Airbnb

We had a problem as the host's apartment was disgraceful. The shower didn't work and as per Airbnb's Guest Refund policy we should be due a full refund but they have refused. We only stayed there for a few hours and left at 8pm to find alternative accommodation and Airbnb turned their backs on us. Stick to hotels. They are better and in the long run cheaper. If you have problems you are covered by ATOL but with Airbnb you have no chance. We've lost so much money now and I would never use this company ever again. This was the first time I've used them and will be the last time.

Short version - heading out the door for stay booked thru Airbnb. Son has accident, we have to take him to the emergency room. No chance to make the trip. Try to rebook, Airbnb says host's policies prevent rebookings and refunds, even in emergencies. $500 lost. Might be host's policy, but Airbnb can force its own policies or make exceptions if it wants.

Host of another property told us we had to book for four nights minimum because it's Airbnb's policy on short-notice bookings. It's obvious that Airbnb will let anyone list on the site and has no desire to protect consumers.

Our family had planned a vacation, only to find the COVID restrictions made it impossible to follow through. We applied for a refund on their website within the stipulated date(s), only to be informed we would not get a full refund, but could use all of our funds if we allowed a credit to be applied towards future stays. Given this misinformation, we took the credit. Later we learned this was not the case with regards to getting a full refund. Now we're told we're ineligible for a refund since we've got the credit. I do not believe this company is legitimately conducting business and that a class-action lawsuit will be coming in the very near future.

The unit was farther out than stated for one, if you want seclusion its a good place.the unit i stayed in had a bad fish or shrimp smell with lots of nats flying around, a busted tv screen and no heat... tried to get some compansation for that and no more response... wont ever stay there again. No more airbnb for me. Dave

I booked a stay and it showed a day before stay cancelation, took pets. After I paid $710 for the stay and cancelled 4 days prior the policy was changed to within 48 hours of booking. The app was acting funny 2 days before canceling. Airbnb will not help get the money refunded on a stay I am not going on. Be very careful. If you use this have your own copies and DO NOT rely on their app. After this experience I looked up the company listing and it has 1 star reviews. Why would Airbnb support them over the customer? They havd gaslight me trying to recover the money and a huge hassle. Hotels don't do this garbage. Be careful. I can't give a zero or below zero rating but what they did was low down.

I booked a holiday to Adelaide which was unfortunately cancelled due to a Covid outbreak and legally we couldn't travel. Air bnb did not do ANYTHING to help me when my host charged me $1,200 cancellation fee even though this was two weeks in advance. They allowed the host to block me so I couldn't contact them. They left me personally liable for that amount of money. I booked a replacement with booking.com as I could no longer afford an air bnb. They were great and allowed full cancellation up to 24 hours prior to staying. My advice, use booking.com, air bnb and my most made more money off charging me a cancellation than they would have done if I went. Disgraceful. 0

I booked my trip through Airbnb with a promise of an answer about an issue within 24 hours and I'm now going on day four with no answers. I have made a decision to dispute the entire charge to my bank and I will never use Airbnb again I would urge each person to do the same

Their company policy states that for some extenuating circumstances you may cancel penalty free for a full refund. You are not able to confirm that you will receive the full refund before you cancel you are told to cancel, then contact them for review. I canceled over a month ago due to rioting and looting in my destination city which is covered in their policy as civil/political unrest that makes you feel unsafe. After fighting with them for over a month they claim because the host won't respond to them they are unable to give me a refund. So they just stole my money and they don't care that their company policy states I should get it back. They are thieves and I will never give them another penny!

My wife and I were forced to evacuate the Tampa area due to a mandatory evacuation order. My wife booked in Atlanta, but after talking with several friends, we leared that travel back from Georgia after a storm can cause massive delays (12-24 hours) with several people running out of gas on the highways. This could be deadly for our infant, so we cancelled our booking after talking with the owner and rebooked in a safer area of Florida. The owner of the unit refunded us all but the first night, which was reasonable, but AirBnB kept their entire fee as per their "partial cancellation policy". The customer service agent was rude and when I asked to speak to her supervisor, she said "sure, but she is going to say the same thing". We have been longtime customers and will gladly take our business elsewhere in the future.

6-6-2015- Postmortem - this airbnb is a poorly run money grabbin unresponsive website. If you aren't uber tech savvy don't bother, this site is run by people behind the electrons with no interest in being accountable or responsive. You book & you don't know it, you contact them and they can't be called or emailed, they give you the biz & runaround by being unapproachable. Verifying who you are without any ability to respond or ask questions is unacceptable to me, maybe not others…. Approach this airbnb.com web site at your own risk!

