AirbnbReviews 2,101

I booked an apartment in Boston for 4 nights and paid with paypal bank account. The host rejected my request because he prefered someone with a week stay. My money was refunded less $40 of Airbnb booking fee. I tried to call them for full refund since it was not my fault to cancel the deal. Could not get hold of any one. Email was never replied. They made it very differcult for customer to reach them. Will avoid to use it in the future! :(

No question, I had a horrible experience. I was looking forward to my annual vacation (3-4 days). My child got very sick a couple days before our vacation and our pet too!
We couldn't travel. I called the Airbnb host who couldn't care less.
As for Airbnb, the agent pretended to care and assured me that she would issue a full refund due to my extreme circumstances.
I provided proof of my hardship (as required) and I got very little money back.
Apparently I would have needed a war or an earthquake to get a full refund.
Do not use, please do not use. They will suck the money out of you!

I have used airbnb in a couple of different countries and several places in the US. It runs about a 50% "ok" experience and the rest are nightmares! This last trip was the final straw! I ended up paying TWICE for a BASEMENT "closet" that was passed off as an "apartment" in Boise, ID. When I finally tracked down a number to call airbnb (I had to google it and find it through gethuman.com) they basically said, "Too bad".

I have cancelled my account with airbnb and strongly urge that you find another way to find a place to stay!

I know they try to keep bad reviews off their site. A place in Vienna where I stayed was noisy, stank of stale cigarettes, and had no curtains. When I complained the owner offered 10% back if I left immediately. When I refused he called the police. AIRBNB cancelled it so I could not review it. Another place in Paris was even worse but I couldn't find anywhere else so I stuck it out for a week. All the reviews were glowing for this place but my review never made it on the site. Very suspicious.

Horrible is the best way to sum up my experience. I trusted that reviews on that site to book my family vacation and our expereince was terrible and we were trapped in South Padre in a condo with more problems that it is worth to list and mean staff that had no customer service training. I will NEVER book with Airbnb again PLEASE do not trust the reviews they are NOT accurate and if you have problems social media is your only way to respond.

Website is riddled with viruses: Past 6 days have daily tried to reserve with no success: Verification required: I verified 3 times over 3 days & site does not register verification: Airbnb sought different verification information: Highly suspicious why this is happening: site not capable of making reservations over 27 days: reached an agreed rental amount with owner which was less than advertised & Airbnb site not capable of making changes to advertised rate: leaves you unable to reserve or pay for accommadation: paypal link on website suddenly worked & when opened PayPal Airbnb took $ which I did not authorise: Airbnb denied: have logged dispute with PayPal- Airbnb admitted they took nightly rate & will take 7 business days to pay back: Airbnb asked for a new email address?

First off had a place booked for a stag party in Colombia, which was all approved and great. Until suddenly one day the listing was taken off their website and we had not been contacted to say it was. When we contacted the letter, he said he'd withdrawn their property over a payment dispute with AirBnB. If not for our research we would have just continued to rock up overseas to nowhere to stay and none of our money back.

We were told we had to wait until AirBnB contacted the letter to get our deposit back, as if we were to cancel ourselves we would only receive 50% of our deposit back. This all happened 1 WEEK prior to travelling overseas. Slow email service meant we called and were forwarded to their Sydney office, where the girl behind the phone marked the email as urgent. 3 days went past and still nothing, We called again. Finally the letter gave us our deposit back and we transferred to another booking. We tried to deposit to another booking but due to a really buggy website, it would not. We had to get another person to sign up and book it in their name, which was accepted.

This booking was deemed all fine until the day we actually rocked up. We had paid for the entire property for the 15 of us but the owner was adamant that he needed "somebody" there 24/7 to deal with anything should it go wrong. We then argued that wasn't part of the deal as we had rented out the place privately, meaning we would have it to ourselves. The owner begrudgingly agreed. For the 3 days we were there we felt like nothing but a burden to the owner. Which was not how we all wanted to start our trip.

Case in point, do not use AirBnB. They have the worst email response time, they don't seem to pay their letters properly, their website is so buggy you can't get anything done, and they don't seem to properly screen their letters. Worst website I have ever used. Stick to Hotel comparison websites.

I think Airbnb can thank the medias that overrate Airbnb. In real life, many hosts aren't professionals. Airbnb makes you believe that the services of those amateur hosts is like hotels but that's not the case. We cannot consider that professional rentals and airbnb's are the samel. Many people who use airbnb must be aware of that. When a host wants you to change your arrival date. When they charge you a fee when you arrive late, we see a type of service that we never saw before. Plus, there is the same issue as for shared accommodation when you decide to rent a room. There are so many things that can go wrong due to host culture, habits, disease... For instance, you may go to a house where hosts smoke or get up at 5am in the morning or listen to music late... etc. Etc...
Also, many airBnB are overprived for what it is. For instance, in Eastern Europe, many airbnb host offers are overpriced. They think that since customers are German, Austrian, French, British or American they can increase their prices. When the rent for a week in Slovenia is twice the average local monthly income, you understand there is a problem somewhere.
I only use airbnb for short term accommodation but still it may take a lot of time for me to select the right places and avoid traps.

