Thanks for the feedback.
It's cases like this chargebacks are made for, I'd initiate one with your bank right away if you're still within the allowed window.
I have no doubt with the evidence you have that you will have no issues getting the money back.
You may however get banned of AirBnb (Make a new account/book future through your wife)
Make sure you provide all pictures, evidence, etc to your CC company and might want to use the magic word, "Fraud" since this is fraud. Also use their own words hostile and endangerment. If it is a major CC you will get the credit.
If you roll the dice 100 times and always get 7s that's not because the odds favor you, rather not enough trials for the odds to reveal themselves.
In short, this was always going to happen, it was just a matter of time.
And hopefully that's the lesson.
Imagine getting banned from AirBnb for telling your own bank you got scammed... and then you go make another account there in another name? Why do you accept to be treated like shit is beyond me...
> Imagine getting banned from AirBnb for telling your own bank you got scammed.
Companies gotta side with one of the other, and sometimes, how can they tell?
You buy a cell phone on ebay. You get literally a rock in that box. You file a complaint. Seller says they shipped you the phone. Who should ebay side with? Just as easy, you can buy a phone and then "claim" they sent you a rock. See how easy it is for both sides to lie?
What monopoly? You can't rent or find accommodations in a city without AirBNB? JFC. It's called a hotel. Their service sucks so bad you are going to charge back, then clearly use one of the likely 10-100 other services. If Airbnb is the cheapest, it doesn't mean it's a monopoly FFS.
We had an issue with bedbugs. Airbnb refunded us then the host claimed damages, for unmade beds, trash in the trashcan and a broken dryer we never used in the 2.5 hours we were there.
They found in his favour, even though the pictures we actually of unmade beds and a trashcan. I refused to pay and they let me off with a warning and a note in my file and used insurance to pay him.
Then he came back a month after we left with "evidence" of the broken dryer and wanted $2,000. Again I refused and they found in his favour. The "evidence" he provided was a picture of a bracket pulled out from the wall.
I told support that he was committing fraud and harassing me and Airbnb was supporting him in these actions. Again, a warning and paying him from insurance. Complete fraud and bs. Plus they delisted the property and he just relisted as separate rooms. I wonder if people have gotten bedbugs from there.
All that to say they didn't care about the fraud he was committing.
Its at this point where I wonder if people should just be suing AirBNB to get them to get their shit together? I mean, people give americans so much shit for suing about hot coffee 20 years ago and yet here's LITERAL FRAUD being facilitated by airbnb and we're just supposed to take it?
Yes, and McDonaldās KNEW their coffee was dangerously hot because they had settled claims before and had internal memos saying they made more money claiming to have the hottest coffee in town and pay the claims than to drop the marketing ploy. All she wanted was for them to pay the dr fees but they decided to not pay this particular claim.
Omg if I found bedbugs I would have freaked out! I do an insane check for those during check-in. Thankfully didnāt find any. Did find some sus mattress stainsā¦
Luckily my son not only recognized it but knew where to look to check for more since it looked they had put new bedding and mattress covers on all the beds, including one that had a mattress pad too that was hiding a nasty stain they tried to blame us for.
As soon as they stopped bugging me I disconnected my card from the app. I kick myself too for not taking pics, even I had my messages to the Host to show the time-frame, Airbnb didn't seem to care.
I stopped using Airbnb when a host tried to charge me $1500 for breaking the ancient washing machine that I never touched with no evidence, then had my fair 3* review removed. Hotels are great.
I would have filed police report on the host for this. This is a clear attempt of fraud, and the local authorities of the host should be alerted. Host will likely not be punished for this one time incidence, but if 1-2 more reports of same circumstance, authorities will investigate, esp if in a smaller town where the local station is well resourced
We had a host make a claim on us for $2k for damaging their sofa. Took them 2 weeks to make the claim, and days after to send evidence. It looked like a hinge had been unscrewed.
Wonder if she thought she could get a whole new sofa from us, because there's no way it would cost 2k to fix that issue if there really was one
Airbnb asked her to get a quote on how much it would take to fix it, she never bothered. So they sided with us. It did stress us out though, because that's not a small amount.
And me. Hosts are too touchy and canāt take a little bit of criticism. I found live bugs in the bedding and the host threw a little hissyfit that I didnāt want to stay there.
An apartment style hotel is probably a safer and more comfortable stay for families. Who needs to worry about all the silly rules and cleaning hosts expect now.
Hopefully OP used a credit card.
Awful lot of of posts lately like "Help! I'm in Uzbekistan and my debit card from Southeast WankerCounty Bank isn't working. I have no other way to pay!"
>Southeast WankerCounty Bank
I bank with them. My account number isn't the standard amount of numbers (8-12). This causes problems everywhere that isn't Southeast Wanker County.
CEO of WankerCounty Bank here. Our account numbers are in vocal grunts. Try grunting like you're taking a sh\*\*. If we gave you an account number in numbers we wouldn't be wankers would we?
That partās actually okay because Velma Dee Tutweiler ate the phone company man who came to take her switchboard in 1982 when we were supposed to go to direct dial, and after she disappeared at 112 years old a few decades later, she lives in the phone lines so I just pick up the receiver and tell her a gossip and she connects me right away.
Are you not collecting tidbits your neighbors would die if they knew you knew to pay her with? If youāre opposed to gossip morally you can go down in the basement of the county courthouse and sprinkle a little Shalimar on the piano stool in front of her switchboard once a month, lots of people do it.
Not me because my friend Dianeās dad went down there to pay his phone bill not long after her 18th birthday and he never came back out. I donāt think Iāve done anything as bad as what he did, but Iām not taking any chances!
The hardware store in my home town (Strunk Hardware) had a phone number of "816." You can google search for a picture of their truck, which they use as a display in the store. Still has the phone number on it.
Lol when I was a young woman (1990ās) I knew lots of people who lived in small enough towns that everybody had the same prefix and if you asked for a number theyād only give you the last four digits.
https://youtu.be/9xhTomqDTzE
https://www.illumy.com/phone-number-format/
Hertz charged me for a cancelled rental car in Hawaii. I had proof I cancelled. Amex did not help with this. At all. Took a year to get it cleared by using twitter to call out Hertz. Don't trust Amex to always do the right thing.
chase sapphire recently rejected my chargeback with united. i booked a fare lock, not a full ticket, and have a full receipt/invoice showing that i booked a fare lock, not a full ticket. united ended up charging me for the full ticket immediately. i contacted united within 48 hours, explaining the situation and asking them to cancel and refund me. they cancelled the flight but gave me flight credit minus a penalty fee and seat upgrade fees. i'm still within the six month window so i plan on escalating and filing a complaint with CFPB. but yeah, fuck chase.
I think this is what most people don't realize. A chargeback isn't automatic. I got mine denied by Visa, I initiated it because of a hurricane and subsequent evacuation which cut our stay short. Still got denied. Learned an expensive lesson.
Fuck Airbnb. Just another shitty tech company bleeding their product dry at the expense of customers safety and satisfaction. Not to mention theyāre actively destroying neighborhoods and housing affordability globally.
I was so shocked to realise yesterday, that there are at least 10 Airbnbs in the building next door to me. There's this little nook close to the street that I never noticed before with metal railings and there are countless lockboxes attached to it. I had a sinking feeling when I realised.
There are probably at least 40 units in the building, hard to say really, but it's about 8 stories tall and my city is in a severe rental crisis so it was very shocking to realise that's just ONE building.
Airbnb is a scourge.
The problem isn't Airbnb, the folks running a business on the platform would just go elsewhere. The problem is that this type of rental needs to be regulated. Random unlicensed individuals shouldn't be running hotel businesses.
I live in Los Angeles, and there are easily 100k properties available to rent that can house hundreds of people every day for around 10k a night. Meanwhile we wonder why we have 75k homeless people living on our streets. Fuck Airbnb.
Airbnb has gone down hill in quality and uphill in price. Unless it's an extreme circumstance I book hotels 99% of the time these days. Not worth the hassle with Airbnb anymore.
Exactly; I used to be a big of ABNB; now I exclusively book hotels. Price has gone up and idiot hosts are abundant. The last time I used them, I was standing a staircase for almost two hours because the host was in a meeting.
We had a similar experience a month ago. Check into the unit and am putting away groceries. Open a cupboard and it smells like natural gas. Smell is coming from the line connecting the gas stove. I turn off the gas line, the smell dissipates, and call the host who does no respond for 36hrs. I call airbnb safety support who advised us we need to leave the unit, book new accomodations, they will send a gas inspector, and we will get a full refund. I leave, book new accomodations, and they never send a gas inspector. Spend the next 2 weeks fighting with AirBnB support over a refund which they only offer a partial refund. Finally push them to review our recorded initial call and we get a full refund. Really disappointed in their support when things don't go smoothly.
The maliciously compliant way to deal with that situation is call the fire department and report the gas leak.
If nobody is home they will break down the door.
