Airbnb.ca

6 June 2022

Egypt Airbnb treatment

This business establishment does not even deserve one star. My brother and I reserved this Airbnb in Egypt for 2 weeks. Upon checking in I took photos of the room, there was dust and trash in the closet, toilet was dirty and worst of all the pillows were so dirty and stained. After two weeks stay, I informed owner that I would be checking out early in the morning to catch a flight which was around 3am, and that the other people they will be leaving around 10 am because check out was at 1100 am which he agreed. Then around 3am on the day I was to leave he came by and said that everyone had to leave when I leave This included my brother 2 children and a woman with health problems. They had to wait in the street at 3:30 a.m. for a taxi to pick them up. I told Airbnb all that they didn't want hear it. That was the worst treatment for guest at an Airbnb

I cannot express just how appalled and disgusted I am by the sheer incompetence and disregard for customers displayed by Airbnb and its hosts. My recent experience with Airbnb and their host Doris ( property name: Richmond center, Skytrain upstairs) have me stranded, distressed, and furious, and I must share this horrific experience with the world.

I had a confirmed reservation for a vacation in Vancouver for 1 night only, and I was looking forward to a fantastic stay. However, out of nowhere, the Airbnb host decided to cancel my reservation at the very last minute. No advance and reasonable prior notice with explanations, no warnings – just a cold and heartless cancellation last minute.

This cancellation put me in an impossible situation. With very few options left, I have no choice but to book an alternative hotel, but I found the cost astronomical at $820 per night! ( while my booking with Airbnb host was for $291.33) and I'm financially drained and can't afford that and my vacation was tarnished beyond repair.

What's even more outrageous is Airbnb's response to this situation. They claim to be a reliable platform, but their support team is utterly incompetent especially Karen. They promised a refund for my reservation, but it will take a ridiculous 15 calendar days to process. Meanwhile, I'm left high and dry with the financial burden and emotional distress caused by their unprofessional host!

It's beyond belief that Airbnb allows such amateurish hosts on their platform. The lack of accountability and support for customers is mind-boggling. I'm utterly shocked and appalled that they have no qualms about putting their customers through such turmoil.

My advice to anyone considering using Airbnb Canada: DONT! It's not worth the risk, the stress, or the financial burden. They've lost a loyal customer, and I intend to pursue legal action against both Airbnb and the irresponsible host for the damages they've caused me.

This experience has been an absolute nightmare! And I will never trust Airbnb again. Save yourself the trouble and steer clear of this unreliable platform at all costs!

I reserved a house for a month for 950.00 I spoke with the owner (Host) and found out that the room he had listed was no longer available because he was moving back in his house. He offered me the apartment he was moving out of and I declined and canceled my reservation. 2 weeks later the charged my credit card for $950.00 They paid the owner who took the money knowing I never spent one night in his place. The owner said tough $#*! - air B n B paid me - go after them.
Air B n B says go after the owner.

I had to pay $950.00 and never spent one night in the place
I have been scammed

Now, planning a trip to the sea in advance, I suddenly remembered that I had not written a review about the site that shook my nerves last year and this site is Airbnb. I came across this site last year before my trip. Navigation on the site is very simple and you can easily find a suitable option for price and location by setting parameters. My husband and I decided to book apartments in Istanbul for 3 days before the seaside trip and it was awful. The booking passed very quickly and money was charged immediately after that the owner wrote and asked to cancel the reservation. You should not do this in any case, after all if you do that then the money will not be returned to you! If the owner writers that he cannot accept you, then let him cancel the reservation. It was good that I knew this info and did not cancel our booking. The owner did not want to do so and I had to call the customer support service i order to fix this problem. Two weeks later after the incident, I got a call from Airbnb support with apologized for such a case. They said that the person has not been renting this apartment for a long time, he left for another city, but still offers several apartments. That is most likely he deliberately deceived people by ads with fake apartments. Do not recommend this service!
One star for the support!

I have been a customer with airbnb for 5 years and have travelled and stayed at least 8 to 9 different times using their app. Last week I attempted to log into my account to book my birthday trip at which time I was told my account has been deactivated, when asked why, they said that I needed to wait for 48 hours for a customer service rep to get back to me. It has been 4 days and my account is still locked. THE WORST COMPANY the first couple times they screwed my over I let it go but this is just to much.

