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.
Tag Archives: terrible airbnb experience
Beware of this Airbnb in Honolulu
Well my first host scheduled was supposed to secure a place for me Jenny excellent room with ocean view Honolulu hawaii seemed great we emailed and text and when her other hosts said in review she picked up from airport thought that was great only to find out she wanted to charge me three times as much as a cab or shuttle to her would normally be when I told her to this age was sort of shocked I did the research then after that it sort of went down hill she avoided my texts until at least day before I was supposed to fly out told me to get a cab never told me to meet her or when she would give me a key and didn’t want to be homeless in hawaii so after numerous talks with our B and B agents I canceled her thank God and was told to book hotel and because if this I could get maybe three night s reimburse or help on finding a new letting I got one hotel night which I had to prepay then air b gave me refund after that thanks then they send me a couple things that were not close to where I needed to be and said they would increase my credit which they did do thanks again but because it was last minute and u was in Honolulu I couldn’t find anything avail and was almost homeless in Hawaii until I reached out to an old letting that I had previously looked at a small room in an old house Raymond and Rachael in Hawaii pahai go valley, Honolulu and that’s where the fun hell began …the host Raymond was a raging alcoholic who fell asleep with Kit cigarettes every night that I had to intercept so it didn’t burn me in whole house down there were cockroaches every where they left there doors open all the time they acted weird because I wanted a key when I keft to lock door and at first were reluctant to give me key the railings are not attached and when you hold on to them they wobble and are old wooden and have huge holes in them fifty steps up kafir safety hazards think the house was haunted because the doors would open and shut and reopen and shut several times in repetition for the day so always having to prop up stuff against door cockroaches the size of mount rush more every where the room was ok mid size and cable ok here’s the clinchers he said in his add is near a bus stop wasn’t syre if I wanted a car yet so took him for his word what you don’t know is that he lied the bus stop is twenty to thirty minutes away by walking up two massive high. Hills and down a third one which is very steep hill which also essentially not lit for cars either any who I fell down this steep hill and a few days later in the hospital found out I broke my ankle in three places and sprained and cut on Raymond’s street I stated there for rest if trip till I had to fly home .while I stayed there one time he had a date over and I came out for water whith my crutches and he told his date I was faking and I liked to get attention I was fit to be tied at that point but had to stay as I was flying out in a few days also as for renting his cars they aren’t cheap for guests staying there over 35.00 per day and the bike is 35.00 per day not ten if if u want to take it out in trade and weed his jungle home for the day with rusty cutters impossible. Beware single lady’s he now is sepersted from his wife she was there greedy and moved out she seemed nice but didn’t talk much I think because if situation with him so she diesent live with him in his house now he offered to rent one of his cats to me at a higher price then offered then mumbled something about it not being insured and I immediately said maybe I’ll rent one from someone else every night was a recant about the marriage and hiw his wife was this and that which I just shook my head at and tried to avoid beware this place bugs alcohal cigarettes dark energy fairy railings and stairs old house dust coming from deteriorating ceiling barking dogs constantly next door rains all the time even if waikiki is sunny too far from town at least half hour by car always unlocked at owners request even if ur guest ur treated like crap I think this person just needs the money and has too many problems to be concerned with hospitality as a host too bad I lost money time and peace if mind for my vacation and too much money spending on cabs cause too far away from town a total mess now recovering from broken ankle because if the lies and because if the steep as hill connected to his place beware Raymond Orange Honolulu old house small room
A Breakup Letter to Airbnb
This was the last email I sent to Airbnb after significant frustration. It explains my story:
Dear Mr. Gebbia, dear Mr. Chesky, dear Mr. Blecharczyk, dear J. K., and dear Airbnb team,
I give up. I won’t write any more emails nor try to reach again any of your employees by phone. I stop thinking positive and being confident you people will clean the mess and offer me a solution. I give up on your intention of doing business properly and decently. I give up on the dream of a cool company offering cool places all around the world. I give up in trusting that you people know what you are doing. I give up on you.
What you do is purely unfair and fraudulent business: take the money and run, don’t look behind.
For the last two days my family and I have been living in a nightmare. We should have started today our holiday all together on a long drive from Spain to Austria. We had planned it months ago and had been finalizing the bookings until last Thursday. I had 3 previous experiences with Airbnb and I trusted the company. Everything would surely work well. Today we would stay in a super cosy place in Provence, tomorrow and for 3 nights we would discover Lago di Garda, we would end our trip on Saturday and Sunday visiting Venice and surroundings. Just perfect, don’t you think?
With all this great perspectives in mind I decided to book a holiday in London in October again via Airbnb. I tried to book it a few hours after completing my last booking in Italy. Suddenly it did not work as usual, I had to submit an official ID. Wow. Surprise. Not even hotels or traditional ways of booking ever required this from me. I contacted my Host in London and told her I did not agree with it and she was OK with my decision, she did not need my ID. We both contacted Airbnb asking for assistance. I only got contacted 2 days later. By that time I was already feeling not so good about the way Airbnb was handling troubles.
Your answer to my concerns was as you can see in your records: an explanation on what a trustful company Airbnb is, how much it takes care of its customers and what a wonderful world all this is. Still I did not agree to submit any ID or passport or driving licence because I don’t see the real reason for it. Airbnb has my phone number, my VISA number, my picture and my 3 successful bookings behind me, what on earth could identify me better for a potential host?
