Hello,
I had to cancel my Vacations due to a Flying ant infestation at the house I rented. I stayed at the property for only 1 night, and I was still charged $770. It is very unfair to me! Please read on for the full story.
Check in was Saturday, it was a last minute booking, 4 night stay, for a total of $3502 (I think it was listed for $600 but comes out to $875 per night, because fees, cleaning charges and taxes that are also built in that number. I can't find the per night rate anywhere on airbnb). I'm talking about a beach front house in South Padre Island, TX, with a beach front, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, private pool in front of the beach at the 1st floor, and a beautiful 2nd floor deck above the pool with a great view.
The host was responsive and took care of maintenance last minute as well and explained about an issue with the door to the deck on the 2nd floor (big disappointment for a beachfront house, but I accepted it as I needed a place to stay).
What I didn't know, and neither did the host, taking her word for it, is that there was an infestation of flying ants in the house (those are some big wasp-like insects, that apparently don't sting). The flying ants were located on the two rooms in the 1st floor that have access to the pool and the beach. After the sun went down, the ants started to come out, and there were at least 200 in one room, and another 50 on the 2nd room, and it was already 8:40pm. I texted the host and she replied that, if I could find another place to stay, she will reimburse me. She also recommended to contact Airbnb to help with the re-location arrangements.
I immediately called airbnb in distress, but they wouldn't respond until 10:50pm! Apparently they wanted to re-locate me (I don't know where) but I told them that it was too late for that. With the whole Covid 19 situation, this is a very difficult decision, but I cannot expose my family to a hotel room because, upon arrival, me and my wife would need to clean the hotel room (just as we cleaned several parts of the house earlier) just to have some piece of mind. IMO you don't really know whether someone infected with Covid stayed or visited the house (or the hotel room) in the last 72 hours. Without assurance, you can't be too cautious when it comes to health!
The "Airbnb Support Ambassador **" listened to me and agreed that we couldn't just go out to a new place that late at night, specially being so tired after such a difficult day. There were another two rooms in the house, in the 2nd floor, on the opposite side of the ant infestation, that didn't have any signs of ants on them, so we all stayed in those two rooms, and blocked the infested rooms with towels so the ants coulnd't come out of them. Jaydee from Airbnb did say they were going to make arrangements so that I could stay for the rest of the nights on another property, and asked me to send him links to properties that I was interested in.
Next day, early Sunday I tried to contact Airbnb, several times without any responses. I also sent them the links on a chat as requested, but no responses on the chat messages either. I've foreseen that I was going to be charged 1 night due to the lack of response from Airbnb, so we left the house by 11am (official checkout time). Airbnb finally contacted me back around 1pm, they told me to make arrangements for the two listings myself, and that they were going to refund me for something, but they never told me for what, or how much. I followed their lead and tried to book one of the properties myself, this time at $800 per night, similar house, beachfront and private pool.
By 2:30pm, Airbnb finally changed the one night stay in my account for $1145! I contacted them again, and they replied back that they "reduced it" to $770! WTF! One night at $770 for the worst day/night my family ever had? By 2:45 I decided that I wouldn't pay $770 (or any number for that matter) + $3600 for an extra 3 nights at South Padre to Airbnb. We finished our short beach visit, barely cleaned up at the public beach shower, and drove back 6 hours to Austin, TX. I don't think I will ever use Airbnb again in my life.
If anyone has suggestions on what is it that a guest is supposed to do under such stressful circumstance, or how to get my money back, please let me know.
**[Name hidden due to privacy concerns - Community Center Guidelines]