Tag Archives: airbnb bad review

Airbnb Deletes Negative Reviews, Favors Hosts

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This is an echo of the same stories other guests had. I just want a way to let Airbnb know as they don’t seem to hear. I had a great experiences with Airbnb hosts for a few years. I always left the place very tidy and clean. I respect these are the hosts’ homes and livelihoods perhaps. I think there are some really picky people out there who pay for three-star services and expecting five-star treatment. I believe in honesty. However, I suppose any comment would possibly be taken personally by a host as it is their own home or livelihood and Airbnb is a way to help pay for their mortgage. Usually I try to be gentle.

I had a two-week road trip in the UK recently from tip to tip. We had great experiences, and honestly we just wanted to have a clean place with our own bathroom and toilet, in a quiet location… a place that appears the same as we see in the pictures. We also needed a place to boil some drinking water. We didn’t expect to have breakfast or meals there.

The place we stayed at Cornwall was not the cheapest nor the most expensive: a double bed with no views for £60 a night with no breakfast. It was advertised as two minutes from a cliff with a great view. The reviews there since May 2016 (about one year’s worth) have been 100% positive and still are since our visit. There was a friendly host, great place, etc.

However, on the night we arrived, we found out that it was a shared bathroom/toilet situation and we didn’t know that this was something Airbnb hosts don’t have to disclose. Most hosts would based on our favourable experiences. The host mentioned part of their home was closed at night for their family’s own use, i.e. their best selling point – the balcony – overlooking the sea cliff was only available in the morning. We were fine with that. We are pretty much out most of the day anyway.

Here is what we disclosed from our experience on our review:

1. There was no toilet paper in the shared toilet on the night we arrived. It was all used up. We didn’t want to bother the hosts, so we waited until the morning to tell them.
2. No wifi password was provided on arrival and we forgot to ask when we first met. We texted them to leave us the password in our bedroom during dinner. They did but it was on a card with writing so blurry you could hardly read it. We took a picture with our iPhone, blew it up, and could finally make out what it was.
3. The second day we were there, the other guests left the bin in the shared toilet full. It is the only bin which we have access to at night. They must have left it there the whole day since check out is in the morning and we found the rubbish at night after we returned around midnight. We messaged the host in their own home on the second floor to ask where we should put the rubbish. Our intention was not to mess up anyone’s home. We would like to respect their privacy but not go into their closed kitchen and lounge area. We didn’t leave all these gory details; we just suggested they could provide a bin in each room so that guests could leave rubbish. The small bin in the toilet may not have been enough.
4. We didn’t feel that the nicest part of the house was available to us as they left the door closed in the morning and didn’t quite tell us on our arrival that it would be okay to walk right in anytime before certain hours. This is the point to which they objected and thus Airbnb removed my review
5. The area that we got to see the most often was the room which faced a wall of the garage. The bathroom could be heard clearly from our room. There was no mention of any of this in the listing of course; we commented on this.
6. The bathroom was shared and not mentioned on the listing.

Airbnb removed our review based on this last point as well. What we only mentioned privately was we were badly bitten by some sort of insects which we are pretty sure happened at their property; the redness and itchiness appeared at least 30 minutes after we had left. The host vehemently denied it of course. Now I know better after reading this website. Airbnb is much more concerned about insect attacks than any of the neglectfulness we experienced. What I feel is most unjust and sour about this Airbnb experience is the host said we should be in a hotel and not use airbnb at all.

Airbnb said I cannot mention the shared bathroom was not disclosed, since they want to hide that fact, obviously. The host said that my comment about the accessibility of the nice balcony was incorrect. It is a bit of he said-she said I suppose. However, if Airbnb had looked into my history, they would have seen I was never vindictive towards any host. The whole review was taken out and Airbnb tried to call me once to explain or discuss the situation. I feel that they really should have done better to help expose the truth here for their user experience which was what made them stand out in the first place.

