Thinking of Using Airbnb? Think Again.
If you’re thinking of using Airbnb as an alternative to a hotel, bed and breakfast, or other type of accommodation, I urge you to read this first.
Our Airbnb nightmare lasted four days and ruined my daughter’s college graduation weekend, as well as my mother’s 70th birthday celebration. Know the risks you’re taking before you use Airbnb.
I have been wrestling with my thoughts for the past year. Given some factors, including a recent, poignant conversation with a stranger, and some current articles I’ve read about Airbnb, I’ve decided to publish my story. This is bad news:
“When it comes to lodging, Waliszewski said that short-term rentals such as Airbnb and VRBO could outperform hotels in the near-term as travelers attempt to avoid interactions with strangers.” –Travel and Leisure
I try my best to keep my website a positive place, however, it’s simply unbalanced and unjust for experiences like this to be dismissed and ignored for the sake of positivity. Just as I feel strongly when I enjoy a fabulous hotel, or restaurant, and want to share my experience with you, I feel compelled to tell you about this terrible experience in order to help you avoid a similar situation.
My family’s Airbnb encounter last year was hellish: a Hotel California-esque ordeal which no one should ever have to experience. Airbnb not only mistreated us during the time we were there, but afterwards, too. They firmly refused to provide a full refund. This should have been the least they could have offered as a gesture of apology.
Updated March 2025: Frommer’s and others are following my suit in writing about ditching Airbnb, thank goodness.
I realize that this year’s college (and high school) seniors won’t have a graduation weekend at all, however, I want to make sure that if Airbnb stays in business, that as many people as possible are better informed about their ethics and protocol as a multi-billion dollar company.
What my family experienced during my daughter’s university graduation weekend was nothing short of reprehensible. I hope that telling you our story may help increase the probability that it never happens to anyone else in future.
NB: I am sure that many Airbnb hosts are honest, reliable, communicative, have clean rentals and take pride in being welcoming and helpful. However, given my experience last year, clearly there are some hosts that are the antithesis of these hosts. I feel that I need to highlight how disgracefully, and unfairly Airbnb handled our situation, during, and after our stay.
When we can Safely Travel Again~
Think of how clean you want your future accommodations to be: will you trust a company like Airbnb that has no oversight on how clean or safe their rentals are? Or will you stick with hotels that have certain procedures and protocol with which they must comply?
There is literally NO ACCOUNTABILITY with Airbnb. After reading my experience, I think you’ll be opting for hotels, too.
Thinking of Using Airbnb? Think Again.
How a horrible host and Airbnb ruined what should have been a very special weekend for my family.
A weekend we’d looked forward to for four years–my daughter’s graduation from Villanova University last May–was nothing like we’d imagined. Instead of the joyous weekend, family reunion and serendipitous celebration of my mother’s 70th birthday, we found ourselves in a filthy, and disgusting situation with no other place to go.
It appeared that we had arrived at our accommodation unannounced, despite the fact that I’d booked over two months in advance, and had already paid in full.
Background on the Booking.
Exactly one year prior to the date of needing accommodation in the Villanova (Pennsylvania) area, I attempted to book at minimum, two consecutive nights in the same hotel. This was the first available date to do so, and I managed to secure two rooms, however, when I tried to book the second night the next day, the hotels were already full.
If you’ve had a child graduate from university, I probably need not explain anything to you. However, given that there are over 60 universities and colleges in the Philadelphia area, booking hotel rooms during graduation season is a major challenge. I never did manage to secure consecutive rooms in the same hotel, despite consistently checking, and waiting for cancellations.
Enter Airbnb
In early March, someone had mentioned Airbnb to me so I checked the listings and found an entire house for rent not too far from Villanova University. The reviews looked good, one even commenting on the cleanliness of the property.
Edit (June 1, 2020): due to many commenters stating that this must simply be my fault for not checking the reviews, maybe these visuals will help. The 14 reviews includes my 1 star review, so the ratings would have been even higher when I checked them.
These are two of the reviews I read. So for those of you saying I didn’t check the reviews, I guess I should also have known these were fake?
