Tag Archives: airbnb nightmare

Unfortunate Circumstances Cause Hosts to Keep Former Guests

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We booked a house for my sisters wedding over ten weeks in advance, and paid upfront. However, the host decided to cancel our booking nine days before we arrived, for the following reason: their current guests had a house move which has fallen through leaving them homeless. It sounds very reasonable and completely understandable. If I had known in advance, I would not have booked this accommodation and taken that risk.

We looked very carefully and picked this property based on location and on our criteria. The hosts basically gambled to keep booking their property whilst knowing that house move dates are generally not the most reliable. Their reasoning must have been that they could just cancel any bookings if the house move didn’t move forward.

They have caused us a very large amount of stress and won’t admit that they should have told us of the situation in advance, or not taken any bookings until they had a property that actually was available. There’s nowhere to complain as Airbnb just submits the complaint for you saying that it was cancelled. In the meantime, other guests don’t know that these hosts don’t actually care enough about their guests to share relevant information.

 

Loyal Host Jaded: The Horror Stories are True

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My family and I are staying in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day and my host just cancelled my reservation. We leave for Ireland in twelve days – do you really expect that I can find reasonable accommodations less than two weeks out? I had been researching neighborhoods and looking at places months in advance.

I am honestly trying to be understanding about this situation because I am an Airbnb host as well as a traveler. I do get that stuff comes up and I definitely know the risks that come with hosting. Airbnb needs to have an insurance policy in place so that you can put people in a decent hotel accommodations when something like this happens. I am so angry with Airbnb that I would have absolutely booked an overpriced hotel just so I have the guarantee that I have a place to stay.

Unfortunately, I am planning this trip for my family. It is their first time out of the country and they cannot afford thousands of dollars for a hotel simply for two nights in Dublin — I had to persuade them to go on this trip in the first place. I had no choice but to book another Airbnb, but I really believe it should be comped for their mistake.

They gave me 100 dollars for my trouble. We just spent $1138.68 for two beds for two nights. It is a much smaller place, a shitty layout and only has one bathroom. It is a farther walk from where we will be spending our time and does not have an in-unit washer and dryer (which was a request from my mother). I am so disappointed in Airbnb. I’ve heard horror stories before, but I guess you just don’t know how it feels until you experience it yourself.

Hippy Commune Crams in as Many Guests as Possible

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My wife and I are frequent travelers for work, so we must find somewhat long-term furnished housing. Typically we will stay in a city for three to six months at a time. We had accepted an assignment near Los Angeles last spring. We decided on a place through HomeAway in Monterey Park for the first month we were living in the area. This turned out to be extremely unaffordable so we turned to Airbnb.

For nearly half of the price, we found this quaint little home on the northern end of Pasadena. After reading all of the reviews, which were mostly all positive, we pulled the trigger on the place. This is where it gets rather interesting. The specs on the house were very clear: 2 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, shared kitchen. Since the hosts live at the residence, we figured that we would only be sharing the home with the couple that lived there. This didn’t seem like a problem at all, since the hosts were somewhat young and seemed normal enough.

We arrived on a Monday and upon pulling into the driveway, we saw a young couple packing up their belongings. This should have been a sign. As they pulled away, we entered the house and were greeted by an elderly woman and her granddaughter. They lived in the living room, which was enclosed by bedsheets that had been stapled to the ceiling. She showed us which room was ours and from there we began unpacking our things.

Storage was an issue, as the closet in the bedroom was full of the owner’s belongings. As we travel lightly, we made do. The room was very dirty but luckily I travel with a vacuum and was able to sweep up most of the filth. As it turned out, we were to be living with a group of people. The other bedroom was rented out nightly, and the living room (the red room on the Airbnb listing) was inhabited by the elderly woman and her granddaughter on a long-term basis.

We deserve medals for the hell that we put up with. For those reading this, you might be wondering where the “owners” of the house live. I’ll get to why owners is in quotations here in a bit. The owners live in the detached garage. Allow me to tally up the occupants: a minimum of two people in the garage, two in the living room, my wife and I in one bedroom, and usually two others in the other bedroom, which would change every few days. A grand total of eight people per night at a minimum.

This turned out to be pretty awesome with only one full bathroom. Every night, the young girl from the living room would spend 4-5 hours in the bathroom doing only god knows what. If we failed to brush our teeth or shower by 7:00 PM, we wouldn’t be able to until 1:00 AM. Gobs of fun there.