I communicated my decision not to book again with Airbnb and to stop being a customer in the future. I also requested a confirmation that my bookings for this week would not be affected since they were accepted before the new requirements came to place. You have an employee, J.K., who took the unilateral decision of deleting my account right away, without contacting me prior to this nor asking for my consent. Nevertheless he assured me “I have deleted your account, although the account is eliminated it will not affect your reservations”. In the same moment the cancellations for my 3 bookings entered my email folder. I just could not believe my eyes. J.K. had deleted my account, cancelled my bookings, made me lose a lot of money due to cancellation policies and lied in his email, or he just did not know what he was doing when he pressed the “delete” button??
So I started desperately trying to reach someone. J.K. never answered again and of course did not call to give an explanation. Between yesterday and today I spent a big amount of time and money waiting on your telephone line. I did manage to talk to 4 or 5 colleagues, in English and in German. They were all lovely, nice, young, enthusiastic, feeling so sorry about my situation, admitting the “mistake” that had been made by Airbnb, promising that my case was going to be handled with priority and I would get a call back. You know you never call back and I was not the exception: I never got a call back, although your employees tried hard to make me believe their promises (you apparently tape the conversations, so make sure to hear them). They are well trained in showing empathy for the miseries of the customers. By the way, were you aware that your managers are never in the office, never reachable, always in meetings or can not make decisions? gosh what a chaotic company I heard on the phone!
I even tried contacting you via Facebook, I thought you would maybe mind about bad news being spread in social media? Your answer was laconic. My last message was simply deleted. Censored. Great.
Here we are: my husband, my kids, my dog and myself. We could not begin our trip. Our holiday was ruined. We lost money. We have a big stress. We find no place to stay on the way. We had to extend our stay in Spain, look for new hotel. The extra costs are increasing each day. The damage is done.
I seriously expected professionals on your side. At least some decency. You don’t seem to care about the situation you put customers in and shockingly enough you don’t seem to have any intention to refund us the money you illicitly retained as cancellation policy.
I found out that there are thousands of other disappointed customers out there and I really wonder how can it be possible that this happens to so many people. What kind of company are you at all? A big shame, that is what you are. Was this the initial idea when you started this company? Cheat customers all around the world? Do you seriously think the internet is the no-law territory where you can get away with whatever you want to do?
I said at the beginning of my letter that I give up on you being professional enough to solve this mess. But I did not give up in justice being done. I give up in contacting you again. But I will contact my lawyer. The moment I manage to arrive back home I will initiate the legal measures to get a compensation for the damages caused.
Wish you a better future than the holidays you offered me.
Terrible Airbnb Experience
I think www.airbnb.com is full of property owners who try to make money without paying tax, it is all a scam, or else plenty are breaking rules to sublet their properties. My experience with ww.airbnb.com in Lima was awful.
The first time I stayed at a, Airbnb property in LA, it was wonderful. The host was nice, the property was first class. So, I thought I will do it again when I visited Lima. I actually stayed in the new Lima Hilton Miraflores for the first 2 nights, after travelling through different places in Peru, my other half booked a property in Miraflores, thinking the best way to learn about a country is by living like the local.
Boy did we make a mistake? The property was not big, but it has 3 bedrooms, one double room facing the main street and two twin-bedded room at the back. There are only two of us. The rate was US$110 each night. We walked in, it looked fine. Barely 5 minutes later, the owner’s estate friend rang the doorbell. I only noticed later on that there is a CCTV looking gaget next to the door, though I am not sure it is for show or it is used to monitor house guests. This person does not speak English or French, only Spanish. I noticed that it was quite cool and damp in the place, so I asked for a heater. That is when the trouble starts. The owner was contacted, first she said it is a health and safety concern, then she said she will ask her friend to look for one, but then no one ever come back with one. One has to understand, even though it says 18 degree C, which is 64 F, it could still be chilly, because of the humidities in this country. While we are back and forth by email trying to resolve this issue. The owner sent an email to the www.airbnb.com’s customer service, and sent us a reply saying that heating was not one of the amenities. I was shocked, hot water and bedding are not listed as amenities, but do vacation rental provide them? Because it is such simple run of the mill things travellers expected. So we ended up sleeping in long sleeve T shirts, 5 layers of blankets, because her place does not have any thick blankets.
Then there was not enough hot water to run for a hot bath, there is enough hot water only to run for a luke warm bath. I notified the owner, but nothing was done.
www.airbnb.com’s customer service is despicable, there was no more reply.
A House Manual was only emailed to the house guests after one booked the place, i.e. after you have paid for your accommodation. This particular owner is on the unreasonable side, there are so many rules, and she emphasizes that they have to be followed — Am I living in a boarding school?? Then another ridiculas one is that one person can only do 1 laundry each week!!
Our of the 3 bedrooms, the one with the double bed next to the balcony at the front is very noisy, you can hear all the cars honking and nearby hostels and restaurants’ people coming out late at night…….
I will NEVER USE www.airbnb.com again!
Beware, since all guests are pre-paid, it is unlikely you can back out once you paid. Plus www.airbnb.com was not helpful in resolving issue.