Bad experience as a guest

[Schuyler8]

I planned to go to Dothan, AL, to attend a family reunion. I searched for an Airbnb home that could accommodate at least ten. I located one that accommodated twelve that looked nice in all website photos. I read several of the reviews, which were all stellar. The home was listed to be that of one of Air Bnb’s superhost.  I secured the home for $1,335.00. The period was Thursday, May 11th, through Monday, May 15th.  My family and I arrived there on May 11, 2023and checked into the home between 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Upon entering, I walked through the home to determine the room I would select for myself and my husband. There were four bedrooms, three with queen-size beds and one with two queen-size beds. I immediately saw that the place had not been cleaned after the last family had checked out. Below, I have listed all the things I found wrong with the home.

Bedrooms: Neither of the four bedrooms had been cleaned. All the beds had been slept in, and there were dirty used bedlinen and pillows on the floor in each bedroom.

Bathrooms: Neither of the two bathrooms had been clean. Both had used towels and washcloths thrown on the floors, hairs on the countertop, and urine stains on the toilet seat. Neither the bathtubs nor showers had been cleaned and showed mold and mildew in the grout. Small pieces of used soap were in the soap dish and on the countertops. The rugs nor floors had not been cleaned. There were stains in the grout on the bathroom floor.

Kitchen: There were dirty dishes in the sink and on the countertops. There were a few dirty dishes in the dishwasher, which was also filthy with visible food participles. The kitchen sink leaked every time the water was turned on. A cake pan was placed under the sink to catch the dirty water.  Once the pan was full, (which doesn’t take long to fill up a cat pan), I had to empty the dirty water in the sink and replace the cake pan to catch more dirty water. Of course, with each removal, the dirty water splashed on my hands, so I spent the weekend washing and moisturizing my hands. The bottom of the oven had remnants of food that had dripped and were now hard, black, and crusted. The refrigerator appeared clean, so I’m guessing the previous tenants ate out however, the garbage had not been taken out. The kitchen was not fully stocked re were plenty of dishes, cups, glasses, and baking pans, but a very small amount of cookware for the top of the stove, which I needed as I was making some of the side dishes for my family reunion the next day (Friday).

Floors: The floors in the entire home had not been swept or moped.

Washer: The home had a washer and dryer, which was helpful because we could at least wash loads and loads of bedlinen, comforters, towels, washcloths, rugs, etc. What I didn’t know was that the washer did not work. I discovered that after returning from Walmart armed with a load of cleaning and washing supplies. By this time, it was 10:30 p.m. Once I realized the washer was not spinning, we had to return to Walmart and purchase linen/comforter sets for the members already checked in. I had to call the family members that would arrive the next day, (Friday) and instruct them to bring bed linens, comforters, towels, and washcloths from their homes.

So, since the home had not been cleaned upon our arrival on  Thursday evening, my husband and I had to:

1.         Go to Walmart and purchase cleaning supplies for the bathrooms including beach towels for the bathroom’s floors, and cleaning supplies for the kitchen and bedrooms along with the floors in the home.
2.         Once I realized the washer did not work, we had to make a second trip to Walmart to purchase beds, towels, and washcloths linens.
3.         We also had to clean the entire home before finally going to bed at around 2:30 am Friday morning.

As a result, I telephoned and chatted with the Airbnb ambassador, Charles, on several occasions to levy a complaint. Charles reached out to the super host on several occasions we waited about an hour or so for Charles to receive a response from the super host. When he finally received a response from the super host, he was informed that the super host would only refund $195.00 to cover the amount she pays her cleaner to clean after each departure and before each arrival.

I also corresponded with the super host via chat.  I found Hannah’s first chat message and opening statement extremely disturbing. The first thing this host said to me was:

Why were e not contacted concerning cleanliness concerns prior to you contacting Airbnb?

That was it. no apology, no what can we do to correct this, no explanation as to why this occurred. Just that chastising statement/question.

Overall, I spent Thursday evening to Monday morning chatting and speaking to the Airbnb ambassador, who eventually informed me that neither their brand nor the host were willing to refund anything above the $195.00 the host had already refunded. I also messaged the super host several times, holding firm that her only responsibility in this entire comedy of horrors was to refund the amount she would have paid her cleaners.

The Airbnb ambassador did inform me that they would refund the entire amount paid for my stay if my family and I were willing to relocate to another property. But, upon researching, neither the Ambassador nor I was able to find any accommodations largest enough to hold a party of twelve adults with a full kitchen (which I needed to prepare food) in the Dothan, AL area. And, of course, the individual hotel rooms and suites also could not accommodate this large party and did not offer a full kitchen.