Here’s another amusing fact of our stay. Apparently nobody ever taught her manners, respect, or most of all, energy consumption. Sometime in the middle of the night, the little prick would turn the thermostat to somewhere between 90 and 93 degrees. Because of this we would wake up sweating profusely, angered to a degree with no rival. Between the hours in the bathroom, abuse of the thermostat, and stealing our food, I nearly decided against having children. I understand this is just terrible behavior of another tenant, but amusing nonetheless.

Let’s now discuss the house. Keep your shoes on, because if you don’t your feet will turn black from the dirt on the floors. The yard was something special. The owners kept a large tent in the backyard for storage, since they lived in the damn garage. As far as I could tell, it had never been mown. The grass was roughly four feet tall. Awesome. After staying for a few days, I was quite puzzled as to why anyone would neglect a place like this. Prime location, relative size… they were letting this place turn to crap.

I soon found the answer. The owners don’t own the house. They rent it. They then sublease on Airbnb to make money. This was eye opening. I cannot blame anyone for trying to make money. As far as I’m concerned, go for it. But at least disclose this information on the website. We had to go to the grocery store every evening because there was no storage in the refrigerator. It was full of condiments and crap from previous people’s stays.

Parking was also a nightmare. There were only three parking spaces. This would be sufficient if the house was properly occupied, but it isn’t. At times there would be seven cars in the drive, blocking us in. Often times we would park on the street to avoid any mayhem. Overall I feel like our two-month stay at this commune made us a stronger couple. After living in these conditions we can deal with nearly anything. Here’s a link just in case anyone wants to experience a Pasadena slum.

Negative experience in Belgrade, Džordža Vašingtona 58

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Well, the apartment title and description are really charming: “Cozy and cute apartment in the very centre of Belgrade !” After a long search, last October, I believed this was the right accommodation for few days in Belgrade around the 2018 New Year’s Eve (NYE) according to the pictures, description and guest reviews. I’ve realized since the beginning the apartment was in an highly traffic congested part of Belgrade, maybe one of the worst spots in the whole city. But I read carefully tens of reviews looking for the key words such as disturb, noise, loud, nasty, safe, shabby, sloppy, dirty, protection and so on. I found ONLY a couple of reviews talking about disturb and noise: one from Claus, dated 01/2014 and one, recent, very harsh from Raf, dated on 11/2017. In both cases Marija & Marko stood opposite answering to their former guests they remained surprised for the quite or totally negative reviews inviting them to go to a 5 stars hotel. I found these replies quite impolite and misrepresenting. Unfortunately the worst review, from Raf, came a couple months after reservation and I read it just the week after Christmas. Too late to give up and change location, if it was realistic. I am pretty sure that any host, Airbnb or any other circuit, have to depict exactly what they are offering to potential guest: hosts have not to warp the real nature of the place with sugar-coated descriptions and photoshopped pictures. Evidently is not like that !

Anyway, now I describe my staying experience. In order to be detailed and precise, I try summarize the whole experience in Pros and Cons of this accommodation. I hope all any other potential guest will take my review as a reference because I want to be the more realistically descriptive I can. Before I need to tell something about the accommodation area. In fact the “cosy and cute apartment” is located in a 20th century decaying building, at the crossroads between two huge boulevard which are definitively Belgrade centre arterial roads highly traffic congested. Boulevard Džordža Vašingtona, about 34m wide, except of the boardwalks, in front of the accommodation front door, houses two railways lanes for both direction trams (with 4-5mins frequency on each side) utilized also by two ways direction diesel buses and additional 2 lanes for car and buses traffic in both direction. Furthermore on the NE side of the road, over the boardwalk there are public car parking on a meter. The intersecting boulevard is named Takovska, 18m wide, that houses 2 lane road for each direction. This boulevard is covered back and forth by diesel buses and wire buses (4-5min frequency) on both ways together with car traffic.

PROS

– The accommodation is really central, so main Belgrade attraction are at a reasonable walking distance. Differently from the host prevision, the walking distances we experienced are the following: Serbian Parliament (Narodna skupština Republike Srbije), 9min; Republic Square (Trg Republike) and Terazije, 15min, Knez Mihailova), Bohemian Quarter (Skadarlija) 17min, Kalemegdan Fortress, 33min .

– Essential shops (bakery butcher, vegetable market), supermarkets, money exchange (menjačnica), kiosks are very close to the accommodation.

