Last weekend we booked our first room through airbnb. We were excited. We were going to a friend’s wedding. It seemed like a great way to save some money, stay in an interesting part of the city, and have a unique experience. However, a unique experience is not the same as a good experience.
Our first night, things went well. The host was welcoming and kind. The room and house were clean and nice. It seemed great. The second night, we got a text message from the host saying they would be out late and that a friend was going to stop by and take care of their dogs. The host has two little dogs.
We were exhausted from a long drive the day before and the wedding that day. All we wanted was a good night’s sleep. That didn’t happen. The host never came home that night and the dogs barked repeatedly, waking us up. To the host’s credit, they did say we could call if there were any problems. But, at three in the morning? We weren’t comfortable calling and thought the host would return soon. They never did.
Afterward, we wrote to the host and explained about the dogs. The host’s response back was short and didn’t do much in the way of apologizing. Next, we asked for a refund for that lost night of sleep and the host said, no. Moving on, we wrote a review that was overall positive, but did mention the problem with the dogs and that this could be an issue for future guests.
That’s when things got out of control. The host then wrote an extremely negative and false review of us full of incendiary language. The host then contacted airbnb and complained about us. The host misrepresented everything and airbnb apologized to the host and seemed to take the host’s side. Why? Was it because the host was an established user and we were not? Was it because airbnb customer service did not bother to contact us or actually read all the emails? We reviewed and rated our experience with the host, we did not attack their reputation.
In this situation, airbnb is in a delicate position. Who is telling the truth? How do they determine what is correct? Are there guidelines published on the site? Most people wouldn’t think that Craigslist would be responsible for deals gone awry, but with airbnb it’s different. Why is that? Partly, it’s how they’ve marketed their service. They are trying to be a business. They want users to be safe and believe in the goodness of people.
In viewing their terms of service, it’s clear that the host violated them in their review of us. The terms clearly state that users will not post anything that is “(iii) is fraudulent, false, misleading or deceptive; (iv) is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, vulgar or offensive,” yet, where is the resolution in this? Airbnb still needs to make a judgement and take a side. They still need to listen to both parties involved.
It took multiple emails with the host to get them to change their review and that was only after we changed parts of our review. We didn’t delete our profile, because we felt users needed this information. However, what is a guest to do when a host attacks a guest’s reputation because they are upset with a review? How is that fair?
It’s been two days since we’ve contacted airbnb and this morning we received a coupon for our next booking and an apology that looks like a form letter for our negative experience. We are never using the service again and urging our friends not to use it. The emails with the host and false reviews sucked up precious time and energy. Airbnb is not a business; it’s a website with no control over its users.
Yes, we had horrible experiences with 2 bookings through Airbnb. We had the strange illusion that by booking through them we actually have some back up to rely on, some serious service. Isn’t that what’s the fee is about? But no! They failed before, during and after. Like failed to let us know of a last minute cancellation!! The very fact they enabled this cancellation is beyond me. We are still waiting for them to reply on our last email, from more than a week ago. They are trying to exhaust us into giving up.
DON’T book through AIBNB! Just avoid.
Sorry you had such a bad experience as well. We found the customer service to be extremely lacking and were ultimately let down and disgusted by the company. Hope you have some kind of positive resolution.
That stinks – I’ve had nothing but awesome experiences the many times I have used the site. Same goes with my friends.
Maybe you’ll give them another chance some day? I know I’ve met some awesome people and had really great experiences because of airbnb.
Looking at all the other reviews, it seems as though the negative experiences are pretty rare – of course they happen every now and then, but it’d be a shame to miss out on what the service has to offer…
Hi Jeff,
I fully expect there to be some bad experiences with people; however, you missed my point. What made the experience even worse, and what made us never want to use Airbnb again was the response we got from the company. They don’t seem to understand customer service and seem to have based their model on an overly idealistic, naive model.
On November 18th, Airbnb emailed me to address my concerns. It seems like maybe they are starting to realize their problems and want to stop bad press. If anything comes of it, I’ll let you know.
Hi Tim, I am not sure they have yet or if they ever will. I was shocked to find today that they removed my negative review of a host that put us throw hell for a month while trying to set ourselves up in a new country.
