Tag Archives: airbnb noisy

Airbnb put a $200 Coupon Value on my Personal Safety

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My husband and I stayed at an Airbnb, where on our very first day within hours of our arrival, the downstairs neighbor shoved a passive aggressive threatening letter under the door stating that the hosts have not fixed the insulation in the apartment, the result of which is the neighbors downstairs hear all of our footsteps in the lounge, kitchen, and bedroom areas. In fact, the letter itself said the neighbors downstairs have made it a habit to serve every single Airbnb guest of this host with the letter, so that the hosts will do something about it.

At around 9:00 PM on our first day, when I was walking to the kitchen to get a glass of water, the neighbor downstairs started shouting at us through the floors to stop walking and hurling insults. As a result, we had to tiptoe through the whole apartment through the most of our stay. To tell you the truth, we felt so unsafe that we were ready to call 999 during our stay if the yelling neighbor ever decided to knock on our door. It was that bad.

We did contact the host as soon as possible on the very first day of our stay stating in detail how the neighbor verbally harassed us and how we have to tiptoe around the apartment now so that he doesn’t start yelling at us again. The host said he would take care of the situation but nothing was done at all. Neither the host nor Airbnb took any steps to protect us from harassment. In fact, both the host’s and Airbnb’s negligence allowed this verbal harassment to occur in the first place.

Despite previous reviews mentioning the insulation issue with the neighbor and the neighbor’s behavior, Airbnb allowed this host to continue to rent this place out to unsuspecting guests like us. When we contacted Airbnb about this they stated that they can only give us a $200 coupon for the verbal harassment and bullying we suffered at one of their properties. I’m sorry but a $200 coupon is unacceptable and frankly offensive.

My as well as my husband’s personal safety and well-being is worth more than a $200 coupon to me. I don’t think it is asking for too much to expect Airbnb to value their customers’ personal safety and well-being more than a $200 coupon, especially when their own negligence in supervising the host’s property allowed this harassment incident to occur. I’m writing this review because I want to highlight Airbnb’s negligence in allowing this verbal harassment to occur despite previous reviews mentioning the insulation issue with the neighbor and the fact that Airbnb, as a company, puts a $200 value on their customers’ personal safety and well-being to warn future customers.

Undisclosed Noise, Refused to Adjust Cancellation Policy

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I rented an apartment in Dusseldorf, Germany for ten days to visit my seven-year-old daughter. The place seemed to be as advertised. Then it got dark and the thumping bass started. It turns out the apartment is directly across the street from a nightclub. The nightclub played thumping bass that emanated through the entire apartment until 3:30 AM. This was unexpected because it was not disclosed in the listing and in the US you usually don’t see nightclubs in residential areas (zoning).

The next day I canceled the rest of my stay and booked a hotel. I had to pay a premium for the hotel because I was booking last minute. The landlord sent me a message asking me why I canceled. I explained the thumping bass until 3:30 AM situation and suggested they modify the listing to clearly state there is a nightclub across the street and it can be quite loud.

I asked for a refund, agreeing to pay for the night I stayed in the apartment plus cleaning fees. The landlord refused to give any refund. He did, however, modify the listing to note it can get loud due to the “pulsating life in the old town.”

When Airbnb looked into the issue they said the listing states that it can get loud. I explained this was not noted in the original listing and that I had communicated to the landlord that I would be staying there with my seven-year-old daughter. I sent Airbnb the email correspondence with the landlord where I specifically mentioned he should disclose the loud noise in the listing. He thanked me for the feedback. I explained to Airbnb that the listing was modified after I booked my trip.

Airbnb replied they acted fairly and are not going to refund any money. This is outright fraud. Airbnb’s business model is flawed and it is time for congress to setup up and defend consumer rights. If this were a hotel I would have been treated completely differently, but because of the decentralized nature of Airbnb they seem to be able to get away with acting unethically and stealing people’s money.

Couple Comes and Destroys Serenity with Airbnb Rentals

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We bought our land two years ago. We built and moved in last year. This is (was) our dream home: quiet and secluded on a pristine lake. Not a big lake, a very small one that is non-navigable.

