Tag Archives: Airbnb USA

The Worst Airbnb Experience (so far) in Jersey City

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Let’s start from the beginning. I needed to check-in about an hour or so earlier than noted on Airbnb. The host instructions were to contact the hosts’ representative if I had any questions. When I called them, the lady (offshore call center with struggling English) said to contact the host. Hence, I called the host number directly and I think the host picked up and agreed to check me in early.

He sent me the largest text message I’ve ever received (I had to swipe an entire mobile phone screens worth of text at least five times), with redundant check-in instructions that were entirely out of order, and largely useless. Towards the bottom were the keycodes to get in, which worked fine.

However, once inside and settled, a lot of issues were noticed that became red flags: the rooms upstairs were extremely hot, regardless of if the temperature controlling the central A/C was set at the lowest setting of 68. I advised the host of the problem, and made the following suggestions to remedy: install a portable A/C unit, install a window A/C unit, or program the thermostat to go lower than 68 (if possible).

The response received was literally a screenshot of some computer screen showing the temperature setting of 68 and stating to me it was comfortable. For me: stop right there, cardinal sin, game over, I’m cancelling. I don’t book reservations with gaslighting, pretentious idiots.

The bed top was a cheap, extremely uncomfortable memory foam. If you sleep on it, you will wake up with a back ache. In addition, either a guest, or some random guy was smoking low quality marijuana downstairs, stinking up the entire home. While in New Jersey it is medically legal, and there are no explicit house rules forbidding this, it is should be stated up front on the listing folks are allowed to do this. I likely would not have booked if I knew.

There is a dog next door that barks loudly and incessantly at all hours of the day and night. The host needs to contact the local animal control and police department about a noise complaint. He refused to do so.

As mentioned earlier, the host has a attitude of being dismissive of guest complaints, insulting their intelligence with nonsensical responses, gaslights, etc. The location is in the worst neighborhood of Jersey City (right on the border of JC and Bayonne). There is a lot of ‘hooping and hollaring’ outside at all hours of the night.

The cancellation policy is strict. Hence, regardless of the problems reported to the host, he will respond with some non-answer response, wasting your time, and refusing a refund. If you cancel, he will give you nothing no matter what. The only way to get a reasonable partial refund is to contact Airbnb.

In conclusion, I will be avoiding this clown, and all of his listings going forward. Avoid this guy like the plague unless you are a sadomasochist and love one-star experiences on Airbnb.

Host Cancelled Booking then Offered it for Double the Price

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I would just like to share my recent experience with Airbnb. I booked and paid for a property in New Orleans in August 2018 in preparation for Mardi Gras February 2020, three weeks ago. After just shy of 12 months of it being booked, the host canceled and the host’s booking page was suspended. I did received a full refund which was little help as the prices in New Orleans have gone up considerably; Mardi Gras is approximately five months away now. The thing that has really annoyed me is that last night the host messaged me through Airbnb to inform me the house is available again albeit just over double what I’d initially paid. My first booking totaled £1019 now the host’s price for the exact same dates are £2189. Could someone please explain to me in what world can this sort of practice be legal or acceptable?

Airbnb Refused Refund Despite Published Policy

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My husband and I booked with Airbnb to go to our annual beach vacation in Lewes, Delaware. Unfortunately, we had to cancel due to severe weather conditions that made it unsafe to travel. According to Airbnb policy, that is an “extenuating circumstance” which allowed us to receive a full refund. The Airbnb manager agreed that it was unsafe for us to travel and we were entitled to a full refund.

However, our host was completely insane. She was rude to me despite the fact that I was always polite to her. She refused to “agree” to the refund. Why she needed to agree when there is published policy is beyond me. Airbnb published the policy and its up to them to enforce that policy with their hosts whether their hosts like it or not.

We are still owed over $500. I have provided Airbnb with the detailed weather warning and report from NOAA. Their own manager agreed it was unsafe for us to travel based on the weather warning from NOAA which the manager verified. Airbnb policy states that I’m entitled to a full refund based on “extenuating circumstances” in this event. I’m still waiting.

Airbnb has my Money and won’t Refund me

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This Airbnb was in Annapolis and in a nice neighborhood, but it was the only house with overgrown grass and a steep walk up the driveway. At the front porch, there was suspect rustling in the grass and a large fly-infested trash bag next to the front door.

I went in, trying to get in as fast as possible to keep out the flies – an obvious health hazard that would not pass a health inspection. The hostess showed me the kitchen, which was supposed to be available to use – another health hazard. It was crammed full of food, not even enough room to make a sandwich. No room in the fridge. No lock on the door to keep valuables secure when not there.

