AirbnbReviews 2,101

I mistakenly reserved a studio property instead of a 2 bedroom. I cancelled the reservation within 5 minutes and contacted the host explaining my situation. The host never responded. When I received the cancellation confirmation I was completely astonished to see that I had been refunded $75 dollars out of the $1072 I had paid. I contacted customer service and was told that I would be assigned a specialist. Two days later I receive an email from Airbnb stating they would ask the host to reimburse me. I then receive an email asking if I wanted to rent a different property from the same host which I refused since I had already made other arrangements. Later that day I receive an email stating that the host, Maria has agreed to refund me 50% I am beyond angry! 50% for a five minute reservation? I have contacted my credit company to dispute the charges and also made a complaint to the BBB. What Scam artist!

We booked '2 bdrm apartment - 6 kilometres from city'. That's in Watson, ACT, Canberra. We asked for a discount on the $932 for 7 days as its 2 bedrooms and we only need one. They accepted this but the offer came back as $897 so I asked for a breakdown and I know Airbnb also adds their 8% fee. Then they offered $725 + the Airbnb fee which came to $812. The offer was to last until 9.58am on 8 April. However, the site would not allow me to book tonight and they claim someone else has booked the place. This is completely outside Airbnb's policy and shows a total disrespect for Airbnb clients and especially clients like us with a really good reputation. This is in stark contrast to other sites like Booking.com for example who always honour their booking agreements and provide certainty for their clients.

I was an airbnb host and I got a ahck of a problem with this useless bunch of idiots, I get a family that didn't followed at all the rule of the house, basically they should sleep in 2 rooms (2 parents with 3 children) and the children where not suppose to sleep alone, in 3 days this kids made over 15.000 THB (500 USD) of damages to my house including the total destruction of a ceiling and a ceiling fan (the same day of the check out) and they refused to pay for the damages. Airbnb claim to have an insurance in this cases but when I claim my rights first the suspend my account then when I asked to reactivate it they wrote me this email:

Hi xxxxxx

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,

Joey
www.airbnb.com/help

This is my reply:

So, you useless bunch of idiots, cancel my account and all my data that you got in you database or I'm going to press charges.

$#*! YOU

If you want to temporary rent an apartment as a tenant, beware of Airbnb: Airbnb is the most abusive system for you as a tenant and you can not make your vacation plans based on a deal with them. The facts are as follows: The landlord can cancel the deal at any time and the only commitment Airbnb has is to give you back your money for the rental that you had already paid 100% in advance and there is no compensation for the time ( may be weeks or months) that they have your money for free and for the trouble they cause you like having to star over looking for an apartment or worse as in my case having started my trip and getting notice on the way that my rental in Lima -Perú-that I had already paid for was cancelled and I had nowhere to stay. If the tenant cancels the deal damages to the owner on an unknown arbitrary bases will be established but if the owner cancels the deal no damages are considered. As you can see there are no equal parties when renting with AIRBNB.

My husband, 15-year-old granddaughter and myself had planned a trip to Europe in May/June.
On March >>>> the US State Department declared a Traveler Warning for Europe, specifying that terrorists were targeting US citizens overseas, further stating that mass transit and tourist sites were likely to be the areas attacked. For the State Dept. to issue such an alert (with specifics) the state dept. must certainly have gathered enough information to deem travel dangerous for US citizens.
Therefore, we felt we must cancel, especially since we were traveling with our granddaughter. We had made reservations in 5 Airbnb places. We were required to pay in full, and four of the five owners would only give a 50% refund no matter the circumstances. Airbnb service charges ranged from $32-78 per reservation, which added up to a total for the 5 reservations at $272, all nonrefundable. The total we lost from the owners added up to $1,116, for a grand total of $1,388.
We cancelled on 3/25/16 and our arrivals dates were 5/31,6/3,6/7,6/10, and 6/13, leaving the owners 10.5 to 13 weeks to rebook.
Despite what they advertise, there was no way to communicate with any one at Airbnb, as I tried for an entire afternoon.
We will certainly never use Airbnb again, and feel other potential customers should be aware of their policies. A big thanks to Booking.com for their policies, customer service and being available to communicate with customers!

