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Airbnb's reputation is significantly marred by persistent complaints regarding its customer service and the quality of listings. Customers frequently express frustration over inadequate support, particularly in resolving issues related to cleanliness and safety at properties. Many report feeling unsafe or misled by inaccurate listings, leading to financial losses and dissatisfaction. Conversely, some users have had positive experiences with Airbnb Luxe, highlighting exceptional service and quality accommodations. Overall, while there are isolated instances of satisfaction, the overarching sentiment reflects a concerning trend of unreliable service and a lack of accountability towards both guests and hosts.
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Giving Airbnb 5 stars because I am impressed by how quickly they responded to 2 queries that I sent them recently regarding cancellation of my booking and request for full cash refund because of my flight being cancelled thanks to COVID-19. I imagined that it would be a headache because of the stories I had heard with other hotel and travel agents e.g. extremely slow or no replies at all. However, within 2 days of submitting my request for full cash refund together with the required documentation, I received Airbnb's replyRahim that I would be receiving full cash refund. The first time round when I contacted Airbnb to ask some questions, I received a helpful and pleasant reply in less than one day. Thank you and great job Airbnb! :)
Much like many of the others on this review site, I too had a trip planned to NYC July 2020. We have several of us who are now unemployed and are at high risk, but that doesn't phase any one at Airbnb and or the host who rent their houses out. My state has a mandatory 2 week quarantine if you travel to and or from NYC. I find it utterly appalling that during such a time as this when literally EVERYONE is having to make changes due to this crisis that a company such as AIRBNB would not accommodate everyone effected by this crisis. I will NEVER use them again. We have lost out on $1100. 00 which is very much needed at a time like this. I am very upset and frustrated with the lack of compromise and compassion AIRbnb has shown the people who bring in the money. AIRBNB if your reading you should be ashamed at your business practices.
I had a 3/28/2020 reservation for a place in Florida and due to the virus cancelled it on 3/12. The host assured me that I would get a full refund including the $40 service fee. They did not give it to me saying they are only honoring this for reservations that were canceled 3/14 or later; I argued that the state was locked down during my scheduled trip, but Airbnb said nope. They have lost a customer and I promise to continue to disparage them for the rest of time! That said, based on the rest of these reviews I do not expect them to make it out of this pandemic in once piece. What a terrible organization. I hope Karma gives them a nice kick in the $#*!.
I'm extremely disappointed in Airbnb and their response to COVID-19. My fiancé and I have had to cancel our original wedding and honeymoon plans due to the virus. We had booked our honeymoon with Airbnb and we're very excited. After we were forced to cancel our plans, and writing to Airbnb to ask for a refund, we were given no response and no refund back. We are both out of work due to the virus and need that money back to start our life together. We will not be booking Airbnb in the future, and will not suggest it to anyone else either.
If I could give you a negative rating I would. So many complaints of you not refunding people's money because they are unable to use their prebooked reservations due to COVID 19. This will be remembered by many of your FORMER customers after this is over. So I guess steal as much money as you can while you still have a business.
If I could give them a zero I would. Booked accommodation in India for April. The the virus came. Based on the hosts advice I moved the dates back only to be told because I did that no refund. I am not sure how they want me to get from Australia to India when both countries are on lockdown, I guess they want me to swim. The host is refusing to give me a refund and air b n b have been zero help. This was my first and will be my last experience with air b n b. I wish I had read all the poor reviews before I booked with them, lesson learned. Please learn from my experience and DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY, what a fraud.
At my recommendation my mom started hosting an Airbnb. The guest never paid for their reservation and Airbnb has not paid her for the stay. On top of that the guest caused almost $1000 worth of damage that AirBnb only paid about $250 towards. The rest they said they would not cover. On one reservation my mom lost the $830 they never paid her for the stay as well as $750 in damages. I'm very disappointed and will not be recommending to anyone else that they host on AirBnb. I have been a loyal Airbnb host, but it may be time to check out the competition.
Called to reserve a Home in St. George Utah for two nights and after it was booked found out that my card was overcharged, I called to cancel 15 minutes after placing the order and AIRBNB would not help me and the owner kept most of my money. Terrible customer service!
The host that I was dealing with was amazing. However, try to get a refund from Airbnb when you have to cancel due to COVID-19. At the time of cancellation I was not provide with a full refund option. Likely due to my cancellation happening before they set this up. However, they did give me a travel credit with an expiry date for next year. Now I don't want to deal with them again after all this. They stated the following "I apologize for the trouble this has caused you but in this case, the refund can no longer be reversed as this is a one time refund policy.
This may not be the resolution that you've expected but rest assured Airbnb is doing its best to be favorable for all cancellation due to pandemic crisis. Hoping for your understanding."