The host didn’t tell us that the apartment downstairs was undergoing pretty heavy construction, the noise was unbearable on many days, the dust and smells were worse. The hosts were unreachable and unresponsive. Then halfway through our stay the power company turned off all power to the flat because the host didn’t pay their bill, their solution to this after hours of trying to contact them was to steal electricity from the neighbor. After writing a negative review within the guidelines stated, the review was removed. Airbnb have not helped anyone but the host in this situation, as the paying party I feel Airbnb are really not customer friendly at all, and I feel sorry for the next person who will not be warned about this dodgy host.
My boyfriend and I just got back from New York last week and we had a horrible expeeience with airbnb and our host. We vane to a dirty apartment and no one was even there. When we complained about it to the host he didn’t care at all. When we contactet airbnb they wanted to help they said.. The situation got worse and we ended up getting kicked out by our host because we several times complained about it. It took airbnb 4 days out of our 12 days vacation to “help” us and they didn’t. Even though we Got kicked out and was left out in the streets they didn’t see that our host did anything wrong. We had taken photos, alot of photos as proof, videos, copy of text we got from our host (even a text where he kick us out), recorded phonecalls we had with our host and airbnb didn’t do anything about it. We called their emergency line but that didn’t make a difference. All we wanted was compensaion for what happend and for the treatment we got. We lost 4 days, a third part of our vacation, we spend Way more money on food. WHO would make food in a dirty apartment? When i kept on contacting airbnb they still didn’t help me and I just recieved an email from them where they write that they are removing me from their community!!! How Can that happen? Is that the Way they deal with complains and unhappy guests? We were told that we could move to a new place but we had to pay for it ourselves and they didn’t understand that we After 4 days just gave up! We didn’t want to spend our whole vacation dealing with this..
questions sent to airbnb, no response received
dear airbnb: please respond in writing
1 how does a potential guest find out how many guests a particular host has had?
2 how does a potential guest find out how many guests have written a review ?
2a what is the airbnb average?
3 how does a potential guest find out how many reviews have been deleted for a particular host ?
3a what is the airbnb average?
4. what is the policy for a registered guest getting a refund when a musty smell is encountered upon arrival which was not listed in the description?
We’ve just had our holiday accommodation cancelled at 4 days notice, Airbnbs response was ‘oh that cruddy, have $50 in a coupon’. SHOCKING lack of protection for holiday makers, i would NEVER advise anyone else to book with them, it’s little more than a man in the market with fake watches in his coat.
Sorry to hear that. It’s a very disappointing company that has marketed itself well.
I just had a similar experience. We booked a place in Paris several months in advance, and then while we were already on holiday (without a computer), we got a cancellation a week before we were to stay there. They offered a 20% extra amount for another place..but we had limited Internet connection, and you can imagine the options just days before arrival. In trying to contact them, the online service led to a drop down box with no options, and the phone line was always busy. An email has been unanswered. They really need to initiate a customer service department. When it is good it is very, very good. When it is bad, it is horrid.
Dear Ann, I`m really sorry that airbnb spoiled your Paris Holiday in the last second. As a Former Employee I warn everybody not to use the Services of Airbnb at all. There are other well established Holiday Websites like Expedia who are delighted to help Customers who are put in last Minute Misery. I can tell you that airbnb internally established 3 Customer Service Center (2 in the States and one in Cork/Ireland) dealing with Customer Queries around the clock. The Problem is that this 3 Customer Service Center are outsourcing companies who are dealing in behalf of airbnb which is ridiculous to deal in this way with Customers around the world. Airbnb was once a nice start-up company with a sense of `Family-Community` but during the Process establishing to a global Corporate this Company turned to the Evil side against his customers and employees for greed. I do my best to warn everybody not to use the service of Airbnb but my channels are limited and I would appreciate if everybody could spread the Word around trough the web as well trough newspapers and TV. It is ridicoulus that a Start-Up Company like Airbnb is treating their loyal custumers like Dogs**t in the Name of higher Profit
To commenters: If your comment attacks others, is insulting, or otherwise inappropriate, I will not publish it.
