, I did again another complain to Airbnb in the last 2 months and finally the discrimination department decided to read my complain and caught the host! I received a full refund but host left a bad review saying we caused infestation in her house, we clogged bathroom, we had dirty bags, I asked Airbnb to remove review cause was a harassment booking entire rental and till now still pending. Very stressful mainly during a busy time as Christmas. Profile is mine and I have the right to keep the fair reviews there! Somebody come from nowhere write whatever they want and I have the embarrassing to loose my time explaining to other hosts the creepy experience I had. Seriously?!?
I am a victim too , the place had a gate with a padlock that didn’t allow me to get even close to the property every attempt to get my money back didn’t work. It was a scam. I will never use Airbnb services again. It is like more like gambling you may end up having a place or you may end up stranded in a place you don’t know and looking for a hotel room after paying up front for a non refundable scam.
Hello,
May I please ask if you were able to sue Airbnb, as you have mentioned on here?
Please ready story below
My trip was from August 1st through 21st.
This happened to me yesterday. They deleted my review which I posted on August 24th. Airbnb deleted it for no reason, they said it violated their Review policy, when actually it did not. My review has told the users of what had actually happened. It told the truth, and they buried it.
My two children and I travelled to Montenegro from the USA for a three week vacation from August 1st through August 21st. I booked a property based on the majority of positive reviews back in April for the trip and paid a premium price for it.
This apartment had countless issues with it, but amongst the most vital ones were serious electric problems. The portable stove, which was placed on the kitchen counter underneath the wood cabinet in close proximity to it, had to be plugged into the outlet. There was only one outlet available. When I plugged in the stove, a burning smell would appear. Eventually I realized that the plastic on the electrical plug of the stove was melting, the outlet itself was melting, and the plug in of the electric kettle was also melting (it was a double outlet). There was no smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector in the apartment, and I did not know how dangerous the situation was at first. I stopped using these appliances, and was not able to remove the plug-ins of the stove and the kettle for a few hours, because they melted one into the other. I have contacted the host, who is still a Super host, and I have contacted Airbnb support immediately. In fact I was in non-stop communication with Airbnb Support via message system and by phone via Skype from August 4th until my last day there August 20th. I have 116 photos and videos of the apartment and what has been going on there. I have sent all of this information onto the Airbnb Support various departments. I talked to 15-20 different people over this time frame.
To make matters worse, after this incident a repairman came. A repair man would come after hours with no documentation in a foreign country where I was alone with two children. I would need to wait hours for him and clean up after him. He replaced a power socket and the plug-ins. Next day I tried to use the stove again, and a short circuit happened. I saw the lights and I heard a loud sound, and I felt how electricity shocked me. The circuit breaker immediately shut down in the kitchen, where the stove was. The electric power of the appliance was too high for the socket. The socket could not handle the amount of amperes which the electric stove created, and that is why the first time it started to melt, and the second time a short circuit happened. These are highly dangerous situations which could create house fires. We were on the fourth floor with no fire distinguisher, no smoke detector, no way to escape the apartment, but to jump from the fourth floor. It was very hot there too, so the entire building could have burned drastically fast. Any electrician would explain this only by looking at the photos and videos, which I have. Also, the water boiler, washing machine, refrigerator and an electric stove were all in the same location, and were affected.
The Super host turned around and started accusing me of breaking all these appliances to the point that she falsified information. She posted fake pictures and had written notes by the repairman which I have never seen. Considering the fact that no one has checked us in upon moving in and no one has checked us out when we left, these were bold statements. This Super host has accused me and my two children of stealing two pillows to gain more money from me and refused to pay me balance when we left. I paid thousands of dollars to travel there to steal pillows and break appliances, it almost sounds ridiculous. She lied to Airbnb that we were still living there after we left. I had to go to a local police department to pay a fee and to get registered as a tourist in order to submit documentation to Airbnb to prove that we have moved out. The host was supposed to register us in the first 24 hours that we live at her property by the local law. This was never done.
