Sally M.

Just tried to book my first airbnb and it will be my last. I was trying to book an apartment in Long Beach, California where we will be visiting my daughter over the Holidays. I chose a place within a few blocks of her house ("Retro Retreat," host: Matthew). After jumping through a bunch of hoops, including identification verification, I paid the amount ($767) through PayPal and made a tentative reservation (their words). The next evening I get an email saying that they were going to "release' my payment because the owner, Matthew, hadn't responded within 24 hours. Huh? That's how they do business. The owner doesn't even have the common decency (or business sense) to give me a response, so I don't get to rent the place? (I'm wondering since in the "Tell us about yourself" spot on the application I mentioned we were retired, there was some possible ageism involved.) Oh! And the notice said that the "release of the deposit" won't show up for a week. Thank goodness I paid through PayPal and they hadn't deducted my money yet. And, we are flush enough that we could proceed to secure another place without having to wait for our money. I know that's not the case for everyone. I would steer very clear of airbnb -- their business methods, in my opinion, are very shady. I was hesitant to reserve the place anyway because one of the reviews said the apartment wasn't clean and noted hair in the bed, the toilet and the bathroom sink (ugh). I should have paid attention to my instincts. I found a great place just a couple of blocks away through VRBO. I've used them before with no problems and will never stray again!