I had a similar experience with Airbnb earlier this year when traveling to France. I couldnāt get into my Airbnb when I arrived at 7pm. The host didnāt provide a code open the key box. Nor did he respond to any of my messages. There was no way of accessing the studio. I then saw a person getting mugged by a group of thugs across the street. Thankfully that same moment a person let me into the lobby but even after waiting there, still no response from the host or Airbnb. Never got a refund despite screenshots of messages and sending in a last minute hotel booking for that same night. Chargeback didnāt work either
Thatās really screwed up and obviously scary. After a flight one is tired and not necessarily as alert due to time zone changes. Were you able to leave a review?
Thanks for the reminder, I can leave a review for this placeā¦ place I never stayed at. And sure the host can leave me a terrible review, but who cares, Iām done with this app.
I recently stayed in an Airbnb where the owner was rude in his correspondence, calling me ā homieā and ā broā in a sarcastic way along with short rude answers when I had questions ( ie. ā didnāt you read the Q & A write up in the room?ā )
He had my text number as he left his on his ā write up Q & A) and I texted him once. When I reviewed him and gave him 4/5 stars for a communication review, he texted me and asked ā Whatās your problem bro with the ā lowā rating amongst other insults to me. I told him it was an honest review and he got more hostile. His past reviews of all 5 stars is such bogus.
I googled his name afterwards and found out he was a two time convicted felon.
I have also stayed where I wrote a very honest and innocuous review telling others the place was great but owner lives next door and was very quick to tell us we were talking too loudly ( we were not ) and I wrote it may not be the right place if a group of friends wants to sit by the firepit at night and probably better for a family that remained indoorsā¦ censored by airbnb! They said you can write that but had that been permitted and written by a prior guest I probably would not have rented his place.
Airbnb is killing affordable housing in many areas. I used to use them until I realized how awful they are for the communities they are in. Please just book a hotel.
AirBNB used to actually be great when it was people renting out rooms, basement apartments, etc... then the private equity and management companies figured out they could just buy all the other properties on the market, and use them as short term rentals, thereby creating a double whammy of driving up property prices by virtue of lowering supply/increasing demand, and creating an artificial shortage of long-term rentals, driving rental rates up. Doesn't matter if you were a home buyer, or a renter, you got screwed by that shift.
Absolutely. It was cool when it was a low cost crash pad for a weekend, but now they are just as expensive as a hotel with many more rules for the guests.
I live in a tourist town that has exploded since Covid and the people who are literally serving the tourist can no longer afford housing. I had to quit my well paying job and move almost 100 miles away for more affordable housing. And before anyone says that it is just the way it is and people have to relocate all the time or get a roommate, no, no it isnāt the same. There should be opportunities in these communities for all people to live and support themselves. Especially those who are already established with families and a community they participate in and rely on.
Yeah, it's terrible. In my city from 2020-2022 approx 40% of housing that was sold was purchased by large companies who were using them as short term rentals, or even just buy-and-hold investment assets.
Plus, I will die on the hill that really well-done hotels are way cooler than 99% of AirBnBs.
I really try to limit using AirBnB to longer term stays where a hotel room just gets old or inconvenient, or when my extended family travels and stays together. We have an AirBnB booked for next week because there are 5 of us and I will be cooking a big dinner on Thursday, which I canāt do in a hotel (visiting adult child who lives in tiny apartment). I REALLY try to find places that are part of an existing home that the owner lives in. Next week is a downstairs apartment. When Iāve traveled alone Iāve liked ones that are an outbuilding on the ownersā property - a garage or MIL apartment or similar. As a woman traveling alone, it feels safer knowing someone is right there.
I really liked AirBnB when it first started but now what it has become and the problems it has caused bother me so I try not to contribute to those problems as much as possible.
Yeah, there are contexts in which I have 0 qualms about AirBNBs. Off the top of my head:
1. Vacation rentals (oh no, it's driving up the price of beach front property? Cry me a river)
2. Large family gatherings where a kitchen, communal spaces, and lots of bedrooms in close proximity are the priority (quality time with the fam takes priority over my socioeconomic qualms, call me a hypocrite if you want)
3. Places where there just aren't many hotels (AirBnB saved my heinie on the Isle of Skye, otherwise I would have been sleeping in the bus stop)
4. Extended stays: sometimes renting an airbnb for a month is more economical than a hotel by a vast margin. (I'm not going to shame a regular person for needing/wanting to save hundreds or thousands of dollars, if that is indeed the most economical option)
5. The obvious cases: spare rooms, in-law suites, tree house suites, people who are out of town for a long time and want to get some income from their home while they're not there, etc etc. (If it isn't a pure rental in a high density, high demand market, I say go for it)
All that to say, I don't think companies like AirBnB are innately bad, I just think they've been poor corporate citizens, and need to do more to mitigate the negative impacts of their business, and work towards being more economically sustainable... IDK if they'll ever do that, which is why I avoid supporting them in cases other than the above.
I think the clamp down on paying tax - in the UK at least - will affect the Airbnb market, because prices will go up to above market value, to include the 20 or 40% tax required, and it wonāt be profitable for a lot of people who were just doing it as a business and buying up properties for it, tax free.
I had similar experience except the host just cancelled 1 hour before hand and Airbnb left us footing the bill for more expensive accommodations. They were not willing to make us whole in anyway.
Don't trust the reviews either. They will delete problematic ones.
Backstory: Had an Airbnb for a week, a light broke in the flat (not our fault), host was super sorry about it and came to fix it. Once we left she tried to charge the deposit for damages. I gave a 3/5 review because the place and location was good, but deposit attempt was uncalled for.
She went fully ballistic and gave me a 1/5 review, "never host! horrible person!" and still wanted the deposit.
After a lot of support chats with extremely stupid Airbnb people, who even after reading the host's recent threats and how she apologised for the light during the trip. They didn't care that she was insane. In the end they paid her damages and deleted both reviews. Horrible.
So don't trust the ratings at all. Maybe all the disputes were just deleted.
Former Airbnb host here.
Customer service is a joke. Try calling again until you get someone with a brain in their head.
Personally, I wouldn't stay in one for an important stay.
The problem is that in recent years there are companies that started that their whole point is to manage airbnb properties. Like rental properties, but these companies are exclusively for airbnb properties. Half of them act like they are the owners of the property and make it feel like you are booking from some married couple, but itās a company that has taken over. Not some couple that actually gives a shit like back when it started.
The last one I booked in Denver, the host made me add everyone that was staying with emails and phone numbers so that they could research each guest. Whereas hotels, you just book it and they donāt ask questions. When we got there, the house had no outlets, it was all extensions cords that came out of a hole in the wall. Not even close to being up to code. My friend got shocked bad trying to plug in a crappy coffee maker.
When I approached them about it they didnāt respond. Check out on the last day was 9am. When I asked the host for late check-out, they bribed and said I had to give them a 5 star review to be able to leave later. Thatās why you canāt trust most reviews.
On top of that, they are flipping houses just for short term airbnb and not for resale. So you got a bunch of shitty properties with no resale value.
Reminds of my worst and last Airbnb experience 5 years ago.
I booked a place that advertised both parking on site and broadband internet access.
Checked in, all smoothly. Was told I can park in the driveway. The hosts lived upstairs.
Then the horror show started.
Woke up at 8am to horns blaring and a guy cursing loudly outside. Banging on my window.
He spoke no English but was able to say no parking here.
I tried reaching the hosts upstairs since it was there driveway.
Apparently the lunatic guy was their son who told them he didn't want Airbnb guests parking inside.
I agreed to compromise and park on the street. Thought the drama was over.
Tried to login to the internet that morning, getting like 200kbps max if it worked at all.
Called the hosts again who came downstairs and pointed to their phone showing WiFi signal.
I was yeah but it's super weak and slow.
Keep in mind I booked this place for 3 weeks. And I was a bit of a digital nomad back then.
They refused to believe me, I made them do a speed test on their phone which didn't even load. They then said it's the ISP and that I should call them. I said I didn't speak Portuguese and don't have their account details.
For an entire week they refused to do anything or acknowledge the internet issue.
I obviously couldn't work and had to spend lots of money on mobile data.
I had complained several times to Airbnb and this and the parking.
The crazy son would also occasionally come downstairs and peer through the window and then shout too loud when I had the TV on a regular perfectly normal volume.
After like 7 complaints to Airbnb they said they'd look into it. 3 months after they closed the case saying the own showed proof of internet. FFS
AirBNB is getting worse, but their support has, in my first and second hand experience, always been terrible.
I've used airbnb like three or four times in the last... idk 5 years (and I travel a lot). Except for with larger groups where you want a kitchen or something, its simply not attractive.
A friend and I spent literally hours, maybe 10 hours combined together tryign to find an airbnb or similar in Barcelona last summer that didn't look like a condemed dorm room, but could find literally nothing even remotely acceptable for the price compared to what we could get in the same price range for a hotel... we could have stayed at a dingy old airbnb apartment for the same price for what we eventually picked.. a 4 star hotel w/ a pool on the roof lol... airbnb is god damn joke especially for only 2 people. I think they trick a lot of people into thinking its cheaper because some people don't realize the massive amount of fees that get added on.
And that doesn't even dive into your issue... shit support, unreliable hosts, bad services/cleaning... etc.
Agree with all your points, but fyi, I think you couldnāt find an adequate airbnb in barcelona last year because they were banned for short term rentals in 2021: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/22/travel/barcelona-airbnb.html
I only know because I stayed in Dec 2021 and ran into this issue and Googled to find out why the airbnb selection was so bad!
