Maria T.

Airbnb managed to turn a long awaited expensive holiday for two couples with kids on tow a dreadful experience that ended up costing twice its original budget. We had booked a not inexpensive apartment in Manhattan on March which the host cancelled on us 6 days before our Athens-New York flight. Airbnb sent a couple of lukewarm messages to see if there is anything they can do, we managed to find another apartment that we liked and could afford, despite the last minute notice, and we booked it. The moment we arrive at JFK and turn on our phones, there is a message waiting from airbmb that the listing we had booked has been cancelled and they would be happy either to transfer our money (that I had charged to my card and paid interest for since March) towards another booking or return it. So we are in the airport after an 11 hour flight, with two children, a booked SUV waiting to take us to Manhattan and nowhere to go, at 19:00 of Friday evening. Airbnb has an employee call us who, however, has absolutely no sense of urgency about the situation, suggests we find another listing, does not offer to help at all until I start screaming, I asked that they put us up in a hotel, they said of course they would not and I had to find two rooms just for one night (they were unavailable as the following day), where we all crammed together to give airbnb and ourselves time to find a replacement apartment. But there are only a couple of places within specs in Manhattan, one turned out unavailable, the other's owner would not respond, and in the meantime I could not start my vacation, waiting to fix the situation. After thinking it over we decided that we had better find a hotel somewhere, anywhere, even at double the price we would be paying for the apartment otherwise we would have wasted all the expenses and time off for the vacation we had planned months in advance. We felt completely ambandoned by Airbnb throughout this whole process, and the fact that they kept sending template apology messages does not cut it, quite honestly. So, no, will not trust them ever again and considering seriously claiming for the considerable costs we suffered.