Tag Archives: airbnb host lied

Airbnb Host Attempts Extortion Over Damages

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My story is a classic case of an extortion attempt by a host. I have stayed at several Airbnbs in four different countries, and have had unique and enjoyable experiences each time. Because of my past success in being connected to great hosts and accommodations through the website, I decided to use book an Airbnb for three months while I began my new job after college, before moving into a place longer term.

My first impression of the place was that it seemed nice enough. I simply wanted my own quiet room to sleep in with functional appliances and plumbing while I worked my full-time job over the summer, and it initially seemed on par with my requirements. Sure, the wallpaper was peeling off the bedroom walls and there was a board covering a hole in the wall at the foot of my bed with a rusty nail sticking out of it, but I felt that it wasn’t a big deal so long as I didn’t stab myself with the nail as I slept.

Unfortunately, as time went on, I uncovered a number of issues with the place that made my stay unenjoyable. The washing machine didn’t work for two out of the three months I stayed there, leaving me no choice but to walk a mile to and from the laundromat each weekend. Furthermore, the place wasn’t nearly as quiet as I’d hoped, with neighbors blasting music into late hours of the night.

Other issues included A/C that was kept at too high a temperature in the humid summer months near DC, a shower that would rapidly switch from hot to cold without touching the dial, and water pressure troubles in the shower that would essentially render the showerhead to a drip while trying to bathe. All of this was tolerable as I was not trying to complain to her too much as I desired to be left a good review following my stay.

About halfway through my stay, something happened that left me unable to remain silent any longer. The scam this host was trying to pull off on me centered around a restroom that is shared among two guests in the upstairs hallway. For the first month or so, this restroom was shared between myself and a girl staying in the room next door. I had no issue sharing the restroom with her, as she kept the restroom tidy. She moved out for a short time before a new guest moved in, and in that hiatus I had the bathroom to myself.

However, I was unaware that she had moved out at the time, and thought nothing of it when I heard activity from the restroom, as I thought it was just her. Since the bathroom was in the hallway, it was fully accessible to anybody in the home. I woke one morning to an email from my host saying there had been a leak in my bathroom, and when I went downstairs, it was clear the leak had spread downstairs and caused drywall and ceiling damage below.

I assumed there had been an issue with the pipes, but later in the day, my host told me I was responsible for the damage. When I asked the host what transpired, she claimed that I pulled up the sink plug, ran the sink, and left the sink to overflow and flood.

First and foremost, I didn’t ever touch the sink plug and there was no reason I could conceive of that would cause me to even need to do so. Second, leaving the sink on full blast and walking away in conjunction with the pulling of the plug is as improbable as it is false. What was most frustrating about this conversation with my host was that there was no discussion about the events – she simply told me to my face that she would give me the invoice.

I tried to explain to her that I was not responsible and there must be an alternate explanation, but she wouldn’t listen. She believed it was impossible that there was either another guest using the restroom (which I certainly heard) or a plumbing issue (which I experienced with the water temperature and pressure in the shower). Just because I was the only one supposed to be using the restroom doesn’t mean that I was. The myriad of prior plumbing issues makes her story suspect as well.

Time elapsed and toward the tail end of my stay, I didn’t hear anything more about the incident from her, though I did see some contractors repair the damage. I contacted Airbnb and explained my story, and they were understanding. However, since I didn’t hear anything else from her, they weren’t able to help unless she took action.

Two days before my reservation concluded, I received a request for money from her with for nearly $2000 with pictures of the damage and an invoice that she typed up herself. I promptly declined the request, explaining once more that I wasn’t responsible for the damage, and that I didn’t appreciate her extortion efforts. She then involved Airbnb, and that is where we currently stand.

In the images she provided, there is one that is clearly staged where the sink plug is up and the water is running, but you can clearly see the water is only half full in the sink (being optimistic here), and anybody taking the picture could have easily stopped it from overflowing. Additionally, there is a picture of the overflowing sink with the plug down, which is illogical because in a functional sink, the water would have just drained downward.

