Tag Archives: airbnb host lied

Waterfront Property doesn’t Mean 5km from the Beach

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I booked a property in the Canadian wilderness. The cover photo was of this gorgeous beach and a large body of water, with the caption: “view from the gazebo.” Multiple other photos show this “private” beach, but once I booked the property I discovered the address is nowhere near any beach, just a tiny little pond. I asked the host about this just two hours after booking and told her I wanted to cancel my reservation and get a refund because it seemed like the property bordered a beach based upon her listing. She told me those photos must have been the tiny pond on the property and there is a river one can access 5 kilometers away. I didn’t book this place to stay 5 kilometers from a beach!

I immediately emailed her again, stating that based upon my Google Earth search, the pond is tiny and not what I was expecting based upon the photos. Three days later she replied the photos are actually of the river 5 kilometers away, and stated everything was made clear in her listing – so it’s my fault for not reading everything. I went online to look at her new Airbnb listing, and she changed everything! The photo that got me to make the booking is clearly labeled as a beach with river access 5 kilometers away and is no longer the cover photo. She now mentions multiple times in the description that the beach photo is of the river 5 kilometers away. So clearly these photos are of the river not the pond next to the residence! I asked for a refund since she clearly acknowledged her listing wasn’t clear – hence the extensive changes – and she refused. I lost 50% of the $1000 I paid for the week. DON’T book this property; the host is dishonest! I still haven’t heard anything from the Airbnb resolution center!

Airbnb is a Joke – Worst Experience Ever in DC

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I’m still trying to get a refund after an apartment host lied about his listing (in Washington, D.C.) I showed up to this piece of garbage apartment after a coast-to-coast flight (arrived at 9pm). The apartment was filthy, gross, and dirty: garbage overflowing in the kitchen and bathroom, bed sheets dirty and thrown on the floor, dirty socks and tennis shoes on the floor next to the bed, a wet dirty towel hanging sideways off the bathroom towel rack, etc. It was actually frightening.

I was shocked and not sure what to do. So I reached out to the so-called “host”… and never heard back. It took him 30+ minutes to finally contact me and proceeded to call me a “liar”, and that his cleaning lady had just cleaned the place. I sent him photos, and said I was leaving. He said he would like to “work it out” and offered me a $50 refund. I told him it was unacceptable and I needed a place to sleep that night. So I left (returned the keys to the doorman of the building). The “host” then texted me and threatened to sue me (he said he was an attorney) if I posted a negative rating on the Airbnb website. Ha! That’s a good one.

An official complaint (with photos and documentation) was filed May 19th, 2016. AMEX did a conference call with myself and Airbnb as well… to no avail. Anyway, there it is straight up. If you like this kind of treatment, then go for it. If you are a professional and expect good customer service from intelligent human beings, then run. Airbnb does not offer this. They hand you ill-trained customer service reps who lie, coddle you with a lot of false language like “Oh, I am so sorry that happened to you!”, and then NEVER DO ANYTHING to resolve the situation.

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!

Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Airbnb Hell

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We booked a stay with a couple in Edinburgh for the 2015 Fringe Festival. It was our first experience using Airbnb. Although the room looked nice in the photos and was fine in real life, it turned out the young couple renting the room were renting themselves – evidently from a very cruddy landlord – and had decamped to the lounge for the Fringe in their one-bedroom flat (up six flights of stone steps). We therefore had access to a cramped and windowless kitchen and a cramped and windowless bathroom only. The water pressure was ridiculously weak throughout the flat and the WC didn’t flush without pouring a bucket of water (which took ages to fill from the low pressure taps) into the cistern. The shower also leaked, as did the wash hand basin.

The couple were obviously getting drunk every night on their rent money from us and the woman barged into our room one night and nearly got into bed with us, evidently having forgotten they had rented their room out! They also needed to go through our room to get to their washing machine, which was in a tiny room behind the bedroom. The kitchen was very poorly equipped and we were given nothing with which to wash up and no space to put our breakfast things. The man was pleasant enough but his partner was sullen and avoided us. Luckily we were out most of the time at shows or our stay would have been unbearable. They had the cheek to press for a review when we left, but we felt the kindest thing to do was say nothing as we had nothing good to say about our stay. Never again!

Airbnb not Checking what Hosts are Offering

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We have used Airbnb extensively in the past, traveling overseas. We are finding it increasingly true that what we read on Airbnb about the offerings at a certain place is not the reality when you arrive. You are caught short without the opportunity to find alternative accommodation. Our experience is: don’t trust what you read on Airbnb, do your own homework, and ask detailed questions before you commit.

For example: “On site parking” should mean on the property, not two kilometers away if you are lucky to find a spot! A supply of essentials means just that, not only a toilet roll! Airbnb is not taking any responsibility for what is advertised on their site; it is very much “let the buyer beware.”

Beware of Strict Cancellation Policies and Hosts that do not help you Cancel

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I was a novice Airbnb user and did not understand that the onus was on me to cancel a reservation that I wanted to change. My traveling companion had to cancel her trip with me to Hawaii due to an unplanned chemo-treatment and my Airbnb host in Honolulu was not willing to change my reservation. I incorrectly presumed that she would cancel the reservation when she refused to alter it. Her communication skills were not great and I feel she mislead me about Airbnb’s policies on cancellation. Bottom-line – I paid for three nights in Honolulu that I did not get and Airbnb will not let me review the host in terms of her communication skills. She also promised a partial refund which was never sent. Needless to say, she is not very honest and future Airbnb users who fall for her very high rating may regret that they chose her. Airbnb deserves credit for refunding to me their commission; but the trust system does not work well if they do not allow me to leave a review on my experience with her. Filtering out low ratings makes everyone look “way above average.” Suggest Airbnb allow all cancelled guests who end up paying for the accommodation to review the host on the host’s communication skills.