A few months after we moved in, a few chalets started popping up. I turns out it’s all the same couple that built them… for the sole purpose of short-term rentals. They have turned our nice, quiet neighbourhood into a constant stream of loud strangers who disrespect the surroundings and the nature.

I’ve had to call the police numerous times. I’ve even had a renter call the cops on me accusing me of making death threats with a shovel (which is BS). I am in the process of taking this up with the city to get their rental permit revoked. In our HOA it states that the lots are for residential habitations only and cannot be used as a commerce or business, even liberally.

These people don’t live here and I, along with the other owners, have had enough. Quite frankly, f$#& Airbnb. Airbnb, and other short-term rental companies like them need to be outlawed entirely. This is unfair to people who just want peace and quiet.

Living Next to Airbnb Pool House Worse than Hell

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I’m too tired for words right now but it is total hell – worse than hell – living next to a Airbnb with a pool in the backyard. It’s like every weekend or every day there’s a pool party, living next to a water park, and kids screaming their heads off from 8:00 in the morning till 8:00 at night. It started out last night; I didn’t go to work. I work overnight shifts at Amazon and when I can’t sleep, I can’t work. During the summer, it’s particularly hot; we don’t have air conditioning. These houses were built with no air conditioning. We didn’t need air conditioning in Southern California when we moved here. However, now that it’s getting overcrowded there’s more humidity and it’s hotter than hell. Not only that, but this neighbor built a wall in his backyard on the hill so they can look right into our bathroom window, and my bedroom window. It is very uncomfortable and noisy and I’m tired of it. I don’t care where we go on vacation; my parents never allowed my sister and I to scream like that all day long anywhere. It’s ridiculous living next to an Airbnb property.

Noise Issue with Greece Airbnb Vacation Home

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I am a host and just started a vacation in Greece as a guest a few days ago. Unfortunately, as soon as we arrived we discovered that the place was very, very noisy because it is on a very traffic heavy road, and does not have proper modern windows. We could not sleep and after the first night, decided to change our accommodation, as we could not spend our vacation there.

We immediately contacted the host and Airbnb support to get refunded for the unused nights (we ended up staying for three nights, the time to find another place). The host denied the issue, saying we knew all about the place (which is not true, we knew it was near a street, but nothing was mentioned about the level of noise to expect).

Airbnb support has not been helpful at all so far; for three days they have been asking me to send sound recordings, which I have done, but their email address response@airbnb.com does not work, and they don’t understand it. The support staff seem to be very weak and unable to help me. I had to cancel my 21 days stay after three nights, and for now I still have to pay for 50% of the remaining 18 days, so we are paying 1700 Euros for three horrible nights.

Please can anyone help – what would you do in this situation to get a refund? Who can I contact at Airbnb to get a serious resolution and refund? Thanks very much.

Florida Airbnb Not Close Enough to Beach

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Well, let’s start with our arrival. Upon arrival, the door code that the host sent didn’t work. We had to stand around for 45 minutes until we received the code to get into the key box located downstairs. She then failed to send her maintenance guy over to program the code for the door.

On Monday morning, we woke up at approximately 7:30 to the sound of construction noise at the building next door. We set out to find the beach, which was supposedly across from the unit. After a 10-minute drive down the road, we finally in came across Sombrero Beach. It was not within walking distance for the kids. Both the image posted for the unit, as well as the one from Google Maps, indicated the unit was across the road from Sombrero beach.

For the rest of the week we endured noise and construction workers gawking at our 13-year-old girls. This made the girls too uncomfortable to swim without an adult present. Additionally, music was blaring from the construction site all day long. After explaining all of these problems to the host, she indicated she was going to give us a credit for three nights. That never happened and I have attempted to contact her multiple times since with her simply ignoring my text messages and phone calls.

The location of the property, the hassle we endured, and the inconvenience was not worth the $2800+ we payed. I would not stay at any property that this woman represents. She simply lies to appease you for the moment and does not honor her word. Find another property.

Desperate Situation After Airbnb Refuses to Answer

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I made a reservation on Airbnb for seven weeks in Paris as I was doing an internship there. On our arrival, we noticed that the apartment was a bit dirty and very stinky (cigarettes) and noisy (neighbors). Tired from our travels, we did’t want to make a fuss so we cleaned a bit by ourselves. When we got home at 9:30 PM after a long walk we realized there was no cover for the two-person bed as written on the description. We had to buy one (70€) for our first night. We tried to contact the host but there was no reply that day.