I booked the house on March 10th, and cancelled the two separate hotel reservations. I felt so relieved that we wouldn’t have to change locations due to not renting a car, and I also extended our stay for two more days. This way we could have a mini family reunion/vacation. I was excited!
Communication with the host didn’t start out on too well. As per Airbnb’s suggested protocol, I messaged her immediately after I had booked, just to say hello, who was coming to her rental, that I was looking forward to the stay, and asked details about our arrival.
I texted again 12 days later, to no avail. She responded another 12 days later, which was over three weeks after my first message. However, she still never answered my question about how to check in. Her response also goes against Airbnb recommendations to always message through Airbnb (which I had done.)
Check In
May 16th arrived and I messaged the host in the morning, but didn’t hear back, so I called later. I finally spoke to her and she said her parents would be at the home to let us in.
Her parents were there, all right. Her mother was hanging drapes (and we wondered why the last minute drape-hanging was happening.)
And her father was laying sod in the backyard. We felt like we were intruding, arriving while they were working in and out of the home. We didn’t say anything, hoping they would leave since most of us had arrived (my daughter had come with us, but she wasn’t staying there.)
Upon our arrival, we immediately noticed how dirty the floors were and smelled a very strong pet odor. All of us noticed; it wasn’t just my mother who is usually the first to see anything that isn’t immaculately clean, or smell something bad.
It was also hard to miss a huge flat screen TV on the couch (see photo above.) I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach, and it kept tightening in response to everything that I was seeing. In the back of my mind, I knew if this wasn’t going to work out, we had no other place to go. I spoke to the host’s mother about the dirty floor and the TV and she said that we could help put the TV back up. I just looked at my family in disbelief: was this really happening?
At this point, another person was in the house. A young teenager appeared, seemingly coming home from school. He didn’t acknowledge us, but walked through the house as if everything was normal (he seemed not to notice strangers were in the house.)
At this point, my whole body was starting to react to this bizarre situation as we started seeing more and more dirt, fur, hair and dust everywhere we looked. The windows looked as though they hadn’t been cleaned in years, and it became clear that we could not stay in these filthy conditions, especially since we had wanted to cook here.
I called the host since I couldn’t communicate with the host’s mother. Several times, she said things that made absolutely no sense. For example, “the food on the floor is from the comforter” and she brought a TV remote in from another room, and called it “the internet.”
I told the host over the phone that the house had not been cleaned, the floors were filthy, there was a TV on the couch, and many other issues. She sounded shocked, and said she was on her way.
At one point, the doorbell rang and my father opened it as we were all standing by the front door (we didn’t even want to sit anywhere.) I have no idea who it was, but he asked for the the host, and then said, “Oh never mind, I’ll come back another time”, and left. If you’ve ever seen The Twilight Zone, this could easily have been an episode.
Before the host arrived, we had done a quick inspection of the main floor and upstairs. Both floors were disgustingly unclean.
Even some sheets and mattresses were stained. There are simply too many photos and videos to upload all of them. Every room smelled, too, it wasn’t just the downstairs.
The Host Arrives
Without making assumptions about why the host wasn’t there to begin with, and why she said and did all the things she did, let me just say, she was not based in reality. She was absolutely taken aback about the fact that I said her house was filthy. She said she’d had a cleaning crew come in and clean it top to bottom! Clearly, the evidence all over the house showed that it couldn’t have been in the last six months or more! It was obvious that we weren’t going to get anywhere when I tried to show her how dirty the floor was, but she refused to look (I’m serious.)
She started to tell me a sob story about how Airbnb hadn’t reimbursed her for damage to her house from some past guests, and how she works hard and didn’t like how I was speaking to her. I told her that she just didn’t like what I was telling her, and tried to speak to her rationally.
I attempted to make her understand that these things had nothing to do with me; the point was that her entire house was filthy, and not in any condition to be occupied. She was in denial, and seemed as though she honestly didn’t understand anything that I had said (no, there was no language barrier). It was as though she was not present, mentally.
Calling/Texting Airbnb
There was no other choice but to get Airbnb involved. My mind was blown by this woman who was telling me to my face that her house was clean. In fact, she went so far as to say the “upstairs is immaculate.” You’ve seen a few of the photos from upstairs, but here are a few more.
