Airbnb reviews

I am new to airbnb and tried to book several apartments for my trip to DC. However, all the apartments ( i wrote to 5 hosts) declined my inquiry without even a message explaining why i was declined. I am assuming hosts saw that i had no reviews on the site since i am new to it and haven't stayed at any place yet and decided to decline. There is no way to start using this site if no one accepts my inquiries. I decided then to contact listings on flipkey instead and found a great apartment that responded quickly and i am now booked for my trip.

As a host, AirBnb will ruin your holidays.
Letting your place on AirBnb is a lot of stress before, during and after the guest(s) stayed at your place. It's a lot of stress before, because it's a huge amount of work to prepare your place. It's a lot of stress during, because you are away and guests always have questions and requests.It's a lot of stress after, because you worry about bad reviews that could hurt your popularity. Altogether, if you want to enjoy headache free holidays, don't let your place on AirBnb. If you really want to do it, hire a landlord or an agency, you won't regret it.

They sent duplicate tax forms for us to the IRS, so the IRS thinks we owe them twice as much as we do.
Airbnb has been totally unresponsive, giving us the runaround, and then dropping off the map.

What a shameful company you are. Between the legal problems we can get from using them, the risk of random people using and abusing your lovely home (as they have in the past), and then Airbnb making you pay DOUBLE the amount of taxes you owe because they screwed up is nuts. Stay away from these vipers. Their mishandling of this very serious matter was disgusting and legal action will be taken on our part.

Great experience. Had an issue with a host on my 2nd booking. Airbnb immediately intervened and made an honest and fair decision. Completely trustworthy company. Without them, I could have been scammed out of thousands of dollars!

On my second airbnb reservation my host cancelled. i learned that this is the hosts prerogative under their policies. Airbnb states that a refund to a credit card should take about 5 days. It took much longer: eight days until they documented my refund request and another eight days until it showed up as a refund on my credit card.

I booked an Airbnb experience, and Airbnb gave the host and I the wrong date and so charged me for the experience the week before it should have occurred. So now I am out $40 for the experience that never occured. There is no number to call Airbnb to talk to customer service on the site. I am now afraid that something will actually go wrong with the apartment I rented through them. I hope it is there when I arrive in Paris in a few days! Do not pay for any experiences on the site since they mislead you and charge you for experiences that never happen!

Beware of fees!!! Booked three nights and had to change reservation. Now, a $170 night reservation ($510) has cost $120 in AirBNB fees. Will never book through this agency again and will avoid hosts that utilize this service.

Our host Patrick was delightful. The rental was over the top, amenities provided were beyond expectations, Garden apartment in the Kenwood area of Minneapolis was a perfect location. We could walk or use public transportation along with our rental car. It was everything and more, especially paying attention to every detail. I would recommend anyone to stay at this location. Superb. Thanks you Patrick Porter. Sincerely, Brian, Jeff, Wayne, and Gary

My husband and I are long-time Airbnb hosts and have had, with one exception, only positive experiences as hosts. We've only been guests once, and that was somewhat negative.

I'd like to set the record straight regarding a number of complaints made by many on this review site. And then I'll offer my own positive/negative thoughts about Airbnb.

First, as a host I have spent countless hours answering questions from potential guests who DO NOT read the listings. If they'd only do that, they'd see that their questions are already answered. Yet over and over I have to repeat what I've already written in clear, precise English, with correct grammar and spelling, and with bulleted lists of the amenities offered.

Second, before posting a listing, the host must choose their own cancellation policy, from a choice of three. They range from a) allowing the guest to cancel at any time with a full refund (although I'm not certain if Airbnb charges some fee), to b) Moderate - the guest gets a refund if cancelled with five days of the arrival date, and finally c) Strict - there is no refund at all even if cancelled long before the date of arrival. Airbnb does not set the cancellation policy; the host does, and it would behoove any guest to check a host's cancellation policy BEFORE making the reservation. If you don't want to get stuck, don't reserve a place that has a strict cancellation policy. You can even set this as one of your search parameters, and you won't be shown those listings.

Some of the reviewers here obviously didn't bother to read or understand the cancellation policy of the particular accommodation they booked, and then faulted Airbnb for not returning their money. As I said, guests do not read the listings. They should.

2) Other reviewers complained about Airbnb not keeping calendars up to date. That is the full responsibility of the host. When a guest looks at a calendar for a place they're interested in, it will say clearly when the calendar was last updated. It is up to the guest to contact the host to determine if the required dates are available. Some hosts never bother to update their calendars. But that certainly isn't Airbnb's fault.

One reviewer urged guests to book a place that only has photographs done by official Airbnb photographers. That can be very misleading. I'm no photographer, but my unaltered photographs happened to come out great, so I did not use a photographer that Airbnb will supply free to hosts. And I included some long shots that give an idea of the relative space. However, our one rental experience DID use an Airbnb photographer. When we got to the apartment, it looked exactly like the photos, except for one minor detail: the apartment was a dollhouse version of the photos. The pro zoomed in on the sofa, then the kitchen, and finally the living room. There was no way of us knowing that all three were contained in one tiny space smaller than our bedroom closet. Nor did the photos, which showed a clean apartment, give us any hint of the grime imbedded on the windows and every surface that wasn't part of those photos! There was no long shot in the bathroom we couldn't tell that it wasn't big enough to lay the bath mat down flat. Claustrophobia was the name of that game.