We contacted Airbnb the next morning. They tried to contact our host but he made no effort to find a solution or give us a refund; he denied the facts. There was no hairdryer as described too. On the eighth day, we discovered something else: cockroaches. We couldn’t stay there anymore and made a reclamation on the Airbnb website. They told us we could cancel our reservation and make another reservation. They also promised us we would get a full refund for the nights we didn’t spend there (1000€). That’s what I did; I made a reservation for another apartment (2500€) but my refund was only 39€. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Since then I have been trying to reach them by phone and messaging to get my money back but there has been no answer. I’m quite desperate…

Fight Breaks Out, Airbnb Does Nothing to Help

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Recently, my family and I visited the midwest. We are regular users of Airbnb and, most of the time, whatever issues we encounter are easily remedied by adjusting our attitude or expectations. But this stay was different.

The property was one of twelve hosted by the same person in a suburban area. Because our stay was only four days and we anticipated being tourists, we booked a basement with a bath and small kitchen. We arrived and things went smoothly: the beds were comfy, there was no kitchen (but there was a microwave and small cooler), and our check in was a breeze.

About 6:00 PM, we heard what sounded like a Dothraki horde running laps around the main floor of the place. We would hear loud bangs and even heard glass shatter. I quickly messaged the host and got a reply from a number not related to our host. The responder was, we think, his wife. In any case, she apologized and said they had three dogs and were pet sitting two more. The barking and noise was constant for nearly three hours. Finally, we heard the owner come home.

Night two began at 7:00 PM. We returned to the basement exhausted. The Kentucky Derby was in full swing upstairs. We tried everything we could think of, including purchasing a very large box fan, to dampen the noise. At 11:00 PM, I contacted the host. They said: “We’re at a concert… sorry about the dogs.”

In the meantime, we did our best to stay quiet so the dogs would stop barking. At 2:00 AM, the owners arrived home and it got quiet enough to sleep. They apparently kennel the dogs at night.

At 4:22 in the morning, a large bang jolted us awake. We heard swearing and footsteps and then someone let the dogs out (and not in a funny, rap song way). For the next three hours, we were subjected to bangs, stomps… think of a stampede. I texted the owner multiple times with no response. At 9:40 AM, I had had it. I went and knocked on the main door. No one answered. I did get a text saying that we had just woke them up. The wife of the owner apologized and said a friend had come home drunk at 4:00, so it wasn’t their fault.

Then, we started hearing a fight break out. Women were screaming. A man was ranting about losing money and we heard a woman say, “You f***ing turned our home into a hotel and those mother f***ers can go to hell!”

Then we heard shuffling and chaos and the lady screamed: “Help!”

I tossed my car keys to my kids and told them to go lock themselves in the car while I called the police and packed up our stuff. After calling the police, I called Airbnb to report an emergency. I was asked to leave my number and a rep would call me back. I never got a call back. My phone did ring, once, but no one spoke.

The host cancelled our reservation so I couldn’t leave feedback. The host told Airbnb there was no fight and that what we heard was a television. Ten minutes later, the wife, who obviously had left the house, texted us and said she was sorry for subjecting our children to a fight but we shouldn’t “expect people to walk on eggshells when we book a basement.”

False Advertising: Avoid Using Airbnb At All Costs

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I was part of an adult and professional family who rented an expensive house through Airbnb for four weeks so I speak from bitter firsthand experience. We rented both sides of the house through Airbnb but there was major construction being carried out. Let me be clear: these were not renovations, nor extensions, nor repairs, but brand new buildings. They did not come about after our booking but were known to the host at the time of booking. They were major building sites in what was described as a quiet residential area. At no time whatsoever did the host point this issue out to us.

The overriding comment I am making is this. Problems within a rented Airbnb can crop up after the 24 hour period. They do not always happen within the first 24 hours. We encountered some noise and disruption when we arrived. We were surprised but didn’t fully take in the far reaching consequences it would have. Having travelled 10,000 miles to be there we were exhausted and also extremely tied up with other family business which had drawn us to the host’s property in the first place.