NB: I commend you if you’ve made it this far without getting physically ill from these photos, but I’m going to warn you, the worst is yet to come. So don’t go any further if you’ve just eaten a meal. I love sharing beautiful pictures, but seeing and uploading all these are making me feel sick all over again. This is so not me, it’s difficult to share these. Just THINK: Airbnb saw all of these photos and deemed that nothing was wrong: now that’s SCARY. In the end, after I fought and fought with them, they still made us pay 50%!
I barely had any battery left on my phone when I contacted Airbnb, so I asked them to call me back on another number, which they failed to do. Luckily, my phone had not yet died, and I started to explain my situation. I went outside the front door for privacy as I didn’t want the host to hear me tell the rep that her house stunk of dog in addition to the filth inside.
As soon as I divulged this to the Airbnb rep, the door flew open and the host reprimanded me, saying loudly, “My house does not smell of dog!” I told her that it was not okay to eavesdrop on my conversation, but clearly things were heading south.
Yes, I had tried to see if any hotel rooms were available, but it was a joke: everything had been booked for a year in advance. Note the time: we arrived at 3 pm.
I cannot write every single thing that transpired because it was incredibly drawn out. In a nutshell:
- I continued my communication with Airbnb over text as the call kept dropping. They said there was nothing else available and I needed to work with the host and allow her to have cleaners come in.
- I said there was no way they could clean the house in a few hours, due to how much needed to be done, but I finally agreed, given there were no other options.
- The host said her cleaner was in the driveway, but she was sending him away because she didn’t want him in the house with me since I wasn’t nice (!!!)
- Her father pulled out of the driveway right after this (her father was “her cleaner.”)
- She had someone else come over, saying he was her attorney. He stayed in the kitchen with her while she mopped one floor for over 30 minutes. At this rate it would take her over a year to clean the house.
- The rep at Airbnb said it was time for his break and left. I honestly couldn’t believe he just left.
- My entire family: mother, father, husband, and son left in my son’s car to go for a tour of Villanova University with my daughter while I stayed behind and tried to deal with Airbnb and the host from hell. I felt even more sick knowing I was missing out on this special time with my family that I would never be able to get back.
No Choice but to Stay
- I finally couldn’t take being in the house with them any longer as they were talking about the situation and how the house was clean, they had done nothing wrong, and talking about me, etc. The agent came back after more than an hour break.
At this point, I asked the host and her “attorney” to leave. All she had cleaned was one floor, which was probably the cleanest floor in the house. Now it was up to me to clean what we had to use, such as the bathrooms, kitchen sink, beds, etc. However, no matter what I cleaned, it wasn’t going to help the dog odor!
No one in my family was happy about the situation, but we all knew we had no other alternative. I felt the worst for my mother who is so meticulously clean, more than any of us. I felt like a failure, although I’d done nothing wrong.
The Backyard
I had to call the host as the backyard had a sprinkler going and was flooding a small area. The host’s father came back and turned it off. However, as my son was sitting out back reading on another day, he returned, just showed up in the backyard without any notification whatsoever.
Who knows how many times he came over as we tried to stay out as long, and as much as we possibly could. I was not happy that he felt he could just wander in whenever he wanted while we were there.
DiscoveringThe Degree of Filth in the House Using Airbnb
I am not exaggerating when I say the house was FILTHY. Just look. Can you imagine being told this is “immaculate?”
Cleaning the toilet literally made me gag. The only reason I did it was because I had to for my family. My mother would never have been able to manage the feat, and I was the only one left at the house at this point. I truly wanted to run away from this disgusting hell-hole and the entire situation, but where could we go with every hotel booked for miles around?
Absolutely nowhere. My daughter’s graduation ceremonies were being held the next two days and my husband and parents’ flights weren’t until Monday (and this was Thursday!) We were stuck here.
I would have considered sleeping in a car over this house, but we didn’t rent a car and my son just had a Honda Civic. Then where would we shower and dress? It was an impossibility.
Allow me to Show you the Kitchen when Using Airbnb
For those of you who don’t know, this is mouse poop. And it happens to be in a frying pan. How does that strike you? Can you believe that all these photos and documentation meant nothing to Airbnb? Let me show you more and we’ll get to that in a bit.