– Public transports just in front of the entrance door.

– The apartment is composed by a large bedroom, a tiny kitchen, living room, just for 2 people, as we were, and an vintage fashioned separated bathroom into 2 cubicles, a toilet and a bathroom.

– House has not keys both for the main entrance and the apartment: just a digitizing code.

– Marko’s father is a very polite, nice and kind person who came for any problem and superintended the issue fixing. He doesn’t speak English fluently but, being clever and smart, we understood each other immediately.

– Additional towels requested and obtained.

– Wool covers were on the side but we didn’t used them because of the apartment comfortably warm.

– Tableware, silverware and cookware are present in abundance for 2 people. Sink is small but sufficient for the scope. – Silent electric heaters which produces a quite comfortable, sometimes excessive heat.

– Cheap camping-style cloth cabinet present.

– Cable TV present, vintage bulky cathodic TV in the sleeping room (MOVED).

– Hanger stand instead of a closed wardrobe in the sleeping room.

 

CONS

– Marko, who didn’t reply by voice, only sent text. We contact him several times in order to fix critical issues.

– Since the beginning Marija gave up the assistance and left all the responsibilities on his brother Marko. She disappeared. We contacted him only by Viber texting. We tried to call him in a couple of urgent occasion but he didn’t answer.

– Nobody assisted as at the check and checkout. Just a pdf with code and some basic instruction. What to say: good and bad.

– If you are visiting Belgrade by car, you must remind that the immediate surroundings of the accommodation totally lacks of free parking spots. Just public parks on a meter, you need a local phone to pay. Otherwise you will be fined 1840RDS by tens of parking attendant, waiting on the corner like vultures.

– One more thing, police has the “nice” habit to make a redundant checkpoint for blood alcohol level random quick test on the Generala Lešjanina intersection. Therefore be careful if you are driving Boulevard Džordža Vašingtona during night, after 11PM, direction N=>S.

– The apartment exterior are really decaying. The main entrance door, totally loose, when we arrived, didn’t close easily. It won’t close at all ! Only slamming several times, it closes. I would remind that we were staying in a high frequented road, populated by all kind of people. We didn’t feel us and our belongings safe with the external door opened. So we forced the front door until it closed up. After the NYE, at the umpteenth trial, a mad neighbor and her husband arrived from their apartment above; she started screaming we were scaring them and he told us to call the “home master” in order to be provided the front door key. Therefore we called Marko in order to solve the issue. Marko father came and fix it during our absence. I believe the host should have checked and fixed this particular problem largely before our arrival.

– The entrance corridor had no light, the bulb has broken since I can’t imagine. Unfortunately also house door lamp didn’t work and it was pretty challenging to find door code with the help of cellphone light. The day after the arrival (31/12/17) we changed the bulb, even if Marko stated he was working. It wasn’t at all and my wife noticed since our arrival. After putting the new bulb, we went out. Coming back, in the evening, the door lamp was down again. Fortunately we saw where spare bulbs were and I personally fix it in the morning. Probably bad electric wires.

– Tremendously high level of chemical pollution you can directly see as building walls covered by a grey-black fine dust (what you can see, imagine PM10 and PM2.5) covering everything in and outside the accommodation, burned fuel smelling air and metal fine particles diffused everywhere. As soon as you got back home, all your clothes will smell of smog. If it rains, the air pollution and smell decreases but you can see little streams and puddles of disquieting dark black solution.

– Unhealthy surrounding, better not to leave windows and door open, both during day-time and night time. Absent clean air circulation in the house.

– Tremendously high level of physical pollution including loud sounds of trams brakes, buses brakes and exhaust pipes. The old building has probably huge underground void foundations. Therefore each time the trams travel in front of the apartment entrance, on both directions, the house staggers and a loud deep roaring invades both the” isolated and quiet inner courtyard” and the all accommodation rooms. The sleeping room is the most affected being maximum 10m from the trams/buses stop, characterized by the presence of rail track gaps and steps. The bed literally vibrates according to a low frequency noise of 80Hz: it can be considered properly a paraseismic vibration. Just as an example, my legs literally vibrated up and down together with the bed at every 2 ways tram passage. It wasn’t a a positive sensation. How could not other reviewers, except of Claus and Raf, experience that ? This makes me suspicious.

