Airbnb

We had a long awaited vacation to Japan and I reserved 5 night stay in Kyoto with Airbnb - what a mistake! Of course I was not able to make the trip to Japan due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Fearing I will not be able to return to the US, I cancelled. I specifically stated that I have to cancel due to circumstances beyond my control.
I requested refund over the phone - not before being warned that the wait time is "several hours" - unbelievable...
I just got their reply that I am not entitled for a refund!
This is the only provider that did not refunded me for my cancelled travel - and I had non-refundable airline tickets!
Airline and hotel agencies did not charge me or refunded fully and only Airbnb took all the money I paid and refunded nothing.
The pleasure costed me ~750$ for a trip that I was not able to make, and this is while they are telling people they are fair and cover you fully for the outbreak.
I am sure that at the time of the cancellation I was notified I will be refunded the Airbnb service of ~160$, but unfortunately I did not took a screenshot, so they are not even going to refund this amount!

I am so angry and frustrated and swore to never ever even consider doing business with them in the future.
They don't understand that for the short term gain, they will pay greatly in the long run.
I almost never write reviews, certainly not negative ones on an entire company, but they earned it.
Never again!

My wife is a Host and we go completely out of our way to give every guest a great experience. AirBnB does nothing to help and they go out of their way to look like the good guy and abuse the Hosts. With the Coronavirus I believe they are taking full advantage of everyone's fear and profiting from it. They give the guest back 100% of the Hosts money in every situation when guest cancels, no matter the cancellation agreement that was agreed upon at booking? What they will not refund is their portion? In fact I've even seen some where they keep thier fee and then give a voucher holding the fees and taxes for a latter booking. I believe they are padding the cash reserves for next years IPO. They are a horrible when it comes to morals, their customer service reps are always very friendly and polite but they are not the decision makers and their actions are very one sided, their side. If your reading this I advice you use HomeAway, VRBO over AirBnB as they actually have a much better customer service, are honest and have morals to treat both sides fairly.

When it started out it was a good way to an find affordable place to stay.
However, over time, it has become rife with false actors and claims, by both the hosts and the organization itself.
One-the hosts never list what actually exists in their space. The most common misrepresentation is that you and the host are the only people in the apt. HAH...
You get there and there a many people staying there and you have to interact with them. In my last stay the host didn't even introduce himself, and there were strange men in a room directly across from me. Was I told this before hand? Hell no. They say you have to ask. FU.
Plus no locks on the door in most airbnbs, so in my case with my passports in my room, my good camera, and my clothes, I had no idea if they'd still be there when I returned. Again, I asked the host why not. He didn't answer.
Also the listings claim they are 'Covid protected and have undergone cleaning measures to do so. HAH... I get there and said strange men are roaming thru the apt unmasked, in the public areas. I'm paranoid to use the bathroom.
Then the organization lets you write a review. I wrote mine detailing what's said here. They published ONE sentence of the review. When I brought this to their attention, they said it was too late to write another. Sure it was too late because I was speaking a truth they want to cover up. Why? Becuase they are a shady organization and only want your money. My advice, is to avoid them like the plague and find a hotel even if you have to pay a bit more.

Booked a home for a week and two mins later realized I was one day off. I tried to edit the booking but there site does not allow. I contacted the owner of the property but he did not respond quickly, I canceled the booking and tried to book the same house minus one day and the site would not allow for this for security reasons. I contacted Airb&b and spoke with the customer service was told I would get a full refund in 15 days and could not book the home for security reasons. I booked another home VRBO instead. Fifteen days went by and no refund. I called Airb&b and talked over the phone for an hour, they said I'm not getting a refund as I was originally told because I canceled after the cancel period, it was literally two mins from when I originally booked. THESE PEOPLE DO NOT CARE ABOUT THERE CUSTOMERS!

We were referred to Coral Reef Hotel due to location cost was 4xs more than it was 4 months ago
It smelled so bad we couldn't breath had to keep doors wide open for breeze and to top it off no towels the air conditioner unit was filthy dirty
Total gross out fir 475.00 a night I expect a 5 star hotel
Omg it was a nightmare even the luggage rack we had had flat tires. Total rip off
These air band bs are the pits my second experience was bad and my first one in Beevh mountain I got Covid
No more airb and vs for me

Don't go there. In June, I booked a flat in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for the dates of August 15 to 17. At the time of booking, I went through the full online registration process and then pre paid for the stay by credit card, also providing my address and phone number. Over the next 60 days or so, I received several emails from both AirBnb and the host, reminding me of my reservation and asking for my arrival time. I thought AirBnb was switched on.

Then, less than 24 hours prior to my scheduled 4:00 PM check in time on August 15, I got an email from the "Trust and Security" division at Air, requiring me to send them a copy of my photo ID via email. Failing this option, my reservation would be cancelled. Obviously, I wouldn't email a copy of my passport to the Pope. I suggested to Air that I present my passport on arrival. No go. I was forced to make a last minute, very pricy booking at a Brooklyn hotel.

AirBnb created a needless last minute travel hassle. They also cost me $500.00. Never again.

I was a great fan of this service for about two-three years until I faced an ugly situation.
I had a bad experience with the apartment in Tel Aviv in the high season in August. It was so bad that when I provided photos to Airbnb, they returned me back 50% of total cost.
But later I understoond why there are so many good reviews (good scores) for awful apartments. It is just the policy of Airbnb. They do not want to spoil their reputation and image allowing to use the site bad hosts. That's why they do their best to escape negative reviews.
After my experience I have left a true review for the apartment and they cancelled it. The explanation was that the host provided them with some evidence that I was bribing money from him for a good review. I have provided our sms-exchange and wattsapp messages. But they took his side. It was especially strange and disgusting taking into consideration that the guy cheated with apartment description and there were awful conditions and his ad was a fraud. And they themselves obliged him to pay me back 50%.
I will never recommend to use it as you there you are buying pig in a poke.