The back of the drawer. No clue what this is, but it shouldn’t be here. Everything was reprehensible.
See the photo below? That’s the inside of the freezer door. See the dog fur/hair? Yep, that’s in the freezer; not kidding. Remember, I can only show you some of the kitchen, and the house. There was so much more!
Want to see the dishwasher? Probably not, right?
Looked like these had not been used or cleaned in YEARS.
The microwave was revolting. Who am I kidding, everything was revolting.
Downstairs/Basement Using Airbnb
And finally, let’s take a walk downstairs to the basement. This is just a little part of the disgustingly dirty floor.
This wall is disgraceful. Remember, I DID MY DUE DILIGENCE AND THE REVIEWS WERE STELLAR!!
Thank goodness we didn’t do laundry here. I’m adding a video clip below that I took downstairs.
My Mother’s 70th Birthday Celebration that Didn’t Happen
I already had a huge bottle of bubbly and planned on making Mum a nice dinner, buying a cake, and celebrating her 70th birthday with our family since her birthday was a week later. My family lives all over the US, so this was the perfect time to celebrate my mother’s special birthday.
Alas, there was no special dinner being made in that kitchen. No cake was going in that fridge. Proper restaurants were slammed with existing reservations due to the graduations, so we just popped the bubbly at my daughter’s house where everyone didn’t even have a seat, and that was it. The most pathetic 70th “birthday party”, ever.
Airbnb’s Lack of Successful Resolution and Pathetic Customer Service
I called Airbnb upon my return to Los Angeles, but even though they had all the documentation and photos (more than I’ve shared here), they refused to take into account the fact that we COULD NOT LEAVE. They stated that if we complained about the condition of the house, we should have left in order to receive a full refund! It was a vicious circle of me telling them there was no place to go, and Airbnb saying, if it was so bad, you should have left.
After weeks of spending valuable time on the phone and waiting for them to make a decision, they refunded 50% of my payment and offered a $100 towards a future stay! What a joke–after this experience? At minimum, a full refund should have been given, and that still isn’t even close to making up for our ruined weekend! No amount of money can fix lost and ruined time with family.
Also, I discovered that although the listing says the home sleeps 8 (with 4 beds), there are only 3 beds and one is a twin, so it only sleeps 5. It still has not been corrected. How does Airbnb monitor these listings? There is simply no accountability.
Here’s why Airbnb Failed Miserably~
- The fact that Airbnb absolutely refused to look at the facts and realize that there was literally nowhere for my family to go during those four days says a lot about the company. They are focused on making and keeping money, not doing the right thing, or providing good customer service.
- Airbnb didn’t take into account that we left the premises CLEANER than when we arrived. When has that ever happened? They also didn’t take into account our wasted time, and the time we spent cleaning (and the vomit factor of cleaning strangers’ urine, disgusting toilets and sleeping in filthy premises.)
- Airbnb also blamed the victim by saying that I should have allowed the host to have someone come to clean WHILE WE WERE THERE. When this woman had over two months to prepare for our arrival, it’s okay to have hours and hours of our time taken away when we should have come to a clean house in the first place? Why is the responsibility never laid on the correct shoulders anymore?
Graduation
Given that this year (2020) no one will be able to graduate in the manner shown in the photo above, I’m grateful that my daughter was able to participate in her ceremony. However, our weekend hardly went as planned, all due to some bizarre lack of planning on our host’s part. Had she hired a cleaning crew to do a major (and I mean, MAJOR) cleaning inside her house before our arrival, things would have turned out much differently.
Is my story not enough to dissuade you from using Airbnb?
Then maybe the thousands of other submissions on this site will be.Airbnb Hell
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Please share the word about my experience. Have you had a nightmare experience with Airbnb? Would you have done anything differently than me if you would have been in this situation? Let me know.
✧
Two Final Notes
- I never took one photo of my daughter alone in her cap and gown that weekend. I honestly think that the chaos, anxiety, and stress from staying in that horrible filth was the reason I just wasn’t thinking clearly. I’ve been a professional wedding photographer, and I shoot photos as part of my job. This is just not like me, and it breaks my heart that I didn’t get just one of her alone. This is a shot (taken by a friend) the week before with her friends; Denisa is in the center. Thank goodness she and her friends arranged this shoot.
