I thought I had seen it all. Over 1000 reviews of experience has shown me a thing of two. But nothing prepared me for this.
One of my 5 listings had been vacant for a few days. A guest from Booking.com was arriving that day. I asked my housekeeper to check the apartment for small things - crack open a window, check the floors etc before the guest arrived.
To our surprise, he found luggage in the apartment and stuff everywhere. A check of the tags showed the name of a guest who checked in two days previously, to an apartment in the building next door.
I checked the instructions - yep, they were given the correct instructions to 32/20 X Ave. How the hell did they get into 48/18 X Ave????!
The guest was called and messaged. Airbnb was called and messaged. No reply.
I had to cancel the Booking.com guest and refund them $489 because their apartment was “occupied”.
The next day the Airbnb guest calls and says he is in the wrong apartment. I asked how he managed to do that - he said he used the code on every keysafe on the gate of the building next door (my instructions say look for a keysafe in a mailbox) and finally one opened. He then used the key on every door on level 4 (the only thing the two apartments have in common) until a door opened.
i asked why he did not contact us when he found the apartment was nothing like the listing he booked ( no bedroom, no city views, no huge picture window). He said he did not notice.
He then moved out because “he did not feel welcome” and refused to cancel his booking.
I filed a claim for $489 I was out of pocked for the booking I cancelled . Airbnb refused. Gave reasons like “potential” booking - I sent them the actual booking. They then said I should have given the arriving guest the vacant apartment - I replied that they booked for 3 days, only 2 were available. After that, Airbnb just refused.
I then asked for the guest details so I could take action against them. Airbnb refused and sent me a link to an “emergency help” page. Get this - if your life is in immediate danger you have to fill in a form of 14 questions - OMG “Due to global data privacy laws, I will not be able to give out that information. Please have them utilize this portal for more information. www.airbnb.com/lert“
I did the honourable thing and did not throw the home invader’s stuff in the trash. It cost me $489. Support from Airbnb - zero.
Chesky says that Airbnb is “in the business of trust.” Show me the trust in this situation Airbnb?!?!?!
I’m sticking with Booking.com. The host holds the money, holds the security deposit, holds the ID. I’m done with NO support from Customer Support.