I tried to rent a couple of nice places for my honeymoon. I found two wonderful spots and proceeded to booking. I entered my MC and I was told my account was now suspended because something was flagged with my card. I followed the instructions and emailed Airbnb. They said my card showed up as being from the Netherlands (?!?), and that I had to screen capture or scan the front page of my MasterCard statement. I smelled a phish and said 'bag that'!

My fiancee tried to book the same places with her card and got the same response. Our cards are perfectly fine, btw. She did send them a screen capture of her statement after speaking on the phone with Airbnb. The help desk said they could not clear up the problem, but that they would High Priority flag the problem with the correct department.

Two days passed with no word. She called back, and got a very helpful person who couldn't help us, but gave us assurance that the problem was flagged High Priority. Days more passed. Btw, they wouldn't accept any other payment method from us Canadians. As you might expect, the places we tried to booked got booked by other lucky people. More days passed and my fiancee called again. Same story as before. The next day, we called during regular business hours (I guess) and she was able to speak with someone in the correct department. She was told that her card statement had not been looked at because it was emailed and not submitted through the website. Well, this is what we both were told to do! That person got the ball rolling and the following day my fiancee's card was cleared. I had them cancel my account.:(

We were able to book a couple places last minute, but not what we wanted. No one on the planet has ever declined my card before. Their reasons were extreme, if not spurious. Very frustrating, discourteous, and we had to do all the follow up to resolve our problem. Airbnb is not a well run company. Beware, if you have a problem, you're on the hook to get it resolved.

BA changed my flight date & it means i leave a day earlier When the 2nd 1/2 of my stay appeared on my card I noticed departure date was a day later than i am leaving so i asked the owner here & he said No the policy ias u have to advise of any change 1 week before u travel so i'm being charged an extra nite though i won't even be here. I asked the owner Eric if he would like to reimbursse me for his share I haven't heard bback yet
Now onto the place - can u imagine a bathroom with no sink in it & a shower so small u can hardly bend to clean yr feet - No toilet roll holder since I got here tho i asked him 10 days ago to provide Towels stained 7 dirty looks like one of them had old blood stains on them. The big burner on the stove doesn't work no response yet on that except to tell me i should jiggle it which i already did No possiboilitty to put any hand laundrey out although when i asked him upon arriving & at that time he said yes but perhaps after checking with his wife she wasn't too keenor park a bike there "because the driveway has to be absolutely clear meanwhile his tree cuttings are outside my door for the last 2 or 3 days & take up as much room as a bike.
Mold in the wood floor in the bathroom, which has seeped into the kitchen - no proper bath math never gave me any toilet paper other than what was there when i came. Children banging on the floors overhead, paying right outside yr window for hours sometimes yelling etc being kids So if yr looking for an AIRBNB in Montreal & u come across Eric Vendome in NDG be ready or don't take it I would never come back here norv reccomend it. The one good point is it is fairly close to Metro & bus lines
Oh yes did i mention no laundry facilities on the premises & nothing close by

It was a horrible experience stayed with host at ******* 132nd St, Surrey.
Prior to booking, we read all the good reviews on this host.
With our horrible experience, we now wonder should we ever trust any reviews at Airbnb.

It was a hot day when we arrived at Surrey.
As we arrived at the door of this suite, we rang the bell. A young lady answered the door, and walked us through the entire suite. It was a basic suite with kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and small dinning table, chairs, tv and sofa. We were handed 2 keys. After looking around, we found that there was no window screen. As, I am allergic to mosquito bites, I commented: there is no window screen. The young lady replied there is no mosquitoes here. I was wondering, as we lived in Surrey for 15 years before we moved away. The suite was not ready as we were to wait for towels to be washed in the laundry room.

The night was terribly hot and we have to close the windows due to mosquitoes. We could hardly sleep. The next day, I knocked at her door which is next to my suite. I asked if we could put a screen on the windows to allow air to come in at night. She replied with I would do anything to make sure you were comfortable. She said she had to check with her in laws up stairs. A half hour later, she came back and said ok to put a screen. We got to buy the screen and only allow to 4" wide just enough to get the window locked. The evening the young lady came by, and said if we were not happy we could move out and she will refund us. The young lady helped with cutting the screen and use a painting tape to secure the screen around the windows. Now we are a little better to sleep, but still pretty hot as the windows were not wide open. Even the young lady mentioned, how could we sleep with window closed on a hot day!

The next night, my husband accidentally noticed a device looks like a camera behind the entrance door. I went to knock at the host door. This time a young man opened the door, I asked him to come to the room to see if that was a camera installed. He was angry and said: "If you are not happy you can move to a hotel". I said to him: "We are only curious and need an answer". He walked away. A few minutes later, he came with a laptop showing us the name of the device DCS, which is a security alarm sensor.
We said that was fine and good to get an answer. He walked away angrily with his laptop.

