Hi everyone,
My partner and I booked a month at an airbnb out in Joshua Tree as a retreat. We love the area for its peace and quiet, and have spent several months there in the past. My partner was victim to a dog (unfortunately, a pitbull) attack in the past and is pretty traumatised from the experience. When we arrived at the property not only did we have serious issues with cleanliness (this isn't the host's fault as she had trusted a cleaning company and not checked up after them), but there were also two very loud and apparently aggressive pit bulls in the yard next door. The only thing dividing the outdoor area on our side and the neighbor's yard was a thin chicken wire fence. They would peek over the top, push up against it and bark at us non-stop when we went out at night. Frankly I felt scared too, we had to rush inside every time.
We go out to this kind of desert area to get a break from our stressful city lives and to enjoy being outdoors as much as possible, especially at night when you can look at the stars. We tried for two nights but the barking was relentless and my partner was extremely anxious sitting outside, so we decided we couldn't stay for a whole month, seeing as the whole point was to sit outside and relax! That is how the listing was advertised - as a quiet, healing space. The dogs were about 30 yards away from the outdoors sitting area and obviously as it's the desert it's exposed.
We tried talking to our host about this and she seemed geniunely sorry and understanding of the fact that this was trauma-related, and that she hadn't mentioned these dogs (which she knew of) in the description. She said she understood that we needed to book a different place and that she would see what she could do about the money. Just now we contacted her again about this as we've heard nothing and she's suggesting that we cancel the booking on our end, and that if she manages to get any new bookings in, she could send us a percentage of each of those stays. No specific details. This seems super sketchy to us, and we're already in a pressed situation because we can't really afford to have booked two different 30-day stays. We feel very disappointed to have trusted that she understood the situation.
What can we possibly do? Any advice would be welcomed!