Tag Archives: airbnb bad experience

Reservation Cancelled for No Reasonable Reason

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I made an Airbnb reservation at certain price for five days. The same day I made the reservation I contacted the host with some doubts and she asked me for an increase per night on my reservation and an increase of days; if I didn’t agree, she asked me to cancel my reservation. I didn’t cancel, so she did.

It’s been disappointing that I can’t complain on a review for this specific host because the booking is cancelled. The cancellation policy for hosts is ridiculous; it’s so significant that they can cancel whenever they want, assuming no consequences. On the other hand, customer service does nothing. They even responded offering a discount on another reservation (which I don’t have). They don’t know even what they’re taking about.

I hope that Airbnb’s headquarters cares about its clients (as customers service clearly doesn’t) and I get at least the simple request I’m making: to be able to write a review on the person who did this to me, as I actually had an experience with the host, even if the reservation got cancelled. I have all the WhatsApp conversations with her asking me to pay more and increase the dates.

Take care of your clients. I’m now afraid of using Airbnb as hosts can cancel on me whenever they want. I hope I finally find someone who can actually hear me.

Unhappy About Airbnb’s Refund Policy

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We reserved a place seven months ahead of time and our credit card were charged for half of the total cost. Five months before the original arrival date, we found that we no longer needed the accommodations due to an unexpected medical event, and proceeded to cancel.

To our dismay, we were charged with a service fee of $130. This seems to be exorbitant as there did not seem to be any significant service provided. It was indicated there would be a full refund if you cancelled and we assumed there would be a full refund for such an early cancellation (they will have no trouble whatsoever in getting a new renter).

Needless to say, we are unhappy with Airbnb and will think twice before using them again. The service fees are outrageous.

Filth and Infestations at New York Airbnb Home

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No more Airbnb-hosted homes for us. Although there are good clean places out there, we’ve had two ghastly experiences in two months. Airbnb refuses to post honest reviews, only five-star reviews. Avoid this Airbnb in Wynantskill, NY at all costs. We found the bedroom and bathroom filthy and extremely bug infested.

Food scraps, hair, bugs, and dirt were on both the floors and walls. Grime was on the door handles, toothpaste was splattered on the sink, counter, and bathroom mirror, and stains were on the carpet. The pillow cases and bed sheets were terribly stained and even had holes worn through them. The bath towels and washcloths were also badly stained. They looked as though they had been rags taken from a trash can. The place had the odor of a men’s locker room. I wouldn’t let my dog stay in such a filthy place.

Had it not been late and storming when we arrived, we would have never stayed. As it was, we found some Lysol cleaner and wiped down the tub and other bathroom fixtures. Then we went about trying to kill as many of the bugs on the walls, curtains, floor, and bed as we could. The host was not there. Her father let us in. He said that his daughter was renting out the bedroom just long enough to pay for her new Jeep. This is our second bad experience with renting through Airbnb in two months. When we spoke to their representatives the last time, we got nowhere. Never again.

You Can’t Trust Pictures or Reviews on Airbnb

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My wife and I have booked some apartments through Airbnb and we can now say that what you see is never what you get. The property pictures on Airbnb are embellished; everything looks shiny, but the moment you enter the apartment you realize you more or less bought a pig in a poke. Not once did we feel an apartment was more beautiful and better than its pictures. Sofas and chairs looked nice in the photos, but turned out to be very cheap and uncomfortable.

Beware of apartments with old furniture. Some owners advertise them as art, design, or something. This is rubbish. They’re there because they’re old and almost broken, and the owners don’t want to use them anymore. They’re too greedy to buy new furniture. I prefer apartments with IKEA furniture, because at least that’s new.

Once during an Airbnb stay, my wife got bitten so badly by lice from an old bed (I slept on a new IKEA bed) that she had to go to a doctor. We like to cook, but in some apartments the kitchen utensils were also old and broken. Don’t trust five-star reviews. I know for sure that owners can make a guest change a negative review. Once, we stayed in an apartment that had a bad smell in the bathroom. After a week, a previous guest published a negative review mentioning that same bad smell. I even made a print of the review. Some days later, I looked again and… voilà: the review was 100% positive. The bad smell was no longer mentioned. It’s clear that the owner promised the guest a partial refund if he would change his negative review into a positive one.

As bad as a hotel might be, if you have problems you can complain to the staff; someone will be there to help you. Not so with Airbnb. After you check in, most owners disappear.

“Grotesque, Lying Hag” Says Airbnb Review

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Antler’s Inn was by far the worst lodging experience with Airbnb we’ve ever had. After we’d already gone to bed for the evening, the manager of Antler’s Inn woke us up and told us we had to move to a different cabin. We said that we’d gladly move in the morning, but we were in bed for the night. He said that his staff put us in the wrong cabin so we needed to get our things and move to another cabin now. We scrambled to pack our things (a guy in a Hummer was screaming at us to hurry up). The cleaning crew came in and didn’t change the sheets for the bed we’d just been sleeping in; they just remade the bed.

