Tag Archives: airbnb los angeles

Ant-infested College Dorm Poses As Luxury High-Rise

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My recent Airbnb was undoubtedly the worst stay of my life. I live in Los Angeles and decided to rent an apartment in Downtown LA to celebrate my birthday with my girlfriends, somewhere more luxurious than my own home. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

The night before my trip I messaged the host to ask about parking. He didn’t respond, so the morning of my stay I called him to ask where we might put our cars. He said, without apology, that my apartment was under construction and he would be ‘upgrading’ me to another building. Taken aback, I asked if it had the same facilities, as the main reason I was paying $347.71 for one night was that I wanted a hot tub and rooftop pool to enjoy. He claimed it did and I had no choice but to switch.

He didn’t send me the listing but did tell me I had two parking spaces. At least our cars would have a reasonable stay. I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t called, and when he was planning on telling me my reservation had changed. Perhaps when I arrived and noticed that 80% of the building wasn’t there. We arrived that afternoon and while waiting for our host to show up, admired our temporary home. Instead of an early 20th century expression of luxury this place resembled a late 2000’s college dorm welded together with gorilla glue.

The next issue was parking. He didn’t have two spaces for us. My sister’s car had to be parked blocks away at some random building with no access to it until we checked out. Obviously this would have been problematic if we’d wanted to sightsee. Luckily we prefer drinking over culture.

Finally we got into the apartment and it was, frankly, a barren concrete mess. The interior was seemingly decorated by an alien whose only resource was a Pinterest board and a $20 gift card to the dollar store. There were numerous framed inspirational quotes, placed on the ground and the TV table, as I’m sure if you nailed anything to the paper-thin walls you’d risk breaking through to next door’s kitchen. There were also cheap plastic bushes placed strategically over floor stains and a couch that screamed ‘I filter by price not the best match’.

At this point, we still believed we’d have time for a quick dip in the pool (what fools we were). We quickly found there were only three towels. As a skilled mathematician, I immediately found this alarming as there were six of us. But, an even more pressing issue was the lack of any toilet paper. I called the host and he advised me to go and buy some. So, instead of popping a bottle of birthday champagne, we traipsed down to the nearest store to stock up on his supplies.

On the way back from our TP mission we checked out the pool facilities. Instead of the rooftop pool I’d booked, it was a dingy floor-level puddle. Even more pressing, there was no hot tub… honestly, the one thing I’d wanted from this stay. We double-checked with some residents who’d clearly learned to expect disappointment from this ‘luxury home’. Confirmation? No hot tub.

Disappointed, we headed back up in the world’s slowest elevator, arrived in the apartment and closed the door… at which point the handle fell off. With handle in hand, I decided it was time to call the host. On the phone, the host tried to convince me that there in fact was a hot tub. He asked ‘had I checked next to the pool’. Surprisingly, I had. I then listed all the other problems with the apartment including the door handle I was currently holding.

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He grumpily offered me a laughably small refund that kept him in profit and me losing my birthday and to an extent my mind. He also said that I was lucky he hadn’t just cancelled my booking earlier that day when he’d realized his error. How lucky I was that he still wanted to take my money and put me in this cardboard cutout of an apartment. Irked by this woman who dared to have an opinion, he then threatened to cancel my booking right then.

With the desire of wanting to sleep somewhere that night I asked him not to. He said that Airbnb wouldn’t care about my complaints because he has 37 (I’m sure, equally impressive) locations on the website. Basically, this guy was a big deal. At 5:30, with the hopes of salvaging what was left of my birthday afternoon (it was too dark for the pool now) we went to fix some drinks. Let’s not forget where we were: the apartment from hell.

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We opened the freezer to get some ice and instead of cubes we found an old slab of ice covered in cigarette burns. Warm drinks it would be. We gathered with our tepid beverages in the living area making sure to sweep away some rogue broken glass and carefully avoid the couch’s dried food stains. The sun slowly set and then, darkness. Not just outside: the only light source in the communal area wasn’t working… because the outlet was broken.

Six women, enveloped in blackness clutching increasingly warm solo cups finally realized there was nothing left to do but laugh (because I’d already cried). We moved the light, (still partially wrapped in its IKEA packaging) to the kitchen and decided that dim lighting could be atmospheric. I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that once we left the building, our evening really improved. We had a fun night on the town and temporarily forgot about the day’s struggles.

