Tag Archives: airbnb review

Fraudulent Airbnb Listing in Macquarie NSW Australia

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Screw AirbnbAirbnb hellI hate airbnbairbnb hellAirbnb Reviews

The following review is about this “Beach Town House” property in Port Macquarie NSW Australia: https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/4769377?s=ik7rIcBI

Firstly this is not a beach townhouse – this place is streets back from the beach and the bedroom overlooks rooftops. There are 15 steep steps upstairs so if you have any physical problems this will challenge you. The advertised site said breakfast. The advertised site says cleaning between guests, this never happened. In fact I am not sure the old sheets I slept in were clean and I certainly couldn’t touch the brown shredded towel left at the end of my bed. I was in the third room that was the junk room where family photos, old bookcases, stuffed toys etc., were as well as her winter wardrobe in the cupboard so I had no place to hang or put anything. My clothes were on the floor. The whole place, was filthy mold in bathroom/shower, pulled back beige seat cushions on outside furniture that were black with mold.

As the host didn’t live there, I wrote within 24 hours to her to let her know that I was dissatisfied and that I would like her to cancel my stay as this would ensure the 100% rebate. She rebuffed by saying I was the only person to ever complain and delayed my request. I wrote again and again and I kept getting put off such as oh the internet doesn’t work, I am working, etc., this is too hard. I told her to ring airbnb and they would walk her through it. I called airbnb and got contradicting policy procedures so I needed the host to cancel the booking. Ultimately airbnb had to call her and then she agreed to cancel. I received a text from her at 5pm on the third day of 12 telling me I was a nasty person and to leave her house immediately. Which I did.

Initially she agreed to book me into the more expensive room and I paid my money only then to be told that it was already booked privately and I could take the less expensive and she would reimburse me $100 but in fact the difference was $144.

I personally didn’t have a good experience and would never recommend this place.

Guests POISONED During Nightmare Airbnb Stay!!

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We are SOOO disappointed with the accommodation that we booked in July 2015 in Amsterdam! It started out OK…

Upon arriving, the representative let us into the apartment, showed us through, provided some maps and information to the area etc. During his explanation of the apartment to us, he casually mentions that the apartment has a distinct smell as it was only days before, sprayed with poison/chemicals for routine pest control. At the time, we didn’t think anything of it. We left to get some dinner, returned, showered etc and prepared for bed. The next morning we woke with varying degrees of headaches, nausea, dizziness and near-vomiting. The smell was unbearable. (It was also quite rainy so no windows could be opened to air the place out.) We called the representative EARLY that morning (approx 7am) and informed him of what had happened and that other arrangements would need to be made. We let him know that we had activities planned for the day, but he said that ‘someone would be in touch’ to let us know of what to do from there. By 4pm that afternoon, we had not heard from him, the owner of the apartment OR Airbnb. We left and checked into a hotel. We did not hear from anyone for the remainder of our time in Amsterdam. We began the process (online) to claim a refund. We were surprised to learn that approximately only one night’s worth of accommodation was refunded and we were still out of pocket for the rest of the nights! (approx $AUD1700!)

The first issue is this – THEIR website states: Accommodations on the Airbnb platform should meet minimum quality standards regarding safety, access, and cleanliness, and they should be consistent with the description provided by the host. I’d like to know how an apartment, sprayed with toxic chemicals, is in any way SAFE?! We had two small children aged only 4 and 6 at the time, we were the most affected by this. On these grounds alone we should have qualified for a FULL refund. The apartment should have NOT been available at that time – to let the chemicals air/disappear. Airbnb DID NOT inform us of this prior to our check-in and should have. Had we known, we would not have stayed there. So I have to assume then that maybe they knew this, and that’s why this wasn’t disclosed? (can anyone say ‘fraud’). So they took our money anyway, knowing that the apartment was less than acceptable.

Second issue is this (again from their website): For a full refund, cancellation must be made a full 24 hours prior to listing’s local check in time (or 3:00 PM if not specified) on the day of check in. For example, if check-in is on Friday, cancel by Thursday of that week before check in time. or If the guest cancels less than 24 hours before check-in, the first night is non-refundable. or If the guest arrives and decides to leave early, the nights not spent 24 hours after the official cancellation are 100% refunded. Clearly, we fit into the third category. We did check in, we did leave early. So the nights not spent after the official cancellation are 100% refunded!! (or should be…)

I have called the Australian number (only to be diverted to some Phillipino call centre) where the staff are clearly only trained to answer with very scripted answers. My details are ‘passed on to case managers’ who DON’T call back even though I have asked for TWO calls now, but instead reply with emails that state: Thanks so much for your patience throughout this process. We appreciate the time you’ve taken to share your concerns with our team. However, we have issued our final decision for this case and we will disengage from further discussion on this topic. Really?! They’re “disengaging” from this topic?? The customer, ME, does NOT accept the matter closed! Their OWN policy tells me I’m entitled to a refund! What is the point of a policy if you do not stick to it?! It isn’t worth anything. Given the seriousness of our complaint – the POISON you expected us to live in – they STILL have not addressed this issue and they continue to say that they’re decision is final. Again, I do not consider this matter closed and I will be informing the relevant authorities here in Australia that I can and any and all social media platforms!