It was advertised as having a private bathroom and it was shared. The mattress had a large yellow stain and two old, divided cheap foam mattresses on top and just a fitted sheet, no mattress pad. I woke up with bug bites on my neck. Actually, the owner woke me up because she had locked herself out of the house and wanted me to open the door. Nice touch there.

I immediately called Airbnb and the first agent was helpful and told me to leave and wash my clothes, and said they would reimburse up to $200 to stay at a hotel until they could re-book me in another Airbnb in three days. It has been one month and I still do not have a refund.

I finally filed a Better Business Bureau report and after telling the Airbnb agent, they decided to refund me about two thirds of what I paid, still short almost $200, which I guess was the price of staying in a crappy room.

Never and I mean never, stay at an Airbnb. If you stay there and are ripped off, file a Better Business Bureau complaint. Airbnb lies, backtracks and is populated with a bunch of incoherent dummies.

Beware of False Advertising: No Farms to be Found

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In Free Union, Virginia, there is a couple who have fraudulently described their property as a working farm stay and this is not true: “This is a small working farm – we have cows, chickens, honey bees, a dog and a cat. Consequently, while we are here at Rockfield Farm we tend to stay very busy with chores, so you will be left alone for the most part. We are happy to assist or answer questions anytime, however.”

It is not Rockfield Farm nor has it been a working farm for several years, like when their momma gave them the property 25 years ago. You will be left alone because they will stay hidden to make it seem like the farm chores you see being done are by them when in fact that is not the case.

They do not own a farm nor the animals described on their listing. They lease their pastures to a business that farms the property and has wrongfully told you have access to the property, being the fence. If you are found on the property you will be asked to leave, if you do not leave, you will be trespassing on the property as the lease these scammers signed clearly states they nor their guests have access to the farming area.

They are not busy with chores, other than perhaps their own laundry or doing their post-college age kids’ laundry for them. They do not have a dog, or a cat or a cow or any of the things described in their Airbnb as they have been making a profit off of the farmers’ actual hard work.

Please note, there are photos of Airbnb guests on camera trespassing on the leased property, touching animals, messing with pens, fences, etc. Airbnb guests who bring dogs please note that if your dog gets off their lease and damages farming property or livestock, you will be held liable. Virginia code §3.2-6402 gives us immunity from any damages incurred by Airbnb guests or their pets, including but not limited to severe injury and death. You will be filmed should you step foot onto the leased property and these images will be used in legal action against the Airbnb hosts.

Now I’m just sure the little loft under the building is as cute as can be, but you have been warned: they are profiting from other people’s hard work and lying about it, putting you and your family at risk of legal repercussions.

Airbnb in Miami Beach not what I expected

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I booked a seven-night stay at an Airbnb in Miami Beach in May. The place looked nothing like the pictures: the hotel was rundown and old; there were garbage bins at the front and back of the building; they had smelly elevators and smelly hallways. My mom found bugs in the kitchen, and people were doing marijuana at the pool. The customer service sucked.

I contacted the host right away and told her my concerns. She decided to stop replying to me and I didn’t hear back from her. I contacted Airbnb for help. They were terrible at handling this case. It took over a month. I had to keep calling them. No case manager called me back and when I got a hold of one he was nasty, rude, and unprofessional; he even lied to me on the phone about a conversation we had before.

This whole experience was really bad, from the terrible host to the terrible Airbnb service. Don’t ever book from here. The host may give you a description of the place and when you show up it may not be it and no one holds them account. Do not book with Airbnb. I expected average. This was a Motel 9 experience: below average and I never got any of my money back.

Airbnb Review System Heavily Censored

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My gripe is with Airbnb itself. My family (four adults + one child) booked a house in Aptos, California for seven days. It wasn’t cheap, but that is not the problem. The property didn’t live up to expectations and our review reflected the shortcomings we found. We also praised the good aspects of the property as we are trying to give a balanced picture for future guests.

Some of our more negative comments included the incident on our second night when police were called to the house opposite ours and shouts of “I have a gun” were heard – not very neighbourly. Other review comments related to the kitchen cleaning; we had to wash nearly every utensil in the kitchen before use, despite being charged a very hefty cleaning charge.

The problem is that the review was heavily censored and probably 2/3rds of the review was missing. Contacting Airbnb customer service was the usual trail of BS and deadends with the only contact being someone who couldn’t find my review. What kind of data storage do they have? The last I heard they were “closing this ticket, have a nice day.”

This attitude reeks of modern day big business i.e., Microsoft, Facebook, et al becoming too self important and losing track of the fundamentals. Would like to hear if other Airbnbers have had similar censorship issues?