Airbnb has a big problem. Several, actually. I’ve tried to book a little cabin, a $400 deal. The company is paranoid; they obviously fear not collecting their cut and they also want to collect a lot more info on you than they need. They censor any contact between host and guest so severely you have no way to get detailed answers. A spelled number in an email is seen as a phone number and deleted. They bounce a booking attempt unless you go through some ridiculous phone number verification process, even though they have your name, address, full credit card data and payment in advance. They push Facebook at you, want you there too. This is data-mining as a compulsory scale, and I have no doubt they profit from it.
On the other hand, just try to contact them. I asked the prospective host for help and she sent back an email (through their system, there is no other way) with what was supposed to be the airbnb support number. They censored their own number out of that email too! What should be a 10 minute process has chewed up an afternoon and still failed to complete. Along with all the posts mentioning the quick removal of any negative reviews and other reports of hosts having trouble getting paid, I have to say that there are a lot of red flags about this company, and I wouldn’t trust them for a second. .
I’m currently stuck in a situation much worse than anything described here. My girlfriend and I moved to Paris for the fall and rented a long-term apartment through AirBnB. We had had nothing but good experiences with the company in the past. So we were more than excited to use AirBnB for a few months while we enjoyed our Parisian dream. But this week our dream turned into a nightmare. Two days ago, a terrible leak started to drip from the kitchen ceiling. Unable to find the source of the leak and not receiving any response from the upstairs neighbor, we quickly contacted the host to notify them of the situation and have them fix it. It took them 12 hours to come by to look at the problem, but they were unable to fix the leak or find the source. They said they would call a plumber and come back at 5PM. By 8PM we still had no word from the host. Meanwhile, the leak had become much worse, turning into a steady pour of water. While trying to cook myself dinner, I noticed that the plaster in the ceiling was starting to crack. Just as I backed away from the kitchen, the entire kitchen ceiling collapsed, nearly hitting me and sending large blocks of blaster falling accross the room. My dinner ended up flipping onto the walls. We immediately sent another message to the host demanding that they come over immediately to assess the damage. We received a reply from the host which read : “pack your things and leave!”, telliing us it couldn’t be that bad because “you are not dead or injured”, and chastizing us for not writing to her in proper French(!!!). We contacted AirBnB and have still yet to hear back from them. Eventually the boyfriend of the host came over but still had no idea what to do and said he couldn’t find a plumber… After he left for the second time, we watched us an entire layer of the upstairs ceiling collapse; bricks, concrete, and insulation with black mold piling on the floor and hanging from the ceiling. We told the host that we wanted to move out but they then told us that they would only pro-rate our refund for the month’s rent. This is ridiculous and we feel that we should receive the entire months rent back for the trouble of dealing with this situation and being treated like shit by the host. We are also still waiting to hear back from AirBnB. We asked them to put us up in a hotel or at least help us find a new flat to stay in, but so far no response. They receive 10% of the rental price anyway so this is as much on them as it is on the host. We are at a loss as to what to do…We don’t know many people in Paris and it is a terrible rental market to find new places at an affordable rate on such short notice. It’s pretty terrible. We are so dissapointed in AirBnB; we had great experiences using their service in the past and now they seem unable or unwilling to help us. I’m thinking of retaining the legal advice of a housing lawyer here in Paris to insure that we receive our entire month’s rent back and are properly compensated for our troubles, and loss of time and peace of mind.
Airbnb is a great idea, but I’m sure they’ll be victims of their own arrogance very soon. They don’t seem to grasp the fundamental concept of customer support at all, and since that’s all you’re actually paying fees for it’s only a matter of time before they lose too much business and go under. In my case, they refused to honour the terms of a booking that was cancelled. Consequently, I’m $700 out of pocket. Any adult, functional business would put that right without question – and not after 3 weeks of “looking into it”. There’s definitely space for someone else to do what they do much better in this new marketplace.