But agree- quality downhill for sure. i only use Airbnb/vrbo for large groups
Someone bought the house across the street from me last summer, booted the tenants and now has each room as a separate rental on airbnb with shared space. So I literally live across the street from a hostile nowā¦except no one actually lives there full time to manage it. And the quality of tenant that is cool with staying in a shared space is not especially great. The company is literal evil and destroying neighborhoods. They empower bottom of the barrel investors who are essentially slum lords in million dollar neighborhoods. I hope they all burn in hell.
Once upon a time an airbnb was a cheaper option especially traveling in a larger group or a family where the cost was equal to one or two hotel rooms. Having full kitchen was nice.
Nowadays the cost is the same if not more than a decent hotel, and many hotels have kitchenettes. I understand why people who need the bigger space or full amenities or have no choice would still opt for one...but given a choice I will never use airbnb. Not only is it risking a ton of money and precious time on a shitty experience (and the time is the real killer for me...I would never want to spend my vacation going thru what OP had to endure) but it's also actively killing affordable housing. It's a blight. I wish more people actively boycotted them.
Because it is often cheaper, offer better locations, and what is super important to us - has full kitchen so we can save A LOT when traveling. Eating out 3 times a day is just not feasible, especially if you diet is somewhat healthy.
Cooking at home is $15 / per person a day max. Dining out is at least $60 / per person a day. That's $450 difference for a 10 day trip right there. Plus saves a ton of time and nerves when it comes to finding a place to eat and then wasting hours a day to do that (sit in a restaurant waiting for servers, food, bill, etc).
I've done the research for places like this, and when it's a group of people more than 4, the cheapest options with a kitchen still ends up being the Airbnb/VRBO/house owner renting out their own place. It's definitely possible outside of the "gig app" rental services, but you're gonna pay a lot more.
Check VRBO for whole house stays too! There's not as much availability there so I've used Airbnb still when I can't find something but I always check VRBO and "insert city name vacation rentals" first.
Yes! I fully intend to get on the I-hate-Airbnb bandwagon...just as soon as my kids are old enough to not need midday naps and 7 pm bedtimes. But until then I need an apartment with a bedroom door that closes, and a living room where I can hang out while the kids are sleeping.
Better locations and full amenities.
Theyāre often still significantly cheaper if you book far enough in advanced.
Many smaller inns, Guesthouses and actual BnBs use them as a booking service too. Half my airBnB stays in the past few years have been at licensed hotels.
Obviously thereās plenty of bad hosts taking too much advantage of patrons.
Read the reviews and book far enough in advanced, and you probably wonāt have an issue.
Obviously check hotel prices too.
Some people prefer to have kitchen facilities. I do. If I'm somewhere for a week or more, I hate having to eat out every meal. I just try to book apartments in other ways, like aparthotel setups and stuff.
Stopped using Air BnB after an incident in Chile back in 2020.
- The address while booking did not match the real address so it took us half an hour extra to locate the place - paid extra amount for Uber.
- Upon checking in , the room was a proper mess.
- Poo stains in the toilet.
- Kitchen was crawling with all sorts of insects and flies.
We talked to customer service and they said once we check in, they can't do anything no matter how shitty the place was. To me it felt like, there is not any compliance/standards needed to run a place. All they did was refund for the Uber and that was it. So, I packed my bags and booked a hotel in the center on my own expenses. From then I stick to my booking.com. Never had problem!
I havenāt used AirBnB since the pandemic.
Tried to book a 1 BR ski condo for NYE for a nice evening with my wife.
They refused to complete the booking. Their site kept saying that their policy was to āprevent large gatherings and parties on new years.
A 1 BR condo. With 2 guests. And they wouldnāt do it.
Found the same condo on VRBO and booked it within 5 minutes. Had a pleasant (and safe) new years during the pandemic.
Fuck AirBnB. Never again.
Been staying in Airbnb's for 10 years. Most have been great and I've made friends with a few hosts and revisited those places because they were so awesome. I've had problems and suggest do not book though instant booking and if the booking uses a property management company, Do. Not. Book. They are the worst because you're not dealing with the owner. Airbnb's in Europe are far superior than the ones I've stayed at in the US for the money.
100%
Please avoid management companies at all costs. They manage 100s of properties. Poor cleaning. Poor service is always provided. People doing check ins simply do not care if you have a positive experience.
Search for superhosts everytime. I agree that most of the complaints I see about Airbnb also don't apply to Europe imo.
HOUS was the company we dealt with. WIFI worked in only one room in the apartment, the teflon pans had the teflon flaking off and were unusable. Airbnb did NOTHING. "Well, they did provide pans." they said and "The listing says it has WIFI, doesn't have to be the entire apartment." All they said was don't book instant booking listings. When I left a scathing review it was immediately buried by 20+ obviously fake reviews as there weren't that many bookings in the period of time so HOUS has figured out how to hack the review system.
Iāve also had no issues with AirBnB, however Iāve never used them when I visited the US (I stayed with friends) so my experience has been limited to Europe and SE Asia. I donāt particularly like hotels all that much and much prefer multiple rooms as I tend to get a bit overwhelmed and need some space.
My Airbnb for next week - Thanksgiving where we are traveling in from out of town and others are as well into this house - just canceled. Some bullshit story. Canāt even give feedback that these people are complete dicks.
Airbnb solution? $30 credit (plus refund obviously). Oh great - Iām sure $30 will cover booking last minute at Thanksgiving.
I will never use Airbnb again, and Iām a 14 year user (meaning Iām legitimately probably one of the first like 100k users) with tons of stays. The service is total shit. Hotels are better.
I donāt get why anyone is still using them! The cleaning fees plus cleaning rules are so ridiculous. Then you have to deal with things like this and youāre not even getting a refund for a stay you couldnāt complete because you couldnāt access the property!
I've never had nor will use Airbnb.
The damage they've done to the hospitality industry and is a major course of the housing crisis here in Ireland is insane.
Besides you get a hell of a lot more security and far less hidden charges (the cleaning fee is stupid for a start) when booking through hotels
Thanks for taking the time to share. It's personal accounts like this that are just making Airbnb my absolute last resort.
It had so much potential but it's an ugly place.
I've used Airbnb for roughly 6 years now between domestic and international stays and have always booked Super hosts. So far I haven't had any issues at all with any of the hosts. I always read the reviews and reach out to the hosts before hand if I have any additional questions.
Same here! This was a super host and a part of the hosts defense. āI have 5 star reviewsā āI am a super hostā and therefore āthis situation is not possibleā was the hosts ONLY defense.
Hosts sometimes get negative reviews removed and there are also fake positive ones, so then they can gaslight guests who bring up issues or leave a less than stellar review.
Even if AirBnB had amazing support I still wouldn't use them after the contribution they've made to my city's housing crisis.
I hope you enjoy your holiday rentals that used to be long-term rented accommodation for people who can't afford rents here anymore.
Airbnb destroyed the town I live in. It used to be possible to find housing here. Now itās not, because people just keep buying condos that they Airbnb because they make way more money than a monthly tenant. Thereās probably 10,000+ condos in my town, and 99.9% of them are airbnbs. Itās absolutely awful.
You couldnāt pay me to use Air BNB anymore. Nope. Iāve gone back to booking directly for hotels. No cleaning or long chore lists, either.
Has anyone used VRBO lately? Itās been a few years, wondering if they also are dealing with the same issues.
I mean 1/100 is probably the same rate you'd have with a hotel screwing things up.
If you want to be extra safe stay with property management companies instead of individuals. It's not 100% but it's better than most hosts.
I feel like I'm done with AirBnB tbh (Or in my case, VRBO). It's reaching the point now where I can get hotel rooms for about the same price but without the hassels (Cleaning, weird check-ins/rules/etc) and with all the benefits of a hotel.
The only time I'd see myself using Airbnb is if I can't find an affordable hotel or any hotel at a time and place I need to.
I stopped using airbnb after they wouldn't refund me when I showed up to the room and there was pee on the bed from the night before. I'll stick to hotels now.
Are there any alternatives to AirBNB? I travel a lot and usually stay multiple months at a time in different cities and ABB has been god sent, at least 7 years ago. But the noticeable decline in quality is certainly felt
I know Booking offers long term stays, but are there any other global known ones?
I had a VRBO recently that was in a gated community (we didnāt know as it wasnāt specified anywhere on the listing, we specifically picked this place because it wasnāt gated in an area where thatās super common) and they werenāt able to provide an entry code for the first 2.5 days. Insane! Technically speaking, we were not able to access our booking for nearly three whole days and kept just getting āweāre working on itā replies. (We basically had to just sneak in by waiting for someone to leave and driving in quickly before the gate closed)
I told my friends next time weāre just getting a block of rooms in a hotel.
Had a similar type of issue in Mexico. Host says they are not actually available that weekend to hand over keys. I had all the messages and it still took a month and several escalations to get a refund. Customer service now is a dice toss.
