AirbnbReviews 2,101

I have listed properties on airbnb for several years. My most recent guest trashed my house, broke dishes and glasses, smoked pot and cigarettes in the house and left ashes everywhere, left a blood-soaked towel, broke the handle off the shower. I have sent airbnb photos and documentation, but Airbnb has refused to compensate for any damages, even though they retained the "security deposit". I accepted this guest after seeing 5 star reviews, now I believe that airbnb removes negative reviews.

So I finally signed up for Airbnb because my family was gathering in NYC and I wanted a nice place near by. I went through the process of setting up an ID. Check. Then got to the ID verification. Makes sense. However, 1st it could not verify even though my info was in fact accurate. Finally resolved the site said the glitches were due to what they said was site server issues. Check. It then asked to check via access to either facebook, google or LikedIn as an additional verification. I thought ok that seems fair. Looked at what they wanted access to and know enough about data delivery and value of big data accumulation for investor valuations and saw they wanted access to my contacts. Bingo.
For those who do not know, there is no way that is of any verification or security value. That is simply a fake and ineffective excuse for a pure DATA grab. It is heavily frowned upon and there is a stark division between so Internet based companies that do this kind of data grab cloaked usually in security or verification and those who do not insist on getting access to contacts.
Let's be clear what that means and why it is such a NONO in the internet business etiquette. It is basically saying you have to give a 3rd party access to the contact info of a friend or business contact of yours WITHOUT their agreement. That is the ethical issue here.
So I paid for the place that said it was available. Hours later and only one day before I had to arrive, I get a note late at night saying the place was not in fact available so had no other options in time. Hotel started to seem really good...
Regardless of their current valuation as a company, these two points will eventually cause the company to lose market share. There is no need to require access to contacts. It's a fluff argument giving false sense of security. Second the turn around process is deeply flawed and unprofessional. I have used VRBO often and am used to professional and streamlined businesses in the hospitality sector and have even worked in it at one point and this was very unconvincing, arbitrary, open to total discrimination (other real issue), and in need of a real overhaul. Better models are sure to arrive soon. Let's hope.

Update: Just stayed at another awesome five star AirBnB. This stay was a week in the Netherlands. Amazing hosts, gorgeous big light airy loft with a kitchenette, dining space, balcony with cafe table, and a view from heaven! $90 a night. These were gold metal, top rated hosts, and they totally deserved their rating. I repeat: look for the raves reviews and ONLY book those hosts. ONLY
I spent two wonderful five day stays in Europe using AirBnB. Perfect places, awesome landlords, great experiences! After reading all these negative Nancy reviews I just had to put in my two cents worth here.
Simply put, this is all on you renters. You have the INTERNET. Awesome tool this thing. Use it and do your research. When you find a listing that interests you, for cripes sake read ALL the reviews. Judiciously. Bad reviews? Don't book. No reviews? Don't book! Google map the place. You can look at the street view and area. Safe? Dicey? Easy access to where you want to be? Consider those pictures on the web site. Gorgeous view? Old building? No lift?. Ok, you are looking at a 5 floor walk up with luggage. Know that. Does everyone rave about the landlord being helpful and available? Good sign. All five stars? Good sign. I've had nothing but wonderful experiences with AirBnB, but it isn't idiot proof, and of course nothing is perfect. Use your head and it can open the doors to some amazing adventures. I LOVED my experience, and my hosts. They all had numerous five star reviews. I gave them two more!

I rented a place in Addison, TX for 2-months. It looked nice on the site, but when I arrived it was anything but nice. The place was cluttered and full of the host's things. There was no closet space or place to hang any clothes. Additionally, the refrigerator was full/full of his perishable goods. Keep in mind that I booked the place for 2 months. The bathroom was not clean and the furniture was in bad shape. This was a complete misrepresentation. I left after 1 night. I then requested a refund. No problem I figured because this place was totally unacceptable and not as advertised. Think again. After about 10-days they came to a final decision that I would get back $729 out of $2499. I paid $1766 for a 1-night stay. I sent pictures and explained it all to 3 different people. This was a total ripoff and I will never use Airbnb again and will go out of my way to let people know in what poor regard they hold their customers.