Do not expect any hot water in the bathroom or kitchen taps.
The mattress is poor quality foam and the bed frame is higher. We knocked into the bed frame every time we go to and out of bed, and got bruised on our legs. There were three of us, and only 3 bath towels, one face towel and one hand towel were provided during our stay. No cleaning or change of towels. Wonder why do we pay for cleaning fee?! The host is real cheap!

When we came home, we received an email from Airbnb saying that the host claimed that a laptop was missing at our reservation. We were a real shock to hear from our host. First of all, according to his rental, there is no laptop or computer service available. Secondly, when we checked in there was no laptop or computer in the suite. Thirdly, the only laptop we had seen was the one the host brought into our suite to show us the device of a security alarm sensor and he walked away with it. We brought our own laptop HP which is black and we put in a business case to carry.

I replied to the email sent by Airbnb and also called the customer service.
I explained to the representative at Airbnb what happened when we stayed at the suite. He said the truth will come out in the wash. I told him that this kind of dishonest host should not be in Airbnb website. He said Airbnb will look into that matter. I told him I did not want to write a review. He encouraged me to write an honest review so that others can see.

This was the first and the last time we use Airbnb to book any reservation. It is a scam and not worth it. The hosts are rude and not helpful. The reviews all said that they are nice and helpful. We wonder if these reviews are fake or written by themselves. There is a saying: "It is too good to be true, you got to watch out!"

Airbnb

Airbnb makes money from hosts. Renters are their mug victims.
9/11/16
We booked and confirmed for a 2BR in midtown Vancouver (1028 Barclay Street) 4 months in advance. All fine except the host told us she did not have "front desk" priveleges and access would be via the side entrance. Mmmmmmm. Hosts name was Ashleigh P.

A few weeks before leaving for Vancouver I noticed her listing had disappeared from Airbnb. I messaged her and she said she had had to take it down. Too many requests. Mmmmmmm. She replied using the name Nicole P.

One week before leaving for Vancouver I contacted Airbnb to discuss my rising doubts. I was told there was no need to worry. They were confident all was above board. Mmmmmmm. Why were they so dismissive?

5 days before arriving I get a message reminding me she had no "contract" with the management at her condo for concierge services so she would meet me personally to let me in and show me around. Mmmmmm.

0830 on the morning of the booking I am boarding a plane to fly to Vancouver and I get a text saying to meet her at an address 38 Smithe Street Vancouver. Mmmmmmmm. WHAT?

I called Nicole/Ashleigh and she tells me she cannot now provide the promised apartment as her access pass had been blocked but she has "moved us" to a 1BR in a different area of town. She is "not prepared to explain or argue with you about this". The booking is changed and she has no obligation to do more.

What transpired is that she was (sub) letting an apartment illegally in a building and that the owner/building management had blocked her access. She had been doing it successfully for some time and had good reviews but now was caught out and barred. Obviously the assurance she had given Airbnb was falsified. When I raised this with Airbnb they said "we have hundreds of thousands of hosts. We can't verify all their claims".

Airbnb cancelled the booking and said they would find another apartment in tge same area and standard. We trusted them as we were just a few hours from arriving. We are a 35 minute bus ride from mid town, on a very busy highway and with only a gas station anywhere bear to shop. Our holiday is completely ruined. The Airbnb "service" person took us for mugs.

What is my complaint? Airbnb say Nicole told them she had a last minute hiccup and they accepted her excuse completely even though they know she gave us a completely different excuse. They agreed it was unacceptable but they had absolutely no plan to do anything other than help me find alternative accomodation: she was a successful host (aka she made big $ for Airbnb). I was told this really did not happen often and I was unlucky. I was told 4 times that Airbnb took great care to look after their customers and that my experience was unusual. I was left to understand that I should feel for the host and just get on with it.

The bottom line is that Airbnb will keep Nicole/Ashleigh. They said so. She is a valuable source of income to them. They understand what has happened looks dodgy but if she tells them she is OK to offer an apartment then they will take her word for it. And if she gives a blatantly false explanation to cancel, who is Airbnb to confront her?

Airbnb's model is set up to facilitate scamming and they know that and believe that they can "manage" victims when they emerge. It's a buyer beware portal.

So BEWARE.
Post script. Airbnb tried to charge me a fee for the cancelled booking.