terrible experience ...... what should I do ?

[Alamri0]


I can hardly explain my suffering with this experience


I asked for early check in and the host agreed, I checked in the apartment was so dirty that the entire apartment is stinky. The bathroom is very dirty. The kitchen is a garbage. Also, smell some kind of smoking in the whole property, not sure if it was just cigarette or other type, I am not expert in that. but I have asthma so I couldn’t stay in the property.

I contacted the owner and asked for a refund, she refused with careless ans said that she will take fine from the other guest.
I contacted the Airbnb customer service and they were in the host side  and she said we cannot refund you except you provide some pictures, and that was a manager’s words.

I sent them all the pictures I have and she told me the host could clean it!!!. but they asked me to send them evidence for the smoking smell, 
I have no idea how to send pictures of smoking, although she said I should provied pictures of cigarette!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the people were smoking in their room., hallo should I go inside their room and take picture or what?. Any way it was a terrible experience and Airbnb are in the host side and the host didn’t even check the place she just sent her house keeper and lied to Airbnb. so, Just lost 251. I  got back home today and Airbnb have not contacted me with any final  answer. 

[Ana1136]

@Alamri0 I am sorry you had a bad experience. That is how it goes, you contact the host and if they don't improve you contact Airbnb, they gave the host a chance to improve and as I understand the host cleaned the place and you stayed there.. are you still expecting a refund for a place you stayed in? You can leave an honest review but if you wanted a refund you should have canceled your reservation and not stay there and still ask for it after the stay is done. 

[Alamri0]

i didn't stay there and the host know that and Airbnb knows that. and i didnt cancel because they said we will not refund you if you cancel. I stayed in a hotel not in Airbnb host property.

[Alamri0]

And i posted a review about the property and what i saw and it didnt appear in the property review page ??? does that means all the reviews we read are not true and the true story or what Airbinb dosn't like they don't post???? i dont understand, i am shocked really.

[Emilia42]

@Alamri0, no, it means that the review will not post until the host reviews you or until the 14 day review period has ended. Reviews are blind.

[Alamri0]

I believed that Airbnb does cares about their customers and i will be waiting to hear back from Airbnb. thanks all for replying. 

[Sarah977]

@Alamri0  I'm sorry you arrived to an unclean and stinky listing and the host should never have agreed to your request for an early check-in if that didn't give her time to get the place clean.

Correct protocol for this is to first contact the host to see if they can quicky remedy a problem like this, if they can't, or are not nice to you about it, you then contact Airbnb to explain what happened and say you want to cancel the reservation. They will often try to rehouse you then and there, and then no refund is even necessary, as they've found you a more acceptable place to stay.

You don't ask the host for a refund, you just cancel and let Airbnb handle the refund part. They do normally refund the guest, as far as I know, for situations such as this, without making you submit a bunch of photos, etc. if you contact them right away when you arrive and find the place unacceptable and the host unaccomodating.

[Alamri0]

Thanks a lot for you reply, this actually what I did contacted the host and nicely said to her I hope you could solve this before I contact Airbnb because I don’t want to harm her business with Airbnb, but she said she will not refound me and she didn’t direct me at all. Then I called Airbnb. The first manger called me from Airbnb was in the host side and wasn’t nice at all and told me she will not refound me and if I cancel the reservation then it’s my fault and it’s my fault. 

Any way other manager called me I am not sure it’s ok to say his name and he was very known and understood the situation and solved it for me with the best he can do. Thanks a lot to him. That ended my bad experience. 

[Sarah977]

@Alamri0  I'm glad it worked out for you. Airbnb customer service is very inconsistent. Unfortunately, it's the luck of the draw whether you get an understanding and helpful rep or not. And yes, hosts and guests often mention the name of the CS rep they were engaged with, it's fine, but it's pretty irrelevant, as it's only a first name, and we have no idea if that's the person's real name or a name they just use for their CS interactions.

Also, what you need to be aware of is that, sadly, there are many guests who show up at a listing, and then immediately cancel because of their own reasons, not because there was anything wrong with the host or the listing. Maybe 2 hours before they were due to arrive a friend offered them a free place to stay, or something like that. But they know that if they cancel, it's too late to get their money back, so they just show up, claim the place was unclean or something else, all untrue, and ask for refund. So Airbnb can't just refund based on what either a guest or a host claims happened if there is a dispute- it's one person's word against another's. Sometimes they have to investigate further.