The noise levels exacerbated to such a degree during our stay that it was categorically impossible to remain. There was massively loud machinery operating all day and we were meant to be enjoying the warm weather outside on the deck area. Loud radios, workmen shouting, hammering, drilling, angle grinders, and so on. It was absolutely impossible to live with. We were even asked by the next door neighbour if we would be going out at any point as he wanted to use some exceptionally loud equipment to bring down part of a wall. No one in their right mind would choose knowingly to spend almost £6,000 on a holiday rental plus all the other attendant travel costs with this imposition on either side of them.

In addition, there were parts of the property (equipment, lighting) which did not work. This only came to light as time went on and not within the first 24 hours. Requests to the host for information as to how to work various things were not answered. Such was the dirt within some of the kitchen drawers – again, coming to light after the first 24 hours – I had to strip them out, wash and disinfect them before I was prepared to use them and the utensils and equipment inside them. Live cockroaches I can deal with – the dead ones should have been cleared out before our arrival.

The outdoor deck area was simply filthy. The garden described as lush was a bare lawn, some surrounding green shrubs and a shed/garage which was filled with a load of rubble and junk in it. I can’t dress the deck up any other way; it was simply dirty, not maintained or prepared.

This was meant to be our ‘special’ place. Coming from a relatively cold country, we wanted to be outdoors in the heat. I should add that not all of the house was like this. Some parts were fine and as described, some parts were okay, but come on – where are people supposed to hang their clothes for four weeks when they are not allowed to use the wardrobes? We have dated photographic and video evidence supporting our findings which seemingly are of no consequence whatsoever to Airbnb. It would seem to be just tough luck.

Moving onto subsequent dialogue with the host following our complaint to Airbnb we found her responses to be beyond shocking. They were defamatory, uncouth and dishonest. I take strong exception to being described as a ‘lying whinging pom’ which if I remember correctly was the term the host used. The host leveled accusations at us which frankly rocked us to the floor and she absolutely and utterly lied. I don’t use the term lightly – she didn’t ‘embellish’ some facts – she downright lied. We are a professional, upstanding and decent family and would never abuse someone else’s home. Indeed we left it in a better state than we found it.

We asked Airbnb for a face-to-face meeting, which was refused. We offered to show a member of her family who visited the day we were leaving around the property to check it and he refused. We asked for a reasonable financial recompense from Airbnb for ruining our holiday, which was refused. We were given a refund for the eight days we cancelled due to the unforgiving circumstances we found ourselves in but not for any of the other issues we encountered, some after the 24-hour period. We have been continually fobbed off by Airbnb with the 24-hour response comment, which is simply ridiculous. I am surprised it is legal.

I would also add that getting through to Airbnb on the telephone is farcical and more than time consuming. I can honestly say we lost at least three days of our trip through phone calls, packing, and moving to another place as it was impossible to complete our stay in the rental we had chosen. We also lost money by having to take on a hotel booking due to the issues we encountered at our initial rental. Airbnb has no interest in this whatsoever and seemingly no policies which actually work to protect the consumer.

I would never use Airbnb again. Any assurances they offer are flimsy at best and non existent at worst. If this property we rented was a house swap or a house sitting situation, we might have put up with it and thought, “Well, it’s bad luck on our part, but so be it,” but this was an expensive rental with a description on Airbnb’s own website which bore scant resemblance to the reality of living there. From what we can see so far, there are no safeguarding procedures for the renter.

There are always extenuating circumstances why things don’t work in a property which we understand fully or why external issues might appear unexpectedly. However, there is no excuse for purposely misleading people and there is certainly no excuse for dirt. This was a property which was described as beautiful, and Airbnb has left us high, dry and out of pocket even though we have explained in detail what the problems were.

We shall continue to deal with this problem through further legitimate routes and with different support and social information mechanisms as Airbnb has simply washed their hands of us and our situation and have no care for our problem whatsoever. All they say is that their decision is final. Well, it may be final for them but we shall exhaust our options to achieve what we believe to be a more fair conclusion to this debacle. We note (as far as we can determine) that this property has been removed from Airbnb’s site although whilst we were there it was up for rental.