After returning home, I wrote a balanced review of that place, with a few positive statements, but mostly negative. It was not removed, nor was another completely negative review that was posted after we'd booked it.

But I am no apologist for Airbnb, even though as hosts, the company has been mostly very good for us. Airbnb's non-existent customer service, lack of transparency, and inability to keep its website or app functional will be its undoing. It is disgraceful to have to hold the phone for up to 45 minutes before speaking to an untrained and powerless C.S. rep who has no answers and doesn't have a clue how to deal with anything. It is disgraceful that there is no way to escalate a question or problem to a supervisor, let alone anyone higher up the food chain. It is disgraceful that one has to spend half an hour before finding an email address or a phone number to reach a company whose business model is an online business only.

Our one bad experience as hosts concerned a threesome of Asian exchange students on Christmas break from a university in the midwest. I didn't realize that I could have set certain requirements for our guests in advance, because Airbnb didn't make this clear on their website until after we were in the throes of dealing with the problem. The three guests, due to limited English, misunderstood our listing and thought they were renting an unoccupied house, rather than our guest rooms. They expected us to hand over the keys and leave the house. They had been planning to sneak in four more people, plus their two unhousebroken puppies, which I had told them in advance they couldn't bring. We didn't learn this until the day after their arrival when, we found that the puppies had been left in their car overnight in the cold of winter. Second, when we called Airbnb to report them (they did bring in a fourth person - not part of the original rental - because they obviously couldn't leave HER in the car overnight), we were told that someone had just left a negative review of them. Seems they had come to us from another state (the first part of their midwinter party vacation), and totally trashed that house, leaving a trail of damage from the dogs and the seven people who were discovered occupying the place, which they had booked for three. They were supposed to stay in our home for a week, but mercifully they left as soon as we confronted them about the dogs. I guess they realized the jig was up and their plans had been thwarted. But they did manage to cancel the rest of their reservation and get a partial refund, much to our dismay. I added my own negative review to the previous host's, and they are both still there to this day, six months later. But, and this is a big but, I implored Airbnb to boot the girl who was the account holder of record off the site. These two negative reviews, and the damage they inflicted to the previous host, who lost a long-term rental from having to repair her house, should have been enough. But she's still there, and still able to cause nightmares to any host not savvy enough to read her reviews. This is a cautionary tale, and one of the many factors that I suspect will cause the downfall of Airbnb. When a company does not value customer service and the customers it serves, but values money above all else, it is doomed. Maybe later rather than sooner, but doomed nonetheless.

If you are one of the few who has read this to the end, I congratulate you. You're a rare breed, indeed!

I've had a decent experience with the site. I used it to find housing in Asia and it worked really well. I think it depends which city you're looking for. For example, in Berlin there are almost no listings and people want a lot of money to stay there. So it depends on how desirable the location is and what the level of inventory.

Used to love the Airbnb experience as a host until recently when I was enlightened with the real picture of the horrible customer service offered by this company.

Fully agreed with some of the comments given on this site - appalling customer service. One day out of the blue my account was disabled for no reason. I tried to call them to (1) understand what happened and (2) reinstate the listing as everyday of it not being active costs me reservations and $. Customer service line was always busy, and I ended up waiting on the phone for 30min for what must have been 10 calls to a US number within the course of 2 days (I am based in the UK). The reason why I had to call them 10 times is because half the time the person I was on the phone with was clueless about what was going on (more than one of them was adamant to me that my account was still up and running - and only after 10 minutes of closer look or so realised that actually yes it was disabled!). In addition, the whole process was hugely opaque - all they could do was to pass on your "case" to "a specialist department" to investigate. I never heard anything meaningful from this "specialist department" - they sent me back an email saying the account had been reinstated (without an explanation as to why it had happened in the first place) but when I checked it turned out it was still disabled. Appalled, I called back (and waited on the line for 30min again) to only find myself back in the original helpless explaining - waiting process. Nothing has been resolved or updated since.

Worst is the attitude of some of these call-centre people: When I expressed my concern that, because I can't even access my account and because the whole incident has been such a bad experience, I may consider delisting the place to avoid getting into the same trouble in the future, the lady on the line cheekily said "you don't have to stay with us - but if you cancel your future reservations we will charge you penalties". Helpful, isn't it? Considering I can't even *manage* my future reservations not being able to log into my profile. How am I to welcome my next guest in a few days when my account is disabled? Is it fair that they took down my business AND fine me for not being able to accommodate my guests?

But seriously, having thought about all the risks, the trouble of going through all of this again, and the appalling attitude of this company, the $200 cancellation penalty fee seems utterly small. I have decided that it's not worth it - so bye bye Airbnb, never again.

N.B. I am reading in this thread that many people have experienced abrupt and frequent cancellations from the hosts recently. I suppose those hosts may be going through the same thinking process as I am. Sorry guys but it's Airbnb who's screwing us all.

Having made some good experience with a wonderful apartment in Tel Aviv, I have the impression that airbnb is going down. Nothing works anymore, the hosts do not answer and the calendars are not reliable at all. It's a waist of time to try to get accommodation by airbnb. Better stay away :(

Their cancellation policy (which I mis-read) caused me to lose $100 for canceling a booking I made two months in advance. Other reviews I've read they've lost their deposit to fabricated damage claims by host.

DON'T BOOK UNLESS YOU ARE 1000% CERTAIN OF YOUR TRAVEL PLANS.