– The apartment interiors are really shabby, very far from the shining pictures published on the website. Also spaces are wrongly rendered by the use of wide angle lenses and, for sure, an additional (professional) lighting equipment. All the rooms are surrounded by drywalls with a huge void resounding crawlspace behind. The apartment restoration occurred with very cheap materials and solution. Noise from the upper neighbour heavy walk and from the side street office

– Accommodation shows a general lack of proper maintenance which is revealed by wall and ceiling peels, especially in the toilet and in the bathroom, windows in the bedroom not locking, and in the toilet not locking, house door lock play etc. – The bedroom is equipped with a normal double bed (140cm wide). We found only a mattress cover on the bed and 2 separated blankets. No bed sheets provided. We asked for but the host insisted not understanding our request, judging it anomalous. Finally, the day after the arrival, we were provided by 2 honeycomb covers totally useless and an additional mattress cover we put above the exiting one.

– On the arrival, the apartment was not properly clean differently from what the host writes “in perfectly clean condition at your arrival“. In fact we found several filthy spots with large dust bunnies under the bedroom furniture, behind the wardrobe and among messy coiled wires. We found hairs from previous host in all the rooms, especially on the bathroom and the toilet floor. Broom and mop were sully of somebody else organic parts.

– Aprons not provided originally, but we use a bath towels obtained after requesting.

– The toilet is a tiny cubicle with a washbowl on the left side. The tap provides only cold water, which, in winter time is not comfortable at all. The small opening on the upper right side has small windows with malfunctioning frames. Therefore the cold draught made the whole toilet and above all the WC seat frozen. A punishment to deal with at any session. No heater in the toilet; it reminds me the military style.

– The bathroom is a little bit overwhelming. The first part houses a big electric boiler, a resistor dryer (scaring and according to me dangerous in such small and wet space) and minuscule sink with cold/warm water. When we arrived, we found the tap had not the perlator aerator, therefore water spread out of the basin because of the high pressure. We asked Marko to fix but he seems he didn’t understand what we were talking about. Finally Marko’s father put a plastic kitchen faucet aerator but really uncomfortable because it reduced too much the distance between tap and washbowl. We found perlator aerator at any plumber shop for the amount of 200RSD (less than 2EUR).

– Shower faucet has not an holder to allow you to have a relaxed hands-free shower. Just unintelligible. – The WC is not inviting at all. In fact the WC bottom, after flushing, shows a dark black rusty bottoms which testimony on one side it served many years, on the other a very low budget apartment restoration.

– Accommodation privacy is not granted. Anybody who walk in the inner courtyard, leading to neighbouring apartments can see you, your room, your kitchen and all your stuff. The host installed a protection paper film 60cm high out of the bedroom window which is insufficient. Any protection is present out of the kitchen, just a transparent curtain which doesn’t hide anything. I could read my PC from the outside. – Cooking appliances consists of a poor 2 unsafe hot plate equipment. Refrigerator it’s small and not very clean.

– “Free high speed WiFi” internet connection reaches an unacceptable maximum download sped of 4.22Mbit/s while upload speed is only 0.9Mbit/s. This sloppy performances could be acceptable in the countryside, but not in a capital city like Belgrade is, where 4G mobile network grants to anybody from a minimum from 8Mbit/sec to a more suitable to 10, 20, 30 and 40Mbit/s. Apartment internet connection consists in definitively outdated system based on TV cable signal. This aspect decreased abruptly my laptop performances. Streaming and upload cloud data are not compatible with the accommodation WiFi. We must use our 4G phone with a prepaid mobile data SIM. According to this last a, I have to point out that we asked suggestion largely in advance to Marko about the better short term tourist mobile provider. He kindly never answered to our request but finally he remained surprised when I told him we experienced a sloppy, rough and crocked service with the MTS (Telekom Serbjia). Therefore, on the negative experience basis, we suggest warmly to choose VIP or Telenor. MTS is just for Serbian ! This company just squeeze money from tourist, cheating on them.

Now we expect the usual response from the host: “Your review is really interesting. Thanks for your comment. Please next time go to a 5 stars Luxus hotel. You didn’t understand the Airbnb experience and its way of travelling” !!!!!???? Yes, next time we could go to the Mockba Grand Hotel, even if its eastern side is facing on Terazjie boulevard, aging high traffic congested road. Instead, being my wife an B&B host too, what is important is to describe and show exactly to any potential guest what you are really offering. In this way guest can make your choice.