2. On Monday, after leaving “Hotel California” (I cannot tell you just how wonderful it felt leaving that place), Denisa and I took my parents into Philadelphia. After having Philly cheesesteaks for lunch at Reading Terminal Market, I witnessed a pedestrian being hit in a crosswalk by an SUV. I got the license plate and gave it to the victim (luckily he wasn’t seriously hurt.)
Within 5 minutes, I had my new iPhone (with graduation photos) stolen right out of my hand as we were walking down the street! My 83 year old father started chasing the thief, and fell on the sidewalk, injuring his chin and chest. Later his legs would become completely bruised!
I yelled, “Stop him, he stole my phone!” and someone actually did! I got my phone back, but not after the man who had been hit by the SUV tried to subdue the thief and also fell, injuring his hand quite badly.
He had been waiting for the police to arrive. Meanwhile, my daughter took my dad inside a Dunkin’ Donuts as he thought he was going to pass out. I also got two photos of the thief right after getting my phone back! Sounds like a movie, no? This photo says it all: the aftermath.
Let’s just say, it wasn’t the best weekend we’ve ever had. Bottom line: avoid Airbnb and be super vigilant in Philadelphia.
I have had several great Airbnb expériences. And then I had the most horrendous experience in Montreal with the filthiest, dirtiest place I have ever stayed. Airbnb kept me in the lurch for hours and I had to make repeated requests to get my money refunded and find another place to stay. After all that, the host was incredibly nasty and accused me in a review of being a liar and overall bad person. So that’s the end of Airbnb for me, unless it’s to revisit one of the good places I already stayed in previously.
Isn’t it terrible? I completely empathize with you, but I assume you did find another place to stay?
My bad review of this property on Airbnb is completely buried within 5 star reviews, so it makes me also look like a liar because I cannot add photos. If reviewers could add photos it would make such a difference and be so much more helpful. I’m with you: the end of Airbnb for me!
Thank goodness most Airbnb’s aren’t like this! We have an Airbnb in Paris which is our home when it isn’t being rented out. As it’s our only rental property we have the time to keep it in good repair and spotless for each new tenant. I can’t imagine welcoming guests into as dirty a place as you found.
So sorry for you bad experience.
As I said in my post, I know that many and probably most hosts are not like this at all. It’s a shame that this happened, but it did and Airbnb did not handle it properly. Thanks for reading and for being a good host!
I hate Airbnb but I do like home away as they are more honest and have better customer service.
I can believe it. Airbnb’s customer service is non-existent.
Shame on the owners and more importantly, Airbnb. We have used them before without issues that couldn’t be resolved quickly. We were traveling in Ireland and rented an apartment in Ardara. When we arrived we found dirty sheets and towels, dirty dishes etc. Fortuanately they had a full size washer and dryer so I started doing laundry then called the owner. Apparently there had been a mix up in communications with her cleaner. We couldn’t get the dishwasher and heat to work but she sent over a neighbor who got things sorted out for us. The place was not dirty but the four of us traveling together tidied up (we are pretty fussy- never could have stayed where you were!). We went to the pub very close to where we were staying and everyone knew we were the Americans who walked into a dirty apartment! They were all so concerned and wanted us to feel welcome. The apartment owner apologized profusely – that this would happen to us as Americans! It was our favorite place to stay (4 different towns, 17 days). After we got home the owner contacted us and said she was reimbursing us for the entire 4 night stay. We offered to pay everything minus the cleaning fee, she wouldn’t hear of it. The way it should be. We would go back in a heartbeat! The town and the locals were lovely!
I’m stunned by what I’ve just read. You truly think that our standards are so low that we actually stayed in this hell hole by choice?
I’m happy you had a lovely experience, but please re-read my post if you have any thought that this was the case.
I will never rent from one of those websites again. I booked an apartment for my son for a 3 month internship before Covid-19 happened.
When the US banned the travel, I immediately contacted Airbnb and the host. They both pointed the finger to the other for help.