Atrocious and horribly slow phone and email support by inattentive and inarticulate customer service employees.


In my attempt to resolve a billing issue, which began on May 19th, and is still unresolved, I experienced numerous instances of 35 to 45 minute hold times to speak to a customer service representative, often followed by another 10 to 20 minutes on hold while they researched the problem.

I experienced numerous instances of emailing detailed information to customer service representative Garret who repeatedly ignored my specific requests for action to be taken on his part to resolve the situation expediently.

I have repeatedly requested he provided me with contact information for his supervisor which he still has not to this day.

In a phone call to a different customer service rep on May 28 or 29th I was promised a return call from a supervisor by the end of the day. As of this day, June 3, that has still not occurred.

I have spent three hours of my life attempting to resolve a situation that should have been resolved in less than 30 minutes. It remains unresolved as of today.

While I love the concept, and I've found some lovely homes and hosts, this is I classic case of growing too fast to provide quality customer service to the customers who have fueled your phenomenal growth.

I certainly love to be a host, but don't think it is worth for me to rent out there anymore. Just too many people do it now and prices dropped dramatically. Unless you rent out all the time there is no chance to get a good price for your rental. That said..it is safer than Craigslist.

Hello,
I'm replying to this forum Airbnb experience. I went to this site based on previous recommendations from friends to book a rental home in Italy. This was my first and only time booking on this service. I emailed several hosts to find out further information on variety of properties before I booked. I wanted to be sure of the location information and misc details that they listed on their homes. I received responses from everyone I contacted within 24 -48 hrs. I chose the property that I was planning to book, which looked amazing on the pictures, and a great price. Once I contacted the host, he replied back to me stating he was out of the country, and that I should contact his listing agent/consultant to find further details. He provided me with the email address which was "someones name@consultant-airbnb.com). I didn't think anything of it, and contacted this person to ask further details on the property and to confirm the dates I needed. I received a response very quickly with the airbnb logo in the email from that email, stating it was "team airbnb". He confirmed the dates availability and told me to go ahead book the reservation on the site, provide my cc info, and then he will send me a separate invoice for the confirmation with further details and instructions. I followed this email and booked on airbnb with my credit card. After the booking was complete, I received another email from airbnb stating the confirmation of the reservation, and that they would follow up with the host to confirm availability. I then received the email from "booking@airbnb" also with response and instructions, providing me with an invoice of the reservation. The email stated that they canceled my reservation, but not to worry, the property is still reserved for me, but since the owner doesn't take a cc, I need to pay in cash by wiring them the money to the agent that represents the property. The agent will hold on to the money until 24 hrs prior to us checking in. The instructions on the invoice gave all the bank information, along with a UK phone number to contact for any questions on how to wire the money. I also had to pay an additional $500 deposit on top of my rental. Total cost of the property rental including deposit was for $2729 (US $). I didn't wire the money right away, since I was traveling on business. I received an update email from "airbnb" stating that I needed to reserve the property within 24 hrs, and if didn't proceed with the wire, my reservation would be canceled. Being unfamiliar with this site, and the typical procedures, I got nervous, and didn't want to lose the property, so I proceeded to follow the instructions, even called the phone number provided to verify I was speaking with an airbnb agent in UK. He told me on the phone that he is an agent of Airbnb, and he works out of the UK office, even provided me with their location in CA. He reassured me that all will be ok, once they receive my wire, they will further confirm the reservation and I will also get the $500 deposit back once we check out.
Once the wire transfer was complete, I continued to correspond with the "agent" and gave him confirmation of the transfer. He said it usually takes 3-4 days, but he did email me back and was happy to see that it took less time then that.
Within a day of the completed wire funds, the listing "disappeared" from airbnb site, and I was no longer able to access the listing, nor the photos of the property. Also all my communication emails were not on the airbnb site with the host or his "agent" The only email that showed was the initial one that I was told to contact another email address. Also it did show the airbnb reservation as being "canceled".
This is where I started to get suspicious, and emailed the agent again, asking about why the reservation showed canceled? They responded with "not to worry" they are having issues w/their servers, and it will be fixed in the next few days but for me to be assured that they have my info and have my reservation booked.
At this point I started to get further leary, and researched further properties in Positano, and found the same exact photos of the property I booked on other sites. I of course got concerned, thinking that the home we rented was really not the home, and that the pics were being randomly copied and posted. At this point, I still thought that I had the home reserved, but was just thinking it was a different home than the photos posted. I contacted the "agent" as well as the host/owner on airbnb asking for the physical address of the property and asked them to email me pictures again. I received a response 2-3 days later with the property address, as well as additional photos of the property, again with their apologies for delay in replying as well as stating my reservation is still valid.
At this time, I started researching reviews online on airbnb in general and came onto tons of scam alerts, as well as exactly the same situations and previous scams that I went thru.
I did contact airbnb in CA immediately once I realized what was happening. I spoke two different times to 2 different official Airbnb customer service agents, who were very nice, apologetic and assured me that they will investigate further into the matter. Since this all transpired during a holiday weekend, it may take an extra day to get back to me. I filed a case/claim with airbnb on Saturday as an urgent claim. I received an automated email response giving me their anti trust/policies and scam alerts. This was not clearly stated on their site when I initially signed up for an account though.
In the meantime, I also contacted my US bank to do a wire recall to attempt to get my money back. I'm waiting now for further updates from my bank if they will be able to retrieve any of the funds from the UK banks. I'm also still waiting back from airbnb on my claim.