Unreliable and disonest

On February 16 2020 I was in Arequipa, Peru'. I was in a nice hostel but, in the evening, I could not shower because there was no hot water, so I decided to try to find another place for the next morning and looked up on Airbnb.

I was pretty new in Airbnb, but I had rented a room a couple of times before and it had been ok.

It was 21.00, so I tried one place, and my request was rejected, then I tried another one and the reservation was accepted and paid. Later, at around 23.00, before going to bed, I checked my emails and found out that my reservation had been cancelled by the host and I had no place to go the following morning.

I was quite shocked because, according to Airbnb policy, hosts cannot cancel reservations within 24 hours of check-in and, if they do, there are sanctions, including having to pay 100$.

Moreover, this is a clear violation of the principle of Contract Law. What the host did, ad Airbnb allowed to happen, was a breach of contract.

In fact, Airbnb allowed the host to cancel without any sanction and without giving any explanation to me. Cancellations are only allowed for Force Majeur cases, but clearly there wasn't any (no biblical floods, no earthquake...), and the room was still open for reservation.

Airbnb refunded me, of course without paying me back my Credit Card fee (I have a UK CC), and offered me a very generous compensation of 5$.

I told this to a few Peruvian friends of mine and they explained me that corruption in Peru' is rampant and this was just one example, so I am not sure that the same would happen with an Airbnb in another country.

Over priced charges and no service for renters this site sucks $#*! anymore don't waste your time renting through here it's cheaper to stay in a motel with more value!

They care about money, not hosts or guests. Don't book through this website, their customer service is bad and representative always lying over the phone.

After years of using AirBnB, I'm pulling out permanently. They allow, & encourage, hosts to lie in their descriptions an list of ammenities. Yes, if you get there and discover the fraud right away, you can get a PARTIAL refund, but where are you going to stay?
My last experience, I called AirBnB 6 times, was repeatedly blocked and lied to ("I'll have____ call you back". NEVER HAPPENED).
Then AirBnB called the host who lied and told untrue stories about me. She had no proof. I had dozens of pictures, videos, sound recordings. But host & AirBnB stood together, against me. Description said "quiet neighborhood" but there was busy road noise, sirens, barking dogs, trains, airplanes. Hot water, yes. I could take a 2 min. Shower without being warned hot water was limited. TV yes. Didn't work. And so forth. But no firepit, no bbq grill, no stainless steel appliances, etc. Old opened partially eaten food (frozen waffles & opened, used mayo). Dirty pots and pans. Stove spattered all over. Bathroom vent fell apart. Chipped coffee mugs.
Host became extremely vindictive and nasty when I contacted AirBnB.
Never again will I deal with these crooks, these openly fraudulant folks.

I rented an apartment in Paris for one week. The Airbnb photos looked fantastic; the reality was a filthy dilapidated apartment that reeked of stale cigarette smoke. And guess what? Airbnb doesn't care. When I wrote a true review of the filthy moldy bathrooms and kithcen, cigarette burned carpets, not working lights/ poor electrics, the Hong Kong based Chinese owner of this apartment had four fake reviews posted immediately. The reviews weren't even one sentence long. Did Airbnb take them down? Did Airbnb refund my payment? No. They refunded half of one night's stay so we paid for 7 1/2 nights at the most disgusting place I've ever stayed. We tried to get a hotel but Paris was literally full (of Americans!). We didn't let this ruin our trip but we will never use Airbnb again. I had been warned by several friends who've had the most awful experiences. Don't do it, it's truly not worth it. VRBO is more reliable as are realtors. Airbnb is a just a money grab for unscrupulous owners and Airbnb scumbag of a company.

I would seriously recommend no one doing business with Airbnb!
Make sure you read ALL of their policies, especially when it comes to cancellations! I just had a group that was supposed to stay at our cabin during one of our busiest Holiday weekends of the year and they cancelled a few hours before they were supposed to arrive. They blamed this on the cancelled flight of a couple of their guests. The rest could still make it! They classify this as an "extenuating circumstance" and you are therefore left high and dry with absolutely NO disbursement of your deposit or any way to recoup any of the rental amount at all! So they basically can make up ANY type of lame excuse to get out of a booking up until the last minute, which is pretty sad. No other Hotel, Bed and Breakfast or any other online vacation rental site we use has this policy! The renter would have to typically forgo at least half of the rental amount if it's cancelled less than 30 days prior to arrival. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

This site is an awful joke. It makes you feel like you are part of a safe community of wonderful hosts who rent their beautiful places to you. The reality is as follows: my one and only host in sydney who had about 30 wonderful reviews ended up being a superficially smily at times but in realiy miserable and obnoxious incredibly stingy womAn who kept on annoying me with her comments how to save water and electricity and how not to wash the dryer but hang the clothes to dry outside. As if the $105Aus per night i paid was not enough to cover these costs and the tiny bedroom! She also kept on making hints about previous hosts who were helping themselves with her food and she once made a comment about how terrified she was with the amount of cereals I put in my breakfast bowl. I remind you, I was paying $105 pn for a tiny room. That person had 30 raving reviews which makes me think that airbnb deletes negative reviews. Avoid at all costs, a regular bob or a guesthouse is a much better option