Furthermore, if guest ask more detailed information, like I did, the hosts should provide all these information in the more realistic way. Differently, when the guests arrive, they will found different situations, they surely will compare to what promised. I hope that now other potential guests can decide properly, differently from the condition I was. I will expect all guests, not only yours but on the entire Airbnb, will be more realistic in describing their experience. I believe that the apartment fee, according to its present condition and Belgrade general price standard, should be the half of what asked, both in high and low season.

Finally I hope this review website allow me to post some real pics. Now I realized Airbnb doesn’t allow in the name of host safety. In my opinion this Airbnb policy works against guest clear and realistic perception of the true accommodation conditions. I hope you can make a great effort in changing this policy !

Abusive Host Convinces Guests to Leave Early

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Do not stay here. We were delayed so we didn’t need access earlier than the 3:00 PM check in time. The host is an appalling communicator. On the day before the booking I sent two messages four hours apart requesting clarification of address and check in procedure. I told the host that we would not have wifi while in transit on the day of arrival. The host sent a reply overnight. He agreed to allow us to store our luggage if we arrived early.

Unfortunately, we were unavoidably delayed so we didn’t need access to the apartment earlier than the check in time. He claimed that this inconvenienced him, and it went downhill from there. In his message, written in perfect English, he sent an incorrect address – wrong house number, wrong floor, wrong apartment number and wrong access code. The building couldn’t be located using Airbnb maps’ link on the listing, so we had to guess the house number from the photo on the listing.

Our friend arrived in Madrid three hours before us. We had planned to meet at the apartment, but he couldn’t get in because of the wrong information, nor could he contact the host for clarification; I was the only guest who had access to the Airbnb messaging system. He had travelled from the US and had to wait outside the apartment with his luggage until we finally arrived. On arrival, my daughter and I tried to open the apartment using the instructions provided then had to find wifi in the local area to locate our friend and get the correct address from the host.

The host and his sister came to let us in. They both entered the apartment and demanded that I speak in Spanish (“you’re in Spain, speak Spanish”), even though he had listed that he speaks English, and all previous communication was in English. He had a heated discussion in Spanish with our NYC friend and the host then ordered us to leave (in English). I refused to leave as I’d paid for the accommodation. I told him that if he provides a full refund we would leave, but he refused to accept that.

He then came within 10 cm of me, pointing in my face and shouting abuse. I told him several times to back off. At that point we realised that this was getting very serious and that we needed to comply or alternatively to call police to intervene. He did not apologise for his poor communication, instead he claimed he had been an exemplary host by offering for us to store our luggage. We thanked him for that and he and his sister left. His sister spoke English, but she did not intervene on our behalf. Instead she allowed her brother to abuse us. I was very shaken and concerned for our safety. We vacated the premises very early the next day, to avoid any further abuse.

Dream Paris Vacation Turned into Airbnb Nightmare

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My family and I (including our infant son) took a trip in September 2017 to Paris using money we’d been saving for a vacation for over two years. While we were in Paris, we experienced a taste of the terrible experiences that Airbnb has to offer, and a taste was more than enough.

Our first reservation was with a listing that had 42 four- and five-star reviews and was hosted by a French lady. We arrived in Paris around 10:30 AM after traveling almost 24 fours with a tiny baby. The host knew when we would arrive, had our flight details, and told us to call her when we landed. We called her three times with no answer. We went to get a taxi. She finally called us back, said something in French, and hung up on us.

A few minutes later her associate called us back and told us she was busy and to call when we were ten minutes away from the apartment. We called three times from the cab when we were ten minutes away. There was no answer; we left messages. The cab driver dropped us off. We waited ten minutes in the cold with our luggage and the baby before her associate called us back. She finally came after we’d been waiting fifteen minutes in front of her building in the rain.

Once we finally got in to the listing, absolutely everything was covered in mold and the fumes from it gave us instant headaches. This wasn’t safe for our baby so we weren’t going to stay there. We contacted the host via the Airbnb platform and called customer service. Airbnb had trouble verifying my account because their site hadn’t correctly synced my new email address that I changed via Facebook (I signed up for the service originally via Facebook and had never given an email directly to Airbnb).

We quickly found their apartment was full of bugs. Once the customer service representative finally explained a way to verify the email (after twenty minutes of talking) we were successfully verified. He said he would email me so I could reply with the picture evidence of the mold. It took me thirty seconds to find the mold in every room of the apartment. It was on all the curtains, and there was thick black mold in the blinds in the bathroom, water damage in the kitchen, and mold on the bedroom wall. There was no way I was going to spend any time in the apartment with my baby.

