Tag Archives: airbnb crazy host

Airbnb Nightmare in Santa Margherita, Italy

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My daughter and I were traveling in Italy and we decided to spend our last ten days on the Italian Riviera. We found an apartment in Santa Margherita that seemed to suit our needs: walking distance to town, two bedrooms, nice views. Our host, Angela, was super sweet in her responses to me prior to booking, confirming that she has wifi (very important to both of us) and the town was within walking distance. She said her English was not great but she communicated very well prior to booking. After booking, I had to ask her for the address, twice, as it was not given to me through our Airbnb booking. She also told me to converse with her son via WhatsApp instead of with her through Airbnb messaging. I told her that I do not have WhatsApp and would continue to contact her through Airbnb.

Incidentally, my daughter was sick so I was anxious to get to the apartment and get her in bed. When we got to Santa Margherita after a long train ride (without wifi), I found a message from Angela saying that we needed to copy our passports before she would allow her cleaning person to let us in to the apartment. I asked her where we could have that done (at 4 pm). The only information she would give us was to ask around a certain piazza in town… which we did – two places – and were told that there were no shops that had copying services. So we asked Angela if she would please at least let us drop off our luggage before we continued to look for a copy place and to please give us an actual address of a copy place (nowhere on her Airbnb page did it say that we had to copy our passports). My daughter and I had to keep going to the harbor to get free wifi to contact her.

This was Angela’s reply:

“Sandy, I’m telling You the way to reach the House, not going around the city. Piazza caprera, via palestro, piazza mazzini, via belvedere. from Piazza caprera to Piazza mazzini there are shops for the copy. You had to ask , no sing out of door. I’m sorry for Your daughter but I give You phone of my son , he speaks well , Why you haven’ call him? Why You havent’ call taxi? with heavy luggages and daugther not in well? I in Liguria the streets are steep, no good for person not in well and heavy luggages. Yesterday i give You a lot of facilities, but you wat speak only with airbnb airbn site!!! I you want to help must help!!! In my ad I specified that it was necessary passport copy ’cause you did not before ? I suggested You different formulas but you refused, how may can help You if you don’t want?”

Anyway, my daughter and I went to the apartment, which was up an extremely steep hill (not advertised). Angela’s housekeeper met us, at which point I started to cry as my daughter was so sick. The sweet housekeeper asked me for five euros and went into town to copy our passports but asked us not to let Angela know that she had let us in. The apartment was disgusting. The “views” were of a parking lot and a construction site. There was white powder all over the tile floors; we assumed it was for ants, which were everywhere. The TV didn’t work (no biggie), the shower didn’t work (could only take baths), the beds were horribly uncomfortable, the apartment above was under being renovated so we heard nothing but saws, and we could only get one of the burners on the stove to work, which was enough to make my daughter tea (but there was no teapot).

Once the housekeeper returned, I went back into town to use the free wifi and asked Angela four times for her wifi address and password. No response. So, I contacted Airbnb. No response. The next morning, I got a message from Angela saying that we had to go into town and PURCHASE wifi! Airbnb finally wrote back saying that it looked like my problem was solved because Angela responded. I wrote back saying that we were in an Airbnb nightmare. Airbnb called me. Mick, in Ireland, took our case and told me that he was stopping payment to Angela. I told him, in that case, we needed to pack our belongings as her correspondence to me was so mean (I have many examples) that she would probably confiscate our belongings. So, my ill child did just that and went back into town. However, Mick never loaded the right page to my Airbnb conflict page so I was unable to upload pics of the dirt, the broken window, and the things that weren’t working. I was sobbing.

Finally, I called, again, and got Brittaney in Denver, who loaded the correct page. Once she had our pics, she helped us find another apartment in the next town, Rapallo, with our host, Luca, who was such a sweetheart. And we loved his apartment. He met us, didn’t speak English but had a friend on his phone who acted as our interpreter, brought us espresso pods, milk, bottled water, and croissants (none of which Angela provided). Luca, alone, restored our faith in Airbnb. However, Angela then tried to get 1500 euros from us, although our total fee for our stay at her place was a little over 900 euros. It took two weeks but Airbnb finally closed the dispute – my guess is because she never proved damages – which, of course, there were none. I know that this site said it doesn’t want too many curse words but — Angela, you’re an asshole and shouldn’t be a host! I purposely left out that I am an Airbnb super host: five stars, with 80 ratings. This type of host ruins things for the rest of us. Angela still has her listing and no one looking at her listing will ever know of my nightmare experience, unless they happen to look here. Thanks for letting me vent.