The next morning, we woke to the bustling streets of Downtown Los Angeles and the busy work of a family of ants. That’s right, the ants had arrived. I assumed they’d been attracted by the one solo cup we hadn’t thrown in the trash can which, I’m sure by now you can guess, was broken. One of the girls then explained that she’d noticed them the day before. She’d held back the information because she’d feared it would have tipped me over the edge and out of the poorly constructed window.

In the bright light of day, we could see the place for all that it was: a dirt-covered storage unit for humans masquerading as a modern living space. All the towels were stained and dirty, the bathroom floor and doors were covered in who knows what and after inspecting the sheets we’d slept in, we discovered blood stains and more. I feel like I’m flogging a dead ant at this point, but one last time let me iterate this stay was less than ideal and truly ruined my birthday and my poor willing friends’ weekend.

I’m very unimpressed that Airbnb allows this management style and low quality of rental. This guy and his minions run 37 properties which is very apparent considering he didn’t even know what facilities they have. They’re unwelcoming, unprofessional, and clearly see this as a high-turnover operation with zero concern for the enjoyment of their customers. I hope my cautionary tale can be used to help others. Others that were thinking of maybe staying anywhere this money-sucking moron deems worth $300+ per night.

Airbnb Caretaker Decides to Rent out Owner’s Property

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I found what appeared to be a very chic two bedroom place in LA to stay in for my son’s graduation. The renter was responsive and pleasant until I paid. Then he disappeared. I kept emailing him with questions, but he didn’t respond until just before our trip. He wouldn’t set a time to meet; he told me to text him, which I did. He didn’t appear to be the type of person to own a place in this high-rent district. He claimed he was a busy lawyer and didn’t have too much time (he isn’t a lawyer – I checked later).

I kind of got the feeling he was supposed to be tending to the place for the owner, but was renting it out on the sly. The place turned out to have only one bedroom, even though I paid for two. There were no staples in the kitchen and the floors were filthy. I didn’t let this ruin the happy occasion, but I did spend an inordinate amount of time trying to contact him before, during and after to rectify the issues. Airbnb was unconcerned and dismissive about my complaints. I felt cheated and unheard and won’t use Airbnb again.

Airbnb Refunds 100% of Hosting Charges but not Service Fee

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I have used Airbnb a couple of times but recently discovered a few things while booking accommodation for our North America trip. Normally we would set a price range to search and compare accommodations. You are ready to pay what is shown while comparing but this is not the case with Airbnb. With Airbnb, you have to pay a charge for accommodations + cleaning fees + Airbnb service charges + city tax. It adds up very quickly; make sure you have compared prices properly.

What is a fair service charge for a broker/middleman or platform provider? I booked accommodation in Beverly Hills. The accommodation charges were less than $2000 but Airbnb’s service charges were around $200, which is a shockingly large fee to facilitate a deal. What was the $200 service charge even for? There was no reception, no room service, no linen changes when staying for multiple nights. On top of that, we also had to pay cleaning fees.

What pissed me was after booking I had the option to cancel and get a 100% refund for all the charges from the poor host but Airbnb didn’t want to refund the service charges after just 48 hours. That is a total rip off.

Now comes my worst experience of getting in touch with their customer support. Even though I run an IT company, I had to struggle to reach to a screen where I could write a complaint in my words and the robot didn’t try to take over my session. I literally had to go on their Facebook page to get some attention.

Finally, Airbnb gave me a refund but with the caveat that they could refund me only once or twice in a year; this was not acceptable to me. I asked to speak to a supervisor or manager in charge of policy to present a case for everyone, but no joy. There are a lot of such stories which I came across only because of the situation. My intention here is to highlight and inform everyone to be aware of Airbnb’s service charges, refund policies, and customer service. I am better off paying a little more for a hotel and get proper service provided by a human.

No help or support for guests when faced with a terrible host

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I need to share my extremely disappointing experience with Airbnb. I’ve just returned from a trip to the USA, where I had a great time, except for my Airbnb experiences. Firstly, I had booked my accommodation very early, but two months before my trip I tried to modify my LA reservation by one day. The host kept refusing my request but also ignoring my messages. This went on for days, where I couldn’t get in touch with him and had to contact Airbnb for support. In the end, the support person told me there was nothing they could do if he refused to modify my reservation.

Around the same time, my host for my accommodation in New York cancelled my reservation because he wanted to host someone else. Again, Airbnb was no help, as the guest can’t stop a host from cancelling a reservation. Sure, the host is penalized – but that just means money for Airbnb. As the guest, I’m left without accommodation.

