Tag Archives: airbnb china

China Coronavirus Farce = Flight Cancelled, No Refund

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I live in Shanghai, China and made a booking last year for a place in Manila, Philippines which was fully paid for at the start of January. About ten days ago, in mid-January, 2020 the Coronavirus ‘lock down’ in China occurred. As a result of this, the flight that I booked from Shanghai to Manila was cancelled four hours before departure, meaning it would have been impossible to arrive at the property.

Whilst the host has on the face of it seemed very understanding about this, I have been advised to “cancel at my end” and “don’t worry as I (the host) will refund the money”. This sounds dubious and is a bit concerning if the host actually has access to the payment details I used to book the place. If I trust this so-called advice and proceed to cancel, it states that I am due to be refunded nothing and I know which outcome I think will be more likely to happen.

Airbnb, despite saying they will ‘usually respond within 24 hours’, so far have not. This was my first ever booking with Airbnb and it has not exactly filled me with confidence to ever use it again. If you, like me are also in China at the moment during this Coronavirus paranoia trip and have booked overseas accommodation, it might be a good idea to change it in case the same thing happens to you.

Cheap China Airbnb Host from Hell

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I had been receiving kind and warm Airbnb experiences until one month ago when I was in a rush booking a room for myself. The problem was that I did not carefully check the comments left on the webpage about the house. I was desperately in need of a place to rest immediately somewhere as close to my company as possible. One Airbnb option captured my attention. It was cheap and it looked clean enough with a spacious bed for one person. Here is how it went with this host: she acted perfectly welcoming, meeting me at the beginning, giving me advice on settling in. But let me tell you, it was difficult to use the hot water to shower. Each time I did, the host complained she paid a lot for electricity and water, so why would I shower two times a day? She offered the same bar of soap for every guest, as well as a used disposable plastic bowl and chopsticks which she had left over from her meals. It was extremely disgusting and insanity.

Apart from this, she offered also a disposable napkin to wash the disposable cookware she offered. It felt like she not only intended to exclude me from her life but also implied I was a walking petri dish. Given the situation, I had literally no idea how I could use the disposable napkin to wash the disposable cookware without any dish gel at all. This apparently made her snap and she shouted: “No adults in world don’t know how to wash a dish! If you’re complaining that much get out of my place at once!”

She was pointing at my nose losing her temper. That night around midnight, she stood at my door, shouting “Please, get out of my place at once!” I thought she was breaking down or had some mental disorder. I called the police because there was no reason I should get out at the middle of the night after receiving threats. It makes me feel sick even just thinking about it. Here’s how the police solved the conflict. They recommended that the host give me a refund immediately and took me somewhere safe for the night. Away from this psycho host with her mental disorder. For more details about where this place is and what I did afterwards calling customer service, please leave comments.

Scamming Slumlord in China Protected by Airbnb

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I booked an Airbnb unit in China, a simple one-bedroom entire home/apt. When I showed up, I had (surprise) eight roommates, no lock on my bedroom door, and cockroaches and trash everywhere. The house was maintained like the worst college dorm you could imagine. I left immediately and Airbnb refused to refund me because I didn’t call them in the first 24 hours (try traveling to mainland china and using your mobile phone). Their slumlord host (who has my bad review and several other bad reviews in Chinese) is able to keep scamming unlucky Airbnb customers and Airbnb keeps their fees and listings. Translate reviews. Don’t trust Airbnb.

Airbnb Account Hacked, Booked in China

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My Airbnb account was hacked. I received a text message in Chinese from some unknown number, then I received an email from Airbnb confirming a reservation to check in today in China. I live in the US and never made this reservation. I checked my account through the Airbnb app. Indeed, there was reservation showing I needed to check in today in China for $555. I also noted two recent searches on my account for homes in China – that was not me. I called Airbnb immediately to let them know someone had access to my account. They “opened a case.” Over three hours later, I heard nothing. I cancelled my credit card which was charged for the amount. So now some idiot has my account information in addition to my credit card number.

I called Airbnb again and they said there were working on it. While they were working, never once did they suggest I should block my card nor did they seem to care that my account was compromised. I was told they have millions of people with cases open and escalated my request. These people should not be allowed to do business. Now their lack of security is my problem and they could care less. I have never even rented a house through them. I reserved a house a few months back and then cancelled the reservation when my plans changed – I paid a fee for the cancellation. I wish I had closed the account then, since apparently they have no information security standards to protect consumers’ information.