Moreover, while she told me she wouldn’t charge for anything beyond to the damages, she listed “oversight” from herself as a $250 charge. Not only is she using me as the scapegoat, but she is trying to profit from repairing damages that I didn’t cause.

I am remaining optimistic due to her poor evidence and fictional charges on the invoice, and am hoping the truth prevails here. If anybody has had a similar experience, I would encourage you to share it, as knowledge about how to handle these situations is one of the best tools of preventing hosts from taking advantage of their guests in the future.

Complaint Regarding Airbnb Host in Istanbul

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We only wanted a one-day stay with this host in a clean and at least half decent room. The photos were decent and the information stated it was on the entrance floor. However, on arrival the young boy at the entrance took us to a room deep under a staircase, not the entrance level. It was dark, humid and smelt damp and wet, a room which was located between the electricity cable cupboards. Inside it was filthy and the furnishing was completely different from what he had in the photos. The reality was the furnishing was old and dirty (see photos).

We contacted the host immediately but he refused to help us. He told us to cancel if we wanted; there was nothing he could do. I told him it was frightening walking down dark staircases, as that is not what we were expecting. He said, “You are scared – no one else is, deal with it.”

I also told him the room had no real window and he continually disagreed and shouted there was a window. The “window” was a small storage window (see photos).

I have used Airbnb multiple times before and I know the many host policies, specifically: listing photos fairly represent the condition and layout of the space. I have not seen such drastic differences between the photos and the actual room: such filth and no hygiene. I also had to deal with a rude host. We had to stay in the room because we had no choice. If I knew about the situation, I wouldn’t have paid 315 TL for a rubbish room under a staircase. I want others to know about my experience and not to trust this host and his fake photos.

Airbnb Makes Fawlty Towers look like the Hilton

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Do not stay at a certain Airbnb property at Newport beach in Sydney. It’s not a house; it’s an apartment in the middle floor of what once was a house. It has the most dangerous flight of stairs leading down to the apartment with no railings, loose pavement, and roots growing across the pathway. The security lights don’t work properly so at night you get halfway down and you are plunged into complete darkness.

It has the most uncomfortable lounges I have ever sat on; a bed of nails would be more comfortable. The place is a bit old and tired. Parking at the place is impossible on the street; it’s a narrow goat track and while she might give you one spot in her driveway, she advertises the property as sleeping nine guests. In reality, there are two bedrooms stuffed full of bunk beds and a master bedroom.

The host is bordering on a psychopath. The cupboards are stuffed full of unsorted junk from cables, broken toys, and scratched CDs. I think she is a hoarder. She seems pleasant at first but if you cross her watch out. One day I was parked illegally because we came out at night and couldn’t see the one rusty, tree-covered sign which had a 4-hour no parking zone on a Wednesday so the garbage trucks can get around the goat track. She was so vindictive she rang the ranger and had me booked; it cost $120, which I am appealing.

She was endlessly complaining about the noise we made but she spent her day dragging something across the floor which we heard in the apartment… probably dead bodies of other complaining guests to bury. She endlessly texted us about the most trivial things but couldn’t come downstairs and tell us to move the car. We couldn’t wait to leave.

The worst is when we left we photographed the entire place and three hours later she hit us up for an extra $360 for extra cleaning. We left it spotless. So I pulled the metadata off her photos and found she had gone in and messed up the place three hours after we left as the metadata has the time in the data. I showed her and Airbnb our photo metadata and hers and thankfully it was dropped.

We left a blender motor there in our rush to get as far away as possible so she said she would mail it back if I sent down a return postage bag. $30 later after saying she had mailed it has never arrived. If you want a holiday from hell, stay here. Airbnb was sympathetic but did nothing in the end. She has all these excellent reviews and I’m sure if you don’t cross her path it might be a reasonably pleasant stay, but don’t complain. The photo she uses on her page of sweeping views of Newport is not the view from the apartment. You’re in a gully with a tree obscuring most of the view; the place is hell. It makes Fawlty Towers look like the Hilton.