During my stay in LA, my host (the one who refused me to modify my reservation), was messaging me privately, being very friendly, and offering help and tips. From this I felt like perhaps I misjudged him from the earlier interactions. After I checked out of the apartment he sent me a private messaging that said: “I just got to the apartment. Thank you for taking such good care of it. You have been a great guest! I have a few apartments in this area. I would like to offer you a discount the next time you are in town. You are welcome back anytime. Safe travels!”

I have used Airbnb for all my trips over the last few years, and every time I treat each property with care and respect. I make sure I clean up before I leave: taking out rubbish, washing up and putting everything away, making the bed, wiping down the kitchen, bathroom, etc. I can confidently say that every place I leave looks like it hasn’t been touched. I left a review for the host in LA that was very honest; I mentioned that I encountered some issues leading up to stay with trying to modify the reservation, but also pointed out all the positive aspects of the actual stay and complemented on the apartment and the host. I believe in leaving a true reflection of my experience.

However, I then received a review from the host that said: “She was an okay guest. I did my best to accommodate all of her requests and questions. She requested a reservation change after having booked the apartment for a bit that would have left me hanging. I couldn’t accept the request as it was not in keeping with our cancellation policy.”

I found this review extremely spiteful and deceptive. He was clearly lying and pretending to be nice to me in the private messages, while the whole time holding a grudge over me trying to modify the reservation. His review did not reflect how I am as a guest, and made it sound like I had made a lot of unreasonable requests. Trying to ask for a modification to a reservation with two months’ notice is not unreasonable. Plans change, and I only wanted to modify it by one day; how can that possibly be “leaving him hanging”?

I still accepted the fact that he wouldn’t let me change my reservation and stayed at the apartment with no further requests. I never met him during my entire stay. I checked in and checked out myself. His review made it sound as if he went of his way to help me. I’m very angry at how mean spirited and deceptive someone can be.

What’s even more disappointing is Airbnb allowing this type of host to get away with it. I contacted Airbnb again, explaining my disappointment in the whole experience. The only help I got was links to the Airbnb policies – there’s nothing Airbnb can do for me, as there is a non-interference policy on reviews. Policies are all well and good, but where is basic human decency?

I know no matter how much I try to get my point across, I’m only going to hear about more “policies”. I’ve spent too much time emailing Airbnb’s support team. I may not get a satisfying resolution, but l will share how utterly disappointing and frustrating this whole ordeal has been. Airbnb has major flaws in their policies that doesn’t offer enough support and help for guests.

Filthy Condo Forces Couple to Leave Early

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My wife and I were very disappointed with our stay at this property in Laguna Niguel. I would not recommend this condo; it should be removed from Airbnb. We only stayed three nights then could not stand it any longer so we booked a room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Irvine. Upon entering the condo, we noticed the place smelled. We found the property to be very dirty. Countertops had dirt and grit and had not been wiped or cleaned prior to our arrival. Toilets had not been cleaned and had dirt and hair on the tops of the bowls and rims. Bathroom countertops had not been cleaned and had dirt, hair, and grit. When we tried to clean the area with wipes, they came away with quite a bit of black stuff and dirt.

There was mold in the master bathroom’s shower. This concerned us very much. The sheets for the master bed were washed and folded on the bed, but when we made the bed we found the sheets were stained and made of a very cheap, thin material. We did not use the second bedroom with a twin bed as it was only the two of us. The towels and washcloths were very old and grey from long-term use and multiple washings (in other words, not white anymore); one washcloth even had very dark stains. It made us uncomfortable to use them.

The shower wand in the master bath was lying on the floor of the shower and I thought it must have fallen. When I put the wand in the holder it was dripping. Attempting to turn the hot and cold faucets off securely did not stop the dripping and this was the reason the shower wand was left on the floor of the shower (otherwise when sleeping you would hear the constant drip).

The condo only had a toaster oven and no microwave. The toaster oven was dirty. The coffee pot was a very old drip type with no cup markings on the carafe or water reservoir to tell you how may cups of water for filling so it made it difficult to determine how much coffee (scoops) to put into the filter. There was spilled and crusted food on the shelves of the refrigerator.