On the other hand, I had then stayed with another host two days later where they had a lodger just below us banging the ceiling and shouting at us when we were just taking showers. We still rated them five stars because they were friendly and helpful; they didn’t know their lodger was doing this. We told them the next day. The place was otherwise fantastic. The price was reasonable. We didn’t leave any bad remarks. In addition, Airbnb protecting these Cornwall hosts bad mouthing us by leaving us a bad review ‘saying that we should have stayed at a hotel’ when they are just providing service worse than that of a hostel at a price I think 40% above a hostel rate is leaving me a sour taste. It is bad business for the hosts who are doing the right things as well.

Airbnb Refused to Allow me to Write a Negative Review

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I booked a last minute apartment in Athens, Greece called “50 Shades of Grey with Acropolis View” by Minas. Upon arrival, I discovered there was a full scale renovation of an apartment above mine creating loud noise all day and into the night (I arrived at 8:00 PM and there was still noise). I immediately told my host that I would not be able to stay there, but he refused to give me a refund. I also called Airbnb but they offered no help. In addition, because I told them I would write a review about the construction to warn future guests, they told me I would not be able to write a review. So yes, they charged me (even though I stayed elsewhere that night) and they denied me the right to write an honest acurate review because this particular host is a “superhost”. Airbnb has become a shady company and I won’t be using them anymore. They care more about receiving their service charge from a stay than the guests or hosts themselves.

Horrible Host in Dallas Doesn’t Even Know his Place is Clean

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Stay away from this host and his place. I wrote a review after leaving an Airbnb that said that the place was not clean. There were bugs in the bathroom, the towels weren’t clean, and the silverware and sink were also not clean. However, I also added that everything else was accurate. That was all that was said in the review I wrote. Days after I wrote the review the host decided to contact me at night saying that my review was crap and I was not welcome in his place anymore. I was shocked that this person even reached out to me since I hadn’t even stayed at his place for almost a week. Of course I replied to defend myself and make him understand why I wrote the review the way I did which was I had the intention of being honest. After I replied he went on to say that I was too high maintenance and fancy for his place and that’s why I wrote what I wrote; I just needed to go to a hotel.

I was so offended. I replied and told him not to contact me again going forward. Nevertheless, he decided to tell me in a calmer tone that he would give me a refund for my troubles. I went on to be calm since he decided to be more respectful towards me and replied to him. However, when he said that he wanted me to edit the review to make it not be seen I was like… why?

Of course I wanted to test to see if he was trying to give me a refund because it was the right thing to do since I had to deal with the whole experience. When I told him that I couldn’t change the review he said that he couldn’t give me the refund. The funny thing is he tried to twist things on me, saying that I was trying to make him pay me to get the review changed. When it was obvious that he wouldn’t give me the refund unless I went to call Airbnb to go get the review changed, who is really trying to get the review taken off for money? After he said he couldn’t refund 50% of the money at least twice in the conversation prior to me telling him I couldn’t edit it. Airbnb has a 48-hour timeframe to edit a review, so then he said he wouldn’t give me a refund.

After that I told him that I will be publicly letting everyone know the type of host he is and I would reach out to Airbnb. He then wanted to use what I had said before and say: “You are unwelcome to contact me. Do not contact me.”

I didn’t reply after I sent my last message. This dude was so rude and so immature to be reaching out to over a freaking honest review about his place. Let me tell you: he made me take pictures of his place when I got there so that he could see if it was clean from the prior guest… what kind of host does that? He doesn’t even clean his own place and doesn’t even make sure it looks good for the next guest? He makes people do the work in making sure everything is clean… which is fine since he did state it in his handbook, but taking pictures of the place to make sure everything looks good? It should already look good when guest arrive if you’re a good host.

This was such a horrible experience for me and it made me so upset and annoyed to be dealing with something so unnecessary. For future reference, avoid places that make you clean everything for them. It probably means that they don’t care about the quality of your stay. Lesson learned.

Unsafe and Dirty Apartment in London, Still no Refund

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Last month, my boyfriend and I booked an Airbnb in the Shoreditch neighborhood of London for three nights. The experience was unpleasant from the beginning. We picked up the keys from a coffee shop and the baristas were short with us and unfriendly. We then entered the apartment, which was advertised as a studio, but was completely misrepresented. The apartment did not have the amenities of a studio (it was nine square meters in total with only a microwave and small fridge, making it technically count as a studio). It was dirty, and had towels left in it that were already used and falling apart. The worst part was that the apartment was completely unsafe.

