Hi. I hired two Airbnb properties when we were between moves. They were advertised as exactly the same house, but turned out to be one house cut in half. The other side of the house being obviously more suitable for us, I ended up hiring both at massive expense! But that was not the main issue. The main issue was that the host ‘Sophie’ didn’t exist! She was a bunch of guys, estate agents I think from the number of For Sale signs outside the house. I ended up talking to a main guy called Gareth who had ‘Sophie’s’ picture even on his WhatsApp against his mobile number. They did not respond to complaints or requests for help. The houses were really cheaply done and not registered with the council so bins were not emptied. We ended up leaving and I requested a partial refund - I left because it was so filthy and there was no way to clean, or wash clothes, or any of that on a longer term let, bin bags were piling up so much there were rats. We had to pay to privately launder their towels and sheets and yet every complaint fell on deaf ears. There was no Sophie!!
I have been an Airbnb guest for YEARS and always choose hosts carefully. The fact that this was a catfish profile meant I was really uncomfortable. I ended our rental on both houses a week before we were due to leave - do 14 days in total - 7 on each house. But only requested 6 days of refund to be fair. It was refused and the resolution centre said that the host is allowed to catfish, that the amenities are clear (but the house described is different to the house we stayed at) and there was no mention of the bad communication or rubbish not being emptied.
I don’t want to waste my life on this but I will never use Airbnb again because this is absolute madness. How can a catfish account be ok?!