On Wednesday morning we got up early and washed the sheets and towels as instructed (this took over two hours to wash and dry, so we made sure to get up early to complete this task). We mopped the floors (the mop we found was filthy). When I went to vacuum the carpets, I found the filter was completely clogged and caked with dirt. I cannot imagine how this vacuum could have picked up any dirt from the carpets. For a filter to be clogged and caked this severely must have been from neglect over a matter of months. The connecting hose from the vacuum head to the filter was duct taped. I cleaned the filter as best I could between each of the pleats.

We just could not stay in this condo, so we left early and reserved a room at the Hilton Garden Inn at John Wayne Airport. This added an extra $300 on top of the $480 we paid for four nights in the condo. The host responded to our review stating that we were “scammers”. This was my 67th birthday. I am a professional engineer and very responsible and very clean. We keep our home immaculate.

Airbnb Takes Host’s Side in Flophouse Complaint

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It’s been ten days since I discussed the complaints about my host with Airbnb’s resolution center, to no avail. She won’t understand my queries. She uses all her energy to agree with the host and dismiss me. All she understands about my complaints are the cleanliness and misrepresentation, and that’s okay with her.

On April 21st, 2017, we reserved the master bedroom of for an appartment in Hollywood. The listing claimed the following amenities were included:

– You get your own master bedroom with a private bathroom, closet, balcony
– Sleeps three (third person can choose to sleep on living room couch or an air mattress)
– Free wifi
– Central air conditioning and heating
– Hardwood floors (carpeted bedroom/walk-in closet)
– All brand new furniture and apartment
– Dishwasher, microwave, full size stove
– Laundry Facilities inside the unit (modern washer and dryer)
– Cleaned by professional maids
– Full kitchen
– Extra comfortable mattresses: 600 thread count sheets, high quality comforter sets
– Chic and modern design
– Stainless steel appliances

We demand a refund for the following reasons. Before reserving, we asked for more pictures, because only one was provided in the listing. A woman claiming to be the host said that she did not have any at the moment. When we saw the apartment, we understood why she would not provide pictures. We did have our own room with a private bathroom. It was very sparsely furnished with just a bed and a TV. There was No bedside table or lamp, no dresser, no chairs, and no sofa, contrary to what was shown in the picture. In addition:

• We had to ask for the air mattress, which was stored in a pile in the dirty living room. • It smelled like cheap perfume in the room, as if someone wanted to hide a bad smell.
• The bath, sink, and mirror were dirty.
• The only linens that were provided were five washcloths and a hand towel.
• The blinds did not work properly, missing many slats
• The balcony was cluttered with stuff belonging to other people (and the host responded that he wasn’t responsible for the comings and goings of the people in the apartment)
• The room could only be locked from the inside, so we could not lock it when we wanted to leave.

Furthermore, the front door was always unlocked. The host only gave us the key to the building, not to the apartment, claiming that there was always someone there. Therefore, both the front door and the door to our room were always unlocked, so we could easily have been robbed. When we confronted the host about these problems, he made up excuses and said he would get the air mattress (which he did) and extra linens (which he didn’t). When we explained our problems with the state of the apartment, he replied that we had only rented a room, disregarding the fact that we were supposed to have access to the kitchen, which was in a horrible state.

As for the rest of the appartment…

• There were four or five occupants in the living room and kitchen when we arrived (alone, because the host did not meet us). These were all temporary lodgers or Couchsurfers, judging by all the couches and air mattresses.
• The kitchen and fridge were dirty and smelled bad, just like the rest of the apartment.
• There was no coffee maker, and no glasses. We only managed to find two cups.
• When we woke up, six people were sleeping in that mess of a living room. We have traveled a lot (often using Airbnb), enough to know what to expect from a room costing 123 CAD (plus fees) in Hollywood. We did not expect the Ritz, but we will not accept paying that for a room in a dirty apartment that felt like a bad youth hostel.

We also had the following problems communicating with the host:

• He made me repeat a lot of information before we arrived, while I was in Venice. All that information was already in our Airbnb messages.
• I had to insist that he take our luggage on the morning of our arrival, as agreed, because he thought he might no longer be available.
• He arranged a meeting to pick up our luggage, not in front of the apartment, but across the street. It wasn’t the host who met us, but a lodger who had been woken up at the last minute, and was late.
• When we came back that night, we again had to meet across the street. He then gave us confusing information, and asked us to claim that we are family if anybody asked.

The host did try to be courteous, and said he did not want us to be dissatisfied. He even made a brief attempt at tidying up the kitchen, but that did not fix anything. We had to sleep there the first night, because we arrived at 7:45 PM (as he requested), which was too late to find any other accommodations at a reasonable price, though I searched for three hours. I did find something for the next two nights, but it cost more than my Airbnb booking. At such short notice, barely anything was available in Hollywood. For all these reasons, and generally for false advertising, we demand a complete refund.