Airbnb said they would email us within five minutes. We waited but didn’t receive an email. I called back after ten minutes as we were taking all our suitcases out of the apartment. The representative explained he hadn’t emailed us yet because he was busy on another call, but would email us within five minutes so we could send him the mold pictures. We never received that email, and didn’t get help finding a new place to stay after that first moldy one. My husband, ten-month-old baby and I were sitting with eight suitcases and bags on the street of Paris, shivering in the rain, and trying to figure out where we could go next. We felt stranded, unsafe, extremely unsupported, and very concerned.

We left a review of this listing but it has yet to be posted. It makes me really not trust Airbnb. If I was looking at this place to rent I would really want to know that someone had problems with mold there. It seems like Airbnb censors reviews.

In our study (which I’ll get to) we also found many other reports of censored reviews including some a horrible case that involved sexual assault; Airbnb allegedly told the women that this had nothing to do with the property so it was not part of their policy to allow the review. We were stupid enough to take our chances with Airbnb again, thinking the first experience must have been a fluke.

The next experience was worse: after climbing six flights of stairs with all our bags twice, we got scammed by a shady host with multiple listings for the same property who canceled our reservation in order to force us to pay in cash off the platform. The property was extremely dingy and crappy with a broken bed and broken shower. We felt very trapped. The host managed to convince us to give him a cash deposit for that night and we had to agree since we had no other choice and no place to go.

We contacted Airbnb again and they told us we should leave the scam listing and go to a different Airbnb. They recommended we move to another nearby listing hosted by the same scammer. How bad could their customer service be if they’re recommending we move to another apartment in the same building by the same scam artis?

After a small amount of looking, we found that this host has multiple accounts with different names and the same listing photos over and over. To top it all off, my husband’s credit card information was stolen when he logged in to the wifi at this Airbnb listing after booking a hotel in order for us to escape the scammer. Because it was extremely unrealistic to find another available, clean Airbnb listing that late at night (and how could we trust an Airbnb listing again after the last two were dangerous and nothing like their pictures?), we were out of luck again. That night we were forced to stay in this scam place and got not a wink of sleep due to the broken bed, loud drunken neighbors, and our poor son crying in discomfort.

The next day we ended up having to fork out huge amounts of extra money and all of our 200,000 airline miles (equivalent to $3,000) to pay for a last-minute hotel in a safe neighborhood. In the space of a few days we experienced Airbnb scams, last-minute host cancellations, hosts not showing up, dangerous conditions at a listing, extremely poor customer service, broken promises made by Airbnb (they still haven’t given us our full refund, and it’s six months later), tech failures of the site and app, and failures of Airbnb’s policies to protect its guests all in one trip.

When my husband and I got home we had to ask: is Airbnb safe? This led us to do an in-depth (self-funded) research study (with the help of a PhD in user research) surrounding Airbnb and the experiences shared by over 1,000 other guests. We learned that 3% to 7% of stays go wrong (which means millions of people have problems) and that their customer service is absolutely terrible.

Most importantly, we found that Airbnb allows anyone to be a host, including convicted felons. Even after being “permanently banned,” hosts can just go ahead and create a new account under a different name. It only takes ten minutes and it’s completely unregulated, as there’s nothing in place to verify hosts’ identities – no ID requirement, and they don’t even have to use real names.

If you would like to read our article and our published study, you can find it on our website here. We also have a video exposing the scammer who got us and we have documented four different Airbnb accounts of his which were created within six weeks, all using the same listing photos. In this video we also show examples in London and New York of multiple accounts listing the same property. It took us less than ten minutes to find just these few examples, which leads us to believe that Airbnb is full of such scams.

“Pseudo Hosts” using Airbnb as a Money Machine

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We are a couple in our 70s who travel the world and have used Airbnb since its inception. Through the years we have experienced many disappointments but as good soldiers we accepted minor imperfections as part of the experience in a foreign country. My husband did book a horrendous accommodation in Iceland this past year but let it slide. Our experience here in Costa Rica, however, cannot be overlooked.

We booked an Airbnb in Costa Rica for nine nights. Upon our arrival at Liberia Airport we rented a car and drove the hour and a half to Playa Potrero where this unit is located. We tried to find our way with the directions the host provided. It took us to the general vicinity. We were advised to pick up the key from a local laundry place in Potrero between 3:00-5:00 PM as arranged by the host. When we arrived shortly after 4:00 PM no one was there. We waited a bit and no one arrived.