I received this response after I complained (politely) about a booking glitch on the Airbnb website.

Vincent, Apr 24,10:29

Hi Jeff Krolick,

Thanks for reaching out.

We regret to inform you that we'll be unable to support your account moving forward, and have exercised our discretion under our Terms of Service to disable your account(s). This decision is irreversible and will affect any duplicated or future accounts.

Please understand that we are not obligated to provide an explanation for the action taken against your account. Furthermore, we are not liable to you in any way with respect to disabling or canceling your account. Airbnb reserves the right to make the final determination with respect to such matters, and this decision will not be reversed.

We'll contact you if anything changes in the future, but until then, we won't be able to assist you any further with your account issues. Please see our Help Center for further information: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/432.

Thanks,

Vincent
www.airbnb.com/help

We have a lady in our community hosting a air B&B in a community where it is not allowed, and also advertising our community amenities (Pool, Gym, Tennis Court, Play ground). The community's insurance does not cover these folks. Someday someone is going to get hurt, and the attorneys are going to drag it out and make a ton of $$.

If your in Melbourne Fl, don't stay at 1444 Hill Ave Melbourne Florida. Your not welcome.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/*******?s=s5eLAWbT

Air Bnb exist just to make money, once you're booked, you have no protection if the place is not what it said to be, they don't inspect these places, they don't work personally with owners. We stayed at three places, all filthy. I'm in london for cancer treatments and the place we got had mites and we all got infested, the landlord said it is our responsibility to keep things clean, how is that when we don't own the mice infested bed? This could cause my death to be honest. You are better off at a hotel where there is quality control. You get what you pay for, they're not exactly cheap anyway we just wanted a kitchen, a serviced apartment would be better, hard hard lesson learned. I would not recommend airbnb to my enemy. I won't even give airbnb one star, the worst company I know.

I planned to stay with Airbnb for 1 month after a transplant surgery. Unfortunately, my surgery was delayed for circumstances out of my control. I had agreed to the "long term" refund policy and was unable to get my money back from the host. Airbnb really worked with me and assisted me to get all my money back. They were compassionate and understanding. It is nice to know that good companies still exist when something like this occurs.

Airbnb does not appear to check even the most basic claims about properties, such as their location. I booked a "Cottage near beach" only to learn that it is a 45 minute walk from the beach (2.3 miles). Even though "misleading location" is a violation of the Airbnb terms of service, after submitting a claim, Airbnb did not respond, and neither did the host, who has demanded a $300 cancellation fee.

I have filed a dispute with my credit card company. I will never use Airbnb again.

I have to say I have never felt so let down. To be told whilst in Johannesburg, 2 days ahead of flying to Capetown that the accommodation that had been booked through Airbnb in Capetown was no longer available was less than ideal. With three children and being a country that you have never visited before this was a challenging situation.

No contact details to enable us to have a conversation just silence! Never use this company. Still waiting for a response and a refund of the bank charges for our bank transfer plus the returned money was sent back in Euros. Diabolical, complete scam. Don't use them, Found a great company that helped us in the end but wasted a whole day of our holiday trying to resolve the situation. Use a company called Capsol to book accommodation in Capetown. They were brilliant!

Airbnb has little quality control. Premises not clean either time. Linens and sheets almost clean. Most recent rental had a torn down motorcycle in the driveway, half eaten food in the refrigerator, clothes stuffed in closets almost 4 ft deep, no room for ours on shelves, hangers or drawers. One room had over 20 pairs of old shoes on a rack and smelled of BO. Carpets weren't clean or even vacuumed. When we complained to the host he asked if we understood Airbnb. We do now and will avoid future exposure to the aggravation.