When I say unsafe, I mean that when we entered, the front doors to the apartment had been left wide open. It was easy for anyone to walk directly into this apartment building, go upstairs, and break into the rooms. The front doors were left open every single time that we entered and exited the apartment building. Our personal apartment door did not have a lock on it that was very secure, so we were completely vulnerable to any intrusion. It had the lock of a bedroom door, and a dent in the wall seemed to indicate that it had already been easily kicked in in the past.

We decided to call Airbnb customer service. Our customer service representative took down all of the information and ensured us that safety is the number one priority of Airbnb. We had to wait on the phone for 40 minutes (and this was an international call since we were not calling from our home country) and then explained the situation and how we felt extremely unsafe in the apartment for another 30 minutes. She told us to take videos of all of the extreme noise, dirtiness, and the unsafe and opened doors so that we could send them to her later. She also said that she would call us back within five minutes so that we could proceed with the case by sending all of these videos, and that most likely Airbnb would change our apartment for us that night.

The problem is that we never received a call back from Airbnb, and after a horrible night of sleep (the bed was caving in, there was noise directly outside the door, and someone even banged on the door in the middle of the night) we decided to check out in the morning. I am still shocked that there was absolutely no response from Airbnb when we had stated that we were experiencing huge safety issues. We tried to explain the situation to the host, but she was just rude and told us to deal directly with Airbnb, as the person kicking in the door was probably just drunk (this was clearly because this apartment scam has probably been going on for a while).

I had to look for another nearby hotel and spend extra money just so that we could sleep in a safe place, with no guarantee of a refund and no response from Airbnb at this point. When I arrived back home, I again called Airbnb and sent all of our receipts from the new hotel, all of our information (the videos I took, the photos, and the communications we had with the host and Airbnb), and spent approximately ten hours of my time going back and forth explaining this situation and sending all of my documented information. It is clear that we deserved a full refund, and even something extra, considering all of our time spent documenting, talking on the phone, and sending details over emails. It is clear that this shouldn’t even be a question as we were left with no response in an unsafe apartment.

However, first Airbnb offered us no refund (even though over a phone call, which customer service said had been recorded, they agreed that we should have a refund). After I insisted to have a second and third opinion on the case, we were offered only a one-night refund and a $100 Airbnb credit. This is the worst example of customer service I have experienced in my life. Our main contact told me over and over again that she had no decision making power over our case and that I was not able to speak with someone with decision making power. As stated before, she even agreed that we deserved a refund, but she was not the one deciding. How can it be explained that I could not even speak with an official decision maker?

It seemed like I spent hours playing a cat and mouse chase with no real winner and no clear answers. Why were we never given an explanation of how this refund was calculated? Customer service told me that we met all of the requisites for a refund, however in the end this randomized refund was offered to us with no real explanation of how it was calculated. It is clear that it is just in their interest to give no refunds to customers, as I had to even insist to get this partial refund; their first offer was no refund for no valid reason. I asked in various emails how this was calculated with no response.

I was also even told at one point that only my boyfriend could be in contact with Airbnb since the reservation was made on his account. So are only the guests that make the reservation valid guests? Do they discount all other members of the reservation in times of disagreement? This was also clearly a way of just trying to not deal with me, as I am a native English speaker and my boyfriend is Italian, so of course it was easier for me to be the one to explain this situation in my native tongue. I found this response one that just tried to avoid dealing with my level of discontent as no real answers could be provided.

This offer of a partial refund took almost a month to resolve. This is extremely slow, and as of today it still is not even listed as refunded in my boyfriend’s account. How can they explain that a company that is supposed to be prided on efficient service takes so long to answer a customer service query? I have never experienced such a terrible example of a company solely asserting their market power without caring at all about their customers’ experience. Clearly I won’t be using their services again and hope that this example makes others think twice before paying them for a service without any guarantee of true care for their customers.