When my friend and I arrived to a house we rented on Airbnb the back door had holes on the bottom and one of the living room windows was broken and replaced with a piece of Plexiglas that was kept in place with just a clip, there was a gap not securely sealed. On top of this a travel trailer backed up to the house with garbage and beers cans. There was a dump out back window and there was more. Now Airbnb did refund my money after I sent the pictures of the condition of the property however they allowed this host to repost her listing. We traveled 2700 miles only to have to scramble to try to find someplace to stay after seeing the condition of the "cozy 2 bedroom home" "feels like home". I sent an e-mail to Airbnb about my disappointment they allowed the host back on their site and there was no way for me to review this host because I cancelled the reservation. The host was Maria and is in the Fortuna Foothills (Yuma) Arizona.

We had spent a lot of time finding a place to stay in Chicago. The reality that we only have a few more spring break vacations before our kids are off to college. The day before we were to travel to Chicago, we received an email at 10 a.m. from the owner that our airbnb reservation had been cancelled due to "circumstances beyond his control." Apparently, the guests that stayed in condo before us burgled the other condos in the unit. Nice. Needless to say, there was nothing even close to what we had booked still available the day before we were to arrive. I realize this is a first-world problem, but these trips mean a lot to us as a family. I also realize that sometimes things do come up that truly are beyond people's control. However, I also expect people to make some sort of effort to make things right when these things do happen. The owner's response? "You can go to the airbnb site to find another listing. Sorry." We tried to email him and did not hear back until 7 that night. Airbnb contacted us a 9:30 that night saying they will get us our money back within 5 business days, but they would give us a coupon for $100 off our next airbnb stay. All I can say is you have many options as a consumer to find places to stay on vacation or other trips. I would strongly suggest you consider any option other than airbnb.

You really have watch yourself here! First non refundable cancellation, that alone should send bad vibes through your bones. Second, these owners are scam artist, these guys are in the electric and water business too. Don't expect to just pay the electric bill, they will charge you more, up to 3 times what the electric company charges. Water, maybe trash in some countries, expect to pay top dollar. So what seems like a good deal can cost more in the end than just paying for a motel. Plus you don't have some idiot trying to intimidate you and wreck your vacation, oh yea not good!

The airbnb strict cancellation policy makes no sense when booking many months to a year in advance, which one sometimes has to do. For example, to ensure lodging in Iceland, it is necessary to book a year in advance. A strict cancellation policy that requires the forfeiture of 50 percent of the amount paid if cancelled 6-12 months prior to arrival makes no sense. The strict cancellation policy should be re-defined to state that cancellations made prior to 6 months in advance will receive 100 percent refund--not 50 percent.
Also - it is impossible to get a question answered by the management/administration team. No phone numbers and no email addresses. Just an endless loop of Q&A - very frustrating.

Extremely frustrated and disappointed in #AirBnb. Due to a name mix-up and a mistake with the background check, they cancelled my reservation, deleted my account and have yet to refund my $400 that I already paid. There are a lot of Lori Stevens' in the world, and this one does not have a criminal record. All they need to do is cross reference SS# etc. I have opened a dispute with their background check company which will take 30 days to process and I have spent all morning on the phone. I know a lot of you like the company but I am not impressed.

Their app can't give fresh emails or booking request and even if I read an email the red thing is still up. I have to log into the site with a computer and mark read so the red numbers goes off.

As for the bnb itself Do NOT host for them unless if you have your landlord written agreement or you have HOA approval, lack of it you can get fine big time if you own and evict if you rent and once you get eviction in your credit you won't be able to get a place anywhere as it live in your credit for 10 years and bnb can't be anymore careless because they use hosts.

