Tag Archives: airbnb locked out

Airbnb Host Left us Outside in Cold Weather

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My Airbnb host was responsive at first but suddenly became weird and unresponsive. I noticed the host rented an apartment on other sites. After making the reservation, I noticed the host became unresponsive. I was told the check-in time must be later because she must clean. I didn’t expect the cleaning would take 4-6 hours. I would never have booked if had known.

Previous guests gave positive feedback to this host by saying she was honest and always on time, which was not true for me. Then I found another page in which some guests had complained the host was late. She was a foreigner living in one city and renting in another.

We were waiting many hours and agreed to arrive in the evening. I thought it would be okay. I was wondering why the host didn’t have any time to respond; I thought she was cleaning and had no time. In the evening, I noticed the location was not 150 meters from the station – it was 1 km walking distance to the apartment. It was a cold evening and the host turned off her phone. I received a message saying I “can’t call this number right now” even though we agreed on the arrival time.

It’s so easy to lie because most holiday apartments don’t have a reception desk. It made me think the host only wanted to get money and has no responsibility. I tried to knock on the door but it was locked and no one was there. I also had the wrong code. I couldn’t wait outside the whole night so I had to spend the night in a hotel.

Around midnight, the host started to respond, asking where I was and if I was coming. I thought it was rude and crazy. The host agreed the check-in time would be in the afternoon, then changed it to the evening. Then she thought it would be okay to ask us to arrive at night.

The host tried to make stupid excuses like she was shopping for breakfast food for us in the evening (we didn’t ask for any breakfast and it would not take three hours to buy breakfast items). The keys would be just enough but we didn’t get keys. I’ve met angry and weird hosts before but this one was incredible; it felt she wanted to leave us outside. I froze and this is one of my worst travel experiences. I’m pretty sure I don’t want anything from Airbnb because I can’t trust them. I could end up being left outside and frozen without a key again.

What did customer service do? I’ve been waiting days to see if I will get a response but mostly they believe the host. The host says she has called multiple times (even though she did not) and gave an incorrect code. It’s difficult to prove the host closed her phone. I don’t have a conversation record of this because I had no chance to speak to the host.

I wonder how on earth could anyone think that guests can wait outside all afternoon and night and how any service could accept this behaviour. I booked just one night and the host expected me to spend hours outside without a key or expected me to wait until the night or morning without a response.

Emphasis on the “air” as in “you won’t have anywhere to stay”

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Circle of Airbnb Hell Level 1: I originally booked an Airbnb apartment in Tokyo in the summer of 2018 for a long-awaited and carefully saved for trip to Japan, which was a graduation present for my son. Two weeks before the trip, Airbnb advised due to changes in Japanese law, I likely wouldn’t be able to occupy the Airbnb. I would have to rent a hotel at the last minute in Tokyo (along with all of the other people who just lost their Airbnb bookings and rushed to book hotels). I ended up paying over 2K for a hotel, over 1.2K more than the Airbnb I booked, fully blowing my budget. Airbnb attempted to compensate for this by giving me a coupon for $900.

Circle of Airbnb Hell Level 2: I used $328 of the coupon on a weekend Airbnb booking in DC. I ended up fully locked out of the unit, never got in, and Airbnb refused to refund the full cost because I didn’t cancel… which makes no sense – I was locked out. They even charged me for the unit cleaning, that I never got into. I spent $186 to stand in the rain outside a locked unit, listening to the host’s answering machine. After this I no longer wanted to do any business with Airbnb, but I had $712 credit left to use, I thought.

Circle of Airbnb Hell Level 3: I attempted to use the $712 on a vacation and guess what? It was a ‘single use coupon’. In the end, it was all a complete waste: out the 1.2K for the extra cost for the Tokyo hotel, out $328 for the unit I was locked out of and finally just out. I will never, ever, book Airbnb ever again. I will discourage everyone I know from doing so. The customer service is a nightmare. The hosts are a nightmare.

Nightmare Host Has No Time to Deliver Keys

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I booked an Airbnb flat but suddenly the host didn’t have time to answer me and give me the details. The waiting time turned out to be a nightmare in cold weather. After I made the reservation, the host acted strangely and didn’t give anything more than her address. All other information was missing. I tried to ask couple of times how to arrive, what was around there, etc., but got no answer.

Then the host told me she was abroad and guests had to search for the keys in the cellar. I was thinking the host was in the same city, especially because she brought keys before to other guests as I saw her positive reviews. She didn’t have “time” to bring keys to me at all.

Then we agreed about an arrival time in the evening but the host suddenly changed her mind and sent me only one message, telling me she would be busy for 2-3 hours and couldn’t give me instructions to find the keys. It is incredible behaviour which I haven’t experienced before. The host knew I was already in the corridor waiting but suddenly she just became busy. The host didn’t ask her friend to bring the keys; it felt like the host only wanted money.

I tried to contact customer service but had to wait many days before getting any help. Then I got help and the host already lied to customer service by saying that she had given me all the instructions and she couldn’t be available for guests 24/7.