UPDATE: One week passed and I never received a response/update from Airbnb or from the host. I received the refund I was seeking only after I disputed the charge on AMEX and they got in touch with Airbnb. Original post below:

I'm contesting a "cleaning fee" and an "extra charge per person" fee. The apartment wasn't clean and we didn't stay (I accidentally booked a shared not a private) so I'm only contesting the two charges previously listed. Airbnb encourages you to try and work it out with the renter. I'm not getting anywhere with him. Now I've seen that my credit card has been billed the full amount. I'm not feeling confident that Airbnb is going to get back to me. Especially after reading all of these reviews. I don't think that this is worth booking with Airbnb. If something goes wrong, you're screwed!

Four friends and I rented a house in Wellfleet MA for 8 days in late Sept. The Airbnb listing reads "Entire house -The Perfect Beach Retreat! #beach, bike, eat" The host is Erica and the house has room for 10 guests - 5 bedrooms - 5 beds - 2 baths.

Two of us arrived late and took the two basement bedrooms. The next morning the rest of us learned that the downstairs rooms had not been cleaned, there were no sheets in one room and only a single sheet in the other. But the worst part was the mouse poop on the bed and the constant sound of scurrying feet in the ceiling throughout the night. The host was very difficult to contact and did not provide a satisfactory resolution for one of the two people effected. I cant review on airbnb because I'm not the contract holder.

Airbnb discourages you from looking at properties ahead of time. As a first time traveler with a pet I didn't know what quesetions to ask so after paying for a full month I ended up only staying one night because the logistics for getting my pup out to potty were not manageable. The host made sure I got my rental costs back, but Airbnb kept $200 in fees which were calculated based on the original month long stay. In otherwords they got 4 times as much as the host for absolutely nothing.

Our Airbnb flooded on the fourth through our stay and they initially agreed (representative named Jamyla) to refund me for the unused nights, then days later said they could not because I "hadn't contacted then within 24 hours of checkin in". This is absurd because the flooding occurred 3 days after this time limit, so essentially they are saying that if there is no problem within the first day that they are off the hook. They also gave me their verbal word (recorded on phone conversation) to refund the remaining nights and then reneged. I used to love Airbnb, but they are apparently now become fraudulent so I will never use them again. I cannot recommend against using them more strongly—if something goes wrong with your reservation you will not be helped!

Horrible experience trying to get a refund after it was promised and clearly qualified for extenuating circumstances policy during Covid19 in the epicenter of the pandemic (Seattle) at the time. Nothing left to do but dispute charges with credit card company. Good luck to anyone else in the same situation. I hope they don't try to charge the lost money to the hosts because they did not make or have any say over the policy change which promised full refunds to thousands of people which didn't materialize. Please do not take their answer to fight it out with the host. They're in a tough situation, too, not being able to get any bookings/income during this difficult time.

I am extremely disgusted with the service given by airbnb. In the process of booking a villa in VT a fee was taken from my account when the stay was denied by the host. This didn't happen one time but twice due to the Gateway agency. While emailing with the agency I was lead to believe the villa was available and that the request didn't go through. Therefore, I processed it again and was denied again. If a stay is denied funds shouldn't be taken out of a person's account. Now today, I am told it will take 14 days to receive my refund. Take my advice and avoid this site; it's more work than help!

Our son was getting married, we were so swamped with details. Got there and just happened to notice the sheets didn't look fresh. Pulled back the covers and there were various types of hairs on the sheets, eyelash hairs etc. Contacted Zach by text. He wouldn't ever give out his phone number. He said his mother cleans and he was sure they were clean. Then let us know there were more sheets in the dryer. They smelled so dirty without putting them up to our noses. In the midst of EVERYTHING else to do, we had to stop and buy sheets to put on the bed. Airbnb refunded our cleaning fees but that's all. The moldy smell hits you as you walk in the house. The mustiness never left. Zach was very defensive so we didn't contact him again. DON'T STAY IN ZACH'S PLACE!
Actually the way that Airbnb treated us we won't use their services again. If we had been in a hotel, we could have just asked for a different room or at least for clean sheets. UGH!

I bought a plane ticket and room in Martha's Vineyard, but 2 days before the trip as I'm getting ready for work I find out... airbnb abruptly canceled my reservation and asked me to verify my ID! I verified my ID with passport, but then my account was closed.
I didn't know what to do, because all the hotels were booked. They never gave me an explanation, but luckily my gf was able to find another bed and breakfast.
If they had called me ahead of time or given me an explanation, I wouldn't mind so much. I guess this is the way airbnb does business.