We asked a local business to please call the laundromat’s telephone number which was listed on the window. She was advised that the key was with the guard at the entrance to the condos. We were never given the correct name of the complex. After spending too much time trying to find right complex it was already late and we were travel weary. Finally we found the guard who had the key and he pointed out where to park and walk to the unit.

We entered a unit that was pathetic. The Airbnb ad promised a queen size bed, a dining room, and kitchen utensils, which was important as we eat in most of the time. There were two twins beds with very thin mattresses and cigarette burns in the sheets. The closet was in disrepair. The bathroom was funky and foul smelling. There was no dining room as advertised. The only table and chairs were out on the patio and inaccessible as the sliding door was inoperable. The kitchen area was barely usable, with very few utensils, no coffee maker, and a stove that needed cleaning.

By the time we got to the unit it was very late for us to find somewhere else to stay so we spent the first night, kept our luggage packed and left the very next morning. We advised the host that we were leaving and he offered another place with the stipulation that we commit until February 28. We attempted to inspect the offered unit but were denied access. Anyway, we could not commit to that lengthy a stay.

We submitted a request to Airbnb for a refund for the nine nights we did not stay but the host denied our request. He also posted a very nasty personal attack on my Airbnb profile. We requested Airbnb mediation and due to the difficulty in communications between here in Costa Rica and the US we waited days for a response, having had no fewer than three Airbnb case managers respond – no personal touch at all.

This entire ordeal regarding my request for a refund for totally unsatisfactory accommodations has become frustrating and really diminished my confidence in Airbnb. I did submit a request to Airbnb to become involved in my request due to the the host refusing to make the refund. What happened to the statement “Our Guest Refund Policy protects you and your money”?

I am stranded in Costa Rica waiting to recoup my payment in order to continue my trip. It is urgent that I receive the refund as soon as possible. I feel that this host is nothing more than a con man who uses the Airbnb forum as a means to dupe unsuspecting travelers. We received a response from Airbnb as follows:

“We have reviewed this case once again, and as previously said, unfortunately, as the guest refund policy wasn’t followed, we can’t adjust the host if the host doesn’t agree with the refund. I’m really sorry to hear about this situation, but unfortunately, there’s not much I can do. However, I would be willing to offer you a $100 coupon, and even though it’s not near to what you requested, is what I would able to give.”

An absolute insult. We paid over $1,000 for one night in a sleazy accommodation that we would never have committed to if we had seen inside first. Airbnb has neglected its responsibility to protect the renter. This man should have been investigated further by Airbnb since it is obvious he is using the platform to his advantage in representing unsatisfactory accommodations which he does not own but merely acts as a rental agent for various properties.

As a company, Airbnb seems to only be interested in their fees from acting as the forum for hosts and guests. They assume no responsibility for allowing unsavory con men from using their forum and falsely describe their accommodations knowing that they will be paid upfront and have the upper hand.

Host Demanded More Money Less Than a Week Before Arrival

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I booked a home in April 2017 near Ole Miss to visit my daughter at school that October. The price was really reasonable, so upon the host accepting the reservation, I messaged him to double check that all was well. There was no response. I messaged him again in May to double check – no response. I messaged him again in June. There was no immediate response so I reported him to Airbnb. He then responded with: “Yes, it is confirmed.”

Less than a week before arrival, the host messaged me to say Airbnb made a mistake and the price should have been a lot higher; apparently I owed him more money. We argued back in forth. I said I asked several times for him to confirm the reservation to no avail, and that he had plenty of time to get this sorted out. He argued it was all Airbnb’s fault and that he wouldn’t be making any money with the lower price I was set to pay.

This went back and forth the next couple of days. I couldn’t find alternate housing at the last minute and Airbnb customer service was no help, telling me it’s for the host and I to figure out. I ended up paying an extra $325 to the host (which he said was such a bargain) as I had family depending on housing to visit my daughter.

When we arrived there were dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and hairs in the freezer. It was dirty all around. He blamed it on the cleaning crew and still wanted his $325. I’m so disappointed in this listing, the host, and most of all, that Airbnb allowed this to happen to a customer, especially when I had given the host plenty of time to confirm prior to arrival.