When I asked for this to be escalated the response was" I apologize but we are following the same tools and resources. We don't have any higher escalation aside from our department."
Can someone explain what department does not have a supervisor?
Will not use Airbnb again and will advise anyone the same.
We had several trips planned during the covid shutdown. All hotels have agreed to return the deposits. Airbnb international gave us full refunds on the stays we had there. Airbnb is giving us back the portion that was were paying to the hosts, but keeping their fees. Never, ever go with Airbnb again. Never.
We are trying to get a refund for an apartment in Jersey City [Mod 2bed Downtown Apt- mins to NYCPath! 1st Floor] from Samantha. We made a weeklong reservation and $410 deposit in mid February. When we realized the travel restrictions would prevent us from coming in mid March, we canceled. Since then Airbnb and Samantha have tossed us back and forth claiming it is the other one's responsibility. We have not been treated fairly and are out more than $400.
I would like to start off by saying that I spoke to an amazing customer service representative to file/escalate my complaint. However, my one good experience is shadowed by my very bad experiences. I had to cancel my reservation due to the emergence of Covid-19. I was super thankful that I did not have to put my health at risk because I fell under Airbnb's extenuating circumstances policy (or so I thought). I canceled around mid March and immediately contacted customer support via messaging (the method they recommended). I called a few days later after no response. To make a long story short, I found out early April that my case had been closed without me being aware (no one had ever contacted me after I messaged about my cancellation). Of course I reopened the case because Airbnb refunded me less than 8% of what I paid in total. I found out that their policy is extremely misleading to say the least. Every time I submitted evidence/documents, the requirements of what they needed changed. After 1 week of what was a short notice to retrieve a letter from my doctor during a pandemic, my assigned representative communicated that my case was going to be closed. I believe they tried to hurry and cancel my case as retaliation of me filing a BBB case against them. When I spoke on the phone with my Airbnb representative, he wouldn't let me talk at all and he was very rude. I kept requesting to speak to someone above him to leave a complaint and to communicate my case. He kept ignoring my request. Thankfully, my doctor was able to send me the letter that day and I submitted it and was able to get a refund. DO NOT USE AIRBNB or take careful caution if you do. It is a headache to deal with their customer service and you have to call continuously to get resolution. A friend warned me about them and I didn't think I would be affected by their money over people practices. I was wrong. I strongly recommend people try to get a doctor's letter if they are dealing with refusal of a refund from cancellations due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
We used Airbnb for the first time and booked a villa for 29/02/2020-14/03/2020 but due to the coronavirus we decided not to travel as our 3-year-old son had a slight cough and a cold and we were worried about him potentially catching it. So, we had to cancel like any loving and caring parent would to ensure our young child was not put at any unnecessary risk.
We asked our host if we could change the dates and got a flat NO, so as we did ask very late in the day we asked if we could be refunded half our money back he also said NO, this would have meant a refund of over £900 and the host got to keep over £900 for a villa we never stayed at. So, we raised a dispute with Airbnb, and they were not interested in the slightest which was a complete shock and even more so as the last day of our holiday fell one night short of their cut off period for automatic refunds. We only ever asked Airbnb for half our money back as we did decide to cancel but only due to very exceptional circumstances which the CORONAVIRUS is. Airbnb were not interested one little bit and did not take into consideration the health of a 3-year-old child comes first before anything. I WOULD NEVER USE AIRBNB AGAIN they were completely unhelpful in such a worrying and uncertain time and did not care at all about a young childs health.
Air bnb is choosing to keep people's money during a national pandemic. Even if the host agrees to a full refund, Airbnb is keeping hundreds of dollars as a service fee without apology. This is entirely unethical during such a time as this. I highly recommend you do not book thru Airbnb unless you want your money taken for nothing. Book directly thru the host or thru HomeAway and save money!
Air BnB is a terrible company. Even though they are allowing some cancellations due to Covid-19, they are not allowing others. It depends on the dates of your stay. You have no say. Plus, we booked a stay in Boston well before the virus. The property owners canceled it without warning leaving us without a room. Awful! You will fare much better booking with a legitimate hotel. You will have the ability to cancel or change and have a much better idea of what you will get. We booked our Boston stay to save money. It is totally not worth it. Skip Air BnB... stay in a well known hotel instead.
So I booked my reservation back in January and due to Covid-19 I have decided to cancel it. Now my check in wasn't until the middle of November so 7 months away from the check in date. This was costing me about $1100 originally. So having canceled they only are refunding me 50% of the cost because for a full refund you must cancel 48hrs after confirmation and 14 days before check in. Since it wasn't meeting both criteria I get only $600 back while they keep $500! 7 months is MORE than enough time to book someone else in the slot I had been in originally! I contacted both air bnb and my host and I'm basically being told it is my own fault at this rate. I would have better luck at a hotel to get my money back! NEVER using these people again this is an absolute joke!