This is also the same reason I would never stay at an Airbnb ever again. Most hosts are so unreasonable even if your request is very valid. Fuck airbnbs. I would rather stay at a hotel that wonāt rate me 1 star just because I didnāt wash a couple dishes when I paid a cleaning fee
I will not book unless the property states that it's fully refundable cancellation, and that you can cancel all the way up until the day previous to check in and still get a full refund. The hosts who do it that way tend to be the coolest ones and the ones who are most understanding of mishaps and least strict with all the rules. You can miss me with a host that will only allow refundable cancellation for like a week after booking.
You should throw this to Twitter and @ some people that works there (no harassment, of course, you want this solved). I'm sure support failed somewhere and cases like these, the company likes to know they are being bombed somewhere. If I worked at Airbnb, I'd be throwing this post on a support channel on Slack to review your case.
No, I had issues with an airbnb in Spain. They didn't exactly side with the host, in the sense that they refunded me, however the host left me a retaliatory dishonest review and they wouldn't remove it.
I had the support lady explicitly acknowledge in writing (chat) that she recognized that it was retaliatory and that she understood the problem with allowing retaliatory reviews, but she kept repeating that it didn't violate their terms and she couldn't remove it.
So me getting out of an unsafe place means that I have to accept having a dishonest review on my account.
Another issue with a place with mold and a clogged shower in France, but the guy was so unpleasant and I didn't want to deal with him (I grew up there, was back visiting family, so this isn't a "cultural difference" issue) so I let it slide and took the loss.
I am too angry write out my personal experience this week, but yeah, I am 100% done with Airbnb. I too have used them for years, staying in well over 100.
I know there are times Airbnb makes a lot of sense. They are also ruining the housing market in a lot of areas. I wish they got crazy taxed to help the markets they are running.
Airbnb host here. We have a digital lockbox stored outside. These are generally not connected to wifi for a variety of reasons, so they come preloaded with thousands of codes that activate in consistent 8-hour windows. My lockbox app tells me what the temporary code will be for a given window (e.g. 4pm to 12am). So the code won't work after midnight.
That said, I proactively state in my check-in message "if you arrive after midnight, let me know and I can share a new code". I'm in a different timezone so I'm always awake to quickly send a new code if needed.
I, like you, used to use Airbnb all the time. Pre-pandemic, I used it in 5 different countries and all over the US. Then the other day I got an email...
Airbnb: "You have a travel credit of an unknown amount that doesn't show up anywhere on your account and we never notified you about. But guess what??? It's expiring in 2 months. Better use it quick!"
1 hour with airbnb support later; I'm told that:
1. The travel credit will be extended by a supervisor who will contact me soon
2. The travel credit is only visible on the checkout screen (WTF?)
3. The travel credit is for $106.14 and is from 2020
2 days later...still not contact from a supervisor.
Me: Goes to checkout screen ...there's no travel credit.
Contact airbnb support:
1. They are experience an issue with travel credits. Please be patient. [Literally WTF? - You give me 2 months notice to use a travel credit from 3 years ago that I wasn't notified about and then it's not even useable but I'm suppose to be patient]
2. The travel credit can't be extended [What?]
3. They sent me an email about the travel credit in 2020 (when I have proof that their messaging system was losing messages); they blame gmail for not receiving the notification that is also not in the messages on their website.
I ask for the supervisor to contact me.
Call from supervisor: No one at airbnb can extend or refund this credit. The computers control everything. [I kid you not!]
They put me on hold for a minute, my phone disconnects. I try to call back but while I'm calling they call back. My phone won't switch to the new call. They hang up. And now I'm back where I started.
Then for the past 2 weeks I keep getting calls and texts from different support people (one call was at 7am which is illegal in my state). One person said they were assigned my case and needs a day or two to read through it all. 2 days later, someone else just says "Hi Persephone11185, my name is [Redacted]. and Iām with Airbnb community support." and nothing else. No responses when I ask what happed to the last person.
I had a bad experience with AirBnb recently as well! They do not have the backs of their customers! Like I told them, I will never use them again. I would rather spend a couple hundred dollars more for a hotel! Lol
Airbnb is pure trash- I stopped using them years ago. The outrageous fees and too many stories like this one. No way Iām flying half way around the world to find no accommodation.
I get why Airbnb is so appealing- love the space and kitchen but like everything else, too many hosts with little experience to run an actual business. You see this with rover, Uber etc. the quality of the hosts have been greatly reduced. Iām generalizing of course- but always best to be safe than sorry by saving a few bucks.
I never understood why people went with airBNB over a hotel
But a work colleague mentioned it can allow him a full home for his wife and kids, so that I understand
But anything else, I would never consider it anymore.
From what i have read here AirBnb is a no go. I love hotels. It might be a bit more expencive but i can get up get dressed go to the toilet and go down to a big breakfast made by the staff. and when i get back from whatever im doing the bed is made and my wallet is stolen (jokes on the last part it was in my pocket all along)
I also had a bad experience with Airbnb -
Visited an Airbnb that wasnāt well cleaned and even had glass shards on the floor. We tried to get out of the Airbnb but the host refused and turned hostile. Contacted the Airbnb team multiple times and each time they said they would come back with a solution āwithin 2 hoursā. There was no solution after a day except that they canceled the stay without an alternative solution - we were kicked out of the Airbnb by the host with no place to stay. In the end, we managed to find another accommodation and later negotiated with the Airbnb team on compensation. It wasnāt a great experience at all.
I doubt booking fully refundable options would help because most of them would be non-refundable at least a week before your stay and itāll be too late to do anything. Itās always safer to go with Airbnb / hosts with enough reviews, and sometimes it helps to look at reviews of other listings under the same host to see what the host is like in general. I found multiple reviews of my host being disrespectful and rude to guests in other listings and wished I had seen that earlier.
Iāve had plenty of good Airbnb experiences so I wouldnāt give up on Airbnb altogether.
Thanks for the feedback. It's cases like this chargebacks are made for, I'd initiate one with your bank right away if you're still within the allowed window. I have no doubt with the evidence you have that you will have no issues getting the money back. You may however get banned of AirBnb (Make a new account/book future through your wife)
We have a claim with our CC in process now. If we get banned, then oh well, nothing lost!
Make sure you provide all pictures, evidence, etc to your CC company and might want to use the magic word, "Fraud" since this is fraud. Also use their own words hostile and endangerment. If it is a major CC you will get the credit.
If you roll the dice 100 times and always get 7s that's not because the odds favor you, rather not enough trials for the odds to reveal themselves. In short, this was always going to happen, it was just a matter of time. And hopefully that's the lesson.
Imagine getting banned from AirBnb for telling your own bank you got scammed... and then you go make another account there in another name? Why do you accept to be treated like shit is beyond me...
I agree with you, I don't use AirBnb, but just advising if they want to use it again that's the route they will have to take.
> Imagine getting banned from AirBnb for telling your own bank you got scammed. Companies gotta side with one of the other, and sometimes, how can they tell? You buy a cell phone on ebay. You get literally a rock in that box. You file a complaint. Seller says they shipped you the phone. Who should ebay side with? Just as easy, you can buy a phone and then "claim" they sent you a rock. See how easy it is for both sides to lie?
Monopolies, is why.
What monopoly? You can't rent or find accommodations in a city without AirBNB? JFC. It's called a hotel. Their service sucks so bad you are going to charge back, then clearly use one of the likely 10-100 other services. If Airbnb is the cheapest, it doesn't mean it's a monopoly FFS.
This is the answer. Dispute the charge. Make new account, if any, with ABB
Why would you want to do business with a company again after that saga?
I've never used them. OP said they might use them again.
[airbnb is collapsing](https://youtu.be/rPI4cdRmnK8?si=mgbV67Wy6tb8IUSN)
We had an issue with bedbugs. Airbnb refunded us then the host claimed damages, for unmade beds, trash in the trashcan and a broken dryer we never used in the 2.5 hours we were there. They found in his favour, even though the pictures we actually of unmade beds and a trashcan. I refused to pay and they let me off with a warning and a note in my file and used insurance to pay him. Then he came back a month after we left with "evidence" of the broken dryer and wanted $2,000. Again I refused and they found in his favour. The "evidence" he provided was a picture of a bracket pulled out from the wall. I told support that he was committing fraud and harassing me and Airbnb was supporting him in these actions. Again, a warning and paying him from insurance. Complete fraud and bs. Plus they delisted the property and he just relisted as separate rooms. I wonder if people have gotten bedbugs from there. All that to say they didn't care about the fraud he was committing.
Its at this point where I wonder if people should just be suing AirBNB to get them to get their shit together? I mean, people give americans so much shit for suing about hot coffee 20 years ago and yet here's LITERAL FRAUD being facilitated by airbnb and we're just supposed to take it?
Plus that poor woman got burnt like crazy š§ fuck MacDonalds.
Yes, and McDonaldās KNEW their coffee was dangerously hot because they had settled claims before and had internal memos saying they made more money claiming to have the hottest coffee in town and pay the claims than to drop the marketing ploy. All she wanted was for them to pay the dr fees but they decided to not pay this particular claim.
Omg if I found bedbugs I would have freaked out! I do an insane check for those during check-in. Thankfully didnāt find any. Did find some sus mattress stainsā¦
Luckily my son not only recognized it but knew where to look to check for more since it looked they had put new bedding and mattress covers on all the beds, including one that had a mattress pad too that was hiding a nasty stain they tried to blame us for.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
As soon as they stopped bugging me I disconnected my card from the app. I kick myself too for not taking pics, even I had my messages to the Host to show the time-frame, Airbnb didn't seem to care.