Save your money and just book with hotels! Zero stars for you Airbnb Fraudsters!

Next time I’ll book a hotel

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In my experience, Airbnb is not at all better than a hotel. First of all airbnb gives you a price, and when you register to book the flat, suddenly the price increased 9 pounds, for no reason. We have booked a week in a “flat” cause we need temporary accommodation for a week. We just chose airbnb to have access to a kitchen. Well, here I am, in the house wearing a thick wool sweater an my jacket (I’d say it is around 16ºC), feet frozen, because the host only turns on the heating from 5pm to 10pm. The first day she told us that if we were cold we could switch on the gas “fireplace”. We used it for around 2 hours the first 2 days. The third day it was impossible to make it work, I guess somehow she has cut off the gas supply. (The flat is a kip adjacent to her house). And then, the kitchen…well I am pretty sure the oven has not been cleaned since the day it was bought. The glass is brown colour, I mean, it is all covered with grease, when I say all , I mean not a single spot in the glass that is clear (see the picture attached). The funny thing is that the price is the same than a hotel, but here first you need to be accepted by the host, which means in my case that I had to send a copy of my ID and a video of presentation or a link to my linkedin or my facebook account!!! WTF?? Plus we had to accept the rules of the house, that means that before leaving the place we’ll need to wash and clean everything. As soon as I am done with this rental, I will delete the account and never use them again.

The Psycho Airbnb Host of Cyprus

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My girlfriend and I saw a beautiful wooden bungalow on Airbnb in the mountains of Paphos Cyrpus, and it was called the Zen bungalow, so we thought, it must be very silent there and clean and nice and if its zen the owner must be a cool guy, he advertised as a nice surfer and etc. We wanted to rent for 3 months the entire house as we needed to stay in Cyprus to do a course. We rented, he made us a price and my partner and son went first, they arrived late and he was waiting, they got into the house and it was covered in sand, he apologized saying that they had a sand storm 3 days ago and he hoped she didn’t mind then he left. The beds had no bedsheets, so she looked into the drawers and they were smelling very bad, so she texted him and he said it had new one somewhere else. Anyways he left all his toiletries in the toilet and all his dirty laundry too which we thought he will come back to pick it up. The beautiful hot tube he advertised and showed in the picture was the drain for the dirty water of the washing machine, when he took a picture he cut that part, so we couldn’t use it because it was disgusting, plus all his 12 pair of shoes were sitting in the area in our faces. Next morning the garden was a dump for construction stuff. The view was beautiful, we had two chicken barns in the garden and the smells would blow inside the house, he came to visit and was demanding that we feed the chickens and water the garden, and we had asked him before hand if there were animals around, he said no. He kept coming to the house unannounced and entering my girlfriend’s bedroom, the veranda was made of glass so one can see inside from the garden and she kept hearing people in the garden while she was still asleep, he even mention that he wanted to build a swimming pool so he would be working in the garden. We told him we rented the house to have privacy. Once the electricity was gone, we didn’t know what to do or where the electric box was located, and he replied in the text that he is not the electrical authority of Cyprus. He came over again and told us to keep the windows shut otherwise the wind can destroy them, he also advertised air conditioning and it only had a very weak one in the bedroom and boy Cyprus can be very hot and we asked him about it he just answered: open the window. Right so we had hot wind coming in. We didn’t know what to do as we had booked for all this time, by then we were feeding chickens and taking care of his garden, we felt sorry for the chickens, we even bought them food because he kept ignoring our messages. Then one day up he is again and we always turn of all lights in the night, that last night my girlfriend heard a noise so she asked me to leave one light out on, so I did, and because we were not used to we forgot it on, it was a saving bulb the ones that are very light and one can’t see in the day if its kitten or not, he saw it and started to be very rude, so this time we answered, he said he wanted to come inside the house because he wanted to see if we were keeping his house clean, I say of course we are and no, please we want privacy, so he grabbed me violently and I had a broken arm at the time, to come in and I told him I would call the police because he keeps trying to get in a house he rented for us and its illegal, plus he is only doing it because we are two girls. So he left, we were afraid of him as he hurt my arm. We called airbnb, they took us away from there and found us another place for 3 days, they said they would help to rehouse us, but they left the whole thing in our hands, to deal with people or find another place, they gave us a coupon only and we cancelled the whole thing. We found very nice house on booking.com where they are credit and checked, we had wonderful next 2 months in amazing house, clean and nice with a normal host, a very polite, nice man that was always asking if we needed anything, left us alone and happy, so we left there with inherit broken as we felt in love with the place, the house was spotless, and had all we needed also the silence and tidiness. AirBnB doesn’t check their hosts and doesn’t know what goes on. But at least they took us away from the Zen psycho of Paphos.

