I’ve been planning a trip to Costa Rica for three months, from January to April of 2017. I started looking for places a couple of weeks ago. I found a home for just over $1000 per month. It seemed like a good deal so I booked it. The entire cost with Airbnb fees was $3215. I was charged $1071 to cover the first month’s rent. That amount was immediately charged to my credit card. Within a few days I started getting friendly text messages from a person who helped the host of the home I was going to rent. A few days later this person informed me that I would not be able to stay at the home I had rented for the entire three months. He explained that the owner, Mac, had Alzheimer’s and did not know what he was doing. He offered to help me find a different place to stay for the remaining two months of my visit to Costa Rica. He informed me that I would only be able to stay at Mac’s home for the month of January.
The next day I went on Airbnb to check the reservation and the price had gone from $3215 for three months to $11,976 for one month. I also checked my credit card and Airbnb had processed $11,976 to be charged to my account. I immediately called Airbnb to find out what was going on. They expressed surprise and promised to get to the bottom of the situation. I was also in communication with Mac by text and his helper, Luis, by phone and text. They blamed the Airbnb app and the Airbnb reps blamed the hosts. At one point I was informed by Airbnb that Mac offered to lower the price from $11,976 for one month to $3000. I explained that this was unacceptable to both parties and they finally agreed that I would only be charged $1071 for the one month I was going to be there. When I received the final statement from Airbnb it was $1161 for the month with some extra charges thrown in by Airbnb. I have requested a full refund of the $1071. Also, the $11,976 that was going to be charged to my credit card was not completely refunded. Instead they refunded $11,886 charging me for their and Mac’s mistakes. Talk about Airbnb hell! I’m waiting to hear from Airbnb as to the $1071 refund and a complete refund of $11,976. To be continued.