On a final note, I don’t think this host even has the right to rent out his apartment, because he always refused to meet us in front of the building, never came in with us, and asked us to claim that we were family if asked. I have contacted his co-op board to find out. Thank you for your attention and your cooperation.

Rude Airbnb Host in LA Stole My Jacket

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My host’s name was Vince. He lived at a house near Venice Beach in LA. While listing his property, he posted a different address; the real house was much farther from Venice Beach than the address posted. I would like to say the following to him. When I first passed this message along to Vince, he didn’t recognize me as a guest and I felt ignored. With this evidence, I would like to thoroughly clarify the Airbnb messages we exchanged.

Hi Vince,

Upon arrival, I noticed right away how your listing misrepresented the property. It was unsanitary, to say the least. Your advertisement made me falsely believe that I was going to share a secure and clean room with 4~6 people, while in reality there were closer to 35 people on the entire premises and the conditions were extremely unsanitary. I felt very uncomfortable and felt the urge to cancel my reservation right away, but decided to give it a couple of days since your rates were affordable. However, this morning, I was extremely shocked to find out that someone had stolen my leather jacket, which was kept securely in the closet in my room. It is one thing to stay in a place that has been misrepresented and unsanitary for its affordability, but it is absolutely intolerable to stay at a place where security is at concern. 

I doubt he even lived in the house. He said there were four hosts, but I didn’t know who were the hosts and who were the guests. When I asked for a refund, Vince suggested that I could stay longer if I worked on the house. I was skeptical about his management system as a guest. I cannot believe people who call themselves hosts anymore. There’s just too much uncertainty using Airbnb.

Beware Booking Airbnb Properties in Los Angeles

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We tried to stay in three Airbnb properties in Los Angeles over the past three weeks. The first one in the Echo Park area was great. The host was kind and helpful. The property was clean and very suitable for our needs. The other two were very bad. The second one in Mid-City had parking, but we had to go through two gates to reach the parking lot behind the house; the first one was padlocked. It was in a rundown neighborhood with garbage and used mattresses sitting on the street near the house. When we first entered the house we noticed that the rugs were filthy. We heard water running in the bathroom and found that the bathtub faucet had an annoying leak. There was a built-in heater already on which we couldn’t turn off , though the outside temperature was over 85 degrees. There was no air conditioning. When we opened the windows to cool off a little, we found that all the screens were ripped. We left the next morning, and got a refund of at least some of the money (we still lost hundreds of dollars). We then found another place on Airbnb to stay on short notice. It was a clean apartment in the La Brea area. Not until we checked in, however, did we learn that the owner and his wife actually lived in the house. We faced the choice of sharing the place with total and complete strangers, which was a total surprise and completely unacceptable. We immediately cancelled, but because of the strict cancellation policy of this property we lost over $500. Interestingly, each of these properties had multiple rave reviews on the Airbnb website. Be aware.

Uncomfortable Airbnb Experience in California

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I booked an Airbnb for the first time for a recent two-week stay in the Los Angeles area. I was messaging the female host who sounded pleasant but upon arrival was greeted by her “boyfriend” who I was never even told lived there. He helped me with my luggage and I was taken to my room. I was never greeted by my host, saw her in the flesh or spoke to her in person. I started to question if she was even real. The boyfriend told me to keep quiet to the neighbors about him as he wasn’t on the lease. The whole thing felt sketchy and I was a woman traveling alone. There was no way I was going to stay there for one night, let alone two weeks, so I left and got a hotel. I called Airbnb, told them that I did not feel safe and that the listing was not as advertised which they seemed understanding about. I am now in a dispute with the company and had the full prepaid amount of nearly $1000 reversed from my bank as the case was being disputed.

Today I received a letter that I lost the dispute because of the Airbnb reservation policy and will only receive a partial refund of about a third of what I prepaid. I was in the room for less than one hour and their policy includes you must be greeted by the host. This is ridiculous and I am looking into small claims court. Has anyone else experienced something similar? This service came highly recommended to me by friends who both host and others who have been guests. I am beyond disappointed with this experience and being told I’m obligated to pay for a misrepresentation of the service being offered. All hosts should have to supply documentation of other residences and have a formal letter from their landlord or coop that they are allowed to host.