After 3+ weeks of repeated emails to both, disputed the charge on the credit card, and contacted the higher ups at airbnb, I received a nasty message from the host that he needed the money as he was losing the income due to the pandemic. (As if I had no right to get my money back due to no fault of ours??!!) Because he was a “nice guy” , he was going to refund me . Airbnb wanted to give me credit instead of refunding me their fee!! The host had no choice to refund me as Airbnb changed their Covid-19 policy. I fought and won for the fee refund.
A hotel wouldn’t have dragged their feet like this. I will stay at a hotel or rent a place through a local management.
The host in the Bronx refused to give me a full refund because he needed the money. I’m 62 years old. Waited my entire life to go to NY then COVID-19 hit. Host refused to release my money and ABNB said I canceled “too early” (three months notice). Unregulated is right. The host, with ABNB stole over $400 from me.
That’s just horrible, Leonor! Did you try anything else to get your money back? So unfair.
Airbnb has donated thousands of dollars to “Black Lifes Matter”.
That’s like you or me donating 1/100 cent. They are a billion dollar company, and I don’t see how this enters into how they run their customer service.
I’m so glad you got the refund! However, as you said, you shouldn’t have had to fight for it! Thanks for your comment, Rina.
Ok, you had a terrible experience. But this is not fair to blame in general the whole Airbnb settings. I was renting a lot from very responsible and helpful hosts and the pictures of the properties were almost all the time true to life. Airbnb is a great place if you travel on a budget, since you probably won’t argue that to rent an apartment in the center of a big city is much cheaper then a hotel in the same area. And you can bring your mom or a grown up son who would have a separate bedroom with a bathroom. Looking back to our vacation time didn’t we all have some bad accountings with a hotel stuff… And when you need to refund your money just think about tavel insurances companies combined with hotel management…
Needs time and effort to find a place you would like to come back… So, good luck with you next experience, I am pretty sure Five Seasons hotel will do a better job.
Go back and look at the photos, Bella. Imagine sleeping in this house. Imagine cleaning the toilet. Imagine not feeling comfortable one second of the time that you were there and tell me I’m wanting a Four Seasons experience. I am complaining about cleanliness, not 5 star service!
We are having a horrible experience right now with a host that lied and airbnb’s lack of accountability. We booked a trip prior to all the shut downs on March 12, 2020. The trip was to NYC, and again, prior to the pandemic and lock downs. I have a screen shot of us asking the host if a refund would be provided if Covid 19 was still around, because he had a strict cancellation policy, meaning he would have to approve a full refund after 48 hrs of booking. The host says a refund should be granted if Covid 19 is around, but he doubts there will be an issue. Come to now, the host has REFUSED to give us a refund, airbnb will not hold him accountable. I have reminded the host and airbnb of the screnn shot conversation on 3/12/2020, but airbnb stated they cannot be held responsible for what the host says and it is up to the host to approve a full refund. How airbnb or the liar of a host will not refund, when we booked on the premises he would refund if the pandemic was still around is beyond unethical to me.
My husband is a stroke survivor and my parents are 69 and 77. I offered the host and airbnb the medical records for my husband and information about my parents to verify ages. Again, this is in NYC, where Covid19 is HUGE and rampant still, and the booking is blocks away from a hospital. It’s been weeks, and airbnb and the host still refuse to give a full refund. He stated the same thing as one of the other commentors that his business is hurting.
This is exactly why I chose to write this post. The photos and words that I shared are simply to make a point on HOW BAD things can be, YET AIRBNB WILL STILL NOT PROVIDE PROPER CUSTOMER SERVICE.
Another case in point is your situation. You should not have needed to provide any such screenshot or proof of your parents’ medical records to receive a refund! This is appalling and just another reason this company is so terrible. I’m so sorry and hope you will still be issued your justified refund. Good luck.
