Had to abandon an airbnb because of deceptive and dangerous location of home

Ray258
Level 1
Longs, SC

Had to abandon an airbnb because of deceptive and dangerous location of home

Reserved five nights to what looked like an idillic place in Costa Rica.  Read reviews as well as pictures.  Not once did my husband and I imagine that getting to this "paradise" entailed two hours of driving high altitude steep mountain, large part unpaved, no railings, no signs, lots of dangerous curves.  This while driving in turrential rain, mud slides, rock slides and flooded roads.  Thank goodness for the 4x4.  None of this is stated in the description.  Everyone has the right to know the location of their potential stay.   Once we arrived, with frayed nerves, we are met by host in a very dark home.  We are informed that the electricity goes out on occasion, so he gave us tea lights to light the home.  Yes, I said tea lights!  We were so tired we just took turns holding the tea light closest to the shower faucet in order to see the handles and took a very cold shower, since no electricity equals no hot water.  The next morning we decide to give it another try and we ventured out of the house compounds.  Big mistake!  We drove 40 minutes one way, because we got very lost.  Mud slides, flooded, impassible roads, steep road.  I got out of the car to help my husband make a u-turn so that the car with us in it would not go over the cliff.  We finally found a person on a scooter.  We paid him to led us to the address.  At this point, I would have given him all my money to feel safe!  By the time we arrived, I was emotionally and physically sick.  I knew I did not want to stay here another minute.  I did not feel safe.  The nearest town was an hour away.  Even to get gas for the car.  We call Airbnb and told them everything we had experienced and we told our host as well.  At this point, we just wanted to get to another place that we safe.  Airbnb credited $103 out of $420 that we paid for the five days.  They did not help us to find another place.  We had to find a hotel in downtown San Jose for the next three days and pay three times that amount.  A bill we did not expect to incur.  We felt totally abandoned.  I am so disappointed and disgusted in the way this situation was handled by this company, considering that their current revenue is $2.6 billion dollars, of which has been made through the average person such as ourselves, who help keep this company successful.  When my husband and I most needed this company to really say we care, to say, "let's help you and make sure feel you're not alone", especially in a foreign country, they took the approach of how much money can be kept from this transaction, and go fend for yourselves.  Shame on you.

16 Replies 16
Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

Sorry @Ray258 but have to agree with the others. While it does sound like it was a harrowing experience, if you'd read the listing fully and looked at the location, you would have realised all this. The weather was unfortunate but not the fault of the host. The best part of this story for me is that the host didnt have to fully refund you based on your failure to read the listing - you don't see THAT very often here on the host forum! And thanks for highlighting his place - it looks amazing and I want to go there now!

Agree with many others that "Birdhouse in the sky" looks amazing. The birds, the views are just WOW~!

 

But to be honest, it's not me. While we'd be in awe of the place, Henry and I would not go here 🙂 We like our creature comforts and don't like spending vacations traveling on the road or driving ourselves to remote places. We like nature and quiet, serene places well enough........ but we aren't adventurous, and we know our limits. We might be the types to join a day trip but not more than that. Lol~

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