Hey all,
I wanted to get some second opinions on this topic to see if you had any information or advice on what to do. For starters, I travel year round and essentially live out of Airbnb's. I have been a very good customer and spend a LOT of money. Given the amount of properties I have stayed at, I have certainly come by my fair share of really bad stories. Most of them I can look past, but recently I have 2 particular stories that really bother me in particular.
A couple of months ago, I was staying at an Airbnb in Melbourne, AU. On my first night, around 2 hours (if that) after arrival, the host began to bring a large amount of people over. They then continued to have an orgy. It went from the hours of 10 PM to 6 AM. I could absolutely not sleep. It was horrendous. The noises were far beyond the usual noises you'd expect, it was so disturbing and I did not sleep at all. The people from the orgy were using the bathroom I was supposed to use as well. When I would go outside of my room which everyone had to walk past, I could see everything happening as well! My room did not have a lock and I felt like a prisoner in there because it was so awkward to leave the room! I should also note that when I arrived that night, there was a cat closed into my private room with cat poop on the bed! The next day I texted the host to address this orgy situation and tell him it made me feel uncomfortable, but was very polite. I was meant to stay here for over 2 weeks. Upon looking, there were no other good properties to move to that were still in my budget or that I liked within this last minute time frame. The host owned up to his behavior and apologized. I accepted and moved on with my day. I then finally made it down to the kitchen for the first time and this is when I changed my mind. The food, dishes, cutlery, floor and counter had dried foot on all of them. There was even food dripping out of the fridge. It was so appalling, I could not even eat there and I was absolutely not dealing with this for 2 weeks. I then contacted Airbnb and requested to move. They did not seem to care about this situation in the slightest, even given I had proof of everything. Said I was responsible for paying the night I spend and the fee of booking new places. This was absurd, but I did move and it costed me money and I had to go to 3 different properties. I then went to write an honest review about my time there and again, very polite but 100 percent honest. As someone who lives out of Airbnb year round, I really rely on a good review! I know they are essential. Airbnb removed my review because I used the term Sex Party and said it violated their policies but then actually even continued to say to me "But don't worry, we won't be removing you from Airbnb for this". LOL!!!! So, I cannot say that in a review, but it is ok for a guest to have to experience that!!?? Seems like a double standard. No matter how much I complained, nothing was done. Fast forward to 1 month later, I decided to check the guys account and see his recent reviews. A lady posted a review almost IDENTICAL to mine!!! It was left up because she used a different term than Sex Party. She even wrote how she texted the host, promised it wouldn't happen again and then it did. She then said how she had to leave at 1 am to a hotel because she was so disturbed and uncomfortable with the situation. I reached out to Airbnb with this new info about someone else also now having said the same thing and have no reply, says case closed. Does Airbnb just not care??
My next situation just happened 2 weeks ago, also in Melbourne. I booked a place 2 weeks before arriving, options were already slim. A couple good left, but I made my decision and was happy with it. He had no reviews but property looked good. A week before arrival, the host (a superhost) decided to write me and said he no longer wanted to host and did not have a good reason why. I tried to reason with him but I did have to get Airbnb involved. Airbnb actually sided with me on this one and said the host was going against the policies in place. They spoke with the host and he agreed to honor the reservation. All was good and I was happy it worked out. Then 3 days before arrival (just 1 week after the host agreed to Airbnb to still honor my reservation), the host cancelled my reservation and messaged me saying "As you know, I decided to not host anyone at this time". SO- he totally knew when he told Airbnb he was going to honor it that he was just going to cancel on me anyways! I really had NO options left at this point. Airbnb apologized and they removed their service fee from the 2 new properties I had to book. It still costed me over 1,000 USD extra because this man cancelled on me last minute. Airbnb assured me that this host would have to pay penalties, possibly remove his superhost status and it also showed on his account the automated message "This host cancelled the reservation 3 days before arrival." I saw the automated post and I was at least happy that was there. He deserved that. Today, something told me to look at his profile. Sure enough, the automated message "This host cancelled the reservation 3 days before arrival." had been removed!!! I called Airbnb to discuss it and they said they would speak to management and get back to me. But I know nothing will be done. I cannot even understand how they could possibly remove this review as it was automated and it was exactly what the host did, he cancelled 3 days before arrival!! And because it's automated, I really cannot find any valid reasons how Airbnb can justify this.
I am beside myself and cannot believe this. It even states in Airbnb policies that reviews cannot be removed unless they contain certain words and the automated messages cannot be removed. Airbnb removed my first review for the word sex. Ok, fine. But shouldn't they have punished the host in some way and look into it especially given the girl posted a same experience as me???
And how about the automated "This host cancelled the reservation 3 days before arrival" review?! There is absolutely NO reason that one should have been removed. I am upset about it because of the stress and LOTS of extra money it costed me. It is really shady and a slap in the face to me as a customer that spends 5 figures with them each year as it is essentially my rent payment!
If you can please comment a similar experience or advice of what to do, I greatly appreciate it. I am even starting to consider taking this to some news outlet or something because maybe that will finally get their attention and management will need to directly address that publicly. This behavior is so wrong. I have 42 reviews on my profile saying that I am a great guest and that speaks for itself that I am not a problem. I am polite, clean and I keep to myself. What I have mentioned above is just bad business and a shady company tactic. I believe these are reasonable things to be upset about and most would be. I never complained when a cat had fleas at an Airbnb and I had 30 flea bites (now scars) or when an Airbnb host was not happy with my review and found me on social media and harassed me. So many more stories and I never spoke up. I know things can happen, but these 2 things are completely inexcusable to me and I am looking to see that something gets done.
Please advise! We all are what makes up the Airbnb community and we ALL rely on being able to leave and trust reviews. If that is being taken away from us, then why even bother?