Hi iantea, sorry to hear about your bad experience with airbnb. As I stated, the Idea to share accommodation is good, but it works only in a small business concept where People already know each other or can recommend Guests and Hosts by friends. But airbnb `perverted`this great idea to go the way of a huge multinational corporate where Customers are treated like Numbers and during my work with airbnb at the Hub in Dublin I heard many times from the mid management that they `give a shit` about the problems customer facing each day something goes wrong. Why is this so? They get used hearing the same horror stories each day from customers and hosts, sometimes where also the police been involved. So they Senior Management developed a `Redneck` Mentality to cope with this issues, means, the bigger airbnb get, the smaller the possibilities for the customers (guests & hosts) to get their rights. airbnb become to huge to provide real cusotmer service
I am late to the party, but this literally just happened to me. I was hesitant to leave a bad review because I literally thought this exact thing would happen (she might retaliate with a bad review of me as a guest) but my friends thought it was my “duty” to other guests who might want to stay there. Well, guess what, she messaged me and said if I didn’t take it down she’d “have to do something about it” in my guest review. I didn’t respond right away, and she wrote a RANT about me and claims I stained her sheets? (With whaat? My period or something? Did I wet the bed? Like, are you kidding me?) and she had to throw them out after I slept in there. Yeah, okay. I showered the minute I got there and slept for about probably three hours, because that’s all I was able to get with her yapping on the phone at 3 in the morning.
I contacted AirBnB, and no response.
I am a host with airbnb and have had very good luck so far. I have read of some pretty bad stories from both sides of the aisle. I think it is important for people, when using this type of service to realize that a lot of the listings are not with owners of the property. the people who advertise are mostly renters which makes it so that most hosts have very little control if something were to go wrong.
It is eye opening hearing of your experiences and I truly wish you all the best.
Nuel
I have just lost over a thousand euros because of a dodgy Airbnb host in Paris. If you must use this site, make sure you choose somewhere that has lots of good reviews. You will have zero support from Airbnb if it goes wrong, and you could very easily lose money and find yourself on the street with nowhere to stay. Some people like it, but personally I will never use it again.
So I just had such a horrible experience with Airbnb (as a host actually) that I decided to make a site dedicated to getting their attention and demanding real change! I literally lost over $1,000 last month due to a BS guest claim and airbnb totally brushed me off even though I’ve been hosting on their site for 2 years with a perfect rating! So irritating! If you want to share your story (anonymously) and really get their attention, just go to http://www.AirbnbHell.com 🙂
Similar experience as a host which cost me £900. AirBnb have to take sides on host-guest disputes and have little depth on either. My guest had 10 amazing reviews for overnight stays as she travelled the globe: on her stay with me for a month she was disrespectful, damaged the flat and then flipped out early i.e. renegading on the contract. She had full support of AirBnb because of her supposedly strong profile based on short stay reviews, and AirBnb manufactured a scheme where claims on deposit due to damages were offset by the refund for her leaving early. AirBnb are a terrible experience.
I think they must be making some strides in customer service based on my very recent experience. I’m traveling in FL and decided to use the site to bounce around for two months, week by week, to escape the winter in the north this year. The second booking was an absolute nightmare – roaches, filth, mold, you name it, this place had it. I took 40+ pictures of all of the problems, contacted the host and informed her that I refused to stay there. Airbnb gives you 24 hours to report a problem (that’s in the email they send you about the booking reminder, but I couldn’t find that info in a prominent place on the site). I quickly filed a refund request for 90% of the booking with an outline of all the problems and the pictures attached. The host nearly instantly declined. At that point she got accusatory, profane and insulting, claiming I had met locals to stay with and was trying to weasel out of the booking. I immediately requested mediation/resolution by Airbnb and began the 5 business day wait. In the mean time I found another booking for the week, which ended positively. 3 days after requesting mediation an Airbnb rep refunded the entire booking, plus Airbnb fees, and provided a $100 coupon code on my next booking. I was not at all expecting to get my money back, especially due to the host’s strict policy. Maybe it was because I had so much evidence, but I had a very positive experience with customer service. However, now I’m trying to figure out if I can leave a truthful review without having to worry about a retaliatory review from the host.
I’m not a shill for the site and I’m a relatively new user. I think the lesson here is that you should always go to bat with evidence. We all have phones with cameras, use them!
Thanks, Andrew. It’s good to learn they’ve updated their process.
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Airbnb host ditching me and makes me wait in cold night in cannes till 12.30midnight.
He text me he left home and cant do anything and told me to call airbnb.
I have no phone credit and finding credit at midnight to call the us, is not possible and i spend a100 usd to call airbnb office.
After next 2hrs he came, no appologize and snobly argued.
He then told us water and all work fine. And he left. At 3am i finally can take shower but only cold water come out. He said use it tomorrow.