Also they have a total bias toward guests and have a department call trust and safety that never answer calls, they refuse to call, impose only to write and they write copy cat emails, almost like a robot. They never answer specific questions. The worse is, they don't have any departments above them, no manager nothing. I have hosted 40 of their guests and have 5 stars reviews all around and was called a superhost, all it took one lie form one guest who had no review and was a first time user, and they give full refund to the guest without my approval or even courtesy of email, even I have text from her who thanks me and she was happy and I'm the best, but one of those who go to store buy things use and then return to fetch refund and Airbnb never argue and always refund because they make the host pay and they just deduct it from my next booking. You can call and complain the neighbor make noise, the place didn't had tub and only shower or any lame excuse and they refund. All you need as a host to fall in one dishonest guest, bnb is with them at %100

If guest break or steal anything, as a host you are on your own. Basically they alway side with guest and abuse hosts. I stop hosting for them because I don't like their bias and lack of appreciation. But it's good to be guest because you can just go like that guest did to me sleep three nights for free and call and make up any lies and they refund you. So to hell with free rides and bnb. I switch back to get a Roommate and I can make more money with less work and hustle.

FOR HOMEOWNERS: AirBnB holds money for a long period of time. I have a guest staying at the property for 5 days already and I have not received AirBnB payment yet. They are claiming it will take up to 5 business days. So, don't count on the payment right away even if you are hard pressed to make a loan payment, HOA fee, etc.
Second, if guests cancel even after they check in and use your property spending there a few days with their dog, they may cancel any time if they find an excuse and you will lose all your money for the exception of the few days they stayed at the property.

I accepted 3 month reservation. My guest canceled because he found a cheaper place. He claim the property was not clean. I scrubbed it for 8 hours myself to be sure it is spottles. AirBnB cancelled my reservation and I lost 2 month and 25 days of rent. I turned down all my other prospective clients in order to accommodate this guest. Accept AirBnB reservation ONLY if you have no other choices and this is your last resort. Also, you don't get deposit if property is damaged. Don't count to recover any of the deposit. I had a group of people smoking pot at the property. It was devastating. My cleaning lady texted me that it was so bad, she could not clean there without all doors and windows open. We had to cancel next guests reservation because they were a family with small children. AirBnB gave us $20 for air freshener after a lengthy dispute.
Third, AirBnB charges hosts a processing fee of 3 to 4 % or higher depending on the transaction. They also charges guests a "service" fee.

FOR GUESTS: AirBnB charges outrageous guests fee. If you cancel you will not get your service fee back. Customer service is horrible. They used to be better when they were starting up. Now they are bigger than Choice Hotel Chain. I wonder if they go public as a company..

Than the guest.
Recently, I was looking for a place specifically in Scottsdale. I ended up 25 miles away on the other side of PHX. OK. I could have looked closer at the map, however I would still consider this a "bait and switch" tactic.
There's no direct way to speak to the owners prior to renting. It feels creepy and espionage like. Only through texts in which the phone number changes each text. It's hard to get a feel of a place or the owner without speaking at times.
Airbnb asked for your social security number in order to become a member. This is way out of line in this day and age. They aren't a bank or any other financial institution.

The apartment was advertised for $65/night. I ended up shelling out $93/night. More bait and switch.
It was hardly worth the $65.

In my future I'm boycotting the site.

http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/

Showed up during XMAS holiday to spend a few nights on this beautiful sail boat only to find the pictures were10 years old. Boat was dirty full of owners clothes and food after complaining they kept $400 dollars and threaten me with legal action if i continued to contact owner, phony reviews, phony pictures etc... AIRNBNB could care less even wrote to president with no response, and of course you can't get a bad review posted on their site SCAM

This has been the most frustrating experience I have ever had. Booked a reservation with Sussan, and then found out she was a fake. I guessed that the validation process with Air bnb is lacking. Then after couple of conversation with the friendly agents, they gave me a small additional credit, however i had to fork another $1098, to later find that Sherry has cancelled it in lieu of double booking. I have spent far too much time with this website, and can't afford to pay another grand to take the next option. This has been absolutely a horrible experience.