Too Far? How I Taught Airbnb and Scammers a Lesson

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My very negative experience with Airbnb has turned into an amusing evening. I rent out my two-bedroom apartment in the center of Barcelona for just 35 Euro per day (yeah, that’s correct, in January the off-season price is that low). I had guests from Turkey who were supposed to stay for three days. On the last day of their stay, they found out that the bathroom curtain was damp. That’s correct – it turned out that the bathroom curtain was humid after three days of their stay.

Airbnb sent me an email that the guests were “experiencing some serious issues with their stay and they need my urgent assistance”. They gave me a 30-minute deadline to reply to them. I noticed that email in 40 minutes and at that point the reservation was already cancelled on my behalf with a full refund. The Airbnb case manager wrote me that everything was okay, and the guests were willing to continue their stay (obviously for free). I asked them to explain the background of their decision, but as usual they just ignored my messages (they always do so when they rip off the host; no one answers your messages and calls and nobody cares anymore).

Then I got really mad and I sent a message to the guests asking if they had already checked out. What did they reply after staying for almost three days (it was a late evening already) in my flat? They told me that they were going to stay a little longer and they would let me know once they wanted to check out. I headed to the flat hoping to face these impudent motherf*&%ers.

When I entered the flat, there was no one inside. All their stuff was still inside, so they really decided to continue staying in my flat for free and enjoy their vacation. I grabbed all their stuff and gave it out to the homeless people on the street. By the way, they were very thankful to me. One of those homeless women was also kind enough to tell me that there was a passport in the jacket I gave to her. I checked the passport and noticed that he had no visa to stay in Europe and in fact the guest was here illegally. What a gift of fate. I passed his passport through a shredder as it was not valid.

Furthermore, I also changed the locks in my flat as they had the keys with them, so they were afterwards unable to enter the flat. When I returned home, I noticed tons of messages from Airbnb support. Finally, for some reason, they decided to reply to me. The support agent begged me to open the door for the guests and let them take their stuff.

Which guests did they mean? According to my payout statistics, I had no guests at that point. I had to reply to Airbnb that since I had no current reservations, I was unable to help them and of course I would not let some strangers into my apartment.

They first promised to pay me for one night, then they promised to pay me for the entire reservation. Of course, that was very kind of them, but I could not accept the money for the reservation I never had. Airbnb threatened that they would involve the police and of course I supported this idea. The guests went to the police station, and obviously the police officer called me to ask for my permission to open the door to these guests, which of course I didn’t give. The photo shows you what a passport of a bad tourist looks like.

From Bad to Worse, Forced to Leave Multiple Airbnbs

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To anyone looking to rent via Airbnb, please use caution. You cannot trust the reviews. A lot of people have their friends who write reviews for them. If a guest cancels before booking, Airbnb doesn’t allow them to leave reviews. I also believe they purposely delete bad reviews in the interest of keeping guests in the dark about the true conditions of some of the places listed on their site.

I have booked three places and all three had glowing reviews. Two of the three places were in deplorable condition. One of the places was in such bad condition that it had blatant health and safety violations: burned out electrical sockets, black mold, no working utilities, no heat in the dead of winter, etc.

The only way to be safe when using Airbnb is to only book with hosts who offer a full refund if you arrive and the place is not up to standards. If you are depending on Airbnb to back you up, forget about it. In fact, you could end up with nowhere to go. It happened to me. Thank god I was familiar with the area and had another option to stay for a few days. You might not be so lucky.

Airbnb has lately been hit or miss for me. Two out of three places that I have booked in the last month have had serious mold and other safety issues. The first place I booked and cancelled because I was afraid for my life and health looked like an abandoned house (dark, dirty, electrical wiring burned out, walls dirty with paint splattered on them, doors that didn’t lock, black mold and moldy smell throughout the place). I literally had to threaten to take legal action to get my money back and even so it took three days.

In the meantime, I was left with no money to even find another place to stay while I went back and forth with Airbnb trying to get a refund. Thank god I was able to find an alternative for a few days and then I ended up booking a hotel that cost me over three times as much for one day as I would have paid for a week at the Airbnb. The current place I booked a week ago I thought would be better because it was in a nice area and is owned by a doctor. I arrived to find that the place smelled like a public urinal and mold mixed together. Now I am having to find another place so I lost money. Thank god I had only booked for a few days.

As you can see, it’s hit or miss with Airbnb and you won’t know what you are getting until you arrive and open the door. Your best and only protection is to book with guests who offer a full refund if the place is not up to standards or avoid Airbnb all together, which is what I plan to do.