I am a NY traveler andI have been a host for a number of years providing guests with an incredible experience in our home in Tuscany, Italy. A week ago we booked what we thought would be a great experience in the City of Brentwood, Ca. We would be out for 28 days visiting our children and grandchild. The unit was listed as a ground floor (my wife has knee problems), modern and with an unbelievable view of all of Los Angeles. Upon arrival we were met by two barking huge, white german shepherds (which were identified in a review as having bitten a guest). We then were taken to an outside staircase, steep and 20+ steps. Upon reaching the entrance, we saw a two story construction, exposed wiring, no fence and arising next to the entrance (blocking any view). We entered and found the place dirty, none of the rooms matching the pictures on the listing.
Even scarier, was that this was a basement apartment, that housed the home furnace. The smoke detectors were removed leaving the fasteners on the ceiling. There were no views from windows and the bedroom had no window.
As a host, I immediately took pictures of all of the issues we saw. We then ran out to call AirBnB. We spoke to an Experience Case worker who walked us through the process. We uploaded the pictures in real time. He viewed the pictures, heard our story and advised us to leave. AirBnB could find us another booking or refund out monies based on the documentation provided.
We chose the refund, returned to get our baggage, literally, snuck out to not wake the dogs and then sent a message to our Case Worker to speak to the host.
To our surprise, we received a letter from our case worker saying that they were not going to refund the money. His reasoning was based on the discussion with the host alone. The host said she had a discussion with me prior to the booking and warned us about the stairs. I had no discussion with the host but did message her post-booking after I read the bad reviews (that cited a lot of what we experienced). Since I was able to back up my argument with photos and messages I asked the equivalent of the host. I was told the Host was not required to provide documentation.
After my expansion of my argument with more photos and documents in particular the fact that AirBnB was not following its own safety standards (no smoke detectors ), security standards (construction material falling down when entering or exiting unit), I received two more letters saying they were sticking with their decision to not refund (long term rental restriction). I also spoke to two more case workers and a case worker supervisor all who agreed with my grievances and said I should get a refund. The policy is that the original case worker keeps the case and makes the final determination.
I have now opened a case with the tax and legal people. I have opened a second case focused only on host safety standards and commitment. Additionally, I am reporting the host's unit to the Brentwood Building Department for code violations. I really do not want to see future guests facing the dangers of fire or construction injuries.
Summation
What I realized is that there are two standards for resolution processing. It appears that AirBnB protects the host to a fault while making the traveler spend enormous time proving their basis for a refund. The fact that AirBnB took the word of the host without any documentation says a lot about the lack of fairness (and I am a host).
I also suggested when amounts over $3000 are involved (just as they have a special review before issuing a refund) they should conduct an inspection of the property to fairly resolve the problem. I should not have to go to the building department to assure the safety of future guests, the host should.