The long winded review, is hopefully a warning to all reading this, and first time users of airbnb, to not do what I did, and do not wire any funds. The emails are very deceptive, and they look very legit! They all have some form of airbnb in the emails, also copied all their logos, and really are professional. This to me looks like a sophisticated scam operation. I am extremely distraught that I fell for it.

If any one of you who is reading this, got your money back and was able to pursue this in legal matter, please please contact me. I would love to hear any feedback or advice on this.

thank you for reading!
Kira

I have been using Airbnb for a number of years and have never had a bad experience. I've booked 8 separate flats in London, one each in Yorkshire, Paris, Chicago, Pennsylvania, St. Lucia, and New York. I always exchange several messages with hosts and read between the lines in the reviews. Whenever I have had a question or require additional information, Airbnb representatives return my call or answer my emails in a timely fashion. My deposits have always been returned and, twice, I received $25 bonuses. Not a single host has complained about dishonest or disagreeable guests. In fact, several of the hosts have become friends. One make-up artist wouldn't let me leave the flat without doing my make-up. One host sent me to Wales, to stay in his flat without charge, and another took me to Italy, to stay with his mother in her villa. I'm 65 years old and don't enjoy the isolation of a hotel. This has been a blessing for me! Do your homework and you, too, will have a pleasant experience.

The booking experience through airbnb was the easy part... That's where it went downhill...
My sister and I used airbnb to rent (what appeared to be) a cute two bedroom, two bath place in the California wine country. In addition to the daily charge, we paid a cleaning fee. We arrived to a locked door, and no key where we were told it would be. The house not only looked as though it had not recently been cleaned, it looked like it was never cleaned. There was long expired milk in the fridge, filthy floors, broken fixtures, etc. I could go on and on. The place not only looked dirty, it smelled dirty. We swept the floors, dusted, cleaned baseboards and kitchen cabinet doors and counter tops, and washed the sheets before we dared to sleep in them. The interior looked nothing like the professionally taken photos in the listing. The most baffling thing of all is all of the positive reviews for the property! Not only do I not trust airbnb to honestly represent properties, I now know that they care nothing for the condition or cleanliness of them. I will NEVER use them again and would advise against it to anyone who asks!

So so disappointing! Needed housing for the month of may in NYC. First reservation taken and paid but three weeks before move in received a cancellation with no reason. Made a second reservation and also paid in full, just received an other automated cancellation again,, supposed to move in in 2 days. How can this be allowed. There is no accountability and no one to talk to and no cancellation reason given. This leaves me stranded in ny to start work on Monday. I can't believe a reputable place would allow this. I even had an appointment to meet a person to get set up in the room. Two days to find replacement housing. Bad bad business!!
Will NEVER consider using or recommending airbnb again.

I booked a place in New Orleans in october for a stay that would take place in december, everything was great, hosts were nice, house was true to pictures. A few days after getting home i received an email from AIRBNB saying they have released my $250 deposit and it would show up in my account within a week. I never received it so i contacted airbnb and they claimed that it should be there and this is now my banks problem. I contacted my bank who said this was airbnb's problem. When i contacted airbnb again they were apologetic and said that they themselves had contacted my bank and everything should be fine, of course it was not! My bank NEVER received anything from them! I told airbnb this and they sent me some letter that they apparently sent my bank saying that they have in fact allowed me to receive my deposit back, my bank said they would give me a temp amount until they got the proof from airbnb.
It is now APRIL! and i just got charged the original amount on my credit card again ($1620) which included the deposit!! because my bank never received proof that they were giving me back this deposit....i called airbnb to file a complaint and the guy i spoke with said hed have to send it to a different department because he cannot deal with something like this at his position and the department he's sending it to has NO PHONE NUMBER!!! NO PHONE NUMBER???!! A WELL KNOWN INTERNET BUSINESS COLLECTING PEOPLES MONEY AND THEY DONT HAVE A PHONE NUMBER?!? He claimed i will receive an email from them and i can tell them whats going on there...UM NO I DO NOT WANT TO TALK TO "A PERSON" VIA EMAIL, I WANT TO SPEAK TO AN ACTUAL PERSON AND FIND OUT WHERE MY $250 IS!!!! ....I DO NOT RECOMMEND AIRBNB!!! -TERRIBLE

We booked a place in Amsterdam with Airbnb. The place worked out fine but when it came to getting our deposit back which they assured us had been done a day after checking out it has been nothing but hassle. They charged my card the full amount and included the deposit and try telling me that they never charged the deposit to the card. My credit card company said they had to do a credit , they couldn't just cancel the part that was the deposit. I must of corresponded with 7 different customer service people who just did not get that concept. It's over 4 months and still not received the $300 deposit back to my card. They said someone of higher position would contact me and they never have. Not worth the hassle if you don't get the deposit back it makes it expensive not a good deal.

It seems to be a nice and quick bookong.
Owner contacted me I had to Phone.
So i phoned from europe to Vs Arkansas.
Did get a new phonenr from the manager.
The want to know if i do timeshare.
Manager could not find the reservation.
Give me a false email .
Next day airnb told me the house was not available
but looking on the site again it is still for rent.
Send airnb a mail wich they dont respond to.
Warned them for the person who is looking for victims that they can sell timeshare to.
So cost me like 20 dollar for phoning and no house,
Decided to not using airnb anymore because you can fall in to a scam.