He Said/He Said Airbnb Dispute with Surveillance Cameras

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My host planted surveillance cameras in at least one area. I am posting my original review, the host’s review, and my response. When I first arrived I took photos of the guest facilities as they were a mess, and stank. I had the sense that I was being watched during my entire stay, including in the bathroom. There is an area that he calls a kitchen but there was no new dining room table, and no cooking utensils or appliances other than a coffee maker that I used. I placed their large cup underneath it in case of further dripping and threw my coffee filter in the trash. I sat and ate lunch at a wooden table for twenty minutes and there was no leakage, no water or coffee damage when I left. Perhaps one of the other two guests spilled the coffee I was blamed for? The important point is his admission of checking the camera to note the time that I was in the kitchen. Does this mean I was monitored in my room and the restroom? A surveillance camera is a violation of my privacy and constitutional rights in a private setting. Here is the review that I left: “Peaceful, quiet and comfortable with many perks!”

I said more positive things but for some reason they’ve disappeared. Here are the host’s remarks:

“We would not host Jerry again, even though his other reviews were great. Jerry was polite upon arrival, but that’s the only thing he had going for him. With over 60 guests we’ve had in our home, he’s been the first guest we’ve had to call Airbnb to document a complaint about. He’s also the first guest that’s made us question continuing being hosts. He originally booked two nights, Wednesday and Thursday.

Arriving home Thursday after work to clean between my two jobs, I could only smell a strong coffee odor. I came to find out an entire cup of coffee had been spilled over the brand new kitchen table, down the side, and all over the hardwood floor with zero effort to clean it up, despite Clorox wipes and paper towels being two feet away. We looked back at the camera footage to confirm he spilled the coffee around 3:00 PM that day and got up and left it there. Up in the bathroom, soap had been poured all over the bathtub floor, causing a slipping hazard. It took a while to clean that up. I went to check the hamper in the room for towels. The hamper was half full of garbage, which ended up staining the brand new cloth hamper. Even though there’s a trash can provided right outside the bedroom door, in the dining room, and a third one by the garage, he chose to use the hamper. Instead of using it for towels, he just tossed them on the floor despite them being damp. He left the lights on 24/7 and even took our entire roll of Clorox wipes into his room without permission. I had the bathroom clean when I left for my second job. I came back to a filthy bathroom again, with toothpaste spit all in the sink and on the floor. A huge puddle of water was also on the floor that I had to clean at 11:00 PM. Friday, checkout day, he waited until 3:00 PM to checkout. Since our next guest arrived at 1:30 PM, we had to place him in a room that wasn’t meant for him. Jerry thought he’d booked for Friday night as well but had not and left upon the realization he’d accidentally booked one day too few, complaining about having to now book a hotel. After checkout we found half a dozen towels, hand towels, and wash cloths used for only a two-night stay. We only charge $30 per night to help travelers out and to help with our renovations of our new home, but his stay has cost us much more than what we made due to the damaged hamper, and ruined kitchen table that was brand new two months ago. Hopefully our hardwood floors will be fine. I work too hard to have my home treated so poorly. If he books again, I plan to ask Airbnb to cancel it.”

Finally, my response:

“Wow, I’m shocked! I wish Staunton had said something to me about all this. First, regarding toothpaste spit? I don’t have toothpaste at all. I noticed the towels being used by two friends of his that stayed one or two nights. I figured there was a shortage of towels. I did try to make coffee but only got half a cup. I did not notice any spills and I put the used filter in the trash. Maybe he’s talking about another guest? I gave him a great rating out of kindness as he’s new to the business and I overlooked a lot of inconveniences, e.g. the smell of animals in the house, no small refrigerator for personal use, no way to boil water for tea or coffee, no way to lock your room in spite of three guest rooms and finally the inconvenience of three guests/strangers using one small bathroom. The home itself was in disarray, the front yard was growing weeds and the parking was too tight. I did mistake the length of my stay but apologized profusely to his partner for the error and made no complaint regarding finding a motel room for Friday night. Based on his inaccurate and hostile comments I wouldn’t recommend this not-so-private Airbnb to anyone. By the way, I called Staunton on Friday to see if an extra night was available as he had told me originally that after Wednesday I’d be his only guest. He sent a cryptic note that he was at work and too busy to talk. This has been an unfortunate experience, the only such one since I began using Airbnb. Staunton should have talked with me about his grievances before going off on me after my kindness to him in my rating.”