Easily find every partially inhabitable apartment in major cities around the world. In London and New York, there are lots of Airbnb apartments that have problems (i. E., mold and no heat, respectively) that are serious enough that the owner doesn't want to live there and probably cannot sell it.

Customers should be aware of this risk. Because Airbnb customer services is basically nonexistent, or has no phone number, don't expect help with any problems in the apartments.

If Airbnb wants to keep its economics, it needs to deal with the apartments that are fraudulently promoted using its application. Users should require a bigger discount versus hotels to take the risk.

After having booked an entire house in Naples, FL a year in advance, when we arrived, there was no host in sight. Even though we had spoken at length a few days prior, when we would be there and how he would receive us. The "tropical paradise" looked like a dust bowl. The locked front door did not open with the given security code. No chance to reach the host. We were able to open the dead bolt through a doggie door (?!)
An elderly lady was sitting behind a huge fence (not on website). Decided this was not what we signed up for. Called Airbnb who was able to reach host. Host wanted to come with 4 screws and a piece of plywood. We declined and left, needed to find other lodging
In high season. It was 6pm at that point. Host would "work with us" and was "very sorry he
Was not there". End result: host has ignore us and refused to return our rental fee. Airbnb
"customer service" only sends standard notes (each time with a different advisor's name).
One cannot call or write Airbnb. Only respond when they call you or write you. But when they say "case closed", you are on your own. Not a company that will last in the long run.
Short term gains appears to be what they are after. Do not rent from Joseph Borremans
In Naples, FL. Since I was unable to post my review I wonder whether the ones that are
There are legitimate, since they are only super positive.

I stayed at two AirbnBs, one in London, the other Paris. The Paris apartment had an infestation of drain flies and we were unable to turn the kitchen faucet on. The couch was extremely dirty and two of the three bedrooms lacked privacy (both rooms had huge windows with no curtains and one of the two rooms didn't have a door). The London flat had a comforter and sheets and a mattress that smelled strongly of urine. We also were unable to take a proper shower because we couldn't regulate the temperature and the other bathroom had a tub and shower combo in which the owner removed the fixture needed to turn the shower on. Guess they didn't want us to use water. Also, the heat only came on when we weren't there.

I used this iPhone app and the desktop version. I needed a place to stay quickly, so I booked with 6 different hosts who all cancelled me or told me their place was not available on the day I chose, and yet AirBnb claimed it was for the day. The search is not accurate at all and it's frustrating.

All the hosts I spoke to also have a very long response time so if you need a reply within a few hours, you could forget it. I tried booking in Brooklyn (New York City) and had horrible experiences such as this. The first host I spoke to told me her apartment isn't available on the day I chose (yet the reservation still went through). She told me to cancel the reservation and so I did, and was basically taken a $7 cleaning fee that was not returned to me, despite not stepping a single foot in the apartment at all. I'm new to AirBnb and I felt scammed considering the website FAQs claims the cleaning fee is refundable.

The other hosts tells me their apartment is booked despite being available on the website. At this rate, I was going to simply pay $20 more to stay at a hotel, but I wanted a kitchen too. I would never use this service again. I was browsing for an entire day just to find a place to stay and still got nowhere.

The app is also really buggy and constantly asks for me to verify my ID. Apparently, a state ID is not enough and they ask for a social network page of you and I don't use any social networks. When the host denied me reservation, I felt like I basically gave out personal information for nothing. The app consistently makes me book the wrong dates or guests too.

I hosted a guest in my home just recently. The guest showed up (with an unauthorized guest) and immediately began kicking my dogs, and it went down hill from there (idols, uncleanliness, and using my home as a sexual immoral would use a motel). Long story short, it was a terrible, stressful experience. I was able to get these people out of my home; however, horrible guests do not have to leave. Please know that when you are opening your home to these type arrangements, you are taking a huge risk. It is not Airbnb's policies that govern the arrangement, but the STATE LAWS in which you live.