Host Took Advantage of Airbnb and Guests

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We found a place in Boston for the Charles River Regatta. The city was extremely crowded that weekend so we took one of the few places left. Once we made contact with the host via Airbnb, he contacted us via phone to say he could save us the deposit fee but that we had to discontinue our quest for his place through Airbnb. So we did.

His place was an absolute dump. He slept on his couch and we slept in his room. He had two other guests in another bedroom and we all shared the same bathroom. There were many unsavory issues about this place: the cat sleeping on top of the coffee maker; not being allowed to use our own soap; one bar was shared by all five people.

The fact that Airbnb thought we had turned down this particular place meant that we could not leave any comment on the site to warn other people. Our host made a very pretty penny that weekend and honestly, I’m extremely hesitant to use Airbnb again.

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Dirty Airbnb Hell in St. Petersburg, Florida

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We stayed at this Florida home for Christmas 2018. We walked in and the house seemed grand.

When unloading our kitchen items, we discovered that the countertops had not been cleaned and there was food and crumbs everywhere. The kitchen floor was disgusting. It had clearly not been washed in months (or more). There was even a condom on the kitchen floor.

After going upstairs, we noticed that there was only a bed in each bedroom: no dresser, night table, nothing. We were forced to put our luggage on the floor. Upon inspection of the bathrooms, there was hair everywhere, toothpaste on the sink, piss on the toilets, and even a fake fingernail lying about. It was so gross.

We were forced to go to the store and buy cleaning supplies and clean before we even felt comfortable staying there. With that done, we inspected the beds. The sheets had clearly not been washed as there were pubes and other hair on the sheets. It’s sickening just writing this.

All of the sheets and comforters had to be washed before even using them. The sheets were about the thickness of Kleenex and the “comforters” were basically disgusting scratchy blankets. For all of this, the host thought that $100 was fair compensation for my purchases and trouble.

The house was billed as having a heated pool. The pool was in no way heated and when asked about this, the host stated that the pump had to run the next day to heat it. What a joke – that is not how a pool is heated. I have noticed that this amenity is no longer listed.

There isn’t even any furniture to sit outside on. Another joke. Upon inspection of the piece of furniture, the living area had a nasty sectional couch. Well wouldn’t you know, numerous condoms were underneath the cushions – this was bad.

We left a few hanging clothes behind that the host promised to send me. He kept making excuses why he couldn’t send them, then finally stopped responding all together. Airbnb won’t even respond to me.

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Moldy, Smelly and Rude Host. What more could you ask for?

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We rented a property in Redington Shores for two weeks. We were prepared for the old, outdated, small space as that was what was shown in the pictures.; our expectations were not high.

What we were not prepared for was an air conditioner that sounded like a jet engine taking off that emitted a nauseating smell that resembled urine. Also, the teeny tiny shower that had mold around the entire floor edge. We tried to sleep through the night but at 2:00 AM we turned off the air conditioner in the hopes of the smell going away and quieting the noise.

In the morning we called our host. She was indignant that we could even begin to have an issue with her property. She told us that all air conditioners make noise and it was impossible that it smelled anything like urine (we have lived in multiple homes with window air conditioners and none sounded like this).

Then she informed us that there was no mold in the shower.We offered to send pictures but she declined. We have attached them here. We also sent them to Airbnb. We told her the kitchen light seemed to have an issue. When you turned the light on, it flickered but then went out. We were concerned there was a short in the wiring. She questioned how we were turning it on. We are not PhD’s but we are educated adults who know how to turn on a light. She then informed us it didn’t matter because there was a lamp nearby.

She was the opposite of what we would consider a host; she was rude and basically called us liars. She said we were not there to critique her property. Since she was so uncooperative, we decided to check out of her property. She then lied in her review and said we had already checked out of the property when we called her.

We contacted Airbnb and they were totally unhelpful, saying that we did not have any documentation of the conversation. I guess that was our mistake in calling her rather than texting. We put our review out there and her response was very sarcastic. She has multiple properties in this building.

Friends of our had rented the space next to ours for the second week. We called and told them to cancel. Although we could not go into the space, the blinds were all broken. The pictures on the website showed a nice area in the rear of the house with an umbrella table and chairs. There was nothing there except broken furniture.

Now there are similar reviews to ours in other posts on her property. I would think Airbnb would be more interested in their customers. I actually responded to our representative from Airbnb and heard nothing back. Although we requested our money back since the place was unlivable, we were given our $90 cleaning fee. It was more an insult than a consolation.

I’m not sure if this link will work but this is the place we had rented. Here are her other places on the same site. I wish I had known about this website earlier.