A brief review: At my age of 74, I am compulsively clean:

1. I hang my towels up to dry. His guests threw theirs on the floor.

2. I do not use toothpaste as I have dentures. I noticed the toothpaste spit from the other guests. I don’t clean up after other guests.

3. Soap naturally sinks to the bottom of the tub when washed from your body.

4. Three guests for one bathroom is too much, especially with only two towel racks. I kept a dry towel in my room in order to have one when I needed it.

5. My room was not cleaned once during my stay.

6. There was no communication that anything was wrong.

7. I apologized profusely to Staunton’s cleaning man for the late checkout and my confusion about booking dates. I at no time complained about having to get a motel room.

8. There was a tiny trashcan in the bathroom that was full. There was no trashcan in my room.

9. I am totally offended by this young man and his hostile review. This has become a nightmare that I will not repeat. His review and the surveillance camera are unacceptable and deceitfully full of allegations harmful to my good standing with Airbnb with which I am now done with unless they take action in admonishing this young man.

This has ruined me to Airbnb. They are not available to hear or follow up on complaints. They need to investigate this particular listing for the surveillance cameras and take them off their site.

Update 5/23/2017:

The host has contacted me again and is now saying my coffee grounds ruined his coffee maker. He also saw a host in Darlington on my wish list and he has contacted her warning her about me. Is this legal? He also tried to message me on Facebook. Here is his latest email:
Hi Jerry,
I wanted to take a moment to message you in response to your comment left on the review. Fortunately no one can see your inaccurate response from my end. I just wanted to address some things in your response. You stated you didn’t have toothpaste, but Thursday night you were the only guest that had been there between my cleaning of the bathroom at 5:30 PM and when the next guest that arrived that night whom I personally greeted. Before their arrival is when I found a blue paste (maybe not toothpaste, but some blue goo) spit in the sink and on the carpet. Meaning no other guest could have done that between my two cleanings. As for the spill, I’m not sure how you didn’t see that since the entire table was covered, as well as the river of coffee that had ran down the side and onto the floor. Again, that was between my lunch break cleaning at 12:30 PM and my evening cleaning at 5:30 PM. You were the only one there between those hours since my two uncles and partner were all gone before 10:30 AM. I do apologize for your “inconveniences” due to the animal smell even though we’ve had several reviews, including one that stated “warm, cozy, and smelled like a resort” along with other praises on how nice our rooms smell since we keep fragrances plugged in all throughout the house. Even though the smell of dog would still be expected in a listing that states dogs live inside the home, even though we bathe her frequently. Though she’s never allowed outside the bedroom unless she’s going out the back door so she’d never be in the guest portion of the home, ever, and never has been even since moving into the home.
The next day after you left, we noticed you’d used the Keurig with raw coffee grinds which ruined a $100+ machine, since they’re meant for coffee pods only. A mini fridge was provided for your use, as well as our large, empty fridge in the kitchen. Airbnb’s typically don’t provide a mini fridge in every single room, as we are not a hotel. In the kitchen, you’d have also found ways to boil water in a pot on the stove so that’s incorrect too. We also had several notes posted in the room and our listing stating that we provide room keys so that you can lock your door anytime, but you never once asked for a room key despite it being mentioned in three places and expressed verbally. As for the inconvenience of sharing the bathroom, you could read the following on our listing: “We have two other rooms listed along with this one. If other guests have booked those rooms the same night as your stay, the bathroom would be shared.” The bathroom has a lock as well as your bedroom. We get last^minute bookings daily, sometimes as late as 3:00 AM. So if I told you we’d have no guests Wednesday night, obviously that could change at any minute. Also, you’ll have to excuse the weeds in the yard as I work eight jobs and haven’t had time to cut the grass since my cousin committed suicide recently after her father had an accident, and I’ve been too busy tending to family matters to bother with weeds in the yard. You also stated you called me Friday, but I never received a phone call from you. Only a message asking me to call. And I responded saying I was at work and could not talk. I’m unsure how that could count as cryptic since it was just a few words and stated the obvious: 1) At work. 2) Can’t talk until 5:00.
I also see you have a place in Darlington on your wishlist, a home that the woman who actually referred me to Airbnb owns, so I’ve sent her an email with fair warning. I’m sorry you had an unfortunate experience, and I’m just as sorry for how insulted and abused we felt in our home with the constant messes. I should have brought my concerns up to you, but working so many jobs the only thing I can do in my spare time is clean between guests and then I’m right back out the door to my next job. I only even remember seeing you just once during your stay. I’m sure you’re a fantastic person, as I can tell from your other three reviews and how friendly you were at check-in, but unfortunately we just had our first horrible experience and were upset with how the house was treated. Unfortunately I didn’t get to know you very well and was only left seeing bad things, and that saddens me. I want to assure you that I’m a Superhost for a reason; this past week has just been a long and upsetting week for me. I wish you the best in all of your future travels.
What are my legal rights on Airbnb, or do I need to get an attorney involved?