I told him to come in the morning he refuse and said he will come in the afternoon and open even if we are not there. Think, he want me to wait for not showering till afternoon and I cant go anywhere.
It is wasting my time and money. I decided to move as its already6 am and i still havent shower. Contacted the host and airbnb I need to leave. I even call airbnb office again. And i just need to make sure that i get my money partially refund.
Bet what none reply. Airbnb promised to call back at least 10 mins, but almost 12 hours none called.
And the hosts reply me after 2pm, saying i am imaginative.
I have had a terrible experience I booked a rather deluxe place for 200USD per night for 5 nights.
Since this is my first use of airbnb, I used it in a city and neighbourhood i lived in for 10 years. Actually now the building and neighbourhood were the apartment is. I also went to a more pricy place assuming there would be a real professionalism. I thought this would minimize any risks. Well that was wrong.
Arrived and no one to give me key. waited 3 hours – The host disappeared. Its 8pm and no response from AIrbnb or host.
This is my first time using airbnb will never use it again, they have 1000 USD of my money GOD
I will never use this again – obviously a rip off.
I have never had a worse experience with a company. Using Airbnb has proven to be a total nightmare. There was a legitimate issue of safety in a place that I stayed. Neighbors knocking on the door and asking us to bring fans down to a local restaurant. The place had different furniture and an entirely different bed from what was posted. Doors that we closed before bed were open when we woke up, meaning someone was in the house while we slept. I felt so unsafe that I left a day early. I contact them via email asking for help and telling them that I’m leaving immediately. No reply. Send another email the next day. No reply. Send another email the next day. No reply. Call, speak to a representative, who tells me that there’s nothing he can do over the phone, and that he’ll mark my email as urgent and that it will be answered that day. No email. Send another email the next day. No reply. Call again today, am on hold for 30 minutes, and when they finally answer, I tell them that I’m amazed at their lack of customer service. She tells me there’s nothing she can do over the phone, and that I’ll have to wait for an email. I ask to speak to her supervisor. I’m on hold for 10 minutes. She comes back and tells me there isn’t a supervisor at the office, and that I’ll have to wait for a call back. I don’t get very angry often, but wow. I am so frustrated that I cannot get any help whatsoever after 8 days of trying. How hard is it to return an email?!
I`m a former Employee of airbnb and I can warn everybody who likes to travel not to use `the service` of airbnb. I worked in the trust&safety Department of airbnb and checked new listings and hosts on a daily base. The interesting fact I approached there is the low security standards airbnb put on potential new hosts and jeopardize the safety of all guests. If you want to host airbnb guests you can grab any pictures from the internet like a nice five star villa or a beautiful castle and declare yourself as the `official owner` of this listing, you do not need to provide any form of ID or Proof of Ownership like a Utility bill of the listing. This means in fact that almost more than 50 Percent of the listings on airbnb are fake or put from drug dealers or other criminals to make `the easy money` with the dumb tourists. Trust&Safety just work this way, that they take a look on the Pictures of the listing and declare them as genuine or not. There is no background-check put in place what kind of host you can expect (even serial-killer or Drug Dealers could be hosts at airbnb) . And if the host need to provide a ID they can easely fool the automated security system by providing any kind of Photo ID, the automated system called Jumio accept even Library ID`s . I discussed this issue with my Manager who is responsible for the Security of the listings and he replied to me back that airbnb don`t want to put much restrains on new hosts to register with airbnb (!!!) Sorry, every banking institution or Gambling Website has better security measures in place to prevent Criminals to do their illegal activities but on airbnb every Criminal is warm welcomed to register as a host without hassle to be security checked. You don`t believe it? Try to register yourself at airbnb website as a host with any `funny Name` and put the `Oval Office` as your listing, you will be surprised how quick you are `approved` and go live with this `listing` . Sounds funny, but what will happen when a Hannibal Lecter will be the next host inviting guests to stay for Dinner or even worse. Welcome to airbnb
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Wow, interesting to see all these postings. I have decided not to use AirBnB anymore after reading this. I personally have not had any really bad experiences with AirBnB except I also noticed their customer service to be completely lacking when I tried to correct a reservation. I had a similar experience with TripAdvisor last year where I posted a largely negative review of one of their ‘preferred’ properties (e.g. someone who pays to advertise on TripAdvisor e.g. when you are looking for other properties in a similar area, a little suggestions box appears at the bottom for ‘book this property’…) Anyway, I wrote a negative review of this ‘preferred’ property it simply never posted online – vanished in their reviewals process without even telling me!! A few days later I went back to the website and discovered it was missing. I sent an email to Trip Advisor saying a review I had sent in had disappeared, and why hadn’t they published the review? I am a frequent reviewer (50+ reviews) on Trip Advisor and had never had a similar problem before… but I never got a response from Trip Advisor. So I tried to post the review again. Same thing!! It just vanished. So I contacted them again and said: hey, why won’t you let me review this property? I stayed at the property, I rarely post a negative review, my review is a fair, clearly written and not-defamatory – it simply stated my experience involving a manager’s gross abuse of a female staff member right in front of me. The third time I tried posting the review, it vanished again (and I complained again). Finally I got a form response from Trip Advisor saying I was not authorized to review this property. What the hell? Seems like Air BnB and Trip Advisor have become big business… so much for the concept of community ( ‘ask our community’ is exactly what is says on AirBnB when you try to contact customer service) – sounds more like big corporation to me.
