Tag Archives: airbnb guest nightmare

Deceitful Guests with Unauthorized Dogs Given Full Refund

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I own two La Jolla, CA beach area homes that I manage.I use HomeAway and also Airbnb. I’ve been hosting and managing the properties since early 2013 and haven’t had one negative review. I accepted an Instant Book – never again! – 65 days prior for Thanksgiving: November 22nd for 6 nights. During the summer, peak season dates require a minimum 60-day cancellation notice to receive a full refund. The guests were a family of six, the renter’s name Elizabeth Razanno from Franklin, Massachusetts. Hosts should make a note of this name and blacklist her; otherwise, you will have problems. She’s a true deceitful law bender. During our chat (after the booking was confirmed, thanks to Instant Book, I specifically asked her to confirm the total number of guests, and if they would have a pet dog; pets were open to discussion, but I wanted them to declare them first.

She skirted the question pertaining to the dog. Again, I stated: “Please answer the question regarding the dog or I will cancel your reservation.”

She replied “Oh, it’s just us.” I should have cancelled her reservation… A few days before their arrival, she contacted me and stated, “Our flight doesn’t get in until the 23rd, one day after our arrival date. My daughter who lives in San Diego will be staying the first night.” A bell went off… not a good vibe.

I said, “Well, okay, but you are the responsible guest and I don’t have a good feeling about having someone other than the responsible guest entering my $2,200,000 home.” I stated, “She must be at least 25 and she cannot have any guests with her as the rental agreement states.”

She replied “Yes, she is 25 and won’t have any other guests with her.”

At 7:00 PM my Cellular Controlled Electronic Front Door Lock notified me her access code was used. I waited until 8:00 PM and arrived to greet her and verify her ID as I do all guests. I walked up as a male was unloading a box of alcohol from the trunk; the gate was open and the front door was wide open. As I knocked on the outside front door before walking in, I verbally announced myself, saying “Hello, owner.” The young girl appeared quickly and attempted to close the door in my face. I said, “I’m the owner of this house and I need to speak with you please. I need to check you in as per the listing states and the rental agreement your mother signed, may I please see your photo ID?”

At that point, two large black dogs appeared. One jumped up and with its front paws almost pushed me down the front steps. The girl had to restrain the one dog while the second was hurling itself from one sofa to the other across the living room wooden table. I immediately saw scratches in the coffee table. I was pissed off… I asked the girl, “What are these dogs doing in my home? They are not authorized, nor discussed with your mother. They are not authorized. You have not paid the pet fee, and I never would allow these types of hyper-aggressive dogs.”

She responded, “Oh, these are my dogs, your listing says ‘pet friendly.’ What’s the problem?”

I responded, “Get these dogs off my property now, before I evict your mother before she even arrives. These dogs are not authorized and your mother failed to declare them and ask permission to have them.”

The girl then said, “Oh, and what if they were service animals?”

I responded, “You and god know neither of these aggressive dogs are service animals so don’t even attempt to go there. If one was a service animal you would have informed me as soon as I walked in, and even more likely, your mother would have made it clear when I vetted her. But she did not.” I told her to get the dogs off my property now: “You can stay, but your pet dogs are out now.”

The next day at approximately 5:00 PM (almost 19 hours later, Airbnb called me and said, “We are giving the guest a full refund and cancelling the reservation from you, the host.” I went home and all three beds’ white linens were stained with dirt marks from the damn dogs jumping on the beds. Every light, every ceiling fan, the central heating, and all four wall-mounted flat screen TVs were on. I argued with Airbnb and they basically told me to pound salt. They said, “The guests said they had a service animal and you forced them to remove it.”

I have eight future reservations booked on Airbnb (Christmas, New Year’s Eve, January, February). However, I am going to terminate my Airbnb account and tell the guests to find me on HomeAway. I would never suggest Airbnb to anyone, ever.

Airbnb “Sleepwalker” Guest Approached Me Naked

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My guest, Sean, arrived with two of his friends who were in a band. They seemed like a nice group of young men, although I had mistakenly thought his party would consist of a female and two males. Had I known it was three men, I wouldn’t have accepted the booking. At about 3:30 am, I saw the bathroom light come on, heard someone use the bathroom, and saw the bathroom light go off. Then I saw the person who had used the bathroom coming towards the living room where I was lying on the couch for bed. As he got nearer, I was surprised that he was approaching me and asked, in a normal speaking voice, “What do you want?”

That’s when I realized it was Sean and he was either nude or wearing “barely there” underpants. I couldn’t tell which it was in the room, which was only illuminated by streetlight and the light from my computer and other electronics. In response to my question, Sean said something like, “My bad. I sleepwalk,” and returned to his private room near the back of the house. Alone, with three men in the house – one of them just having gotten very close to me while naked, or nearly so, and while I was lying in bed – I was too afraid to go back to sleep. So I called Airbnb and they gave me $100 to book a hotel, which I did. I spent the rest of the night there.

