Noise annoyance omission in apartment description

[MClaire1]

Dear Airbnb Hosts, I've posted a message on this similar problem earlier in the day but since it is urgent and it doesn't seem to appear anywhere, I allow myself to post it here again.

I've arrived in Taiwan for a long-stay two weeks ago. After the first week, I realized that the shop just under my apartment was airing loud heavy metal - rock pop music 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, this was not mentioned in the apartment description when I reserved it.

I try to convince myself that the host may not be necessarily  living in the area, and none of his previous guests had told him about this annoyance because, say, they didn't have to stay indoor as often?

I'd want to look for another more liveable apartment, and asked for a refund based on the amount that was actually paid, minus the nights that would not be spent in this place. But the contact person from Airbnb Support Service I've been dealing with for this last week wants to impose a "normal nightly rate" which is significantly higher than what I paid.

In other words, if I were to leave this studio, I'd have to accept to be charged for the nights I spent here, a much higher rate than what I actually accepted to pay in the first place, and this would lower the amount I would be refunded.

I find this very shocking as this would completely discard the negligence from the host who posted his description, and would imply that Airbnb endorses this negligence (?). What solutions would you suggest in a case like this one? Thank you.

[Linda108]

@MClaire1  I wonder if in booking a longer term stay, you were eligible for a discount and now that you are wanting to cancel, the discount does not apply to the nights you have stayed.  So if you were given a 20% discount for staying a month and you are not staying a month, then the nightly rate would no longer have a 20% discount.  Hope this makes sense.

[MClaire1]

Thanks a lot @Linda108 for your time and your answer.  I totally agree that it makes sense considering the sole calculation aspect.

Well, I finally managed to make my Airbnb Support contact understand and accept that the reason behind this request for an early departure and a refund based on the amount I actually paid was due to the host failing to mention this noise annoyance in his description... which is contrary to the hospitality guidelines (https://fr.airbnb.com/hospitality#basic-requirements or https://www.airbnb.com/hospitality, look at  Listing Information > Tips).

Besides, the 'normal nightly rates' I've been given were figures I had never seen when I did my reservation a few months ago.

When I was told about them, I checked as if I were to make a reservation of my current apartment, they appeared nowhere regardless of the length of the stay.

In other words, any figures could be given to the guest as the 'normal rate' to base the refund upon.

All in all, It felt so disheartening.

Ultimately, we have come to a solution that is fair and acceptable although it took a whole week of exchanges. It should be all good from now on. 

[Sarah977 · Accepted solution]

@MClaire1   Glad it worked out for you. One thought I had, though, was that it's possible that the place downstairs with the offending music all day may just have been rented to new people and that's why the host was unaware. Probably not likely, but possible. It's too bad that some hosts insist on listing a place without full disclosure, or realizing that as much as they'd like to be able to rent the space, it's just not suitable for guests for one reason or another.