Jailed for Eight Hours a Day, No Satisfaction from Airbnb

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This is the totally honest review I wrote and the host’s character-besmirching remarks. Airbnb refuses to retract these remarks, by their host Pradeepa, and they remain on the site to this day. Thanks for allowing character assassination and slander on your website Airbnb.

If you want to be imprisoned for eight hours a day, smell incense 24/7 at a strength that would knock over a horse, have moldy coffee grounds in your coffee maker, have the hosts go in your unit and snoop around every day when you are not there for God knows what reason, hear your hosts talking loudly through paper-thin walls, have them start a remodeling project during your vacation time which you will hear and smell, and have your host break down in tears if you let her know something isn’t right, by all means, book this place. I drove 2400 miles round trip to stay here and my vacation was completely ruined. If you stay here, get a device which will secure the door that leads from their side of the house to yours because they will enter as they need to unlock it from their side; it was totally unnerving.

Airbnb takes no responsibility for their clients’ safety as they do not require a hasp or chain lock on the residences they are listing for rental, allowing anyone with a key to just walk in your temporary home when you are there. Even Motel 6 has chain and hasp locks on all their rooms. Airbnb’s lack of vigilance and caring is absolutely disturbing.

This was the response from Pradeepa:

John was apprised of our guest house policies and he agreed to conform to them without exception. He stayed for two weeks and his behavior was socially and morally unacceptable. We therefore requested he check out. His review was beyond insulting. I hope no Airbnb host will ever have to go through what we went through with John.

Socially and morally unacceptable? If this is not character assassination and slander I don’t know what is. She makes it sound as if I was a pervert and attacked her. I was respectful but told her of the issues involved and was met with tears… with her husband standing there. Unbelievable. I failed to mention the uncomfortable furniture with a dining table so small it barely held my laptop. There was no other place to set my computer. No security hasp or chain so they could and did walk in anytime they felt like snooping around. They locked the courtyard gate at 7:30 PM and didn’t open it until 7:30 AM (even though the gate was chain locked, for which they also gave me a key), leaving me with no way to get out without pounding on the door or ringing the doorbell. I am certain this is against Phoenix Fire Department regulations. I was never apprised of all their extra rules until the day after I checked in after driving 1200 miles. Had it been posted on the host’s original Airbnb listing that I would be locked in my leased unit eight to ten hours per day I would have never leased this unit from the hosts from hell.

I have complained to Airbnb before about not making their hosts have chain or hasp locks on the rental units to no avail. My only conclusion is, at this point, they are making so much money that they don’t care. Thanks also to Airbnb for having their call center in the Philippines, so between the horrible crosstalk and interference of the connection there is also a language barrier. Unbelievable…..

