Never Use Airbnb — Hosts Will Leave You High and Dry

[Anand191]

I booked a private room with Airbnb for accommodation in Dubai for five nights. I paid for this in advance. Upon reaching Dubai, the Airbnb host told me that he could no longer accommodate me. He provided me a different address and asked me to go and stay there for two nights and he would shift me to original booking place after that.

Upon reaching the other address, I found that the flat was locked and no one was there. I had to ask reception for help to contact the Airbnb host as my phone was not working there. Upon contact the host he said he couldn’t accommodate me at the new address either. He did not provide any explanation and left me without a roof over my head in an unknown city. I was left to sort out my own accommodation with limited internet connectivity and battery life left on my phone.

In this situation I had to take whatever was available. I ended up staying in a hostel sharing a room with five unknown people and also sharing other facilities. Airbnb put me in this situation as they failed to fulfil their responsibility. My safety was at risk. My health was at risk as I had to share things with five other people for five nights. I could not get proper sleep.

The entire experience not only totally ruined my trip but also left me in distress and with negative effects on my mental well being. I was constantly anxious and worried about my health and safely due to the pandemic. I informed Airbnb about this incident the evening of Dec. 30. I received a call and provided all the information to customer service. They said they were unable to contact their own host to find out why he could not accommodate me. They also did not offer me any help to find an alternative suitable accommodation.

The entire trip turned into a nightmare. Airbnb staff were totally unhelpful. They could not even contact their own host after I provided a different number that he was using. Airbnb neither provided any immediate help or help to find alternative accommodation. On top of that, they also closed my case without reaching any conclusion. This company should not be allowed to operate in the hospitality sector at all.

Apparently Airbnb is unregulated company .  When you book accommodation your contact is with host and not with Airbnb.  They would put their hands up if things go wrong.  You are putting your self in danger by trusting a total stranger. You are better off staying in a hotel. 

[Debra300]

@Anand191,

You get no argument from me or any of the other hosts in this thread that Airbnb provided horrible customer service.  We all have experienced our fair share of it.  For those of us who choose to continue a business relationship with Airbnb, we share our experiences and provide tips to others to help them get through or avoid similar occurrences.  Again, thank you for sharing, because it made me realize there are things that I need to prepare myself for when I travel (and I will as soon as possible).

However, I have to clarify a few things with you.  First of all, Airbnb isn't a hotel, and doesn't have a financial interest in the majority of the listings.  They are a reservation platform that has confusing terms of service that are not friendly to either guests or hosts.  Everything is determined if it will benefit them.  There are other well-known platforms, such as Vrbo, Booking, Expedia, Hotels, etc.  I am pretty sure that they would have tried to find an alternate accommodation for you.   However, they all have had massive layoffs of experienced and knowledgeable staff just like Airbnb.   So, now it's more important than ever for a traveler to be prepared to handle unplanned disruptions without the assistance from the booking platform (including accommodations, airlines, trains, buses, ferries, car rental, event tickets, etc.).

[Anonymous]

@Anand191 Airbnb is not a little mom-n-pop company, and you're one of over 150 million customers. How deeply they care about you and your one bad experience is going to be proportional to that. There are definitely some bad hosts and some bad guests on the platform, as is inevitable when you're dealing with a number of people that big, and it really helps to learn how to spot the warning signs before you book. 

What's the point of your crusade here, anyway? Do you think reading about your one bad experience is going to change the minds of people who have vastly more experience with the platform than you do? It sounds like you had some bad luck on your holiday, but your moral outrage is out of all proportion here. You got your money back, you found another place to stay - at this point, most people would just move on with their lives.

I've traveled a lot, I could fill a book with stories of all the mishaps and screw-ups and incidents that upended plans. If these things set me into a boiling rage, I'd just stay home. These days I'm not quite as adventurous as I was when I was a youngster, I take a few precautions such as travel insurance and a solid emergency budget to cover when things go wrong. When I travel outside the EU I tend to pick up a local SIM card and make sure it's working before I leave the airport, since so much depends on the internet now. Bad luck can strike at any time,  but a little savoir faire can make it pretty easy to get out of a jam - especially when you're in a city with modern infrastructure and hundreds of hotels, it need not feel like the end of the world when you find yourself without a place to stay. 