Death Threats from Airbnb Host in Caribbean

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A year ago, my girlfriend got me a birthday gift: a trip to a Caribbean island! However, we had to cancel at the last minute due to our Airbnb host sending us crazy private messages before we got a chance to get to the place where we wanted to go. We filed an appeal with Airbnb to get the refund then the host went completely insane on us: death threats, stalking, criminal harassment. We filed a police report and they could not do anything of course… Airbnb sided with their host, would not let us post a review, suspended the account, and covered up their mess as best they could after we provided a copy of the police report as well as all the creepy and harassing messages and death threats. We have shared our story with over a hundred people and they were completely freaked out and said they would never support Airbnb for covering up criminal activity. They are a joke and it is only a matter of time before people start dying then they might consider a screening and application process for hosts…. but I doubt it…

Currently Stuck in an Airbnb Nightmare

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Unfortunately, we are still here and too scared to give the full story until we are a safe distance away from our host’s seriously mentally deranged mother. We are desperate to escape from this nightmare Airbnb stay but our house is still being repaired. If our host’s mother were to find out that we had spilled the beans about her she would lock us out as she has done on several occasions. My partner and I have extensive careers with the Met Police Constabulary – we have both worked with some of the UK’s nastiest criminals – but our host’s mother is, without a doubt, the most cunning, sly, compulsive liar that either of us has ever met. Please hold our ‘comments’ until we are in a safe location – which is in less than a week’s time. We need to warn people about this particular Airbnb accommodation in St Leonards Hastings UK.

Finding yourself Stuck in an Airbnb Drug Den

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We are a young couple who has been using Airbnb for more than a year traveling in many countries. Unfortunately, our last stay in Casablanca wasn’t as pleasant as previous ones. There were 6 or 7 people living in the apartment. The first night everything was fine, but the second night they held some kind of party and were smoking weed and probably some other cheap drugs, and drinking a lot of alcohol. Did I mention the listing stated that apartment was “quiet” and suitable for “families traveling with children”? Maybe a family of meth heads.

We wanted to complain, but our host was never in the house; those people were all her “friends”, or permanent tenants we should say. It was really late so we decided to contact our host in the morning. When we woke up, we found this message from our host, informing us that we should pay “additional” fees to the other tenants, because they “took care of us”. We didn’t even understand what the hell was going on – what additional fees? – and thought the booking transaction had already been completed on the website. She was probably high too.

Anyway, we refused to pay the amount she was asking for. That’s when things got really weird. She asked us to hand in our passports along with a fee to make a “copy” for the police. We were just standing there thinking: “Well, time to GET THE HELL out of here.” It was clear that she just wanted to confiscate our documents so we wouldn’t leave… or for some other purpose. It didn’t really feel like she was asking; it felt like she was threatening us. Apparently, all guests “were asked to do the same for legal purposes.”  So you’re trying to tell me that you actually follow the law yet allow drug parties in your house? Anyway, we just went back to our room, immediately packed our things, and left. The only good thing was that Airbnb responded quickly to our complaint and gave us our money back, in a matter or hours. Anyway, be careful guys!

Excessive Cancellations and BDSM at Airbnb

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Three cancellations in my last few trips and each time Airbnb treats me like i am trying to cheat them. I had to make a total of four reservations (now maybe five) for this three-week trip! The first was a very nice, complete apartment at a great price for the full three weeks. Apparently too good to be true, as they cancelled a few days later. I could not find anything even close, but there was an apartment that had a weekend hole in the middle. It was nice, so I booked both sides.

Airbnb argued that I didn’t deserve the available credit from the cancellation because I had to make two separate reservations instead of one and neither one individually qualified. REALLY? Airbnb treated me like I was stealing! But then, the “instant book” host cancelled the second leg of my stay. Back to the computer AGAIN! At that point, there was nothing even close to the original reservation I made. I found a complete apartment for a decent price and filled the hole and second leg. But Airbnb’s system didn’t allow me to apply the two credits I received trying to make THIS reservation. Airbnb said I must use it on a future reservation. I understand Airbnb wants me tethered to their sorry policies, but I would rather lose the credit than go through that mess again.

I can’t believe that Airbnb thinks that by treating me poorly I will be a loyal and happy customer. I am frustrated and angry and I have lost way more in time and frustration than the $120 credit they wouldn’t let me use. And I have no confidence at this point that those reservations will be there when I travel. For example, in my penultimate (second to last) reservation in Florida via instant book reservation, I called the host on my way over from the airport car rental and she screamed at me that she was not an Airbnb host and I would not be able to stay, blaming Airbnb for not cancelling her account. When I talked to Airbnb, I was again treated like I was the one who caused the problem. They have Horrible policies that force their customer service people to treat customers roughly and unfairly.

On my last trip to Florida, I got stuck in a house of a couple (as in a man and woman) of dominatrixes who were in the process of building a dungeon in their garage and had two “slaves” come over a couple nights before I left. As I was trying to watch TV, I heard many smacking sounds and screams coming from the garage. Funny, but not what I bargained for.