We had been travelling for 4 months and used airbnb often but then we had an issue with a place we rented. It was in a very poor state and we had been misinformed about particulars regarding the property that we wanted clarified before we moved in. It went to the resolution centre where we had six different case managers from all different countries handling the issue over 24 hours. This happens as they go off duty and hand the case onto another case manager. We were told absolutely conflicting advice and in the end it was a shamble and very stressful as it appeared we had nowhere to stay. It seems as though the case managers go to the text book and cut and paste standard rhetoric that does not always suit the bill.

It used to be a kind community now it is full of arrogant and rude agents.
1 - protection plan and insurance towards hosts is a big illusion
2 - very unsafe and wont care if your house get damaged
3 - wont offer possibilities to improve
4 - people are lazy and dirty so dont expect them to clean ever
5 - some agents will tell you airbnb is a hotel service and thats how guests will take it
6 - their insurance is a lovely decoration to attract customers
7 - people will trash your house and they wont care as they have the most uncaring policy ever
8 - you talk to one supervisor and then you talk to another and you will get 2 differents stories
9 - a guest can send a complain with random pix and they will trust the guest but if you are a host you can dream
10 - many guests will complain straight to their resolution center and after staying the full booking just so they can get money back.
And will do behind your

Lots of security issues on the backend side when I was trying to figure out why the site wasn't allowing me to book. As a web programmer, this site is the most fragile, unsecure site I have seen. It needs a lot of work; do not put your personal information in there!

No customer service, they try to use their community members to answer questions and no one knows anything. I ended up trying to book a place for the past 3 hours with no luck, regardless of browser or various techniques.

Airbnb customer service is no existent. We recently booked an apartment in Rome and had an issue with one of the locks in the bathroom. Our seven year daughter was stuck in the tiny bathroom and began to panic to be broke the lock/door to get her out because on our first night we had a terrible response time from the host regarding issues with the key. Airbnb reviewed both sides and determined we should pay for the door and that was the final decision made by them. We tried to contact customer service and were unable to get any actual help. After reading through their small print (which we should done first) everything is geared to protect Airbnb and the host. Does Airbnb not understand that without guest/customers their business would not exist?! There was nothing fair about the final decision they made, Airbnb really just took the host side and never really heard our side of the situation. We will never use Airbnb and we will make sure we tell as many people as possible to beware of Airbnb.

Why would we pay for a booking without speaking with the hotelier/proprietor? Airbnb blocks every attempt to communicate outside of the site so it is impossible to speak with the host. Speaking goes some way to reassuring the guest of authenticity. Who would be prepared to pay for something only to find out it wasn't what they thought plus their refund policy is entirely in favour of the host and clearly and amazingly states; you may, or may not, get your money back...

I was referring Airbnb to people regularly until one of the hosts decided to pull a scam. They advertise a great apartment, then when you request it they accept, but then tell you it is not available and offer you another less desirable location. They will not cancel your reservation, and you remain on the hook for the reservation cost as long as they do not cancel.
Call Airbnb, and thought the situation was a no-brainer. All the communications was on their website and they read it. They offered to assign me someone to "help me" resolve the situation (remember with a scam artist host of theirs) To add insult to injury, the person who will do that will not be available for few days and until then, i am in limbo.
Good luck future Airbnb users.
What a shame. Such a great model, having such a poor customer service process!

I'm an international student from the UK, but my family is originally from Iran. I'm studying in Tallahassee, Florida. My dad wanted to come and visit me, he lives in Sweden. I recommended he try out Airbnb because he's kind of stingy haha, and hotels here can be expensive. So I helped him find a couple called Scott and Cindy who seemed nice. He contacted them, told them he is travelling from Sweden. But he has a very middle eastern name, and they asked him about it. He told them he's originally from Iran and they said they'd have to think about letting him stay with them. I'm very offended on his behalf, they are basically judging him and his character because of where he was born. It's very offensive. He eventually found somewhere else to book so all if fine but I needed to vent.

Airbnb was like: Too much money and time? Then we can help. We allow our hosts to cancel your reservation at any time, with or without a reason. No penalties or bad reviews. Just keep searching and we will give you 10 buck off for your next booking. But there is a catch, next host can also cancel your reservation at any time, with or without a reason.We will be laughing at you because you actually fall for that again.

I was like: Thank you Airbnb allow my host cancel my Madrid reservation the last day before i arrive so I can book a last minute, overprice, faraway location hotel. Now i will have less money and time for the nice wine and the nightlife in Spain(thank you for caring my health and safety too).

All jokes aside. Bring a sleeping bag if you plan to book with airbnb because there is no guarantee you will secure your place even you pay full amount and may end up homeless in different country.

I agree with another reviewer. I gave my social security number, my home address, phone number and answered security questions. Then they said I wasn't "verified" and they cancelled my reservation. I had to wait on the phone for 20 minutes to talk to customer service person - they told me to scan my driver's license and send it to them. I don't have a scanner. Then they asked me to make a video and send it to them so they could review it! I gave up. Sorry for the host. He seemed like a great guy.