I returned well after the time Sean had told me his group would leave. They were indeed gone and had left my exit doors and windows open and, therefore, unlocked, which was against my house rules. However, given the whole naked sleepwalking thing, that was the least of my concerns. Because of what happened with Sean, I looked up sleepwalking on the National Sleep Foundation website. According to the researchers there, a sleepwalker is not easily awakened and, when they are, they are confused and disoriented. Sean using the bathroom without stumbling or being confused about where he was – just as normally as an awakened person would – as well as responding to me coherently and, it seemed to me, with full alertness, when I asked him, without raising my voice to get his attention, what he wanted was not typical of a sleepwalker, according to research.

In addition, if he is aware that he sleep walks, why would he choose to sleep naked, or practically so, while in another person’s home – especially the one of a total stranger and a female at that? He also should have informed me before he booked my space that he was a sleep walker. The Airbnb representative told me she had “educated” Sean about the fact that he should let hosts know he sleepwalks. In my review, I informed Airbnb that, in my opinion, Sean should be barred from being a guest before he rapes somebody. As an Airbnb host, this was the first time I felt like my safety was threatened. This experience has made me rethink how I will proceed as a host going forward. In the attached photo, Sean is wearing pink.

I was gang-raped in Budapest – and Airbnb ignored me, then insulted me

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I was in Budapest on Memorial Day weekend. Checked into an Airbnb rental at 7 pm and the host, Gabor, told me that I could call or text him anytime with any questions. Despite it being a Saturday night, I immediately began working on a report titled Women, Business, and the Law. At 9 pm, I realized that I hadn’t eaten since 8 am. So I texted and called Gabor, asking for the location of the nearest convenience store. I received no response. At midnight, I did the same—and again, had no response. Finally, at 2 am, I stopped working and left the unit. It had been 16 hours since I’d eaten. Immediately, I realized that I’d left the key to the apartment inside. What to do? No one was working at the front desk. Airbnb wasn’t answering. The US Embassy wasn’t answering. So I wandered Budapest, doing my best to avoid the drunken crowds. Took photos. Called my best friend from high school, Michele (in Texas, where it was a reasonable hour). But after an hour, she had to go feed her kids. Around 6 am, I came around a corner and saw a woman being harassed by a group of men at a major intersection. I won’t abide seeing a woman in distress, so I told them to stop. They said, “make us—either with force or money.” I said, “I’m not an idiot…I didn’t bring much money, knowing that I’d be among large groups and I’m clearly not Hungarian.” They said, “Oh, so you must be American—so get money.” I said, “I brought one credit card, and I don’t know the PIN for it. I don’t take money out on credit cards.” That made them angry. So, I’m told, they hit me in the back of the head with a steel pipe. Dragged me into an alley. And 4 to 6 men raped me. The next thing that I remember, I was awakened on a gurney in a hospital covered in blood, with most of my clothes cut off and an orderly screaming in my face that I was a “disgusting American maggot f***ot who deserved what happened and probably liked it.” He also said I had to leave the hospital immediately. Even though I was in shock and completely confused, I managed to ask, “What happened to me?” He said, “You know what happened—and you wanted it.” So I got up, found the doctor and asked if I really had to leave. He said, “My god no! We still need to do a CT scan, blood work, and more invasive tests. We thought you might be dead. You have to stay here at least 12-14 more hours.” I asked again, “What happened to me? Please tell me.” He said, “You really have no idea? Even through the pain medication?” And then I realized. So I left the hospital; I couldn’t wait through that. So I tried to talk to the police, to file a report. They laughed at me and said, F you, American f***ot. I got to a hostel, but Airbnb still wouldn’t answer. I still couldn’t contact the Airbnb host or get back into the unit. Then I had to call my mother and tell her what had happened to the youngest of her five sons. Then the US Embassy, who provided advice on getting a locksmith for the Airbnb unit and a replacement phone (mine had obviously been stolen during the attack). A couple days later, I left Budapest for Prague. Airbnb wouldn’t help me there either. I had to walk everywhere because I had no currency—including to a clinic to get post-HIV and STD exposure medications. The meds made me incredibly sick. I lost 40 pounds. Finally, in Berlin, Airbnb started calling me incessantly. Trying to seem like they were my friends. I said, I’m not talking to you. Everything has to be by email. Because you failed me as a company and as human beings. This will all be documented. So they called my mother—without my knowledge or permission. My mother, who has been dealing with my father’s Alzheimer’s. And told her that I’m “unbalanced.” My mother told them (politely) that she didn’t have a word to say to them. My parents both worked for the US government and don’t like attention. Then Airbnb changed their rules and said I could no longer contact them or their Legal Department. I lived in San Francisco for 17 years, before I moved back to Charlottesville, VA, in August 2014 to help my mother deal with my father. I’ve been in one relationship for 24 years. I work for international organizations, foreign governments, NGOs, and charities. I do anything I possibly can to help make the world a better place. Airbnb does not. It placed profits before people long ago. Proposition F in San Francisco MUST fail. I apologize for the length of this post. Thank you.