AVOID this site as a guest or a host!!!
I recently started hosting and had bookings almost every night. After a month of having herds of strangers going through my flat, washing sheets, cleaning and waiting on them – I still haven’t had any payments released to me by Airbnb....
Many expensive calls to their US office later and talking to many totally incompetent members of staff all I have is assurances that they are dealing with the problem.
In the meantime, I am forced to cancel all the reservations I have through them, which means that some of my potential guests will have no place to sleep when they arrive to London.
I am fairly certain that nobody in Airbnb is going to help them, as in my experience “24/7” and "local contact number" are a myth - you can only really get to talk to a human on the US number, during US office hours, after 7-12 minutes of being kept on hold only to get to speak to some American kid who sounds a bit retarded.
Sorry guys. Good luck to everyone who decides to put their holiday and money into Airbnb hands…

First let me start out by saying my husband and I have been renting out home thru VRBO for over 10 years…By and large we have been pleased using their platform for renting our home. Any way we received an offer to add our home to AIRBNB.com for free… seemed like a good deal…. WRONG…. this platform and business model is terrible… FIRST and most importantly to all person advertising on AIRBNB.com chances are VERY good that their “host guarantee” does not cover apartments, villas and condos which make up 90% of the vacation rentals owned… this is buried in the fine print… this site is a scam… I am shutting down my site and want nothing to do with them… The whole idea of turning over your home to an unknown guest without first communicating with them is absurd. SECOND…they allow guests and OWNERS to cancel right up to the moment of arrival….can you believe that….YOU get NO money until guests have checked in…….absurd business model when you are dealing with your property …we are not the Holiday Inn. … right now we receive a deposit with the balance due 45 days prior to arrival. VRBO guarantees to the guest that the person renting on their site has been vetted and that they will receive their money back should there be a problem…AIRBNB…NOTHING… this web site is like I said a sham and at least a very poor business model…who the heck thought this one up….READ the fine print…..ALSO GUESTS beware…..airbnb.com adds a 12% commission that you pay….so you know that good deal you think you are getting….guess again….. stick to vrbo.com …. We pay to advertise but at least we get to talk with our guests and make our own financial arrangements with them… and guests are completely covered by VRBO… stay away from airbnb.com

Very Bad Customer Service! Never return the money even if it cancelled, everyone of them promised to give us a call back but unfortunately they are nothing but LIARS!

i have had an horrible experience with them. First I tried to book a room with my account and the night before it was canceled by airbnb without explanation leaving me and my husband with no where to stay. Also they triple charged his credit card which took so much hassling with them to get it back. Then they canceled my account with no explnation. Next My husband made his own private account and we tried to be a host. After 3 weeks of our listing not showing up and many calls and e mails to them with them saying they cant help us and would not tell us the problem they canceled his account without telling us why.
They are a horrible service center and I dont trust them at all.

First, the rules on the website pit renters against the hosts when there is any sort of problem. Second, Airbnb customer service is absurd; the people manning the phones don't know the rules of the site, don't know their way around the site, and simply read the rules back to you rather than trying to help. You can hear about 4 other conversations at the same time, and there is no supervisor on site. Escalations have to be referred to someone offsite via email. AVOID!

I rented a place at 10:40 at night, only to discover on the confirmation there was no parking which I need. Also - my fault for not reading more closely prior to booking - there was no coffee maker, internet, air conditioning. I canceled at 4 am the next morning. The reservation was for a future date - 3 1/2 months out.

My issue is that the reservation was on the books 6 hours for future date of 3 1/2 months but they kept 1/2 of the entire reservation money. Contacted Airbnb and they support the host in this thievery.

If they will steal from you in that way, I hate to think in what else they will do.

I just tried to book an air b and b condo in Toronto for a week next November. I exchanged a number of emails with the "host" who was really a real estate agent representing a number of properties. She was cryptic and rude in her replies but because the user reviews were positive and the location was great, I went ahead. Well, then I get a message from her that her "boss" told her she cannot accept a reservation so far in advance. How far in advance can she accept? 2 months! So there is no future planning allowed. Then I had to cancel the reservation because she didn't decline it officially. I will NEVER use them again. SCAM and RIP-OFF.

As a host on airbnb I can say - besides many site functionality problem, it is also a poor business model and bad operations. The site is poorly tested and malfunctions often. If not an ordinary booking taking place - any slight modification on the booking request throw the whole thing in disarray. The customer service is below the poor. To reach them by phone - impossible, by email - upto 48 hours, and then you will get a kid giving you a lecture on how to operate their site. Then, after 6-8 exchanges, when screenshot being sent to them to prove that the magic button they sending you to is not there, they will say "Ohhh" and send it to the technical guys to sort it out. And that is endless with them. They take a pose to get upset with you if you are upset with them. They are polite, but mostly incompetent and will never admit to the site's malfunctions. And, finally, they take a big advantage of charging travelers 100% upfront and holding their money sometimes 6 months or more! Money should work. I think they are working only for Airbnb and not for the host. They are doomed. They are living their heydays, but they will not survive - this business is being re-arnged under pressure from governments and many hosts are seeking better representations, while travelers looking for more security. Airbnb does not offer neither security for hosts, nor for travelers. Nor they offer a good and sound service for us - they take advantage of us, hosts. I don't feel that I got a good deal.