I never asked host to be available 24/7, only for the time I told her about my arrival that had been agreed upon. It seemed like she didn’t want to rent out her property. I think the real truth could be the host is living at her flat, kept the key with her, and there was no respect for guests. There were not any keys left in the cellar; I searched for them.

I felt terrible, especially because I walked 1 km to the apartment on a cold evening and ended without a key to the corridor and stuck outside. The host tried to ask customer service to remove her feedback so she could still do the same thing to others.

I know when people are really busy they will tell others “I’m busy” but not just suddenly change their mind and say they’re busy when guests told them their arrival time. I had to pay for an expensive hotel that same night because the host didn’t want to bring her keys.

Validation Required by Airbnb – National ID Card not Accepted

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All of a sudden, in the middle of the busy tourist season, Airbnb decided to force me to validate myself, again, by asking me several personal questions, again, and submitting a form of ID. I tried to comply, by submitting high quality, high resolution color scans of my national ID card, the only form of ID I have. I do not have a passport, and I do not have a driver’s license.

However, the automated system on Airbnb does not seem to accept my government-issued, national ID card. Their automated system keeps rejecting both my scans or the Airbnb app scans of the ID they asked me to provide. Today I went to my local police station and obtained a newer version of my ID that includes all information printed in both Greek and English, as well as a brand new photo of myself. I tried again submitting my new ID this time, but the automated Airbnb system keeps rejecting that one as well.

Airbnb has suspended my payments because I have not validated myself using their automated system, and all the representatives I’ve talked to keep telling me there is nothing they can do. I have more guests coming in the next few days to stay at my properties and know I won’t receive any funds owned to me by Airbnb for these reservations. I am at my wit’s end, and don’t know what to do.

Airbnb is a Cheap Company That Won’t Reimburse

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I recently booked a stay at an Airbnb in the center of Paris for two nights. When I got to the Airbnb in the middle of the night, I was unable to get into the Airbnb because the key was missing. I later discovered that the host knowingly did not leave the key for me and said it was because the cleaning was not finished; however, oddly enough, the reservation was confirmed by both the host and Airbnb itself and I was expecting a place to stay during my time in Paris.

When I was unable to contact the host when no key was found, I contacted Airbnb, who then requested that I book a hotel for the two nights and they would refund us for the bookings as well us reimburse us for the hotels. Since it was 1:30 AM in the center of Paris during the summer, no hotels were available and I was left stranded and on the streets along with all the homeless people camping outside.

Airbnb assured me that they would try to find a hotel and at one point even told me that they found one and were processing everything, but about an hour later told me they had nothing. This forced me to go out and walk hotel to hotel in the middle of the night looking for some type of shelter. After about six hotels and begging, I was denied by the sixth and left to stand outside still on the phone trying (with no luck) to get a room from Airbnb when finally the concierge came out and made a deal with us to give us a dirty room that another person had just left, but only if I paid full in cash. This left me to run down the street to a random ATM to withdrawal 200 Euros just so that I wouldn’t be left out homeless on the streets by Airbnb.

When I was finally able to take care of this issue, Airbnb assured me that I would be reimbursed for both nights at the hotel. The case manager then went on to explain that she would be in contact with us again the next day to book us a hotel. The next morning I called Airbnb and spoke with another agent to confirm that I wouldn’t be left stranded on the streets again. I was then notified that no hotel had been booked and that the case manager would be the only one allowed to handle the case. It was unsure of whether or not she would be coming in that day. I was then told to book whatever hotel I found available and Airbnb would reimburse me when I sent the invoices.

Therefore, I went on to take care of the issue myself and was able to find a room at the Shangri La Hotel, a high end hotel, that actually had a few rooms left because of the high cost. I booked the room, checked in, and everything was fine again. Finally at about 8:30 PM, my case manager from Airbnb finally called me to confirm that everything was okay. I told her that I had found a room at the Shangri La Hotel and had checked in. She confirmed that I would be reimbursed.

After I checked out of the room, I sent her invoices for both the nights and she confirmed that Airbnb would be reimbursing me 1,713.80 Euros (the cost of the hotels for both the nights combined). She then gave me a call back after about 30 minutes and informed me that she, in fact, was not going to be able to fully reimburse me and stated that Airbnb had said that they would only reimburse me for the first night and not the second (which they did not). They then continued negotiating that they would only reimburse me 50% for the second night. When I questioned her about why this was never stated, she then went on to suddenly change that 50% and say that she would only be able to give us $200 for the second night.

After arguing with her for a while, because she had no knowledgeable answer or power, I asked to speak to a supervisor and was transferred over. The supervisor then went on to tell me that they were going to reimburse me $450 for the two nights; they suddenly changed their reimbursement for the second night from 100%, to 50%, to 200 Euros, to 250 Euros just because they didn’t expect the expense of booking a hotel last minute in the center of Paris during the high season. They now refuse to reimburse me for the expense of the hotel for the second day and are using a loophole of saying that they didn’t say the word “full” for the reimbursement. Everything is recorded on the call and they had confirmed the amount of 1,713.80 Euros they were going to refund as well.