Two Last Minute Cancellations and a Noisy Apartment

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Six weeks ahead of our family Christmas vacation to Peru, we booked two Airbnb listings. One was to be the same place twice for a total of five nights (with a short excursion to another place in between) and the others for a single night in Lima before leaving to go home. Fortunately, I had the sense to book a hotel for our first night in the country after getting off our international flight late at night and the hotels for our excursion were handled by our local guide.

Four days before our trip, our first reservation was cancelled. The host messaged me and said that he is new to Airbnb and didn’t know how the system worked, that he shouldn’t have confirmed the booking in the first place because he would be away leading a tour that week. Four days before our trip, we had no place for our family of seven to stay in a popular tourist destination during the holidays. The host was very unsympathetic to our situation.

We managed to find two separate bookings for the stay on either end of our stay, both at a higher rate than we’d originally had, and neither was an entire apartment like we had booked before. There were not any places left that were a single unit for a family. The first booking turned out to be a small local B&B that was nice and friendly, but not what we’d been planning on originally and at a higher cost.

While we were packing up to leave for our excursion, I got a message from our next host on the other end of the excursion that just said, “I’m sorry. Family emergency,” and the booking was cancelled. When this second one canceled for New Year’s weekend, I began to believe that they had found other folks willing to pay more or were giving the space to family or friends instead. I could be wrong. Maybe I’m just that unlucky. However, it was highly suspect.

Fortunately, the little B&B we were just preparing to leave had room for us and we were able to book privately with them and just take a refund from Airbnb on that second reservation, even though on their Airbnb page, it didn’t look like they had space that weekend. When we arrived to our last night’s location, I was very gun-shy about the whole Airbnb thing after the last minute cancellations. I had a little more hope for this place because the host was a “superhost”.

The host (who was listed as speaking English and Spanish and with whom I’d had conversations in English on Airbnb messaging) had informed me that he would be out of town while we were there and his sister would meet us and let us in. I called the sister immediately when we landed to confirm that were weren’t going to be left high and dry again. Both the host and his sister were very sweet, but his sister’s English was about as good as my Spanish, so we had a difficult time communicating.

The apartment was neat and clean, and we even had one more bed than expected. The neighborhood was a little sketchier than we expected and we had trouble finding a restaurant or grocery store because of our communication gap with the host’s sister. (Again, not her fault, but if the listing says the host speaks English, the host’s representative should too.) We managed to figure that all out, but our kids were shot by the end of the day and walking around trying to find food with three cranky kids in a foreign country is not exactly relaxing, to say the least.

That night, we decided to turn in early to reset for our last day in Lima. And at around 8:30 PM, a party started in the apartment downstairs. It seemed to be a child’s birthday party or something. There was little to no sound protection between apartments, and there were no fewer than a dozen loud voices loudly shouting and talking, including small children running around and screaming until just before midnight. I can certainly understand and tolerate some amount of kid noise. We knew there was a family downstairs in the apartment below us. But after spending the whole trip reminding my own kids about manners when there are other people in the building, the screaming children downstairs until midnight was inexcusable.

Our kids were crying because they were tired and couldn’t sleep with the noise. Our host was out of town, so I couldn’t communicate through messenger. My only recourse would be to call his sister at night and try to explain to her in my terrible Spanish what was happening and ask what to do about it. Since we were, admittedly, trying to turn in early that day, I figured I’d give them a little time. By around 10:30 PM, they quieted and we all breathed a sigh of relief… until a half hour later when they started back up. At this point, I didn’t want to call the host’s sister that late at night, so I went to Airbnb customer service who basically said, “Sorry. Should have video taped it. Hope you have a better experience next time.”

Next time? That’s cute, guys. After two last-minute cancellations on a family of seven over a holiday and a night of no sleep because of noisy neighbors at what was listed as a “quiet apartment”, there is no chance of there being a “next time”. In my tired, sleep deprived state, trying to comfort my kids to get them to sleep, video taping a party downstairs wasn’t exactly something that occurred to me to do.

There is no way Airbnb was worth the few dollars we saved. Save yourself the trouble and the headache of trying to book things last minute or the chance of getting super noisy neighbors and just book a hotel. Buy a Lonely Planet Guide for where you are headed, and check out TripAdvisor. That is how we always traveled in the past and that is how we will always travel in the future.