President of Alliance for HOPE International Speaks Out

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Airbnb let a host take $900 from us after advertising a really dumpy, sub-par unit in Washington DC. “Tommy”, the owner, posted his row house but took only pictures from a distance and did not show a picture of the bathroom or the kitchen. His unit was listed as #11324355. This is always a good way to identify a dishonest Airbnb host but my staff members missed it. We booked the unit and did not realize how poorly maintained it was until we arrived at the unit on a Friday. We immediately contacted Tommy to say we could not stay there; he was profane and raged against my staff members. We booked another unit within the hour and had a great host. However, when we appealed to Airbnb, they sided with Tommy and let him keep our money even though the unit had dirty, stained carpets, tattered furniture, holds in the walls, faded paint with water stains, and peeling paint on the front door. The kitchen was old, drab, and poorly maintained with 1970’s formica and linoleum. Airbnb thought we were first-time users even though I have personally spent tens of thousands of dollars with them over the years. They sided with the host and would not refund our money. They ripped us off and sided with a very dishonest host.

Lying, Rude Airbnb Host in East London

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Back in February 2017 I booked Dora’s Airbnb in East London close to an area where I would be meeting friends for a farewell meal and drinks, as I now live in South Korea. A friend and I had decided to stay at an Airbnb to avoid a long and draining journey home. However my friend, who has never used Airbnb, was a bit reluctant. I assured her that I had had several good experiences and it would be fine. After finding Dora’s room online and reading numerous good reviews, I booked one night with her.

She was very nice and explained that she would be able to rent the room. However, ‘a friend’ would be staying in her room so she would be on the sofa that evening. I said this should be fine and when the weekend came, I dropped my stuff at her apartment and proceeded with my farewell evening. Once my friend and I returned to the apartment we got ready for bed incredibly quietly and went to get a glass of water from the kitchen for the night. However, after politely knocking on the door before entering, we heard Dora approach the living room/kitchen door and shout ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING I TOLD YOU I WAS ASLEEP!’

I said I had needed a glass of water as none had been provided in the room (which was advertised). I calmly and quietly got my glass and returned to my room. At this point I felt really uncomfortable having been shouted at like a naughty child for asking for water. My friend also felt uncomfortable and decided we should calmly speak to her before deciding whether to leave early. When we spoke to her, we explained this was an irrational way to act and asked for an apology as we no longer felt welcome. She insisted she did not need to apologise and said if we wanted we leave we should (at 1:00 in the morning).

Deciding to not be treated like this, we left and contacted Airbnb immediately who gave me a full apology and refund. They said they would speak to the host and she would not be able to leave a review as we did not stay the night. A few weeks later, having moved countries, I noticed a horrible review had been posted on my wall from the host, completely twisting the story around to make her look like the victim. I immediately got in contact with Airbnb as she had also said they had given her a full refund for the issue and asked for an explanation of how she had been able to leave a review against me and been able to contact me. They offered very little in the way of an explanation and merely took the review down. We subsequently found out that the ‘friend’ staying in her room that weekend was another guest; she had lied and double booked her home (the guest left a review on the website the day after).

I’m disgusted that hosts feel they have the right to bully people, treat them so badly after taking their money, and are allowed to get away with it. If you are looking for a place to stay in London for a night out I strongly recommend a hotel.

Unstable Airbnb Host in Executive Suite on Sarasota Bay

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My host’s name is Yvonne based in North Sarasota. This place is a Airbnb train wreck. Do not give her any money. The property is in a beautiful spot, however it’s also in foreclosure. She is looking for folks with money so she can “get a personal loan” ($20k+) to bail her out on her other defaults (yes, it’s more than “just the foreclosure”). As soon as she finds out you won’t cover that for her, things get very nasty very quickly. She will present you with continually moving targets as to proving your personal savings and income information, after moving in. Claiming one fantasy entity after another requires your private financial information for you to continue living there. Imagine what she may use that for.

Yes, there is a “private” bedroom and bathroom. However, she walks in on your private space at will, all the time. There is no central air; it’s there but needs to be replaced. She claims she “will have it fixed soon”… sure. Cooking in the very tiny kitchen is not allowed during the warm months, because there is no air conditioning. Did you see the attached picture of the note denying tenant access to USPS mail delivery service? That’s a federal crime. The US Post Office and only the USPS owns all mailboxes (doesn’t matter if you bought it or put it up – read the federal statute), not some home owner, landlord or tenant. Forget having any friends over; she refuses to allow it and if you do anyway, her behavior to them is atrocious. In addition, she’s permanently on large, daily dosages of opioid pain meds.