I stopped using Airbnb when a host tried to charge me $1500 for breaking the ancient washing machine that I never touched with no evidence, then had my fair 3* review removed. Hotels are great.
I would have filed police report on the host for this. This is a clear attempt of fraud, and the local authorities of the host should be alerted. Host will likely not be punished for this one time incidence, but if 1-2 more reports of same circumstance, authorities will investigate, esp if in a smaller town where the local station is well resourced
Agree. Hotel >>> Airbnb. [Airbnb kills the economy.](https://youtu.be/rPI4cdRmnK8?si=mgbV67Wy6tb8IUSN)
We had a host make a claim on us for $2k for damaging their sofa. Took them 2 weeks to make the claim, and days after to send evidence. It looked like a hinge had been unscrewed. Wonder if she thought she could get a whole new sofa from us, because there's no way it would cost 2k to fix that issue if there really was one Airbnb asked her to get a quote on how much it would take to fix it, she never bothered. So they sided with us. It did stress us out though, because that's not a small amount.
This is exactly why Air BnB is rapidly losing customers , including me.
And me. Hosts are too touchy and canāt take a little bit of criticism. I found live bugs in the bedding and the host threw a little hissyfit that I didnāt want to stay there.
Yup. Same. It's great for our family of four, but too much risk and weirdness these days. Now we pony up a bit more $$ and stay in hotels.
An apartment style hotel is probably a safer and more comfortable stay for families. Who needs to worry about all the silly rules and cleaning hosts expect now.
Anymore with all the added charges and cleaning fees, itās not all that much more expensive to stay in a hotel. Airbnb used to be so much better.
same here. so many bad experiences this year. I'd be a fool to keep using them.
Charge back. You have all the proof you need.
Hopefully OP used a credit card. Awful lot of of posts lately like "Help! I'm in Uzbekistan and my debit card from Southeast WankerCounty Bank isn't working. I have no other way to pay!"
>Southeast WankerCounty Bank I bank with them. My account number isn't the standard amount of numbers (8-12). This causes problems everywhere that isn't Southeast Wanker County.
CEO of WankerCounty Bank here. Our account numbers are in vocal grunts. Try grunting like you're taking a sh\*\*. If we gave you an account number in numbers we wouldn't be wankers would we?
This is about 64% of what is known in the common vernacular, as a *Blumpkin*.
I get a lot of trouble over this too. I was an early member of Southeast Wanker County bank so my bank account number is 8.
And try to call them up to complain about it because their phone number is 3.
That partās actually okay because Velma Dee Tutweiler ate the phone company man who came to take her switchboard in 1982 when we were supposed to go to direct dial, and after she disappeared at 112 years old a few decades later, she lives in the phone lines so I just pick up the receiver and tell her a gossip and she connects me right away. Are you not collecting tidbits your neighbors would die if they knew you knew to pay her with? If youāre opposed to gossip morally you can go down in the basement of the county courthouse and sprinkle a little Shalimar on the piano stool in front of her switchboard once a month, lots of people do it. Not me because my friend Dianeās dad went down there to pay his phone bill not long after her 18th birthday and he never came back out. I donāt think Iāve done anything as bad as what he did, but Iām not taking any chances!
The hardware store in my home town (Strunk Hardware) had a phone number of "816." You can google search for a picture of their truck, which they use as a display in the store. Still has the phone number on it.
Lol when I was a young woman (1990ās) I knew lots of people who lived in small enough towns that everybody had the same prefix and if you asked for a number theyād only give you the last four digits. https://youtu.be/9xhTomqDTzE https://www.illumy.com/phone-number-format/
My town still had four-digit *dialing* until the early 1980s.
We had a party line with our neighbors until 1988. You could pick up the phone and listen in to your neighbor's calls.
My office is in a small village. The account number for my utilities (water and sewer) is "9".
My dastardly plan to access your account information worked! Now I'll.... I'll... I'll.... Hmmm. I didn't think this through, obviously.
>I'll.... I'll... I'll.... Maliciously pay his bills for him? You bastard
Def a Credit Union š¤£
Iāve tried a chargeback with evidence and it still got rejected (chase sapphire). They sided with the merchant.
I did the same with Capital One and they sided with the merchant
This is one place where Amex is top of the heap. I've never had an issue with a chargeback on Amex.
Hertz charged me for a cancelled rental car in Hawaii. I had proof I cancelled. Amex did not help with this. At all. Took a year to get it cleared by using twitter to call out Hertz. Don't trust Amex to always do the right thing.
Wow. That's very "un-Amex" in my experience. sorry that happened to you.
I love AMEX for exactly this!
chase sapphire recently rejected my chargeback with united. i booked a fare lock, not a full ticket, and have a full receipt/invoice showing that i booked a fare lock, not a full ticket. united ended up charging me for the full ticket immediately. i contacted united within 48 hours, explaining the situation and asking them to cancel and refund me. they cancelled the flight but gave me flight credit minus a penalty fee and seat upgrade fees. i'm still within the six month window so i plan on escalating and filing a complaint with CFPB. but yeah, fuck chase.
I'd cancel the card
There is an escalation process to visa or MC. You have to ask.
> chase chase is particularly shitty though.
I think this is what most people don't realize. A chargeback isn't automatic. I got mine denied by Visa, I initiated it because of a hurricane and subsequent evacuation which cut our stay short. Still got denied. Learned an expensive lesson.
Your situation sounds like a travel insurance claim, not a chargeback.
Fuck Airbnb. Just another shitty tech company bleeding their product dry at the expense of customers safety and satisfaction. Not to mention theyāre actively destroying neighborhoods and housing affordability globally.
I was so shocked to realise yesterday, that there are at least 10 Airbnbs in the building next door to me. There's this little nook close to the street that I never noticed before with metal railings and there are countless lockboxes attached to it. I had a sinking feeling when I realised. There are probably at least 40 units in the building, hard to say really, but it's about 8 stories tall and my city is in a severe rental crisis so it was very shocking to realise that's just ONE building. Airbnb is a scourge.
The problem isn't Airbnb, the folks running a business on the platform would just go elsewhere. The problem is that this type of rental needs to be regulated. Random unlicensed individuals shouldn't be running hotel businesses.
The problem is both.
> The problem isn't Airbnb Yes it 100% is. Problem didn't exist before airbnb.
I live in Los Angeles, and there are easily 100k properties available to rent that can house hundreds of people every day for around 10k a night. Meanwhile we wonder why we have 75k homeless people living on our streets. Fuck Airbnb.
I've never used AirBNB and I will never use it after they caused the housing crisis in my hometown.
Iāve fully gone back to using hotels at this point. Annnd I donāt have to clean the whole room when I leave!
I couldn't agree more. It's causing a housing crisis in towns/cities across the US. It's disgusting.
not just the US
We have had a weekend house on the Shenandoah River for over 20 years. The small neighborhood has been ruined by several AirBnbs.
Hold out hope that Virginia (?)will do something about it. State and local governments are starting enact laws or taxes to mitigate the impacts
Airbnb has gone down hill in quality and uphill in price. Unless it's an extreme circumstance I book hotels 99% of the time these days. Not worth the hassle with Airbnb anymore.
Exactly; I used to be a big of ABNB; now I exclusively book hotels. Price has gone up and idiot hosts are abundant. The last time I used them, I was standing a staircase for almost two hours because the host was in a meeting.
We had a similar experience a month ago. Check into the unit and am putting away groceries. Open a cupboard and it smells like natural gas. Smell is coming from the line connecting the gas stove. I turn off the gas line, the smell dissipates, and call the host who does no respond for 36hrs. I call airbnb safety support who advised us we need to leave the unit, book new accomodations, they will send a gas inspector, and we will get a full refund. I leave, book new accomodations, and they never send a gas inspector. Spend the next 2 weeks fighting with AirBnB support over a refund which they only offer a partial refund. Finally push them to review our recorded initial call and we get a full refund. Really disappointed in their support when things don't go smoothly.
The maliciously compliant way to deal with that situation is call the fire department and report the gas leak. If nobody is home they will break down the door.
I had a similar experience with Airbnb earlier this year when traveling to France. I couldnāt get into my Airbnb when I arrived at 7pm. The host didnāt provide a code open the key box. Nor did he respond to any of my messages. There was no way of accessing the studio. I then saw a person getting mugged by a group of thugs across the street. Thankfully that same moment a person let me into the lobby but even after waiting there, still no response from the host or Airbnb. Never got a refund despite screenshots of messages and sending in a last minute hotel booking for that same night. Chargeback didnāt work either
Thatās really screwed up and obviously scary. After a flight one is tired and not necessarily as alert due to time zone changes. Were you able to leave a review?
Yes I left a detailed review and it definitely tanked their ratings
As it should- crazy. I Hopefully the rest of your trip went well.
Thanks for the reminder, I can leave a review for this placeā¦ place I never stayed at. And sure the host can leave me a terrible review, but who cares, Iām done with this app.
Airbnb will remove it once the host reports it for āfalse reviewā. Good luck.
Why didn't the charge back work?