I took numerous pictures of all concerns and sent them to Airbnb, but this made no difference.

every person in my party is elderly and retired. None of my party members retired from careers that involved cleaning, janitorial or custodial work. We all retired from professional office careers. I’m mentioning this to emphasize that I’m not and have never wished to be a cleaner. Also, I pointed out in my messages to Charles, the Airbnb ambassador, and Hannah, the super host, that due to age and disabilities, my husband and I no longer clean my own home. We pay to have it cleaned, so why would I travel and pay on our vacation to clean her home?

Rather than staying from Thursday to Monday, my family members elected to check out at around 7:00 am Sunday morning. The experience was so upsetting that we left two days earlier than planned and paid for.

Lastly, after an entire conversation with the super host, she sent me at least, two messages stating that she hoped I enjoyed my stay and that I would review and rate my experience as 5 stars. It was as if she had mentally checked out and refused to acknowledge my concerns.

[Michelle1588 · Accepted solution]

Hi Schuyler, 

I'm sorry this happened to you but why did you stay after finding the place in such a mess? If you arrive at a rental to find a dirty bathroom, dirty grout, beds that had apparently been slept on and not prepped for new guests, dirty dishes, a leak, and so on... the very first thing to do is contact the host and tell him or her. 

They might find out their cleaner did not come and would send them and perhaps offer you a discount for the inconvenience. (things happen) But instead you're saying you saw a washing machine and decided to go to the store to buy detergent to do the sheets / laundry? 

Once you did that it may have made the situation worse. It's not your responsibility to do laundry for a rental when you arrive. The rental should be clean and if it isn't don't check in, do not touch anything, call the host and let him or her know to give them a chance to correct it, or call Airbnb and leave the house. They'll find you something else. It's guaranteed in their policy.

Lastly, the host might have contacted you asking for a good review because she assumed you were fine since you didn't leave and ask for a refund from moment #1. 

Unless something's missing from this story I'm not sure what else could have been done to make things better. It's either you leave and find another place or see if you can work something out with the host because something out of the ordinary happened. Only after speaking to the owner would it make sense to begin cleaning up on your own. And it would have been a bit inconvenient but worth the trouble since you needed somewhere to stay, and a big place to accommodate your family. It would have been worth it to do all the cleaning you required if it saved you all the time and headaches for searching for a new place would have cost you, etc... 

If it ever happens again I recommend contacting host immediately. Don't touch anything until you agree on the next step. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Schuyler8 what a dreadful experience. In retrospect you should have contacted the host as they may well have been able to come out and clean themselves. It looks like the property was suffering from more than just a missed clean given the cold around the bath tub. I would have thought a refund of at least the cleaning fee plus one nights stay would be fair but perhaps your failure to allow the host to sort out the problem negates this somewhat.

[Jennifer1897]

I am sorry for your experience. I would definitely be upset if I checked into a property and found it in the condition you presented. It appears the place was not cleaned between guests, which would be an error on the host's end.

I know this is irrelevant to the current issue, but moving forward if you ever arrive at a place that has obviously not been cleaned or turned over after a previous guest, immediately notify the host. Sometimes schedules get mixed up or things occur with cleaners that the host may not even be aware of. Although I can't see the ad, given that she is a superhost and you read previous positive reviews, it leads me to believe something disrupted the turnover.  By contacting the host it gives them the opportunity to rectify the problem and you can likely get a faster solution then waiting on an ambassador to resolve things on your behalf.  If the host is not amendable to fixing the issue then I would seek support from airbnb and explore the opportunity of moving elsewhere. 

It's a difficult call, as they did offer a refund and ability to relocate, however it sounds like there were no suitable alternatives for the needs of a larger group, so your were basically stuck between a rock and a hard place. My recommendation would be to explore possible reimbursement for at least one night since the accommodation was not ready when you arrived.  Given that you stayed though, it would be hard to justify a full refund. 

[Suzanne984]

Those marks in the bath and between the tiles are not dirt, it's general wear and tear which cleaning would not remove.

Although the dishes are dirty it's hard for me to believe they were left like that because the water and bubbles would have dried up in a matter of hours.

hard for me to sympathise with you, I feel sorry for the host. I personally would not want to just you based on what you have wrote and posted, no one likes petty guests who go out of their way to look for things to scrutinise.