Sub-Standard Standards at Wales Airbnb

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A week in Wales went wrong from the start. We booked Friday to Friday but weren’t expected until that Saturday. The property was new to the host and not ready for letting, with many pictures and mirrors on the floor waiting to be hung. The host’s partner asked if he could stay over for a night to carry on with the preparation, leaving the Saturday afternoon after hanging a few pictures.

Our five-bed property had two usable bedrooms. The host had spent lavishly on bedding and towels, yet failed to clean the property which they had recently acquired after it had been empty for over 12 months. The host had inherited crockery, cutlery, and white goods from the previous owner. The crockery and cutlery was filthy, greasy and contained food residue from the last use (some months earlier) The cutlery tray was mouldy and contained dead insects; it was obvious that none of it had been cleaned since the property was purchased. The host had left a pair on her knickers hanging with the aprons in the kitchen. The lovely garden had a number of piles of dog dirt which ought to have been cleaned up before we arrived.

Rather than post a poor review we decided to give the benefit of the doubt to a new business (particularly as the host’s partner is a lovely man) and offered advice on where improvements could be made, in person, when we left. The host then posted a vicious personal attack on us, probably because she thought we might have left negative feedback. Unless the host has learned how to clean, or employed an outside cleaning company to deep clean this property, I would avoid it like the plague. Speaking of plague, we all had flea or bedbug bites on our feet and ankles during our stay at this holiday. I can’t say for sure where they came from but I have my suspicions. This ought to be a beautiful property and could be if the host takes on board guest feedback instead of posting vicious small-minded comments from genuinely disappointed guests.

Airbnb Bat Hell in Malaysia – Why is it still listed?

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I booked and prepaid in full for a house near Terengganu, Malaysia for our main family vacation in July. Before doing so I checked out reviews which were positive. I also kept in contact with the owner through Airbnb’s website. We had a long-haul flight from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur followed by a domestic flight to Terengannu. Our party consisted of three adults plus our six-year-old twins.

We were met by my friend who lives locally and drove a hire-car to the house. An old lady who spoke no English met us and we had some trouble opening the door which should have tipped us off that no one had entered in quite a while – certainly not to clean. The house looked like the photos on Airbnb but, within a few minutes we noticed a bat flying in the entrance hall. Then another bat appeared and another… and another. Three things I know about bats: they like unoccupied buildings; they are nocturnal; they live in colonies.

By now my young girls and wife were screaming so I got them into a bedroom while I dealt with the bats. This entailed killing them one by one. It was obvious we could not stay there. The bedsheets had not been laundered in months and my wife found a rodent’s decomposing body under a bed. Clearly, no one had entered this house in months as they would have known about the bat infestation.

The owner came but said she could only reimburse me at the end of the month. In that event, it would be two months before I was repaid. Now we had to find a hotel suitable for a family which of course turned out to be expensive. For the next month we had to move every few days and lacked a set base. On return to Abu Dhabi I contacted customer service and eventually got my money back; however, there was no compensation for my extra expense and inconvenience.

The worst thing is that this property is still on Airbnb’s site along with my negative review. What does a host have to do to be deleted from their site? I challenged Airbnb about this so they know the story with this house and owner – a perfect illustration of how they value hosts more than guests. The property is still on their site. The key lesson I learned is never ever to use Airbnb again but to use booking.com when you can pay on arrival. If booking a place near Terengannu take great care.

Airbnb Stripped away my Rights as a Guest

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Airbnb was initially very supportive of our situation and processed a full refund but denied me the privilege of sharing my full story because I had initially mentioned the company who was managing the key collection. They did not ask that I remove the name of the company, but they removed my entire review as written below. Your rights to share your experience on Airbnb are very limited. Know your rights and be careful.