Host Lies & Claims Security Deposit After Honest Review

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I stayed in Copenhagen for 5 nights at this listing (https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/4465929) hosted by this guy called Cem Arslan. I didn’t want to leave any review for him because there was nothing great about my stay. But the host has texted me and emailed me twice to have a good review. I got the rude shock this morning (after 2 weeks after my trip) when airbnb sent me a request to claim US$250 from me just because the host suddenly claimed that I damaged his TV console?!? He left me a good review after my stay, and after I gave him an honest review, he turned against me and demanded payment for some made up accusation which never happened. I was horrified to find out that airbnb still entertain such baseless complaints and demanded that I respond. In addition, he also told so many lies in his public response to my review. Gosh! I told him at the booking that there will be 2 children and he even replied saying they can sleep on his couch. Now he claims that I didn’t tell him there were young children. And he also claimed that I left the apartment dirty?! Why have a change of heart after 2 weeks when your review after I left was so good?! Beware of such host because your credit card details and security deposits are certainly not safe even weeks or months after your trip!

AirBNB – WORST COMPANY (and customer service) of ALL TIME

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I’ve had SEVEN, count that SEVEN experiences with AirBNB customer service. They have the worst customer service you could possibly imagine. They are getting worse and worse and worse. Last night I was locked out of the reservation I arrived at and was supposed to be staying at for 11 nights when I arrived late. I stood outside in the cold for 2 hours and then was told that I had to get a motel with my own credit card and ask for a refund after the fact. When I told them I wanted a refund because under no circumstances would I pay to be locked out in the cold in the middle of the night and then have to rent a room, they WITHHELD $100 FROM ME IN THE REFUND. In otherwords, they MADE ME PAY $100 TO BE LOCKED OUT IN THE COLD WITH NOWHERE TO STAY FOR 2 HOURS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. They refused to do anything else.

Terrible airbnb in Exeter, uk

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So, having booked 3 nights at a higher priced airbnb in Exeter, we arrive to find an old box in the bedroom, not enough towels for the expected guests, a dirty bathroom with no attempt to tidy up, a used old toilet roll in the loo and a stench of what smelt to me like cat piss throughout the property. Host suggested we don’t understand airebnb so it’s out fault! Short version is we didn’t stay, host got paid IN FULL! We got 1 night refunded and airbnb said they wouldn’t penalize the hosts.. the airbnb service is a joke.  Avoid at all costs !

AIRBNB GUESTS BRING BEDBUGS

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About a year ago, an Airbnb guest stayed for 2 weeks and left us with bedbugs that bit my daughter multiple times.  We exterminated them and everything was fine for a while.

When another guest got bitten this summer, Airbnb refunded the guest more than 50% of her rent, even though I had a strict refund policy and denied their request for a refund since I know they started the new infestation!

If you can avoid it, do not host with Airbnb.  Work with Craigslist, Zillow or other agencies or sites who let you make your own rules for when bad things happen.

Terrible airbnb experience, and a $12 refund

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I had a 2 night stay at a home in Marin county this past weekend. The host said she’d be out of town and my mom and I would have the home to ourselves. We arrived to find the key sitting in a basket clear as day at the foot of the door and was told to leave it there when leaving. The risk of this to my property is quite obvious. The house was not very clean at all, but at that point I wasn’t ready to quibble. The first morning we leave to have breakfast and come back to find 2 keys in the basket, go inside and find lots of new items in the one bathroom. I peek in the spare bedroom to find loads of unpacked luggage. I had slept on the sofa since I had asked the host if there was a sofa or something I could put on the floor to sleep since I don’t sleep with my mom. The response was ‘people make it work’. Ok. So I collect my belongings by the sofa and put the sofa back together, since I assumed maybe the host had another airbnb guest, but I was angry about no advance notice of this since we were told, ‘you’ll have the house to yourself’. I tried to reach the host to ask what was happening to no avail. Finally I get a reply that says only, ‘that is Stacy, she texted me this morning, and I don’t like for people to sleep on the sofa’ Ok, that isn’t going to cut it. Is my stuff safe? Are we safe? I slept on the sofa because no one was home and I was ‘making it work’. It was too late to leave and get a hotel room, because we had to drive far to a wedding. We arrive back at 10pm and it seems ‘Stacy’ is still out. At 1am they (2 people) arrive and noisily use the bathroom, which of course is directly across from our room. At 1:30am begins a 15 min vomiting session in the bathroom. I get up around 4am to use the bathroom and the genius had used the SINK to throw up in and there is vomit everywhere. At 6:30am we leave, brushing our teeth in the kitchen sink. I contact the host and tell her that it was not appropriate not to tell us she was allowing her friend and boyfriend to stay without notifying us. How is that not self evident? I also spoke of the vomiting to be assured it wouldn’t be blamed on us. What kind of person doesn’t clean up their vomit when 4 adults are sharing a bathroom? As compensation maybe in her tiny mind to prevent a bad review, she offers to refund $12 of a $225 rental or offer 50% off the next stay. Right. I assume that I have no recourse since this type of situation is not addressed in the refund policy, but this was the second time using airbnb with my mom, the first featuring a 4 year old running around touching everything and hours later being told he was diagnosed with pneumonia the day before. My mom is 76. I guess the lesson here is that many hosts don’t give a sh*t.