I had to call the police because a nutcase Airbnb host in London wanted cash if I wanted to stay longer than planned (I had paid for three days or so). She demanded that the cash be pushed under the door of her room. I found that bizarre. My nieces and I decided not to prolong our stay. She refused to return our luggage. I had to call the police. Airbnb put us in a hotel but didn’t care about the fact that I had to call the police so other guests were probably exposed to that woman. This situation shows that: 1) Don’t trust Airbnb to care about criminals 2) Don’t pay for your whole stay online. If your host is a lunatic you may have trouble getting your money back. By the way, Airbnb didn’t ban the host. They banned me.
I am really happy to have found this. It would be a novel to tell you about my nightmare here. The place I stayed in is now being shut down by the city for safety and health code violations. When I told this to airbnb – because I knew someone was going to get hurt. They suspended my account. So many terrible things happened at this rental. I had photos and video to prove it. Airbnb didn’t care at all. The guy didn’t even have a license to rent. Airbnb suspended me. I hate Airbnb.
Exactly what I was saying: Airbnb gets rid of victims of crime because they are deemed trouble. The strange thing is that criminal hosts are not deemed trouble. This explains lots of horror stories about airbnb in the press.
” 2) Don’t pay for your whole stay online” – Sorry I have to side with AirBNB on this one, you would always pay for your stay online, if not than you are breaching the contract. Even though the host is breaching it too, you should have written proof from the host that they want cash to hold them responsible.
The host probably got you banned because they put the blame on you by saying you want to pay them in cash instead of amending and extending your stay though AirBNB website. And since you call the cops, AirBNB doesn’t want a problematic customer like you again.
AirBNB cares more about hosts than customers, as there are more customers than hosts.
And how, exactly, is the guest supposed to get something in writing from the host that the host wanted cash?! The fact that the host demanded cash means that they are acting outside of Air BnB rules.
When you rent via Air BnB you have to be prepared for things to go wrong. Sure, most of the time it’s great and all goes well, but those few times that something happens will fall back on you as either host or guest. Hosts complain that all Air BnB cares about is the guests and guests complain that all they care about are hosts. The truth is that Air BnB cares only about the bottom line. A while ago, on this site, I read someone’s reply to an Air BnB problem and I thought it was really good and one to take into consideration for any Air BnB (or other short term – ie vacation – renter) I’m paraphrasing, of course, but basically he said that there is no consumer protection from sites like Air BnB (never mind that they advertise otherwise) and, when things go well, great, but, when they don’t, be prepared to pay for and stay in a hotel and then fight to get your money back.
I’m not sure that I’ll ever rent with Air BnB – I like the security that a hotel provides. In the end, you get what you pay for.