We felt cheated staying with these hosts. The whole set-up seems like a scam. The key collection area was unwelcoming; there was a notice to say that it was under construction. A man came up from the basement: no “hello”, no explanation, and zero hospitality. He just handed a set of key to us.

At this point, it all felt like a scam, and we were worried. As we entered the building, there were trucks with graffiti parked on the roads. It didn’t give us a welcoming feeling for a place that is described as a modern five-star apartment. It also claimed to be family friendly. There was a homeless man sleeping at the entrance to the building, blocking our path to use the ramp (we have a baby stroller). There were foot steps and dirt all across the common areas and entrance. This was our first impression of the place for which we paid the premium price of AED 805 per night (167 pounds).

There were alcohol cans and rubbish at the entrance. It was a shelter for the homeless (sleep during the days, take drugs and drink alcohol during the nights). The apartment was serviced, but it was not clean (as a five-star modern apartment). We were also charged AED 200 in cleaning fees (42 pounds). This was what we found as we walked in: pubic hair in the bathroom, hair in the corners of the whole apartment, mold on curtains and edges, salt built up in the kettle – not washable even after I tried. I needed a kettle as I was traveling with young children.

We decided to come home before dark as the area felt unsafe. When we came home at 7:00 PM, there was another homeless guy sleeping at the walkway. We decided to order food to be delivered to the apartment. We felt trapped as the walkway and building entrance was not suitable for our needs and always blocked by homeless people. Our delivery guy had informed us that our food was snatched by one of the homeless who on either drugs or alcohol. That was when we decided to look for an alternative accommodation for the remaining of our stay.

Our apartment door was opened from the outside in the morning while we were still there. When my husband inquired she said she didn’t speak English (Spanish speaker). We decided to check out after our first night there as we were concerned about our safety.

This property was not suitable for family. It is not a modern five-star apartment if the entrance is a home for homeless people. The shower and bathroom was two-star. The cleanliness is zero stars. Both beds were sofa beds (not one bed and one sofa bed as claimed). The amenities were very poor. It was an unsafe area for families.

The hosts didn’t meet me or call me even once although I called the emergency number. She only communicated using the Airbnb messaging and the response was slow. They didn’t provide any hospitality or assurance whatsoever. She claimed to have visited the apartment to take pictures of the cleanliness but didn’t even have the courtesy to come up to check on us. She also said she lives around Camden. It felt like the reason why she visited the apartment was to take pictures after she had cleaned the entrance and walkway to defend herself. Very disappointing. We didn’t want to ruin our holiday and left.

I lodged an official complaint to Airbnb and the host and she only wanted to give us a 20% refund despite us moving out after one night. I logged a safety complaint with Airbnb. The case manager worked on my case and I have received my refund. However they have now removed my honest review of this case and all pictures that I have shared. Airbnb has stripped my rights as a guest who wants to share her poor experience to others.

Airbnb Host Lied About Refund to Cover up her Mess

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On March 21st this year, my niece, her husband, and I stayed at an Airbnb property in Merimbula NSW, Australia. The three of us were on a road trip taking in parts of NSW and Victoria, and unfortunately our stay there was near the beginning of the trip. This property was not a good introduction to travelling in this country for my relatives who were visiting from the U.K.

On arriving at the property and taking an initial look around, my niece, who was walking upstairs to the main bedroom, could see the side of the bed where the doona was not fully covering the mattress. She was horrified to see a mark on the sheet, and on closer inspection, to realise it was blood.

She then called me and her husband to take a look and we found several more blood stains on the bottom sheet. The doona had obviously been laid on top of the sheet while the blood was fresh as there was a mark on the doona cover directly above one of the blood stains on the sheet.

I immediately rang the host, who sounded genuinely horrified and asked me to send some photos over to her, which I did right away. On receiving them, she rang me straight back and told me that it was the first time she’d used the cleaner (her usual cleaner was away) and was appalled and what we’d found. At the time she couldn’t apologise enough, telling me there was nothing she could do to help as she was on a course in the mountains, but promised me a full refund.

