Airbnb Nightmare

[Taddeo2]

Hi everyone! I’ve been using Airbnb for several years now and all of the reviews submitted to me by hosts have been great. Never had a problem and always treated the places I have stayed in with great respect and cleaned up after myself to leave things nice and tidy. 

I recently booked an apartment in Berlin and the only place I found which was close to work and looked nice was an apartment hosted by a guy with no reviews. I read on the description that there was ‘potential noise’ and so before booking I wrote to the host to find out what the situation was in detail and I was assured that the apartment was quiet. When I got to Berlin late at night my host told me that the apartment was not where it was shown on the marker but further down the road. When I got there the place was on a main 8 lane crossroads with heavy constant traffic all day and all night and it is so loud outside that it is impossible to get any sleep, and not on the quiet part further down the road shown on the marker. In the morning I woke up to see that the apartment was filthy and had not been cleaned. Stains and debris on the floor, smelly towels slung over doors and tables, disgusting stains on the pillows, dirty kitchen and more. I immediately made photos of the uncleanliness and videos to show how incredibly dirty and noisy it was and called Airbnb for a refund so I could leave. To cut a very long story short I have been in contact with ten different people from Airbnb. All of there people have been kind and supportive of my claim except for one who hadn’t read the case properly. Four days have passed and I am still here and have not slept a wink. They keep passing my case onto another person when their shift runs out and I have to explain the situation again from scratch. I read the terms and conditions and the host has failed under two aspects: cleanliness and failure to describe the real situation. I even tried to propose an early checkout with the host because one of the people at Airbnb advised me to do so before taking more serious measures but the host was unwilling to accept this compromise. I have been on the phone all day and night to organize a refund so I can book another place and get on with my business trip. Also the guest left me the keys in a bar to pick up and hasn’t even checked me in yet. This has truly become a nightmare and I don’t know what more I can do. Would appreciate it if anyone had some advice. Thanks guys!

Tad

[Gordon0]

If it were me, @Taddeo2, I would have walked. You need to turn the pressure up somewhat with Airbnb to get a resolution here, but I fear you may have left it a little late if you are still at the apartment. Why haven't you left already?

[Taddeo2]

Hi, thanks for the reply! Trust me I’ve been very tempted but I feared that by leaving they would consider it a cancellation and keep my money! Also the only accommodation available in Berlin at the moment is through Airbnb because it’s the 30th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall and very busy so I figured it be best to sort everything out through them so that I could rent another Airbnb after without any issues. Didn’t want to risk being out on the street without a place to sleep. Just got in touch with a very helpful member of their staff who told me that he had tried to contact the host who did not answer. If he doesn’t answer within an hour they will automatically cancel the booking so I only pay for the few days I’ve stayed there. I’m counting down the minutes in angst! First and last time I book with a host with no reviews, that’s for sure. Sorry to say but the lack of organization on Airbnb’s behalf in this matter has been terrible. I’ve been on the phone for three days and nights to sort out a situation which is most evidently unacceptable. Fingers crossed

[Luana130]

Hi, well it did say on the description that it was noisy, so you can't really complain to airbnb about that. What you can do is tell them that the host has the wrong address in the map, so it was misleading that way.

As for the cleanning you always need to look at that the minute you arrive, even if it is late. And contact the host even before you contact airbnb, so that he can have the chance to correct that, that is the protocol for airbnb, if you didn't contact the host first that is probably why it took so long to get a decision. You do have 24 hours to complain about the accomodation, but if you don't do it the minute you arrive they might think you made the mess to get the refund.