Horrible experience trying to get a refund after it was promised and clearly qualified for extenuating circumstances policy during Covid19 in the epicenter of the pandemic (Seattle) at the time. Nothing left to do but dispute charges with credit card company. Good luck to anyone else in the same situation. I hope they don't try to charge the lost money to the hosts because they did not make or have any say over the policy change which promised full refunds to thousands of people which didn't materialize. Please do not take their answer to fight it out with the host. They're in a tough situation, too, not being able to get any bookings/income during this difficult time.
Air BnB would not allow us to write a negative review on our host which would display publicly, rather only a reply to her review of us, which is useless, as potential guests will be unable to view our review under the host's profile and will have no idea how unsafe this couple are. This was despite us having to call the police on our host Abbey Pettengell and her partner Graham of 118 Bamfords Road, Allandale, Governors Bay.
We have a 2 months reservation starting June 1st which is currently 1 day beyond what Airbnb covers as COVID-19 policy. Our host posted a very stringent cancellation policy which allows to be fully refunded only 48 hours after reserving. Airbnb is holding our money, not the host. However, Airbnb will NOT return your money unless the host cooperates, unless it falls within cancellation policy. Do not book with heavy cancellation policies if you cannot forsee the future. Airbnb will not back you up if you feel unsafe to travel.
I am the landlord of a house in Portugal. The tenant has been doing airbnb illegally and without authorisation for years. Airbnb refuses to remove the ad because they cannot read the tenancy agreement front page I sent to them. I also sent them the email to local authorities and tax entity. Airbnb is legally allowing someone advertising a room that is against the law. As a previous Airbnb customer I cannot see myself un
Answer: AirBnB is the worst. You might be able to go to the resolution centre, but previous posts are correct. Watch your money with them. Once they make an error it's hard to get it back. You may have to go through the credit card you charged it to and even then the dispute process might take awhile. Hopefully, you have other money to use in the mean time or the date of your trip is at least weeks out? They are asking you to "verify your ID" so they can gain access to your linked in, Facebook and google contacts. They say it's a security measure to protect you and everyone else but it's not. They are pirating your info. They take your contacts and use it as a marketing tool for themselves or sell the contacts to other distributors. It's very common with sites like this now. If you want to continue using AirBnB you have no choice unfortunately.
Answer: Being a host, I can say that when things are going good, all is great, but if something goes wrong, as a host, you will not get the support from Airbnb that is promised. They do not stand behind their hosts, I find they like to a facade that all is great in the land of Airbnb. I have cancelled my listing and will not deal with them anymore in the future.
Answer: As a host & licensed realtor with multiple properties in both Los Angeles & Las Vegas which I book directly and also have listed with multiple vacation rental agencies, SAVE YOURSELF TIME, MONEY & AGGRAVATION by booking either DIRECTLY with the host or through other REPUTABLE Agencies, such as Roomorama.
Answer: I haven't been a host, but would certainly recommend that you read ALL the reviews here before getting involved with Airbnb. I can't think of ANY business of ANY type I would patronize that got a 1.5 star rating after 382 reviews.
Answer: They offered $25 discount of next booking I just chose to go else where
Answer: You don't. The only thing that you can be sure of is that if you have a problem Airbnb will be unreachable. They hide from dissatisfied customers and hosts alike. You are taking big chances when you deal with them. The benefits just aren't worth the risks.
Answer: No, you would be lucky and have to fight to get a refund if you cancel 1 day after you make the reservation!
Answer: Hello, First, the credit card co. Needs to be notified and will refund the amount spent. In turn, the cc co. Will backcharge. Airbnb is notorious for these types transactions and should be shutdown. Your son has learned a business lesson... research a business prior to do business!
Answer: This is the root of my problem with AIRBNB. They do not check to see if a host can legitimately rent the place they are advertising. In my experience, the host cancelled 48 hours before, claimed she was going to be evicted if she rented to me. I was only 3000 miles from home. AIRBNB offered me a 10% discount to rebook another place. I did not and will not use them again.
Answer: Susan's answer is very thorough and I agree with her. Even more important when booking places outside your country of origin to ensure you don't get a flea pit. Also, always look at the reviews, they are very important. If there is a really bad review, don't stay there. You need to check the locations online as well. You don't want to be in a bad, dangerous area... this just happened to someone staying in Philadelphia. If you have a problem, the AirBnB website is useless. Google the AirBnB customer service number from your location. Renee
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