Getting direct help from airbnb customer service is nearly impossible. i have a situation where both the host and i agree to a refund. he says it is posted to the resolutions page and when i go there, airbnb is telling me that i have no issue to resolve. i can find no way to get to an airbnb representative. $760 USD are at stake. i have used airbnb successfully on several occasions, but when it comes to assisting with problems, they are completely blind, deaf, and dumb.
Was looking up forums as I just had the following happen:
Booked a 2 bedroom Villa in Bali, where it is pretty much 85 – 90 degree year round (that is 30 – 32 celsius) that listed Air Conditioning as an amenity.
We show up and only 1 room actually has Air Conditioning and it’s sweltering.
We ask the host and they provide a “portable AC” which was worthless. Next day, they come onsite and install an actual AC in the second room about 6 hours after they said they would. Basically 1/2 our party is uncomfortable in their space due to heat or construction for 36 hours of our 48 hour stay. Kudos for the hosts for trying – but really, the listing was incorrect and then we had to deal with install during our stay.
We attempt to amicably resolve with hosts – they say it is fairly priced and don’t even address the 36 hour period.
We escalated and AirBnB came back saying it was our responsibility to inquire further with the host to find out if all rooms or just 1 room had AirCon in a listing that said that it offered AirCon. They totally blamed us, and from what I could tell, they did it because either A) the person reviewing the request is Spanish (like the AirBnB host) or B) the listing looks cool…ever used a wide angle lens? Ha ha ha…anyway, horrible, horrible customer service and the reasons they cited for siding with the guests didn’t even make sense – horrible! I will start posting them somewhere sometime soon.
I’m currently in the middle of a situation with an air bnb host who kicked me out an hour before the listed check out time to do an inspection, called me rude and fresh in her review, and accused me of stealing her towels. She’s currently escalated the situation to try to get me to pay her $30 for her “mid condition towels” and I wrote a thorough explanation of the situation in my review of her appartement, in my response to her review of me, and in reply to the email from the air bnb resolution center notifying me of the complaint. I attached a screenshot of our conversation over the air bnb messaging app. Other than my well documented and consistent story I don’t have any proof that I didn’t take the towels, that they were in fact never in the apartment. Do I have any chance of getting the review removed or will they take her word over mine and charge me $30? She has many reviews, mostly positive, but a few that were negative shared similar complaints. I only have a few reviews but they were all positive until this one.
Maybe someone else can offer advice. I haven’t used the service since my 2011 misadventure. I’ve since rented apartments and cabins through https://www.vrbo.com/ and https://www.homeaway.com/. Good luck. It’s very frustrating.
Yes, we have had similar issues and we picked a place with excellent reviews. It was advertised as quiet but the owner failed to mention construction work beginning at 7:30 right outside the window. We stayed for half the time and had to leave, we asked for some type of refund but the owner refused and told us a negative review would be for ‘not’ because she was selling the place. I went ahead and gave the review and she in return gave me a horrible review. It was exhuasting and petty dealing directly with owner and I will never again rent airbnb.