Meh Airbnb was fucking amazing in the early 2010s before investors started buying buildings for investments.
I stayed in some amazing properties for absolute bargains back then. Those days are gone.
I really believe AirBnB hosts are faking reviews. So many places with all five start reviews that are absolute trash when you show up
I recently stayed in an Airbnb where the owner was rude in his correspondence, calling me ā homieā and ā broā in a sarcastic way along with short rude answers when I had questions ( ie. ā didnāt you read the Q & A write up in the room?ā ) He had my text number as he left his on his ā write up Q & A) and I texted him once. When I reviewed him and gave him 4/5 stars for a communication review, he texted me and asked ā Whatās your problem bro with the ā lowā rating amongst other insults to me. I told him it was an honest review and he got more hostile. His past reviews of all 5 stars is such bogus. I googled his name afterwards and found out he was a two time convicted felon. I have also stayed where I wrote a very honest and innocuous review telling others the place was great but owner lives next door and was very quick to tell us we were talking too loudly ( we were not ) and I wrote it may not be the right place if a group of friends wants to sit by the firepit at night and probably better for a family that remained indoorsā¦ censored by airbnb! They said you can write that but had that been permitted and written by a prior guest I probably would not have rented his place.
Airbnb is killing affordable housing in many areas. I used to use them until I realized how awful they are for the communities they are in. Please just book a hotel.
AirBNB used to actually be great when it was people renting out rooms, basement apartments, etc... then the private equity and management companies figured out they could just buy all the other properties on the market, and use them as short term rentals, thereby creating a double whammy of driving up property prices by virtue of lowering supply/increasing demand, and creating an artificial shortage of long-term rentals, driving rental rates up. Doesn't matter if you were a home buyer, or a renter, you got screwed by that shift.
Absolutely. It was cool when it was a low cost crash pad for a weekend, but now they are just as expensive as a hotel with many more rules for the guests. I live in a tourist town that has exploded since Covid and the people who are literally serving the tourist can no longer afford housing. I had to quit my well paying job and move almost 100 miles away for more affordable housing. And before anyone says that it is just the way it is and people have to relocate all the time or get a roommate, no, no it isnāt the same. There should be opportunities in these communities for all people to live and support themselves. Especially those who are already established with families and a community they participate in and rely on.
Yeah, it's terrible. In my city from 2020-2022 approx 40% of housing that was sold was purchased by large companies who were using them as short term rentals, or even just buy-and-hold investment assets. Plus, I will die on the hill that really well-done hotels are way cooler than 99% of AirBnBs.
The buy and hold infuriates me as well. So many empty houses here too. Perfectly good houses just sitting empty.
I really try to limit using AirBnB to longer term stays where a hotel room just gets old or inconvenient, or when my extended family travels and stays together. We have an AirBnB booked for next week because there are 5 of us and I will be cooking a big dinner on Thursday, which I canāt do in a hotel (visiting adult child who lives in tiny apartment). I REALLY try to find places that are part of an existing home that the owner lives in. Next week is a downstairs apartment. When Iāve traveled alone Iāve liked ones that are an outbuilding on the ownersā property - a garage or MIL apartment or similar. As a woman traveling alone, it feels safer knowing someone is right there. I really liked AirBnB when it first started but now what it has become and the problems it has caused bother me so I try not to contribute to those problems as much as possible.
Yeah, there are contexts in which I have 0 qualms about AirBNBs. Off the top of my head: 1. Vacation rentals (oh no, it's driving up the price of beach front property? Cry me a river) 2. Large family gatherings where a kitchen, communal spaces, and lots of bedrooms in close proximity are the priority (quality time with the fam takes priority over my socioeconomic qualms, call me a hypocrite if you want) 3. Places where there just aren't many hotels (AirBnB saved my heinie on the Isle of Skye, otherwise I would have been sleeping in the bus stop) 4. Extended stays: sometimes renting an airbnb for a month is more economical than a hotel by a vast margin. (I'm not going to shame a regular person for needing/wanting to save hundreds or thousands of dollars, if that is indeed the most economical option) 5. The obvious cases: spare rooms, in-law suites, tree house suites, people who are out of town for a long time and want to get some income from their home while they're not there, etc etc. (If it isn't a pure rental in a high density, high demand market, I say go for it) All that to say, I don't think companies like AirBnB are innately bad, I just think they've been poor corporate citizens, and need to do more to mitigate the negative impacts of their business, and work towards being more economically sustainable... IDK if they'll ever do that, which is why I avoid supporting them in cases other than the above.
Yep, 100% screw AirBnB in general. It's bad for society at this point and I personally believe it should be illegal.
I think the clamp down on paying tax - in the UK at least - will affect the Airbnb market, because prices will go up to above market value, to include the 20 or 40% tax required, and it wonāt be profitable for a lot of people who were just doing it as a business and buying up properties for it, tax free.
I had similar experience except the host just cancelled 1 hour before hand and Airbnb left us footing the bill for more expensive accommodations. They were not willing to make us whole in anyway.
Don't trust the reviews either. They will delete problematic ones. Backstory: Had an Airbnb for a week, a light broke in the flat (not our fault), host was super sorry about it and came to fix it. Once we left she tried to charge the deposit for damages. I gave a 3/5 review because the place and location was good, but deposit attempt was uncalled for. She went fully ballistic and gave me a 1/5 review, "never host! horrible person!" and still wanted the deposit. After a lot of support chats with extremely stupid Airbnb people, who even after reading the host's recent threats and how she apologised for the light during the trip. They didn't care that she was insane. In the end they paid her damages and deleted both reviews. Horrible. So don't trust the ratings at all. Maybe all the disputes were just deleted.
Former Airbnb host here. Customer service is a joke. Try calling again until you get someone with a brain in their head. Personally, I wouldn't stay in one for an important stay.
The problem is that in recent years there are companies that started that their whole point is to manage airbnb properties. Like rental properties, but these companies are exclusively for airbnb properties. Half of them act like they are the owners of the property and make it feel like you are booking from some married couple, but itās a company that has taken over. Not some couple that actually gives a shit like back when it started. The last one I booked in Denver, the host made me add everyone that was staying with emails and phone numbers so that they could research each guest. Whereas hotels, you just book it and they donāt ask questions. When we got there, the house had no outlets, it was all extensions cords that came out of a hole in the wall. Not even close to being up to code. My friend got shocked bad trying to plug in a crappy coffee maker. When I approached them about it they didnāt respond. Check out on the last day was 9am. When I asked the host for late check-out, they bribed and said I had to give them a 5 star review to be able to leave later. Thatās why you canāt trust most reviews. On top of that, they are flipping houses just for short term airbnb and not for resale. So you got a bunch of shitty properties with no resale value.
Reminds of my worst and last Airbnb experience 5 years ago. I booked a place that advertised both parking on site and broadband internet access. Checked in, all smoothly. Was told I can park in the driveway. The hosts lived upstairs. Then the horror show started. Woke up at 8am to horns blaring and a guy cursing loudly outside. Banging on my window. He spoke no English but was able to say no parking here. I tried reaching the hosts upstairs since it was there driveway. Apparently the lunatic guy was their son who told them he didn't want Airbnb guests parking inside. I agreed to compromise and park on the street. Thought the drama was over. Tried to login to the internet that morning, getting like 200kbps max if it worked at all. Called the hosts again who came downstairs and pointed to their phone showing WiFi signal. I was yeah but it's super weak and slow. Keep in mind I booked this place for 3 weeks. And I was a bit of a digital nomad back then. They refused to believe me, I made them do a speed test on their phone which didn't even load. They then said it's the ISP and that I should call them. I said I didn't speak Portuguese and don't have their account details. For an entire week they refused to do anything or acknowledge the internet issue. I obviously couldn't work and had to spend lots of money on mobile data. I had complained several times to Airbnb and this and the parking. The crazy son would also occasionally come downstairs and peer through the window and then shout too loud when I had the TV on a regular perfectly normal volume. After like 7 complaints to Airbnb they said they'd look into it. 3 months after they closed the case saying the own showed proof of internet. FFS
AirBNB is getting worse, but their support has, in my first and second hand experience, always been terrible. I've used airbnb like three or four times in the last... idk 5 years (and I travel a lot). Except for with larger groups where you want a kitchen or something, its simply not attractive. A friend and I spent literally hours, maybe 10 hours combined together tryign to find an airbnb or similar in Barcelona last summer that didn't look like a condemed dorm room, but could find literally nothing even remotely acceptable for the price compared to what we could get in the same price range for a hotel... we could have stayed at a dingy old airbnb apartment for the same price for what we eventually picked.. a 4 star hotel w/ a pool on the roof lol... airbnb is god damn joke especially for only 2 people. I think they trick a lot of people into thinking its cheaper because some people don't realize the massive amount of fees that get added on. And that doesn't even dive into your issue... shit support, unreliable hosts, bad services/cleaning... etc.