Sorry about your horrible experience, i would have canceled the reservations for lack of communication I’m a super host and I value my guests, as well as my ratings. I keep my home immaculate, because a clean home is a reflection of who we are. I go above and beyond to make my guest feel at home and if they don’t, I’ll fix it. If I were in your situation I would have turned lemons into lemonade, get some bleach, cleaning supplies, clean the house from top to bottom and have my celebration. You can always do a walk thru before you check into a hotel or vacation rental and if you dont like it try to find a different alternative. In this case you didnt have a choice and you did stay in the home, so I can understand why you only got a 50% discount, but you also got a voucher. Take care.
WOW.
1. “i would have canceled the reservations for lack of communication” – Guess what? If I did, we’d have no place to stay. Everything was booked solid for a year in advance. I stated this in my post.
2. “I’m a super host and I value my guests, as well as my ratings.” Guess what? It wasn’t YOUR rental!
3. “I keep my home immaculate, because a clean home is a reflection of who we are.” What has this got to do with anything?
4. “I go above and beyond to make my guest feel at home and if they don’t, I’ll fix it. ” Again, NOT YOUR RENTAL.
5. “If I were in your situation I would have turned lemons into lemonade, get some bleach, cleaning supplies, clean the house from top to bottom and have my celebration.” You are clearly similar to the host: not based in reality.
6. “You can always do a walk thru before you check into a hotel or vacation rental and if you dont like it try to find a different alternative.” Kind of difficult to do a walk-through in Philadephia when I’m in LA. Again, NO ALTERNATIVES FOR ONE YEAR.
7. “In this case you didnt have a choice and you did stay in the home.” YES! You are correct!
8. “So I can understand why you only got a 50% discount, but you also got a voucher.” You clearly need to go through an experience like this yourself so you can understand why a 50% discount is not okay. Yeah, even with a useless Airbnb voucher!
9. “Take care.” You too!
Your single bad experience does not mean all air bnb are bad. I agree that you should have cancelled when the host didn’t reply. You should have done more research and communication way ahead of time. If I don’t get a response immediately after booking, then I know they are not a good host and I look for something else. You should have read up about air bnb’s before booking yours. Don’t trash all of them based on your single experience.
Tell me anywhere that I wrote or even implied that “all air bnb are bad”?
If I had cancelled when the host didn’t reply, where would we have stayed? Everyone commenting “I would have done this or that” are not taking into consideration the parameters of the situation. Did you not comprehend that everything was booked a year in advance? Looking for something else was not an option. It’s very easy to make a comment when you have nothing to lose.
I did do my research before booking and again, “I DID NOT TRASH ALL OF THEM” anywhere in my post. My post is about this particular host and the Airbnb company. End of story.
Thank you for sticking up for us super hosts!
There’s no need for anyone to stick up for anyone else who has not been included here. I didn’t say anything about any other hosts other than the one where I stayed and Airbnb (the company.) Actually, I did and maybe you missed it:
“NB: I am sure that many Airbnb hosts are honest, reliable, communicative, have clean rentals and take pride in being welcoming and helpful.”
Short term rentals are dead now with the Corona virus. This was a Ponzi scheme where folks thought they could become millionaires and are now stuck with underwater real estate that will be lost to the financial institutions. A fooln and his money are soon parted and there are millions of these fools around the world now!
I did recently read about this happening (people with properties they bought specifically to use for Airbnb.) I wouldn’t be so quick to judge them as fools, and paint with such broad brushstrokes, though.
Thank you for that comment. I am a retired social worker, in good health, worked for a small non profit for 30 years. Not much savings and social security. Hosting is…..was a great way to continue to meet new people and hopefully have additional income. Greed……..no……but because you are over 65 jobs are not jumping at you and you are not always being considered. Expenses and life go on.
I used to be a children’s social worker, Pat. I’m very sure you deserve a medal and probably about 10x the social security/pension you are receiving. I’m so sorry that such a noble, caring profession is not rewarded with the level of financial compensation it deserves. Best of luck to you xx
I agree with you. I want everyone visiting my place to have a wonderful experience. I don’t have anything super special….beach, pool or fablous view ….. but CLEAN. I had bookings done prior to the pandemic but everyone was given a full refund prior to their stay.
The photos were awful. I can not believe that a place open to others could look like that! I feel for the family and their entire experience but please bash your host and not everyone. Most work very hard to present quality experiences for our guest.
I know that I am one of those.