We then spent some time searching the property for clean bed linen (most of the cupboards were locked), only finding two doona covers which were a screwed-up bundle in the bottom of a cupboard. We stripped the stained linen off the bed and replaced it with these two doona covers and as we had no other option, my niece and her husband spent a nervous and uncomfortable night, sleeping on bedding that they didn’t even know whether or not was clean, but felt it was better than sleeping on blood-stained linen.

I declined from writing a negative comment on Airbnb as the host had been so obliging in offering us a full refund for the inconvenience caused. It is a decision I have come to regret, as despite my contacting the host I have received no refund at all. My niece has also sent two emails to her from the U.K. through the Airbnb site, and heard nothing. We are assuming she is totally ignoring us.

The experience we had here was a great disappointment, very unsettling, extremely unhygienic and totally unacceptable. I feel that other people should be made aware of what might await them at this property and that this host should not be permitted to continue to offer it for use. I would also like to add that we stayed at many other Airbnb properties on our trip which were all lovely and restored our confidence in other hosts.

Denver Airbnb Horror Story – Just go to a Hotel

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My fiancé booked three nights at an Airbnb in Denver. The listing said that it was multiple acres of beautiful mountain country. It was less than an acre and it backed up to a trailer park. She barely missed crossing direct paths with a bear because of poor composting practices.

The listing advertised no pets. She found evidence of animals and the person tending to the property admitted to a dog being in the room. The door didn’t lock. There were holes in the door looking directly at the bed. It was repulsively disgusting. She found white dried up bodily fluids in the bed. When the person changed the sheets she watched in horror as the girl crawled around in the bed with filthy dirty bare feet to put the sheets on.

The host was rude and never even present. Airbnb has been rude, uncaring and dismissive. This host is terrible and a scammer, and Airbnb is a terrible company.

Airbnb has gotten so bad that they received a D- on Better Business Bureau. Magically recently they appear as an A+ now. When the BBB was asked why, they said it was a glitch. There’s no accountability. Just the fact that there’s a website called Airbnbhell.com is probably a red flag, but hopefully after reading this you will come to the conclusion to just stay at a nice motel. At least they will answer and be courteous and there is a management system in place to deal customer concerns.

If you were wondering: even after all of this we only received half of what we paid.

Aggressive Airbnb Host Falsely Advertising Lakeside House

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We made a reservation for four nights at a lakeside house in Langstini, which the host advertised as having free wifi (and I have the screenshot to prove it); this was essential for us. When we arrived and asked about the wifi he said he decided to disconnect it because he thought people should appreciate nature and not be addicted to the internet. He was talking in a very aggressive way so I didn’t want to argue with him and tell him he couldn’t change the terms after he promised something. It’s also not his job to educate us, so I just told him that it’s crucial for me to have the wifi for my work, for our trip planning and most of all because I have a son at home who has some problems at the moment – I needed to be in touch with him.

He said that tomorrow he would give us the wifi, but only for WhatsApp, not for media. That evening the wifi stopped working and when we told him he just said “I told you it’s just for WhatsApp. Now if you want more you’ll have to pay for it and charge it at the gas station.” I found this very unacceptable: not because of the the money but because he actually lied about the wifi and I don’t have to waste time during  my vacation looking for the specific gas station where I can charge his wifi.

That wasn’t all: the place was filthy, with hair and dust everywhere (he said the cleaning lady couldn’t come). The beds weren’t ready and I had to put on all the linen; not all of them were the right size. There wasn’t enough hot water for the shower and on the third night when my daughter was in the middle of a shower the electricity and the water stopped and we were left in darkness. We wrote to him (he wasn’t there) and he didn’t respond at all. The water and electricity returned after about an hour but he never contacted us.

Worse than anything was his attitude: he was always inpatient, arrogant and vulgar, like he’d really prefer we weren’t there at all. Even when he explained about some places we wanted to visit and I asked something he started to shout: “Are you gonna listen or not?!” My son got really scared from his shouting.