At start seems a outstanding website , from both host and guest.
After one year hosting I can tell "if something go wrong you f*kd as host and as guest"
The story is they take 10 % of all transaction, they deal very well whit it , but that`s all. No insurance, no support, no noting, guest in trouble left alone if there is problems. I been renting for one year, they ruined my life , I left my job believing to be able to make a living out of it, but one day my place disappear from the research , no more booking , I contacted them 3 time a day for one month , is impossible to talk to someone who does say more than "good morning , how I can help you?" ..." I am sorry to hear that..." , "I send already an email whit the highest priority".
Never been contacted back, no one know what did happen, sent endless email , always received the usual automatic reply , thanks for contact airbnb we will contact you as soon is possible .. bla bla blabla.." 2 month and not one human response.. , there is no offices there is no manager contact anywhere , is a "ghost" company to the point that a layer does not know how to suit them, and even if was able to do so it was pointless (according to him) .. to cut it short if you are a host don't relay on them.

I have been renting from airBNB quite a lot particularity on my trips to Lyon in France.
I have to say that airBNB doesn't seem to be a trustworthy organization. Their client service is nonexistent. NO mail or direct phone to contact them.
Every time they charge non authorized amounts in my credit card and I have to claim to no avail. Last time I had to request anti fraud services of amex. I do recommend you people to be very careful with this company in order to prevent fraud and rip-off. On top of that strange way of operating their fees are outrageous. A rip-off no doubt.
They don't have a mail for us to complaint but their address is:

Airbnb, Inc.
888 Brannan Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
USA
Registered at: State of Delaware, Department of State,
Division of Corporations Registry
number of registry : 4566980
Tax number: 26-3051428
Phone: 1- 415 728 000
or 855-424-7262 or maybe you can use the following: reply@e.airbnb.com

I have a continuing problem as a consequence of a reservation I made with airbnb. I wanted to inform potential users of this site of the difficulties I have had in resolving a problem i had. I booked two accommodations for six of us (three married couples) traveling to Ireland in late August 2014. Both of the reservations were accepted and I furnished payment for same in the amount of $2301.00 on November 15, 2013. I think that bound both Airbnb & me contractually. The reservations I paid for was for a trip we planned for August of 2014. I was informed it was “Company Policy” that trips had to be paid for when booked…even when that far in advance

On January 20, 2014, some two months later, I received an e-mail from the host of one of the accommodations through Airbnb, cancelling my confirmed and paid for accommodations in Dublin for Aug 28-30. She claimed some misunderstanding on the dates that I had requested. She suggested another property and even went so far as to ask the host of that property to hold the space for us. Upon investigation I found it to be unsuitable since it had only two bedrooms and a hide-a-bed.

Since then I have made numerous contacts withairbnb company by telephone and e-mail. The e-mails were always answered by an automated response that made vague (& unfulfilled) promises of resolution. My telephone contacts, when I was able to wait long enough to get through the queue, were equally unproductive. I was often told that “senior management” was working on a solution and I would hear from them soon. The latest contact I had with your company was with an employee named Mitzi on 2-14/14. She said that the company had issued a refund for the cancelled/paid for reservation. I checked my AMEX account and no refund from Airbnb was posted. The representative then said that an e-mail addressing the situation had been sent. To date I have received no such e-mail. I asked for a mailing address for your company. After checking with someone, Mitzi unbelievably stated that she could not give out the address and that I should Google it. I also told Mitzi that I was unable to respond to the automated e-mails sent by your company. Her answer was that I should change my browser… which I found an astonishing response to a customer service question.

Avoid - no safeguarding to hosts & poor customer support:
I am a host and listed my apartment. Very quickly it was generating enquiries.
Someone booked it, they wanted that day for a total of 4 nights. I followed all the procedures at Airbnb accepting the request. 4 hours later I met up with the guests and they moved in.
8 hours later I get an automated email from Airbnb saying the reservation has been cancelled by Airbnb as they believe this particular guest may be behaving fraudulently. Payment had also not gone through.
That left me with guests in my apartment on a cancelled reservation! I then emailed Airbnb basically asking for advice and what had gone wrong? I thought maybe it was just a mistake with credit card details or something?
I also raised a safety concern through the website again asking for details and advice.
The response to these was just an automated acknowledgement email with no other answers. Further to this, it is now 24 hours later and still Airbnb have not got back to me via either methods of communication.
The ironic thing is it says on their website in big letter that they have 24hours customer services?!!!
Whilst it isn’t there fault that the guest is possible fraudulent, they should of have contacted me much quicker via telephone rather than just an email at 5 in the morning the following day. They have cancelled the reservation which means you can no longer access any contact details of in fact correspondence of the guest. They should also verify the payment details of guests immediately when the reservation is accepted.
The result of all this was I had guests in my apartment that should not be there. I went round to see them and they fobbed me off. I asked for a cash payment and they hadn’t got any money. I had a ‘well built’ friend to hand and luckily they left peacefully!
If you use the website as a host, you take a big risk; the website does not support you if there are issues.

This is a scam to both renters and guests, and I would suggest that you keep away from using their services. Not only is it run by a computer with no humans in sight, not even a contact link NOR PHONE number in their website, but should you encounter problems with the reservation, you are on your own. They just simply dont give a damn, because they charge the traveller upfront, and then wash their hands of any issue that may arise. Also, they delay payments to the renter, if they ever pay, that is... Unfortunately, there is no other similar site, which should give you an idea of a great business model ran professionally and decently. AVOID AIRBNB AT ALL COSTS!!!!