I’m really surprised at the number of people telling me not to “bash” or attack other hosts given that I included this in my post:
NB: I am sure that many Airbnb hosts are honest, reliable, communicative, have clean rentals and take pride in being welcoming and helpful.
I invite you to show me one instance where I bash other hosts? I’ll be waiting.
Are you kidding? It’s true no one knows the other persons situation unless they experience the same thing, no matter the situation. I still believe right is still right, and wrong is still wrong, no excuses, no buts. What a sad world!
It’s very sad. Blame the victim is the “flavor of the day.”
You can understand why she only got 50%?? A “clean home is a reflection of who you are” – well so is that comment! There is no one that should think 50% Is fair in this poor woman’s ordeal! But you’re a “super host” and you “value your guests” Yeah, right.
Thank you for your support, Debra. Stay safe!
I am an airbnb cleaner and the rental these poor people had to stay in is utterly disgusting!! More than anything is the plain and simple fact that Airbnb has no accountability standards at all! There needs to be cleanliness standards set and enforced and anyone who cannot abide by them needs to have their listing removed. Airbnb takes a ‘not our problem stance’ and thats unacceptable. Hosts and guests should not be ok with this approach, afterall airbnb is charging you for your listing wouldnt you want to be a part of something better?
Hear, hear, Michelle. I feel sorry for the cleaners who were hired to clean this house (if it’s even been done yet?) Thanks for your useful comment.
I live next door to an Airbnb and based on the hosts misleading advertising about his listing, and multiple problems with him and lack of communication with problems guests, it would be highly unlikely I would ever stay in an Airbnb. His listing is so misleading about the number of people that house sleeps, proximity to the beach, number of bedrooms, cleanliness pest control, I could go on and on. It is the neighborhood nuisance house.
Wow, that’s so unfair and upsetting, Victoria. I’m sorry you have to live next door to this situation. :(
My heart aches for the wee hole debacle faced by this lady and her family.
Please don’t paint all of us with the ‘awful host’ brush. Some of us have the well being of our guest at heart.
If you come to Bermuda, we can show you what we mean.
My Airbnb was freaking awesome! I recommend them to anyone. People who write novels about their bad experience can’t be trusted for good information. Normal people have better things to do!
Why Jc, that’s convincing! Let me rethink my entire experience with Airbnb because yours was “freaking awesome.”
I’m a travel writer. It’s what I do.
there;s always one and Jc was too obvious…ooH! maybe she’s the beastly host you had under cover. Like we say, “there;s one born every bloody minute”
First World problems!
Exactly!
You sound like a host,, very defensive, prob also have a dump.
She has all the photos to back it up, even proof from air bnb chat. All air bnb experiences arent bad, but some are. This article is also addressing the lack of accountability each residence has. Making experiences widely varied. I appreciate knowing her experience.
Thank you, Mari. It’s honestly refreshing to read a comment from someone who actually and TRULY read my whole post. My aim is to educate travelers so they can learn from my experience. Essentially, using Airbnb as a guest or host is just rolling the dice. The company seems to not care about either.
Thanks again, CC
You are lucky that you haven’t had a bad experience, yet! Hopefully you never will, but these stories are real. I’ve only had one amazing experience: the first time I used an AirBnB home years ago. The last two I have rented were not as problematic as this story’s, but bad enough that I will never stay at another and I warn others to beware.
EXACTLY, Sasha! I’m sorry you didn’t have great experiences, either. We know now, I’m with you, and we will continue to warn others, but ulitimately some will have to learn for themselves. Thanks for reading.
Agreed! I’ve never had a bad experience with the many many air bnb listings I’ve stayed at. Like another comment said, she should have cancelled when she didn’t get an immediate response to her first message. I guess you live and learn. Also read reviews. If they don’t have many I don’t book them.
Clearly, no one is reading my post. I think the photos may be overwhelming the text!
1. If I cancelled when I didn’t get an immediate response (and that’s pretty ridiculous, tbh, what if the host is busy?!) we would literally have had no other place to stay. Everything was booked for ONE YEAR in advance.
2. I read the reviews, there were enough to make an educated guess that it was a good place to stay. And the rating? Almost 5 stars.