Tag Archives: fraudulent listing

Airbnb Supports Fraudulent Listings in Scottsdale

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My family and I planned a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona for my son’s graduation from college. I decided to try Airbnb for the first time. I searched their website for the exact location I wanted to stay in: “Old Town Scottsdale”. I found several locations with “Old Town Scottsdale” in the title.

We found one called “Upscale Townhome, Old Town Scottsdale”. It had enough beds to accommodate my family so we made our decision and booked the accommodations for four nights. I paid our deposit of $451 and paid the balance 14 days prior to our arrival (an additional $451). So in total, $902 for four nights.

We arrived at the property on the specified date, only to find that this property was not located in “Old Town Scottsdale” as stated in the listing. The location of this townhouse was in a group of apartment buildings, which did not fit the description of “upscale”. Using Google Maps we mapped how far we were from my requested area: fifteen minutes by car.

Immediately I contacted the host, told him of our disappointment, and informed him that we would not be staying in his townhome. I contacted Airbnb with our complaint, I also contacted our credit card company to reverse the charges. After a week of going back and forth with Airbnb, they decided that they were siding with the host of the townhome and we would not be refunded our deposit or final payment.

Not only am I out $902 from Airbnb but also the additional cost of having to find accommodations elsewhere for the four nights. After reading Airbnb’s cancellation policy, where it states that if the location is wrong a full refund will be awarded, I contacted them again. They are standing by their original decision of no refund. Now my only course of action is to contact an attorney.

Before you book this company for your vacation, check their background. There are multiple websites (Airbnb Hell, BBB, Airbnb complaints…) with similar or worse experiences, all with the same outcome of the guests being refused a refund. I wish I had checked before I booked. I will never use this company again and highly suggest that others do not either.

AirBnB “Entire Home” Rental Nightmare

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I’ve used air bnb a couple of times to rent ‘entire homes’. One good experience in the UK and two in the US…and one very bad one in the US! The main thing I’d like to share is that air bnb does not monitor their listings in the way you would expect of an agency listings accommodation. Usually agencies/websites hosting hotels or apartments monitor these properties for accuracy of description etc. It was only after my unsatisfactory experience that I discovered this. I rented an ‘entire home’ which was not cheap. However upon staying there discovered that the entrance was shared, the heating could not be controlled by us, and it was basically a room in this person’s house, that upon entering the main door you the entered the room via a patio door. Due to many issues including cleanliness and noise, I only stayed 2 of 4 nights. I had no recourse except to write a negative review, which I had been debating whether to do as the host could simply write a nasty view on my profile in return (I have seen that he has done this to someone else as he doesn’t take kindly to negative reviews). And it seems his strategy works as I can mostly only see positive reviews which I find very hard to believe. Also, it felt as though this host treated me as a non-paying guest in terms of how I had to leave the property. And there were way too many restrictions on what I could and couldn’t do. Doubt very much I will use Airbnb again.