By no means am I excusing your lousy host for bungling your booking, but there are graver injustices to fight in this world than you having a disappointing trip. 

[Anand191]

@Anonymous  HI Andrew ,  I do not have any moral crusade . I am just sharing my experience and my opinion.

I did not ask any one else to agree or disagree with me .

You have your own opinion as I have mine. 

Thing is that when you look online there are thousands of horrible experience published about airbnb but people fail to join forces to act against such entities and so this unregulated companies get away with finding loopholes in system. Plus there are hosts and guest whose business interests are attached with such entities as well. So they are not bothers about this things. 

But again every one to its own. 

[Mark116]

@Anand191  Airbnb is not unregulated.  However, the level of regulation varies widely from country to country and city to city. In my city, there are 3 specific taxes that must be paid, which Airbnb collects, there are rules against any Airbnbs operating that are not owner occupied, there is a permit process and fee and an inspection.  There are also age requirements for renting an Airbnb, rules on vehicles and so forth.  

[Anand191]

@Mark116  When I say unregulated i mean there are not enough rules for them to make sure they provide the service what they are suppose to . For hotels and airlines there are clear guidelines and rules. Any reputed  hotel  chain worries about their reputation and provide  what they have committed to  . In case if they cancels your booking  its the hotels responsibility to arrange alternative same with airline. 

But with Airbnb no such thing applies. If things go wrong you are own your own and Airbnb has no responsibility as contact is between guest and host and not Airbnb. 

[Anonymous]

@Anand191  Look at the title of your post - "Never Use Airbnb" etc... it sounds like you feel that because you had one bad experience with one host, nobody else should ever book with any of the millions of others. A little dramatic, don't you think?

You mention that the listing only had two reviews, both one-liners. Now if you know yourself to be somewhat risk-averse, why did you choose that listing instead of one of the many out there with lots of descriptive reviews and established reputations? And if you know yourself to be unable to sleep in a shared room, why did you even consider a place that is clearly advertised as a hostel for your re-booking? Could it be that perhaps Dubai was the wrong destination for your budget?

By no means am I defending a bad host who failed to honor your agreement, but if you want the best results in any marketplace it really helps to be more thoughtful about your choices as a customer.

You ask why people use Airbnb despite the risks and the negatives. I can only speak for myself here, but when I'm planning a trip I tend to consider options from several listing sites, and Airbnb is often where I find the most appealing place. At their best, they offer an interesting window into the local way of life, a chance to stay in interesting neighborhoods instead of tourist ghettos, amenities that hotel rooms don't have such as kitchens, and some unique personalized hospitality. What I don't do is assume that just because a listing is on Airbnb it's going to be good. I use search filters, I look carefully at the photos, I read the reviews - I put the extra research time in to get the place that's the best fit. I've stayed in dozens of places now, and while not all of them were 100% perfect, they were all positive experiences and their character added something special to the trip. 

I have no fixed attachment or loyalty to Airbnb as a guest, and if I find something better on a different listing site I use that. But even when something goes wrong like a host cancellation or poor communication from customer service, the positives outweigh the negatives for me. 

You might have a different style of traveling, and it really does sound like you would be better suited to hotels. Of course, there are millions of nightmare hotel stories out there too, so it's still worth doing your research and having a realistic budget for your needs.

[Anand191]

@Anonymous  The title is only to suggest that I would not use airbnb again . I am not naive to believe that just because my bad experience you or all others would stop using airbnb . This is my experience and I am only sharing my experience. May be that would help some one , or it may not . 

I booked that accomodation even after two one liner review because I messaged the host and had communication via airbnb about location etc . If I had any idea of how this would turn out I would have not booked. 

You are forgetting that I did not choose to stay in hostel , I booked a private room. I would have booked hostel from beginning if I wanted to stay in hostel . 

And at 9 PM at night you don't get any answer from any other host on airbnb what choice do I have ? I sent booking request to 4 other hosts but didn't get answer for about 2 hours from any.