When we checked in, the cabin was not in very good condition (stains on the furniture and Budweiser cans in the freezer), but I’m horrified that they don’t change the bedding between guests. In the manager’s office, we were pissed. We had checked in seven hours ago and they waited until we were in bed to let us know we needed to leave? The manager told us, “I’d rather you just get out. I can rent the cabin in a heartbeat for hundreds more than what you’re paying.” He was also upset that we had a dog, though we mentioned it when we requested our booking and got a confirmation for two adults and one pet. He kept trying to pressure us to just leave, but it was freezing cold and dark, the winding mountain roads were icy, and we’d each had wine with our dinner. We didn’t feel like it was safe to leave.

He gave us a key to a new cabin (oddly, he let us keep the key to the original cabin, which seemed really unsafe), but didn’t check on it ahead of time. There wasn’t even a pathway cleared and we both slipped and fell on the ice. We left in the morning, still furious with them for treating us like this. He said he wasn’t going to charge us for the stay and we civilly left it at that. Then surprise: we got a charge. Because we settled the dispute with Airbnb (they felt the charge was inappropriate and refunded us in full), we weren’t going to write a review. Antler’s Inn felt differently. They called me “a grotesque, lying hag.”

Location so horrible we couldn’t even stay and might not get our 889$ back!!!

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Here is my mom’s and my family recent Airbnb bad experience in London and we didn’t even end up staying at the property!!! This is our letter to Airbnb Corporate. “Dear Airbnb, I am writing this letter to file a formal safety complaint against the Airbnb listed property: 1 Court Street, London, E1 United Kingdom. My family of 4 and I had a reservation for the property for 4 nights (June 17-June 21st 2015). I booked the property because the pictures looked nice and clean and it stated it was fairly close to the Tower of London. This was also an expensive property, totaling at $889 for 4 nights. Never being to London before, I did not know what areas of London were nice and safe and was trusting Airbnb and the Host that the area the property was in was going to be safe. When my family got out of the tube station (Whitechapel), we quickly realized that this was not a family friendly and safe area at all. We walked down to where the property and realized that there was no way we could stay there and feel safe. The apartment was down an alley way that was having construction done. The area was extremely noisy and crowded. The property in London was in the middle of a street marketplace. It would be very noisy and difficult to move in and out of the property. The whole purpose of getting a property via Airbnb was to get a “family friendly” property, not sleep in a high crime street marketplace. I did text the owner saying that an emergency had popped up. I cannot believe that he never called or responded back to us. Due to this, it completely disturbed our whole London trip. Since it was last minute, we could not find any reasonable accommodations in London and ended up having to travel to south England to my daughter’s apartment in Bournemouth, England. My husband and son had been very sick for days and needed to be in a safe and comfortable environment. They also needed to see a doctor the day we arrived. They had to travel to Bournemouth to see a doctor and ended up having to go to the hospital. We can provide documentation from the hospital if necessary. Later, I researched the Whitechapel area in London and found out that it is one of the top violent and sexual crime hotspots according to the LessCrime Report ( http://lesscrime.info/londons-violent-crime-hotspots/). I also looked at the official London Police website and found out that each month this specific area has one of the highest number of incidents and crimes in all of London (http://www.police.uk/metropolitan/00BGGN/crime/). I am very upset and disappointed with fact that Airbnb allowed this property to be listed. Airbnb should have a description of the local area. Airbnb needs to send someone to check the property out personally and they will see for themselves the security concern. My daughter used Airbnb several times across Europe to travel and recommended this to me. She had no safety concerns or major issues at the properties that she stayed at. We also had a bad experience with an Airbnb property in Paris. After this horrible experience that messed up our entire London trip and we paid the whole 889$!, I do not believe that I will ever use Airbnb again. Know that I will be sending this letter to every corporate Airbnb email I can find, will share it on many social media sites, and will make sure that none of my family and friends use Airbnb. I do believe that we should receive a refund because we booked the property under false pretenses and we did not stay at the property at all. I do not want what happened to my family to happen to another. Please send someone to this property or have it removed from your site so that this never happens to another family.

dirty apt no help from airbnb

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I paid 180 for 7 nights hoping I would save money by not booking a hotel in ibiza and making my own food. When I arrived I realised the place was very dirty…the bathroom looked like it had never been cleaned! I was told I couldn’t cook meat which was no problem but the cooker didn’t work anyway. The cleanliness was the biggest issue so I left and booked into a clean hotel for the same price. I emailed my host and cancelled online only to be insulted by the host called ‘sneaky’ and accused of using tactics against her and that I really just wanted to stay with my friends…ludicrous! DO NOT use Airbnb!!!!