Tag Archives: airbnb texas

Thanksgiving Not Happening at This Airbnb

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I’m grateful to find this site to post on and I hope that it is read and saves others from being put in an unsafe environment.

I made my reservation in Austin, Texas for my family to spend Thanksgiving together. The host’s home sleeps 16, has a pool, and is in walking distance to great restaurants and shops downtown. He just left out that the home is surrounded by homeless people, tents, trash and the walk might be one of a life time. This is devastating to see and a horrible situation for many reasons. I don’t think it’s right be able to have an Airbnb surrounded by this issue without stating it somehow.

I recently moved to Austin and was going to be downtown. I was excited to look up the address disclosed after I reserved it, to check it out. When I was getting close I’m not sure if my eyes or mouth were opened bigger from the shock of what I was going into. The pictures were taken in the daytime (couldn’t imagine it at night) I also felt horrible taking these pictures; they aren’t great because I was driving by but explain why I cancelled with no refund.

The host kept $1,000 with over three months’ notice for canceling because I didn’t want my family to be uncomfortable and be safe surrounded by the homeless situation. All I could think about was my nieces and nephews and putting them in such a devastating environment for the holidays. Great way to introduce them to my new hometown Austin so they look forward to visiting Aunt Angela never again.

Airbnb Fraud: Someone Cancelled the Reservation For Host

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We were contacted after midnight by a guest asking if we could take him and his family on such short notice and check in at 3:30 AM. We worked our butts off to get the house ready for him and his family and accommodate them on short notice. My husband was in the backyard cleaning up the pool at 3:30 when they arrived. We greeted them and welcomed them to Dallas; they checked in and then out at 11:00 AM. In the morning I discovered someone on Airbnb had posed as me, canceled the reservation, and without even so much as a phone call or message, the payment had been removed from our account.

We have a strict cancellation policy which doesn’t allow cancellation without 24 hours’ notice and at 50% of the cost. The guest had concerns about the Internet and TV, which he just needed to contact us to get access. Instead he went around our backs to Airbnb and then committed fraud by logging in as me and cancelling the reservation. Airbnb sent me a message three days later telling me that our Airbnb host status was in jeopardy due to the cancellation. We want our money back and the cancellation removed. This is not the first time Airbnb has interfered with payments in the past. A guest was looking for a cheaper stay and they refunded the reservation, even though they didn’t give us notice and broke Airbnb rules by having a friend make the reservation and not stay there. Third party reservations are against policy. They took money out of our future reservations to refund them.

Left out in the Rain with no Customer Service

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I was going to Houston for a wedding. Because the official wedding hotel was the uber fancy St. Regis, I figured I would book an Airbnb across the street instead to save some money. What a mistake that was…

There were bad omens from the start. Just checking in required me to get the keys from the front desk of a building that did not actually allow Airbnb hosting, so I had to pretend to be a friend staying the weekend. The front desk seemed to have all sorts of problems copying the electronic key fob for me to use for the weekend, so it took thirty minutes just to get the keys. It also turned out the building was massive with hallways that sprawled for what seemed like a mile (everything really is bigger in Texas), so just finding the right apartment was a challenge. I briefly pondered how hard this would be later that night coming back after a few glasses of wine and decided I better try and keep it together.

Finally stepping inside, the apartment was nice enough, but the delay meant I was running late for the rehearsal dinner. What a lovely dinner it was; the food, wine, and atmosphere were splendid. After a great night, the group decided to cap it off at the St. Regis bar. I met a girl. No, she was not a prostitute (as my friends speculated), but she did make things pretty easy for me. She eventually asked if I had a room in the hotel. I couldn’t believe my luck, but had to be honest and said: “No, but I do have an Airbnb just across the street!” She went home. I guess I can’t blame that on Airbnb, but it was a painful reminder of how your cheapness can come back around to bite you.

After that, I decided it was probably time to call it a night. And so I began my two-minute journey across the street to my place, trying to remember again where in the labyrinth of a building I was actually staying. I thought to myself how ridiculous it would have been had I brought the girl back and we couldn’t find it. It immediately started to rain. Hard. Thank God I was only across the street, because I was in my suit. After the two-minute trek, I hit the key fob against the sensor. Nothing. I tried again – nothing. One more time. I start to panic. The front door staff was long gone. Clearly the problems they had activating my key fob were worse that I thought. I called the emergency number. I reached someone on the phone who explained they could not send anyone to help me until the following morning. I asked what the point of the “emergency” number was then.

I called my host. She explained she couldn’t help me because she wasn’t in Texas, and with the staff gone there was nothing she could do. I called Airbnb to see if they could find me a place. The estimated wait was over 45 minutes. I stayed as long as I could, but my phone’s battery wouldn’t have lasted that long. It was raining, I was in my suit, and it was almost 2:00 AM. I had nowhere to stay, with all my luggage in a room in a building I couldn’t access. I considered waiting around until someone walked in or out for me to follow, but realized that would only get me to the apartment door which I still would not be able to open.

Remembering that someone said the St. Regis was booked, I started to look for other hotels on my iPhone. 17% battery. It was about to go. Then it was gone. I had no other choice but to run back to the St. Regis, hoping people were still at the bar. It was empty. I explained my situation to the sympathetic people at the front desk. Fortunately there was, contrary to belief, still a room available. The kind folks gave me the wedding rate, which at that point seemed beyond worth it. They also gave me an iPhone charger. I walked into my beautiful hotel room and instantly realized why hotels are far superior: when you travel, whether you like it or not, you are not a resident but a customer. Customers frequently require customer service, which Airbnb just does not offer.

Airbnb Denied Refund for Rental in Austin, Texas

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I was in Austin, Texas for the week of February 6th, 2017. I decided to stay an additional night and went back to Airbnb again. The place I had booked was not available for Friday night, February 10th, so I booked a place in an area of North Austin called Hyde Park. From the photos it looked like a sweet deal. I went by the location Friday morning to drop my car off and was quite shocked by the area: it was run down, “no parking” signs were everywhere, and there were several gun concealment signs. The few people in the area did not look inviting at all. Given the air of the location, I was concerned about leaving my car parked on the street as well as my safety staying the night there. I promptly cancelled my reservation and booked a hotel. Given my concerns I requested a refund from the host and then Airbnb. Both refused. In one of the replies from customer service, the agent stated, “…we have issued our final decision for this case and we will disengage from further discussion on this topic.”

Talk about just telling a customer to f*** off. The bottom line is I feel I should have my money refunded. The area of this rental is unsafe for any visitor. Airbnb deleted my review. My review was not inappropriate nor did it indicate anything about the inside of the unit. It simply stated my concerns about the area. If Airbnb insists on keeping my money, my review should be visible for others to read and decide for themselves. If there were other past reviews of this rental that did indicate a problem with the location or safety and Airbnb deleted them, then shame on them for their actions.