I had limited battery life on my phone and limited internet connection . Hotel prices were astronomical high due to new years . Amount I was told for one night would cover my entire accommodation for 5 nights which I booked originally on airbnb . I did book my accommodation as per my budget quite in advance so that I don't have to pay those huge amount and paid in advance as well. So thanks for suggesting that Dubai was not the right destination for me . 

What was not right was the company I used to book my accommodation .  But how does that matter to you or any one ? 

May be you should try and think a bit also about what airbnb did to help me in this situation ? Airbnb did nothing. They did not help to find any alternative accommodation nor they could contact their own host.   I was told they cant do any thing because they cant contact host. And that's it. 

But that wont make a difference to you as its not you who is getting affected. 

They refunded my money , So that makes them a great company. 

As I said hosts and guests has their own interest attached , may be you have yours and you have right to do so . But that's where we all fail to come together collectively to force this huge organisations to change their business practice.  Again each on their own here. 

[Anonymous]

@Anand191   It sounds like your imagination of what Airbnb's support staff could have done to help you was as unrealistic as your expectations for how well a listing with  only two one-liner reviews was going to work out.

It's been said several times in this thread already, but Airbnb doesn't own other properties that it can relocate you to if for whatever reason you need to be re-housed. In some cases they actually do offer re-housing assistance, but what that often means is that hosts get a phone call asking if they can take a last-minute guest who hasn't even viewed their listing, on a day when they don't even have availability. It's a total waste of time. 

You were in an unenviable position, having to find last-minute accommodation during a holiday with high demand and inflated prices, but if it didn't cross your mind that this was a very real possibility when you were planning your trip, then I can't agree with your assertion that you're not naive.

It's not easy being alone in a foreign country where you don't have local contacts and perhaps don't speak the language, and have to fend for yourself when your plans go awry. But even if you choose a package-holiday company that arranges everything for you from door to door, there's no guarantee that they won't go bust and leave you stranded in the middle of your trip. Maybe you choose a luxury cruise to make everything really convenient, but a disease outbreak forces everyone to quarantine in their cabins for weeks. Life is unpredictable and all kinds of things can go far more wrong than what you experienced. If you can't handle that, I don't even recommend hotels - maybe traveling in general is not for you.

[Anand191]

@Anonymous  Hi Andrew , Thank you again for recommending  that travelling is not for me .

But for your information I have been all ready to 16 different countries in world and never had any such issues like I had with Airbnb. 

So you should let me decide If I should travel or not. 

According to you any one using Airbnb must prepared to be left out on street as that's  a real possibility for any one using that platform . isn't it ?   I wonder why any one would want to use such platform .  On top of it they are neither legally nor morally responsible for any thing. 

As per my experience Airbnb neither provided what they claim to provide nor they helped me in this situating . So I have my right to my own opinion as you do . 

I have booked hotels by middle man sites and had issues which were sorted by them very quickly. So argument that Airbnb does not own inventory and that's why they cant do any thing about it doesn't stand for me .  They are offering a service for which  I am paying so I expect them to provide that . I am not asking for some thing extra ordinary. 

 I understand you are a very loyal Airbnb person , and you have your own reasons for that and I never asked you personally not to use Airbnb. So again all the best to you with Airbnb . 

[Anonymous]

@Anand191  You sound like someone who just found out the truth about Santa Claus at the age of 40, and feel an overwhelming need to tell all your colleagues at the office that he's fake.

This may be shocking to you, but most people using a product they like are actually aware of its risks and limitations, and figured out how to work around them. I'm ever so sorry that you had to fend for yourself when things didn't go the way you hoped, but life is like that. Hopefully you'll be a little more prepared when you visit your 17th country.

[Anand191]

@Anonymous  Hi Andrew , 

You are very good at philosophy and life lessons. I guess every one has their own . You have yours I have mine.  Btw, I don't believe in santa clause , I believe in getting what I paid for.  

If you cant accept my experience or my thinking its fine with me , and you shouldn't force any one to see things your way as well. 

As far as visiting 17th country . I sure will be more prepared as I wont be using Airbnb for sure. 

Once again all the best withy your Airbnb partnership.