I have been hosting now for about 9 months on airbnb with nothing but positive experiences; I have so far received just under $20,000 in income from a single apartment on airbnb alone. Some of the complaints here are fickle and/or knee jerk reactions to experiences that airbnb.com may not have been able to control. The verification system is actually quite reassuring, and it is up to the host/guest to make a judgment on a case-by-case basis. We have accepted some guests with no verifications whatsoever and we have still had no bad experiences or instances of fraud. There will always be fraudsters, especially on the internet, it is up to you to be vigilant in any of your interactions and transactions when doing business with anyone. There is a reason why airbnb urges you not to communicate outside of the website, and it is not just so they can secure their commission - it is for security. If someone asks to communicate outside the site I immediately flag them. I also read a review about receiving funds on weekends... if you have paypal you will receive the money about 24hours after check-in; if you are set up to receive your payments via bank account, then this is dependent on your bank being open on weekends, again something out of airbnb's control. Again, I have been nothing but pleased with this listing service... it's definitely the best I've encountered on the internet. HouseTrip also seems like a nice site, but it's not bringing in any $$ for us yet.

Beware! The "Street View" shown the web site is not the actual location of the apartment. Airbnb does not give you the address of the apartment until you have paid for your reservation. We made a 35 day reservation for an apartment in Lyon-France for June this year. Based on the information displayed on the Airbnb website, the apartment looked very nice and the street views showed that is was located in a very nice area. After we made payment, we got the address of the apartment. When I checked the address on Google Maps we I found out to our dismay that the building was located in a very narrow and dark street with bordered up store front and shuttered windows. The area did not look safe. Everything was covered in graffiti and the entrance was located across from a building where the trash cans were collected. We tried to cancel the reservation. So far Airbnb is unwilling to refund the money and we have contacted the credit card company to open a dispute with Airbnb.

I was recently scammed for over 1500 USD by a fraudulent posting for an apartment in London on the AIRBNB site. I share much of the blame for this as I went outside of the AIRBNB site to communicate with the prospective host. But I am not inexperienced with AIRBNB, nor do I consider myself uneducated when it comes to internet buying. However I felt safe with this prospective host and I feel that I felt safe communicating off-site with this host largely because of some conflicting policies and procedures that AIRBNB uses. I am concerned that AIRBNB has become successful enough to be targeted by sophisticated scam artists who mimic the AIRBNB website, language and page formatting. This included using the AIRBNB name in fraudulent email addresses and on fraudulent bank accounts. Unfortunately, at least in my experience, I don´t feel that AIRBNB is doing enough to police it´s site, and to provide a safe and trustworthy format for connecting hosts with guests. After more effort than I think appropriate in my circumstance, I finally was able to contact AIRBNB to first confirm that the reservation I thought I had made was fraudulent, and then secondly to lodge my complaint and concern over this event. The response I received in both cases expressed regret for my experience but was focused mainly on indemnifying AIRBNB from any responsibility. It is of course common in cases of fraud to blame the victim for lack of vigilance, but AIRBNB has been disturbingly uninterested in my experience, how I might have been led to feel safe with this posting, or how a multiple user might be confused by the policies of AIRBNB. At this point it is my feeling that prospective users of AIRBNB must be extremely cautious with any connections that are made through this site. Hopefully AIRBNB will place effort and resources into making their site safer for users. I have been a very happy user of their site and think that their business model is very interesting, but with their success comes the responsibility to be more proactive to protect users from site predators. It isn´t enough to claim to be a third party platform user anymore. They need to up their game when it comes to user trust and security.

We've used http://Airbnb.com over the years and the service matches travelers with BnB hosting owners - - worked really creat - - until this week. We attempted to book a visit with a host with which we have stayed twice previously. Now the site has as new feature - - User Verification ID. The concept is novel enough in that it attempts to match the traveler with at least two Social Media site (Facebook, LinkedIN, Google). We had our reservation cancelled because 1) we don't have Facebook or LinkedIN accounts, 2) don't have a webcam to create a personal video, and certainly would not provide any form of government id (driver's license or Passport).

http://Airbnb.com has fallen into the trap of believing that Social Media is truthful, useful and a meaningful means of identification. We are seniors and like to travel, even world wide. I am a retired professional programmer. There are many websites using Social Media for single-click login, but attempting to use it as a means of ID Verification is totally bogus. Our friend has lost a book, we will not use http://Airbnb.com again (too bad - has some nice listings).

You might have no concerns for privacy and use the Social Media frequently - - good for you, but for those that don't, the new policy of ID Verification is a nightmare.

AirBnB customer service does not protect its customers. My story is not the first nor will it be the last.

I stayed in an unacceptable hosting environment (there was no heat in sub-zero temperatures, in one of the coldest nights in history according to weather.com) and while AirBnB kindly refunded me, they also asked me to post a review of the host to "keep AirBnB honest."

I hesitated, as last time I posted a less-than-favorable review, the host retaliated and posted completely false and damaging things on my profile. I was able to get it removed by removing my original review, and I see the host continues to do the same things to anyone who makes any kind of complaint on her property.

However, the host seemed relatively nice/stable so I posted a fair but honest review of my experience. The host went nuts, calling me (as well as my friend who stayed with me) twice a day, harassing us to take the review down, and when I asked her to stop calling me, she sent me multiple messages via AirBnB, and even after AirBnB asked her to stop calling me, she continued to harass me.

