Very rude host

[Amrita13]

Hi all,  I am in a bit of a conundrum.

We landed in Faro last night, and reached our bnb destination at 8.50pm. To begin with there was no one at the property to let us in. Upon contacting the host a few times (message and phone calls), she eventually called back. To my utter shock, she was unaware of the confirmed booking, and ended up saying- she can 'accomodate' us. She reached after 15 mins, with her pal, and from there on, it went down hill. She was rude, uncivil, and treated us like a liability. She said she was not made aware of the confimation and that there was a **bleep** up. The house of a mess, as there was a house party the previous night. It reeked of alcohol and smoke. Beds were unmade and used utensils everywhere.  She had the guts to say that she is doing us a 'favor' to let us stay and use the bed. and that 'she has left her photoshoot' to come here and 'let us in' When asked her to consider the way of talking to us, she literally asked to us to 'leave' and pointed staright at door.. and 'I don't want you in my house'.  At 9.35pm,  no longer being able to take her behaviour, we left, with nowhere to stay. We had to book a hotel at the last minute, which left us cash strapped, nervous, and anxious.

I have never before come across a person who is this impolite, insulting, and inconsiderate; especially if she is in the hospitality business of 'hosting' What does the community think about this? And what suggestions would you give to proceed from here? I have flagged it to airbnb already.

Utterly disheartened traveller :'(

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@Amrita13  Have a look at the Guest Refund Policy: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/544/

You should call Airbnb right away to report this, because when there is an eligible issue you have to report it within 24 hours of the checkin time to receive a refund.

To be sure, the problem is not that the host's tone, but rather that the property had not been prepared for you (beds not made, cleaning not acceptable).  When this happens, you should get 100% of your money back, and hopefully have that at your disposal to enjoy the rest of your holiday.

[Amrita13]

Thanks for your advise. Air bnb has been supportive. 

[Ana1136]

@Amrita13 Follow @Anonymous s advice, but also in the future, to avoid these kind of problems, you should always communicate with the host before arrival. Wasn't it weird to you that you haven't set an arrival time with the host and yet you expected someone to be there? Also wasn't it weird that no one acknowledged your reservation and you haven't heard once from a host in a location that is unfamiliar to you and you are supposed to arrive late in the evenin. Always communicate so that every detail of the check in procedure and stay is clear even before you pack your bags to go to a place. 

[Amrita13]

I agree with your points here. However time of arrival was made known to the host. In addition to it, the booking was made just a couple of weeks ago. Of course this doesn’t warrant that it will be on the hosts mind but nonetheless, if you are in the business, you have got to keep up with your diary. 

[Helen3]

I am sorry you had this awful experience @Amrita13 

As others have mentioned, call Airbnb straight away. Hopefully your messages to the host were through Airbnb  so there is a record that you couldn't get in.

Did you get any photos of the condition of the listing?

Airbnb may consider a contribution towards your hotel costs, but you really should have notified them that there was a problem when it occurred.

Work with them to help you find somewhere else for the rest of your stay. They can transfer the booking fee for your original place over and give you a 10% credit to find somewhere else.

Look for a superhost or a host with mainly five star reviews that has been hosting for some time.

You should also leave an honest review to help warn other guests about your experiences.

[Amrita13]

Thanks @Helen3 air bnb has said they will review the listing of the given property. 

Also, like I said before, air bnb has been helpful. 

🙂 

[Eva--Michi-and-Friends0]

@Helen3 :

Please note that Airbnb does no longer transfer the money to a new reservation. The 10% compensation credit still applies, but the payments are now automatically refunded.

In case a guest has problems with this, they can call Airbnb and they will guide further.

[Marie82]

@Amrita13  sorry about ur experience, was a very last min booking u made or days in advance ?

[Amrita13]

A couple of weeks in advance.  However things are being sorted out by air bnb. 

Thanks for your comments. 

[Quincy]

Hello @Amrita13, I am so sorry to hear about this. 

I'm glad to hear that you've been speaking to the team and that they are handling this for you. I've also passed this on to them to give them a nudge. 

Quincy 

[Sarah977]

@Amrita13  You say the host was made aware of your arrival time. But it seems you didn't get any reply to this?

In the future, it's a good idea, if you don't receive a return message from the host to your communications, to not just assume that they were received- contact Airbnb if you don't get a response in a timely fashion (give the host a day to respond, they may be busy) and ask them to please make contact with the host for you so you can feel asssured that you won't face another scenario like this.

[Jamaya0]

No the problem is the host tone and the condition of the air bnb people really need to get their **bleep** together and the way air bnb is set up if we don’t report in the first 24 hours we lose our money and the only thing we can do is write a nasty feedback