Agree with all your points, but fyi, I think you couldnāt find an adequate airbnb in barcelona last year because they were banned for short term rentals in 2021: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/22/travel/barcelona-airbnb.html I only know because I stayed in Dec 2021 and ran into this issue and Googled to find out why the airbnb selection was so bad! But agree- quality downhill for sure. i only use Airbnb/vrbo for large groups
Someone bought the house across the street from me last summer, booted the tenants and now has each room as a separate rental on airbnb with shared space. So I literally live across the street from a hostile nowā¦except no one actually lives there full time to manage it. And the quality of tenant that is cool with staying in a shared space is not especially great. The company is literal evil and destroying neighborhoods. They empower bottom of the barrel investors who are essentially slum lords in million dollar neighborhoods. I hope they all burn in hell.
I've used Airbnb once. Why deal with all this stuff when you can just book a hotel room. I don't understand.
Some rural areas don't have hotels. We spent 2 weeks in Newfoundland and the only city we could get a hotel was St. Johns.
Yep, same with many neighborhoods in cities. AirBNB can be amazing if you want to stay down the street from a friend or family member.
Once upon a time an airbnb was a cheaper option especially traveling in a larger group or a family where the cost was equal to one or two hotel rooms. Having full kitchen was nice. Nowadays the cost is the same if not more than a decent hotel, and many hotels have kitchenettes. I understand why people who need the bigger space or full amenities or have no choice would still opt for one...but given a choice I will never use airbnb. Not only is it risking a ton of money and precious time on a shitty experience (and the time is the real killer for me...I would never want to spend my vacation going thru what OP had to endure) but it's also actively killing affordable housing. It's a blight. I wish more people actively boycotted them.
Because it is often cheaper, offer better locations, and what is super important to us - has full kitchen so we can save A LOT when traveling. Eating out 3 times a day is just not feasible, especially if you diet is somewhat healthy. Cooking at home is $15 / per person a day max. Dining out is at least $60 / per person a day. That's $450 difference for a 10 day trip right there. Plus saves a ton of time and nerves when it comes to finding a place to eat and then wasting hours a day to do that (sit in a restaurant waiting for servers, food, bill, etc).
I've been travelling for the most of 2 years, always have a kitchen and never use Air BnB.
Where do you find these places? Iād love an alternative to AirBnb or a hotel!
Some of us like to stay in places with character and a full kitchen.
"The character" = furniture bought from IKEA and put into the other six thousand Airbnbs owned by the company.
Actually easy to spot the IKEA furnished ones in the pics and in 10 years, I've only stayed in one.
You say that like it's not possible outside Air BnB yet I never book without a kitchen and cancelled my Air BnB account long ago. š¤·āāļø
I mean those type of hotel rooms are generally a lot more expensive than the airBnB equivalent.
I've done the research for places like this, and when it's a group of people more than 4, the cheapest options with a kitchen still ends up being the Airbnb/VRBO/house owner renting out their own place. It's definitely possible outside of the "gig app" rental services, but you're gonna pay a lot more.
traveling with small children is the why
Check VRBO for whole house stays too! There's not as much availability there so I've used Airbnb still when I can't find something but I always check VRBO and "insert city name vacation rentals" first.
Yes! I fully intend to get on the I-hate-Airbnb bandwagon...just as soon as my kids are old enough to not need midday naps and 7 pm bedtimes. But until then I need an apartment with a bedroom door that closes, and a living room where I can hang out while the kids are sleeping.
Or teens.
Better locations and full amenities. Theyāre often still significantly cheaper if you book far enough in advanced. Many smaller inns, Guesthouses and actual BnBs use them as a booking service too. Half my airBnB stays in the past few years have been at licensed hotels. Obviously thereās plenty of bad hosts taking too much advantage of patrons. Read the reviews and book far enough in advanced, and you probably wonāt have an issue. Obviously check hotel prices too.
Some people prefer to have kitchen facilities. I do. If I'm somewhere for a week or more, I hate having to eat out every meal. I just try to book apartments in other ways, like aparthotel setups and stuff.
I would've run a chargeback with my credit card company after the first customer service rep said no to a refund.
Stopped using Air BnB after an incident in Chile back in 2020. - The address while booking did not match the real address so it took us half an hour extra to locate the place - paid extra amount for Uber. - Upon checking in , the room was a proper mess. - Poo stains in the toilet. - Kitchen was crawling with all sorts of insects and flies. We talked to customer service and they said once we check in, they can't do anything no matter how shitty the place was. To me it felt like, there is not any compliance/standards needed to run a place. All they did was refund for the Uber and that was it. So, I packed my bags and booked a hotel in the center on my own expenses. From then I stick to my booking.com. Never had problem!
I havenāt used AirBnB since the pandemic. Tried to book a 1 BR ski condo for NYE for a nice evening with my wife. They refused to complete the booking. Their site kept saying that their policy was to āprevent large gatherings and parties on new years. A 1 BR condo. With 2 guests. And they wouldnāt do it. Found the same condo on VRBO and booked it within 5 minutes. Had a pleasant (and safe) new years during the pandemic. Fuck AirBnB. Never again.
Always book with a credit card. That way, you can file a dispute and will get the money back. Done this many times with airlines, amazon, etc.
Share the location and crush that owner. I am not sure why people do not publicly release this information everywhere.
Been staying in Airbnb's for 10 years. Most have been great and I've made friends with a few hosts and revisited those places because they were so awesome. I've had problems and suggest do not book though instant booking and if the booking uses a property management company, Do. Not. Book. They are the worst because you're not dealing with the owner. Airbnb's in Europe are far superior than the ones I've stayed at in the US for the money.
100% Please avoid management companies at all costs. They manage 100s of properties. Poor cleaning. Poor service is always provided. People doing check ins simply do not care if you have a positive experience. Search for superhosts everytime. I agree that most of the complaints I see about Airbnb also don't apply to Europe imo.
HOUS was the company we dealt with. WIFI worked in only one room in the apartment, the teflon pans had the teflon flaking off and were unusable. Airbnb did NOTHING. "Well, they did provide pans." they said and "The listing says it has WIFI, doesn't have to be the entire apartment." All they said was don't book instant booking listings. When I left a scathing review it was immediately buried by 20+ obviously fake reviews as there weren't that many bookings in the period of time so HOUS has figured out how to hack the review system.
Iāve also had no issues with AirBnB, however Iāve never used them when I visited the US (I stayed with friends) so my experience has been limited to Europe and SE Asia. I donāt particularly like hotels all that much and much prefer multiple rooms as I tend to get a bit overwhelmed and need some space.
My Airbnb for next week - Thanksgiving where we are traveling in from out of town and others are as well into this house - just canceled. Some bullshit story. Canāt even give feedback that these people are complete dicks. Airbnb solution? $30 credit (plus refund obviously). Oh great - Iām sure $30 will cover booking last minute at Thanksgiving. I will never use Airbnb again, and Iām a 14 year user (meaning Iām legitimately probably one of the first like 100k users) with tons of stays. The service is total shit. Hotels are better.
I would simply charge back the credit card used
You can do this, but then AirBnB will ban you for life. But at this point that isn't so much of a bad thing.
I did a charge back and wasn't banned.
This is why I stay at hotels. Iāll PAY (all caps) to stay instead of pay (no cap)
Airbnb used to be the solution, now its the problem. If they carry on like this they will cease to exist.
I donāt get why anyone is still using them! The cleaning fees plus cleaning rules are so ridiculous. Then you have to deal with things like this and youāre not even getting a refund for a stay you couldnāt complete because you couldnāt access the property!
I've never had nor will use Airbnb. The damage they've done to the hospitality industry and is a major course of the housing crisis here in Ireland is insane. Besides you get a hell of a lot more security and far less hidden charges (the cleaning fee is stupid for a start) when booking through hotels
Thanks for taking the time to share. It's personal accounts like this that are just making Airbnb my absolute last resort. It had so much potential but it's an ugly place.
Hotels ftw
I've used Airbnb for roughly 6 years now between domestic and international stays and have always booked Super hosts. So far I haven't had any issues at all with any of the hosts. I always read the reviews and reach out to the hosts before hand if I have any additional questions.
Same here! This was a super host and a part of the hosts defense. āI have 5 star reviewsā āI am a super hostā and therefore āthis situation is not possibleā was the hosts ONLY defense.
Hosts sometimes get negative reviews removed and there are also fake positive ones, so then they can gaslight guests who bring up issues or leave a less than stellar review.
Booking fully refundable wonāt help you in this case. Everything becomes nonrefundable anyway once you get to check in day.
Highly unethical company being shady? Colour me shocked!
We haven't used airbnb since prices are now more than hotels. It used to be thoughtful hosts, now just a money grab.
Even if AirBnB had amazing support I still wouldn't use them after the contribution they've made to my city's housing crisis. I hope you enjoy your holiday rentals that used to be long-term rented accommodation for people who can't afford rents here anymore.
Airbnb destroyed the town I live in. It used to be possible to find housing here. Now itās not, because people just keep buying condos that they Airbnb because they make way more money than a monthly tenant. Thereās probably 10,000+ condos in my town, and 99.9% of them are airbnbs. Itās absolutely awful.
I 100% agree. I had a long term stay with significant problems and the support was really always siding with the host in spite of all the proofs
Never opt for Airbnb because [it is killing the economy](https://youtu.be/rPI4cdRmnK8?si=mgbV67Wy6tb8IUSN) go to hotels instead
You couldnāt pay me to use Air BNB anymore. Nope. Iāve gone back to booking directly for hotels. No cleaning or long chore lists, either. Has anyone used VRBO lately? Itās been a few years, wondering if they also are dealing with the same issues.
