I have both hosted AirBnBs and stayed in an AirBnB several times. I have impeccable reviews and never had a negative experience or requested a refund or chargeback.
When I first requested to book a two-night stay, the "host" Lucas, sent me messages telling me that there was a 3-night minimum---but the Friday night was not available. He then insisted that I either agree to book the Tuesday night (even though we would not use it) or he demanded that I cancel my reservation request. I responded that he could decline my request---but that I would not cancel the reservation request. This clearly angered the host as he accepted the request (because he did not want to hurt his acceptance rate) but later retaliated in a way I could not imagine. Prior to the trip, I also got no less than 20 emails from this hosting company. It was overwhelming my inbox.
In staying at this building prior to this trip I knew the location was good--connected to the Cosmo---but the guests in the building this year were something you might expect at a water park or even a trailer park. Someone urinated in the elevator and it was soaked with bleach to clean it up. There was food and liquid (possibly even another incident or urination) in the hallway. The staff was very nice but could clearly not keep up with the shenanigans of the buildings guests.
We were up early and came back no later than 10pm to sleep each night. For a building that was supposed to be "no partying" and "no smoking" it was clear than those rules were not being enforced.
The morning we were checking out, I got yet another email telling me to "take out the trash" (even though we were charged a cleaning fee)---curious.
While switching rooms, as planned, the host decided to exact revenge for us not cancelling as he previously demanded.
After checking out (with no issues) we checked into another room in the same building. We contacted the host because the TVs did not have remote controls. The host did not answer and his "assistant" and his poor cell phone connection did not resolve the issue. I had bronchitis and his phone kept cutting out. I asked that it just get resolved...and we left the room--around 530 pm.
While none of us were in the room, I received an email --out of nowhere---just a few hours later that the host was "not comfortable" with us staying there. We checked in at 4pm and at 8:53pm on the same night (a Saturday) our host cancelled the booking, leaving us without a place to stay---and while our belongings were still locked in the room.
We gathered our belongings a short time later and scrambled to book two rooms at Ceasars for $273 more over the two nights--to accommodate our 4 guests. The host then accused us of stealing the remote and tried to charge us $150 for it and tried to charge us $389 for leaving the room at 10pm (even though we were told by AirBnB that we had to leave because the host was no longer "comfortable" with us renting from him). He then tried to charge us an additional $89 cleaning fee. We were in this room for less than 20 minutes in total. A total scam and this host was clearly trying to extort money for nothing.
The host continues to harass me with requests for money that he is not entitled to, while we should be compensated for our inconvenience and the extra money it cost us.
I filed a complaint with the local police, as this type of policy threatens the safety and security of any guest. It's exactly why a hotel can't simply "kick you out." I also filed a complaint with the CPB and the Cosmopolitan---since they let this place access their building.
I will continue to file complaints with AirBnB and local consumer protection bureaus to ensure this type of behavior is not acceptable. My guess is that they have acted in this manner before, and its only a matter of time before this results in a guest being left without a place to stay and one of them being hurt or injured while struggling to find new accommodations.