If you’re seeking to live with a continually whacked out junkie, this is the place for you. If ever there’s a heroin junkie’s mentality, she’s got it. Does it still sound like an “executive suite” to you? There’s little doubt she is failing to pay her mortgage at all, pocketing the rent she gets, and just waiting out the inevitable conclusion of the foreclosure process. It took some digging to discover she’s in foreclosure. Yvonne, as an owner (not for much longer) and landlord, of course didn’t share that tidbit with her tenant and has no clue I’m aware of the situation. Very sad. Do not enable this woman’s outrageous behavior.

The Inner Workings of Airbnb: What They Won’t Tell You

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While I am still waiting for an outcome on my own host nightmare – 35 days and counting – I thought I would share this bit of information with all you wonderful people here on Airbnb Hell. I’ve been perusing the stories of hosts and guests alike. It’s all very sad and alarming as to the rate that Airbnb is burning bridges with hosts and guests. Something that everyone needs to understand is how a company platform like Airbnb works. There is this illusion that they make all their money when a host offers his home and a guest rents it. While Airbnb makes a tidy sum from the 3% they take from the host and the 18% (I have heard) from the guest, that is not their real moneymaker.

1. 21% of the money is collected from the actual physical ‘rental’ of a property.

2. Interest on money held. Airbnb collects all payments at booking (sometimes months in advance) and sits on it, only release it to hosts after the guest checks in. Even if these funds were collected and sat on during just one overnight period alone, the interest that is compounding is almost staggering to think about.

3. Negotiated credit card processing rate. While hosts and guests are paying a certain advertised percentage rate for credit card processing, this rate has been negotiated (behind the scenes) with the credit card company. Airbnb collects their advertised rate from hosts and guests and then pays their ‘negotiated’ rate to the credit card company. Maybe 0.017% doesn’t seem like much, but when you are processing hundreds of thousands (or possibly more) dollars a day it adds up very quickly in Airbnb’s pockets.

4. Selling your information to third parties. This is Airbnb’s goldmine. This is why they want access to all your private and pertinent information. This is not to protect the hosts. Platforms already exist where Airbnb could act as merely a ‘Yellow Pages’, connecting hosts and guests alike. It would then be up to hosts to vet guests of their own accord. However, that is not where the money is. Airbnb wants all your information because that makes you more valuable.

Your age? They have lists for that.

Your gender? They have lists for that.

Your Facebook friends? Yes, they have lists for that too.

You are a potential goldmine and you don’t even know it. Everyday your information is sold for a huge profit to all the ‘marketers’ out there. Now don’t worry: they aren’t selling your actual name and then all your personal information attached to it (at least we don’t believe they are – because that crosses into illegal territory). However, with that having been said, I personally do not trust Airbnb and that could be happening while you are reading this. You and all the others like you of the same age, gender, nationality, etc. are being grouped together and being sold off like cattle at an auction barn. This is how you keep getting all that wonderful advertising ‘tailored just for you’ – because the marketers already know you because they bought your information.

You can get angry when they screw you over hosting and pull your house from their database, or as a guest who has rented a home that doesn’t exist and is sitting in the rain in the middle of the night trying to call the help center and no one is home. To really make a difference and an impact is to let your friends and family know not to do business with them and if they choose to do so anyway, don’t let them have access to your or any of your friends’ and family’s information. Don’t tie your Facebook account or any other list to verifications. If you are truly done with Airbnb, go in and delete your account from their database. Deleting an account only deletes it from us, the public; Airbnb still has all your information. What you need to do is go into your account and make changes a few days before. Delete out as much information as you can from your profile. Don’t just make fake changes. If you change your birthday, you have still given them an opportunity to put you on a list. Remember they are there for quantity, not quality.; they don’t care how much of the information that they sell is accurate. Let that be a problem of the marketers. Remove what you can. Then a few days later, delete your account. Now all that is left on their end is the scant bit of information you left them with days earlier. Remember people: the only way to eat an elephant is ‘one bite at a time’. Now, where did I lay that fork…? Good luck out there friends.