NEVER Again Will We Use Airbnb

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NEVER Again will we use Airbnb. You THINK you are getting a better deal than staying at a hotel. NOT THE CASE. You can literally find yourself not only paying for commission charges from Airbnb, and the per-night charge from the ‘host’, you leave yourself wide open to a ridiculous security deposit, and claims of all sorts by the hosts of the place you might stay. We were using airbnb since 2013 and we have had fantastic experiences with many hosts, but it was only down to pure luck. If a lunatic / neurotic host decides to ruin your holiday, they can! They claimed that we destroyed (with shower steam ) their baby’s paper planes that were hanging above a changing mat it the bathroom (that should not be left there at a first place) , stained two of their towels with some dirt they couldn’t remove and apparently spilled something on the floor and damaged the laminate. (No one of us remembers anything of this). Nonsense!!! ..airbnb sided with the host, and wants to charge $600 the security deposit to my Visa card. They didn’t even bother to show me the pictures that the host presented as ‘evidence'”. We were not even allowed to dispute their decision!!! I called my bank and spoke with a supervisor, and I hope to be able to stop this totally unexpected and unfair charge out of nowhere!!! . I totally lost my trust to this company. Would you valued me as a client , you would have to compensate me, for putting me through this hellish nightmare! My previous positive experience with other airbnb hosts made me believe that this was a trustworthy company. Alas! They are NOT worth your trust! This would have never happened with a holiday park, a hotel or a proper B&B. This Christmas our holiday will be with a holiday park in the Netherlands. NEVER Again will we use Airbnb.

Chicago 4th of July Nightmare

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The host for my stay at a luxury condo in Chicago over 4th of July weekend told me that if I didn’t accept an unsolicited offer for a ride from the airport, I couldn’t stay at his place. I know what you’re thinking, I have “negative energy” for not accepting such a gracious offer from the host even though they asked for my credit card information, well that’s what the host said. It was a nightmare as I was on the way from the airport in a cab to the place when he refused to host me so I had to reserve a two nights in the only hotel in town that had availability: the four seasons. That’s right it cost me a fortune but it ended up being great at the hotel. I will never use Airbnb again!

Where’s the refund? No help from Airbnb!

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I have been trying to get a refund for a canceled stay overseas. The host agreed to refund but my bank account was closed when I moved cross country and airbnb said it had to go to closed account. An airbnb employee gave me incorrect info and the host reduced the amount of refund because she thought I accused her of lying about the location of the funds. Airbnb has has been EXTREMELY difficult to contact and now lists a password to a pdf file for my refund info but there is NO PLACE to plug this password into, no location for the file, no way to respond to this latest email that doesn’t just go to an automated choice of subjects- like being stuck on an automated phone answering system that doesn’t include the title of person or number you seek. NEVER AGAIN.

Guest Made My Family Unsafe

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A guest who was barely around and had 0 communication skills never locked our door. When asked repeatedly, and signs were put on the door requesting it be locked, the guest still left it unlocked. Oftentimes the guest would leave it unlocked overnight (he came back at 12pm-1am nightly), and I would have to go down to lock it after him. Let’s not even talk about the security system he refused to use. I contacted AirBnB and they were of no help. I had gotten myself into a situation where an irresponsible person had control of the safety of my family, and had a key to my home. So it was a balance…I didn’t want to have the guy get hostile to us either. It was our first (and last) experience hosting. Never again. It is just a bad situation, and AirBnB won’t bail you out. This is the kind of thing where the existence of a website makes you feel safe making decisions you would ordinarily never make (i.e. letting a stranger into your home).

Stolen Money

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That’s my first time experience with Airbnb and it’s current (sorry for my english). I tried to use Airbnb booking I wanted to stay in Amterdam, so I made a booking apply to a host but the reservation was rejected. So I did continue searching for more places to stay, but when I checked my banc account an amount of 500euros was missing. I was like WTF, because before making the first booking apply I saw written on the top of the image attached to this post, that no charge will be made to me till the host accept, so I was quite calm about this. I tried to contact my banc and they told me that if the process was rejected my money will get back to me as soon as the authorization center release it. But the fact is that Airbnb stole my money and now I have nothing to pay my food. Now I’m waiting that he money comes back, even if the money come back I just got robbed by Airbnb. Whatch out, those peole are liers!!!

Airbnb SCAM!

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I’ve hosted several dozen guests via Airbnb without a single complaint or bad review… until I got hit by some total scam artists and airbnb didn’t do a thing about it!

This past month I had a seemingly nice couple staying with me in my condo… I saw the couple almost every day, talked with them, even drove them to the grocery store a few times! They NEVER had even the tiniest complaint about anything having to do with me or my condo. Well guess what, the day after they moved out I got a notice from Airbnb stating that the couple claimed they saw a MOUSE in the condo and that that Airbnb policy was to give them 50% of their money back FOR THE ENTIRE 4 WEEK STAY!!! Apparently the couple sent airbnb a picture of a mouse… which I actually FOUND using a reverse search and google! I sent airbnb customer service numerous messages explaining that the incident was a huge lie and I even showed them the picture of the dead mouse the couple “saw” on another site that was posted over a year earlier! Airbnb took over a week to reply with a standard form email that simply said there policy was to supply a 50% refund. HOLY CRAP was a retarded service! See if I EVER host another airbnb guest in any of my properties as long as I live!!!