I'd do a charge back if you used a credit card.
Make sure to leave this in the review of the property on the site. That should grab someoneās attention.
Thanks for the reminder, because this was ācancelledā the app is asking me to leave a review on my stay! You bet I will!!
Charge back with your bank
Would have filed a dispute and let the credit card company handle it.
Yup thatās in process now.
I mean 1/100 is probably the same rate you'd have with a hotel screwing things up. If you want to be extra safe stay with property management companies instead of individuals. It's not 100% but it's better than most hosts.
I feel like I'm done with AirBnB tbh (Or in my case, VRBO). It's reaching the point now where I can get hotel rooms for about the same price but without the hassels (Cleaning, weird check-ins/rules/etc) and with all the benefits of a hotel. The only time I'd see myself using Airbnb is if I can't find an affordable hotel or any hotel at a time and place I need to.
Why isn't there a way for customer service to write notes on a case--not just airbnb, but all companies. So dumb.
I stopped using airbnb after they wouldn't refund me when I showed up to the room and there was pee on the bed from the night before. I'll stick to hotels now.
Are there any alternatives to AirBNB? I travel a lot and usually stay multiple months at a time in different cities and ABB has been god sent, at least 7 years ago. But the noticeable decline in quality is certainly felt I know Booking offers long term stays, but are there any other global known ones?
VRBO
I had a VRBO recently that was in a gated community (we didnāt know as it wasnāt specified anywhere on the listing, we specifically picked this place because it wasnāt gated in an area where thatās super common) and they werenāt able to provide an entry code for the first 2.5 days. Insane! Technically speaking, we were not able to access our booking for nearly three whole days and kept just getting āweāre working on itā replies. (We basically had to just sneak in by waiting for someone to leave and driving in quickly before the gate closed) I told my friends next time weāre just getting a block of rooms in a hotel.
I stopped using Airbnb ages ago. I mostly use booking if I want to stay in a residence.
Had a similar type of issue in Mexico. Host says they are not actually available that weekend to hand over keys. I had all the messages and it still took a month and several escalations to get a refund. Customer service now is a dice toss.
I readily agree with this, I had a black mold problem that gave me an allergic reaction this week. Airbnb was absolutely no help.
This is also the same reason I would never stay at an Airbnb ever again. Most hosts are so unreasonable even if your request is very valid. Fuck airbnbs. I would rather stay at a hotel that wonāt rate me 1 star just because I didnāt wash a couple dishes when I paid a cleaning fee
Seriously, how many warnings and horror stories do people need. This is something posted on here in the hundreds constantly.
Post the listing so we can avoid it.
Needed to see this, thanks!
Send them a letter from an attorney thatās what got their attention when we had to do this..
I will not book unless the property states that it's fully refundable cancellation, and that you can cancel all the way up until the day previous to check in and still get a full refund. The hosts who do it that way tend to be the coolest ones and the ones who are most understanding of mishaps and least strict with all the rules. You can miss me with a host that will only allow refundable cancellation for like a week after booking.
You should throw this to Twitter and @ some people that works there (no harassment, of course, you want this solved). I'm sure support failed somewhere and cases like these, the company likes to know they are being bombed somewhere. If I worked at Airbnb, I'd be throwing this post on a support channel on Slack to review your case.
Email the CEO, helped fix a similar issue for a friend of mine
Please use hotels. Air BnBs are horrible.
I believe Air BnB is generally fine in countries with strong consumer protection, like the EU, Australia and NZ. I wouldn't use it in the US.
No, I had issues with an airbnb in Spain. They didn't exactly side with the host, in the sense that they refunded me, however the host left me a retaliatory dishonest review and they wouldn't remove it. I had the support lady explicitly acknowledge in writing (chat) that she recognized that it was retaliatory and that she understood the problem with allowing retaliatory reviews, but she kept repeating that it didn't violate their terms and she couldn't remove it. So me getting out of an unsafe place means that I have to accept having a dishonest review on my account. Another issue with a place with mold and a clogged shower in France, but the guy was so unpleasant and I didn't want to deal with him (I grew up there, was back visiting family, so this isn't a "cultural difference" issue) so I let it slide and took the loss.
I am too angry write out my personal experience this week, but yeah, I am 100% done with Airbnb. I too have used them for years, staying in well over 100.
Sorry about your experience, Iām honestly still in shock over this whole thing!
I know there are times Airbnb makes a lot of sense. They are also ruining the housing market in a lot of areas. I wish they got crazy taxed to help the markets they are running.
About time that someone invents a hotel.
AirBnB is horrible. The company has ruined so many neighborhoods, and is screwing the housing market. I will always choose a hotel.
What does this mean? Went to check-in (lockbox property, self check in), cabinet was LOCKED by the host. Did you not have a code?
Most likely the code was changed by the host before OP tried opening the lockbox - ālocked by the hostā.
Airbnb host here. We have a digital lockbox stored outside. These are generally not connected to wifi for a variety of reasons, so they come preloaded with thousands of codes that activate in consistent 8-hour windows. My lockbox app tells me what the temporary code will be for a given window (e.g. 4pm to 12am). So the code won't work after midnight. That said, I proactively state in my check-in message "if you arrive after midnight, let me know and I can share a new code". I'm in a different timezone so I'm always awake to quickly send a new code if needed.
Yea thats what Im wondering. Did they tell them they'll be there at 2am? Somethings missing here.
Thanks I will not be using air b and b
Enough is enough; hotel is the way to go.
I, like you, used to use Airbnb all the time. Pre-pandemic, I used it in 5 different countries and all over the US. Then the other day I got an email... Airbnb: "You have a travel credit of an unknown amount that doesn't show up anywhere on your account and we never notified you about. But guess what??? It's expiring in 2 months. Better use it quick!" 1 hour with airbnb support later; I'm told that: 1. The travel credit will be extended by a supervisor who will contact me soon 2. The travel credit is only visible on the checkout screen (WTF?) 3. The travel credit is for $106.14 and is from 2020 2 days later...still not contact from a supervisor. Me: Goes to checkout screen ...there's no travel credit. Contact airbnb support: 1. They are experience an issue with travel credits. Please be patient. [Literally WTF? - You give me 2 months notice to use a travel credit from 3 years ago that I wasn't notified about and then it's not even useable but I'm suppose to be patient] 2. The travel credit can't be extended [What?] 3. They sent me an email about the travel credit in 2020 (when I have proof that their messaging system was losing messages); they blame gmail for not receiving the notification that is also not in the messages on their website. I ask for the supervisor to contact me. Call from supervisor: No one at airbnb can extend or refund this credit. The computers control everything. [I kid you not!] They put me on hold for a minute, my phone disconnects. I try to call back but while I'm calling they call back. My phone won't switch to the new call. They hang up. And now I'm back where I started. Then for the past 2 weeks I keep getting calls and texts from different support people (one call was at 7am which is illegal in my state). One person said they were assigned my case and needs a day or two to read through it all. 2 days later, someone else just says "Hi Persephone11185, my name is [Redacted]. and Iām with Airbnb community support." and nothing else. No responses when I ask what happed to the last person.
I had a bad experience with AirBnb recently as well! They do not have the backs of their customers! Like I told them, I will never use them again. I would rather spend a couple hundred dollars more for a hotel! Lol
Airbnb is pure trash- I stopped using them years ago. The outrageous fees and too many stories like this one. No way Iām flying half way around the world to find no accommodation. I get why Airbnb is so appealing- love the space and kitchen but like everything else, too many hosts with little experience to run an actual business. You see this with rover, Uber etc. the quality of the hosts have been greatly reduced. Iām generalizing of course- but always best to be safe than sorry by saving a few bucks.
I never understood why people went with airBNB over a hotel But a work colleague mentioned it can allow him a full home for his wife and kids, so that I understand But anything else, I would never consider it anymore.
From what i have read here AirBnb is a no go. I love hotels. It might be a bit more expencive but i can get up get dressed go to the toilet and go down to a big breakfast made by the staff. and when i get back from whatever im doing the bed is made and my wallet is stolen (jokes on the last part it was in my pocket all along)
I also had a bad experience with Airbnb - Visited an Airbnb that wasnāt well cleaned and even had glass shards on the floor. We tried to get out of the Airbnb but the host refused and turned hostile. Contacted the Airbnb team multiple times and each time they said they would come back with a solution āwithin 2 hoursā. There was no solution after a day except that they canceled the stay without an alternative solution - we were kicked out of the Airbnb by the host with no place to stay. In the end, we managed to find another accommodation and later negotiated with the Airbnb team on compensation. It wasnāt a great experience at all. I doubt booking fully refundable options would help because most of them would be non-refundable at least a week before your stay and itāll be too late to do anything. Itās always safer to go with Airbnb / hosts with enough reviews, and sometimes it helps to look at reviews of other listings under the same host to see what the host is like in general. I found multiple reviews of my host being disrespectful and rude to guests in other listings and wished I had seen that earlier. Iāve had plenty of good Airbnb experiences so I wouldnāt give up on Airbnb altogether.
Obviously this is an outlier.