She then went the extra mile and wrote a false, damaging, and defaming review on my profile. I contacted AirBnB and asked them to take action, or at least to remove the review on my page. They responded in a fairly sarcastic way, saying that while they were removing parts of MY review because it referenced some of the actions of the AirBnB staff (such as the fact that they gave me a refund), they would not remove any parts of the host's review. Nor were they taking any further action about the fact that this woman was harassing me-- so I'm guessing she will have free reign in the future to harass customers who don't completely agree with the substandard conditions of her property. They ended the email with a snarky "I'm sure you'll get great reviews in the future" and basically put the blame on my friend and I.

By the way, after some further research, I see that this host has done this with MULTIPLE people who wrote less than favorable reviews. She slandered them on their profile page in very similar language as on our page. So this is not a unique circumstance to us, yet AirBnB continues to allow her to do this.

The fact that I am being harassed because I posted a fair and balanced review outlining the facts of a host that offered an unacceptable hosting situation and AirBnB chooses to protect the host tells you all you need to know. Sure, if you are in a good situation with AirBnB, you'll be fine, but the minute you need protection, you are screwed. Don't bother. It is not worth the headache or money saved. I strongly recommend against using this service and will be sure to let everyone I know how unsafe this service is. You are putting yourself at a GREAT risk if you use this service.

Verified ID is a big joke. I don't have a Facebook page so nobody will rent to me. How does that make sense? They already verified my government-issued ID, e-mail, and phone number. Plus, I have a reference. Just because you have 800 friends on Facebook doesn't not make you a serial killer. E-mails to customer support have yet to be answered. I can't see this company lasting very long.

This was our first time booking through AirBnB. Everything was, to my relief, fine and the apartment was, for the most part, great. However, there was one negative incident where the cleaner came into our room to ask us when we were checking out a day before we were scheduled to do so. Even though the review I left on Air BnB was mainly positive, because I mentioned this one negative fact, the host told the Air BnB community we had left the apartment in a mess and we should not be rented to. Strange that we have never had such problems in any cities in the world for the last thirty years or so. I am considering taking legal action against the host for defamation of character. What I do know is that Air BnB clearly has unscrupulous people like this that do not take valid criticism in their stride. Instead they lie to an international community of people to say you left the apartment in a mess and did not treat it well when the exact opposite is true and when additional items were left there at our expense for future guests. I will not be using Air BnB again in a hurry - I am happy for people to reply with valid points to criticism but not with lies and slander. If there really had been such problems, why were we not contacted immediately? Why were these supposed issues only raised after my review.

If you are OK with staying in a place that is NOT a hotel when you travel, and you are OK with having conversations with your hosts about what to expect, etc, then this is the site for you. If you'd rather check in to an establishment with online reservations, a bellhop to handle your bags, etc, and limited other interaction, this is not the option you should choose. I have used airbnb.com successfully more than once, and each time I've met friendly hosts who understand how to help their clients. I've considered becoming a host myself, but in this case, it truly is that the customer's expectations seem to sometimes be higher than they should be. It's a new concept, and growing, but know what to expect before you make a reservation.

I am a host and have not received my payout from Airbnb. Airbnb is supposed to send the hosts payout 24 hours after a guest checks in. I had two guests check in to my house (my primary residence) on Sunday Jan. 5th. It is now Jan. 10th and I have still not received my payout. My guests are still in my house! Airbnb is holding the payment that they received from my guest of almost $1100.

I have called every day since Monday the 6th and have not heard back or received resolution from anyone at Airbnb. I'm a long time host and guest and this is how they treat me?!

Fake listing on this site. The scammer was registered as a homeowner and set up photographs of a property, etc. I was almost caught when asked to send a deposit. To long to try and tell what happened but eventually found that property didn't exist and was gone off the site

Best starter times are over! A lot of fake listings and airbnb doesn't care. Sometimes they find scammers take them off the website but don't warn you even if you had contact already. Please look out !
Do not expect any help from airbnb, if anything goes wrong. They don't feel resposible whatever goes wrong.
Don´t book here, it will cost a lot of money and the house you have booked will not exist.

I'm sorry for the problems other hosts have had with receiving payments, and how some guests complained their room wasn't up to cleanliness standards. THere is a way to post concerns on the site to alert future travelers. I am a host with six rooms available in my large home on Maui. I have a housekeeping staff that assure each room is spotless before a guest enters. I have been paid promptly by airbnb and I love that they handle the monetary conversions from the euro and send me a direct wire in US dollars. So many people have had great experiences with airbnb I want to add that it has been awesome for me and for my guests.

I hosted on airbnb for the first time.
The guest already stayed for 2 weeks and checked out but I still did not receive my payment.
I contacted them all they told me is to wait, wait and wait because of the one who wrote the payout for me misspelled my name so my bank could not accept it and already sent back.
So neglected, laziness stupidness of that person.
No apology.
Nothing.
Just wait wait wait.
Trust me no good on this website

Never use airbnb ever again.

Do not trust this company, as both a host and guest they are inexperienced in dealing with any issues.
The call center do not help and get you off the phone,they also give conflicting advice when issues arise.
They are not professional and I am out of pocket and had months of stress trying to deal with them.
They held my money for over a month as 'pending' with no explanation.
The company has no idea how to resolve issues legally or professionally therefore do not use!