He also entered our room whenever he wanted without knocking on the door. We really felt uncomfortable there and after the incident with the water and electricity my kids didn’t want to stay there anymore. I also didn’t feel that we had to feel so bad during our vacation that we waited, planned, and saved for so long, so we decided to leave after the third night.

I’m not asking for refund for the nights we stayed, although he clearly didn’t fulfill what he promised and didn’t provide what he was supposed to. His attitude was terrible, and I think we definitely deserve a refund for the night we didn’t stay because we just couldn’t suffer anymore.

Hell’s Kitchen, Airbnb Nightmare Apartment in NYC

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I just got back from four days in NYC. I rented an Airbnb from two guys who had an apartment in Hell’s Kitchen (okay, should have given me a clue). Upon arrival everything seemed okay; there were no dirty dishes in the sink, and the toilet looked clean enough. THe tub was stained, but acceptable (not taking any bubble baths in it anyway, so sufficient for showering).

However, upon closer inspection, I came to discover that the whole place was filthy. Dirty dishes were left in dishwasher (no dishwasher fluid to clean them with either). The couch was stained, and there were stained, dirty duvets and sheets. Sheets were crumpled and did not appear to even be clean. Baseball-size balls of hair and dust were around the entire apartment, especially on the baseboards and beds. There was a repulsive oven (it set off smoke alarm when we tried to use it) complete with an old hard, burned French fry, and a dirty refrigerator.

The list went on and on. We stayed in a tent in the Sahara Desert once that was cleaner than this place. I immediately texted the owner (he didn’t respond to us, so called another guy in charge) that a cleaning crew needed to be called. Of course, we were assured that one would be there first thing in the morning. We used the towels – that did seem clean – to cover the pillows and ourselves so we could sleep. Suffice it to say that the “cleaning crew is coming” lie was told to us for three days.

The final night the guy texted us at 9:38 PM wanting to send a cleaning crew. In retrospect we should have said yes, as my guess is he was bluffing then too, but trying to cover his #$%. By that time we had bought new sheets after hiking over two miles to BBB and back. Finding this was no easy task in NYC. Quite pricey too, as there’s no Walmart in NYC.

When I got my invitation to post my review, I was loaded. Like I said in my review, I’ve seen animal cages that were cleaner than this apartment. Every night when we returned to the apartment because we’d left for the day – so this magical cleaning crew could appear while we were gone sightseeing for the day, as we had been told over and over by the host – only brought more disappointment, frustration and a string of phone calls to the host and Airbnb. We came to believe that the elusive “cleaning crew” must have lived in the land of the unicorns and lost their metro passes because they never came.

I just got a review from the host. I use that term loosely, as it implies that these guys did something to treat us as guests. He slammed us (me) with a vicious lie saying that we put our used linens and towels in the bathtub (no exit instructions so we called Airbnb and told them what we were going to do; they okayed it. What do you do with dirty linens and towels anyway? This is what we do at a hotel) and urinated on them. What kind of sicko mind can even come up with a defense that gross? Of course you can’t photograph this and he knew that we were staying with a child – pretty low buddy, blame the kid. Little does he know that this child is not a “child,” but a mini-adult who definitely does not wet the bed if that was his implication.

Anyway, I was pretty much pleased with Airbnb for giving us a full refund and eventually resolving our complaint, but it did take five different reps and a lot of phone calls. I also had a lot of pictures (that I really don’t want to post in case I need them for further action) and evidence to present. Even though I probably won’t use Airbnb again, I can say that I’m overall satisfied with Airbnb. It still makes me mad that these guys are out there, ruining other people’s vacations.

Even after this review, they can just list under other names and open new accounts? And the reviews? These guys were Superhosts with 21 positive reviews. It’s not like I didn’t do my due diligence. Buyer beware. All I can say is the next time I’m in New Orleans I’m buying two voodoo dolls.