Host Slanders us on Airbnb Reviews

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One stop over in Mirimar Beach in a two-bedroom loft condo – an excellent place until bed time! We got into the bed and it sagged beyond belief. We lifted the sheets back to see what problem was and took off the mattress protector to find one of the biggest stains we have ever seen on a bed; even the sides of the bed were heavily stained. The sleeper sofa was broken so each of us had to sleep on a sofa; as a result, we hardly got any sleep. Because we had to check out and get on the road it was not possible to contact Airbnb, but we did message the host about how we left the place… he expected us to have his towels cleaned and dried before the 10:00 AM check out time and would charge us $25 for each towel damaged! He didn’t reply, so we left the towels in the dryer so they would at least be dry.

When we got to our next destination, I wrote my review and was very honest about how great the condo had been presented but there was an issue with the bed and screen door; there were no nasty details on the public review. I then sent the host a message saying maybe he needed to get that mattress replaced ASAP. Nothing happened, so we decided to get in touch with Airbnb about wanting some compensation for a couple of bad nights. The other bed was amazing so this wasn’t being greedy. They said they’d look into it.

We woke up the next day to see this mug of a host slander us in the review – red flag to a bull – and got straight onto Airbnb with a live chat and demanded full payment back AND to get his comment removed he sent photos of the stains to prove they were NOT fresh stains! Because it was past the 24-hour mark, we only got a partial refund as we should have contacted someone – a bit difficult at 1:00 AM – and then gone out of range to talk for a day. But they did their best. Although his comment is still on my profile I have since replied to it. Stay the hell away from this nasty piece of trash he is in it for the money and to get more from us through his comments! This guy lives in Arizona and this place is on the coast down in Florida. Please stay away from this host or you are going to get ripped off!

Horrendous Airbnb Stay at Hong Kong Brothel

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What a nightmare! First of all, I’m the kind of person who rarely complaints and would just let things be in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, but my experience with Airbnb at this particular “inn” was so bad I had to share so others can take precautions or maybe think twice before booking. We arrived at the place early and the host told us beforehand that if we did come early and if there was an empty room we could either leave our luggage there or rest in an available room first. We arrived early and found the building where the room was located very dodgy, but at that point we didn’t suspect anything. Then we went up to Level 7 which is where the so called inn is, and we saw several lots with pink neon lights and immediately thought that this looked somehow familiar – like where people look for prostitutes in dramas; we couldn’t confirm this as we never thought it would be that bad.

So we called up the host, Grace, and told her that we have arrived, and she just gave us the pin to the main door (mind you we hadn’t seen her until now). We then entered the “inn” and this is where the adventure begins. She told us to look for the keys under the tissue box and some other items that I can’t remember in the common area. We have two key cards and she told us to enter Room 1. So we entered Room 1. It was a very narrow room but we already expected that. The air conditioning did not work and we called the host again. She gave us instructions on how to use the air conditioning but it did not really work. So she told us to go to another room and said that we could switch if we preferred the other room (still communicating over the phone at this point). So we went to Room 5; the space and toilet there looked better than those in the first room so we switched rooms. Then we decided to freshen up and then head out but – guess what – we could not get the toilet bowl to flush! So we called the host AGAIN, and she instructed us over the phone again. We still could not get the toilet to work. She sent the cleaner in to check and the cleaner said that we should not dispose of toilet paper in the toilet bowl, as it causes it to clog (I mean, what kind of toilet bowl can’t flush toilet paper?).

Fast forward to the second day. As we were waiting for the lift outside, we saw advertisements providing sex services stuck all around the “pink houses”. We felt a little bit weird and disgusted but didn’t put much thought into it. We went down and then I remembered I left something in the room. So we went back up to the room. This time, a man entered the lift with us and gave us the weirdest look which made us so uncomfortable. He exited the same floor as us but didn’t enter any of the units and instead used the stairs, which was so weird. Whenever we returned, we would see different men leaving or entering the same floor as us. That’s when we realized something was really wrong: we were literally living on the same floor where people were seeking SEX SERVICES! I’m not going to talk in circles saying “special massage services” because it was literally a building of prostitution!

We couldn’t take it and left after two nights to go to a proper hotel as it gave us so much anxiety entering and leaving the building. I didn’t even bother telling the host and didn’t even ask for any refund because, as I said, I don’t like trouble. She didn’t even call and ask what happened but I’m actually glad she didn’t because I was so mad I don’t think any good words would have come out of my mouth. I definitely do not recommend staying here if you are a female or with a bunch of female friends for obvious reasons. In fact, just stay in a proper hotel even if it costs a bit more; there’s no point saving some money and risking your own safety.