The key was under the rug when we arrived, exact address was never disclosed, very dangerous road without crossing, apartment building on the mountain plus 4 stairs ( nothing in description about the extra stairs to get to the first floor ), no necessary items, such as broom and shovel to clean the floor, no tea spoons, very bad pillows, nowhere to hang towels in the bathroom, and many other issues. The washing machine did not work when we moved it, and had mold inside. I used it on the third day, and that is when I learned that it is nonworking. It needed a new belt for it to work. At least that is what the repairman said to me. The patio cover came off during the wind, which we were there, and was not repaired. I mentioned this in my review, and Airbnb said that the host has no control of the wind, and that is why they removed my review. They silenced a victim, and they let a criminal operate on their platform with no consequences. Airbnb has returned me the amount which I paid for this apartment after I put up a long lasting battle, all during my vacation. If I did not put up this long lasting battle I would end up paying for this apartment, for a different apartment, and for these damages. Airbnb has denied me my right to a review where I told the truth and have warned potential customers of the dangers of this apartment.
Airbnb is a dishonest company with no clear policy. They have a fake policy in place, which only serves them and their super hosts. When you run into a serious situation with them they solve it case by case without any policy. Different operators have different opinions about what is going on and promise you different things, and you never hear back from them again. I spoke to about 20 different operators all together via phone and messaging system. I was in a situation where I was terrified of the fire in the apartment with no basic appliances. I could not prepare meals for my children. They are only 7 and 9 years old, and my 7 year old has autism. I called Airbnb and I told them how scared I was and that I had nowhere to go. Super host was very hostile towards me, harassing me and accusing me and telling me to leave the apartment without paying me my balance. I had to look for a different place there on Facebook, and move out due to the fire hazardous conditions to a different place, which I did not feel safe too. But I had no other option. Airbnb did absolutely nothing to help, and kept bouncing me around from one rep to the other.
My only hope was that my review would be there, that it would tell people the truth. Now, there is nothing left from us, and the suffering we went through in this apartment. The super host got away with a crime. Airbnb is hiding everything. I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, but I learned that since 2017 there have been 3,000 complaints against them. Nothing is changing. Attorneys do not want anything to do with Airbnb because their Terms and Services are created to protect Airbnb and hosts only. What should common people like me do? People who are not journalists, who are not lawyers, who are not rich enough or important enough to have their voices heard? How can I get help?
Unfortunately, I got taken by a listing that had about 30 excellent reviews. I booked it for a week at a cost of over $5,0000 for myself and 7 family members. When we arrived, it was dirty and badly neglected. Mold, mouse droppings, dirty toilet, washing machine, kitchen floor and appliances, rusty paint cans and piles of bricks and construction materials in the yard….it went on and on. Neither the a/c nor the wifi worked. We called Airbnb immediately, and sent 18 photos and 4 videos. On the positive side, we got a pretty immediate refund based on the photos we sent. Needless to say, we didn’t stay, but they did offer us the option to write a review. I wrote an honest, fact-based review – no opinions or bad-mouthing the host. I included the fact that I’d sent the photos and videos to Airbnb and received a refund. They removed my review about a week after it was posted, claiming it didn’t “meet their requirements.” I now know why the place had 30 positive reviews – all of the negative ones were clearly removed, and I am quite sure she must have had friends or family members write the others. I have stayed at many places and posted all very positive reviews. None of them had ever been removed. I now have a new understanding of how Airbnb works – they find a reason to remove negative reviews – and it will certainly affect any decision to book a place in the future.
I had the same issue with our Airbnb before off stay at a hotel. It was weird we were to leave the house completely clean including making the beds. I would the supposed “cleaning crew” would want to at least wash the sheets. But some Airbnb host are good. It really depends. So you must be vigilant.
I sure wish there was a better way for good hosts and good guests to find each other.
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Yup, I’m done with Airbnb myself for those said reasons and one more: the Airbnb staff is horrible. They are inconsistent because there are no set rules (as they say everything is “case by case”) and they are untrained. Very frustrating. I regret wasting my time using it as both a guest and host for years. Little did I know about its scam until i finally sized it up. You know one thing that Airbnb is really good at is marketing (a.k.a. scams, lies, etc.) I know a lot of people have had bad experiences but they are different. How can we capitalize on this? I’m curious to know..
Not all Airbnb hosts are bad. I pride myself on providing a good service to guests and I’m always honored that they chose to book with me. Sure, there are bad hosts out there luring guests with there lies. But, there are some really bad guests out there who do a lot of damage to hosts property. I know it’s hard to know what you’re waking into each time you book. On the flip side, as a host you never know what you’re going to get. I use Airbnb proceeds to help with my kids college expenses but I could do without it as I can pay my bills without it. I sure wish there was a better way for food guests and good hosts to find each other.