My review of a Centrally Located on Capitol Hill/Eastern Market home in Washington DC

[Michael7371]

This conversation is to give folks an idea of what is possible to go through if you don't read all the terms and conditions of Airbnb policies -- particularly what you need to be covered by Air Cover. I'm also looking for feedback and a "gut check" about whether I'm being unreasonable in my frustration. I feel like I've been more than fair, honest and gave the hosts every chance to make it right, but was strung along. Only when I called Airbnb, did they even offer anything. I also want to get the community perspective on my expectations and experience.

I'm new to Airbnb but love it -- I've done 3 cities in the last 9 months with my family of 6 (London, LA and this in DC) and made tons of great memories after hiding out in the pandemic and saving a big (well for us anyway) vacation budget, and have one booked for New York in August. It's much more affordable than 2 hotel rooms or a 2BR suite in a hotel, but if you get a bad host, you're screwed. I've had to learn a tough lesson this time about having more pictures (it was even worse than these pics show as I only thought about taking pics after we started to get it under control). Also, it's important report *EVERYTHING* to Airbnb and give them a head's up with 72 hours in order to qualify for AirCover protection. I let myself trust the host because my previous hosts were all so awesome, and tried work it out directly with the host without bringing in Airbnb, and now the AirCover guarantee doesn't apply.

You also only have 1000 characters to do a review -- I greatly disagree with that policy because you can't do justice a detailed review that gives honest feedback (without sounding like a jerk). It should be at least 2000 characters.

Please let me know what you think -- even Hosts who would like to show me the other side of the coin. I want to be a good guest, but I also don't want to be treated like a gravy train that should be happy with whatever a hosts gives you because THEY think it's good enough. I'd also be interested in objective feedback on whether or not my complaints are valid or not -- from both host and guest perspective. If I'm going to be able to enjoy and take avantage of Airbnb's services, I need to have correct expectations going into each reservation, and what better way to set those expectations than to take advantage of this community to get feedback!

Here is a more complete, detailed review of what I experienced to provide background for community feedback. I'll post the pics and conversation over the next couple days:

Started great. Fell apart FAST. Ended terribly with seedy/dishonest host behavior after departure! Hosts not trustworthy!

I can't remember the last time I wrote a bad review. I HATE writing them, but this situation forced me to. I have pictures and videos as well as the ENTIRE message thread to prove the truth.
:
Pre-Arrival
* Started out great: Lots of communication
* Host hustled to get me a parking pass for my rental in 1 day when the listing says it takes a week
* Entry codes and a late check-in went smoothly
* Location is FANTASTIC. Close to food, grocery, Metro. 15 min or so walk to the capitol building

During our stay
* 1st night: Beds VERY comfortable -- most comfortable "away from home" mattresses we've slept on in a long time
* 2nd day: Found a some ants in one son and one daughter's bed and on the floor near the baseboards when we woke up -- a little disconcerting but maybe a one-off?
* Son didn't tell us because he didn't want his mom to freak out, but when he woke up that morning, he took his retainer out of his mouth and there was an ant in his retainer -- IN HIS MOUTH!
He told us this later in the day. My wife flipped out.
* Groceries on the counter (unopened cookies/pastries from Safeway bakery, fruits, etc) overrun by ants -- lots of them.
* Ants in the refrigerator! (never seen that before!) Walking on the breakfast sausage and "around"
* They INVADED the garbage can
* Host told us to leave no food out (chips, cookies, all fruit, pastries, everything in the fridge even though there were some ants in it). Bananas in the fridge turn brown...We had to wash dishes immediately and leave no garbage in the garbage can for any length of time because of ants (though they claimed they never had ant problems before)
* Host said they would address this the next day.
* Had a GREAT but a LONG day sightseeing. 4 kids -- tired, hungry and planning on making dinner and crashing out.
* Returned home to find Exterminator putting down toxic chemicals and told us to leave. Host said it would be OK to stay -- just "Stay on that side." Eldest son & I have asthma; daughter w/epilepsy, and we keep her away from chemicals and potentially risky environments
* Forced to leave due to risk of toxic chemical exposure even though we were exhausted. Packed all the kids; had to buy dinner instead of cooking (very expensive for 3 teen boys and an 11 year old girl + Mom and Dad). Restaurants in Eastern Market area are not the cheapest but pretty good.
* Host gave us cash for our groceries thrown out due to ants + a little for the inconvenience of having to go back to the store to buy everything; didn't come close to even covering the cost of dinner we had to buy, but it was a nice gesture
* Host (W*****) *ASSURED* me there would be additional compensation coming afte rhe talked to M***
* Didn't want us to use the coffee maker because coffee grounds would be left in the machine and ants would come so they left us a Keurig -- it was moldy inside -- and some decaf coffee from Trader Joes. Decaf?! Huh!
* 3rd-6th days: Not comfortable with cooking (teflon coming off the pots and the ant problem) so forced to do lots of take out and used the plates and flatware. Spent every evening meticulously cleaning, wiping down the counters and spraying a "non-toxic" spray the host sent from Amazon. Even when late in the morning to our timed entry tours, never left a dish/food in the sink, emptied garbage outside instead of using the garbage in the house (We all had to work harder on vacation than we have to at home -- especially my wife). This aspect of the vacation sucked.
* REPEATED requests for the promised compensation were ignored (I never demanded an amount. I only asked them to consider everything we went through and tell us what they think is fair-- See messages linked below)
* M*** said W***** was talking with Airbnb to work out compensation. "Just hang in there."
* Checkout Day: Followed all instructions for checkout (sent to us in the message thread)

After our stay:
* W***** asked for my venmo which I supplied immediately.
* Heard nothing for a week. Saw no Venmo. Wrote another request saying I didn't want to escalate to Airbnb, that I preferred to work it out together so I could write a review that highlighted a host who worked to a resolution with guests when things came up instead of having to escalate to Airbnb or the credit card company
* M*** blamed the delays on Airbnb and said I'd get my refund on the 29th or 30th (again, this is documented in the full message thread I have linked below)
* I found it curious that it would take so long for a host to give me money when there's a button about the Resolution Center in the message pane that says, "Send or Request Money." (I didn't use that button because to request money because ou have to specify a dollar amount, and I didn't want to TELL W***** and M*** how much to give me. I only asked them to consider all the facts and inconveniences and suggest a number. I wasn't about trying to kill somebody's business and wanted to be fair about it.)
* I talked to Airbnb to understand the process that M*** was talking about and found out from Airbnb that there were NO OUTSTANDING ISSUES registered about our stay from the hosts. NONE! Further, I found out that the 29th was the last day I could ever post a review. (Curious, right? Sound to you like they were stringing me along until my last review date and then going to ghost me? It did to me)
* Airbnb suggested I open a case and ask for an amount. We weren't comfortable cooking between the ant killer spray the fact that the pans had teflon coming off of them (see pics in links below) so we bought more meals than budgeted, and it was generally inconvenient to have to be so regimented about dishes and cleaning when we were on vacation. We brought home take out leftovers too, reheated and washed the plates and utensils immediately. My wife, who was most affected by this due to extra work suggested a 50% refund. This was more than we would have expected if they had just made an offer at the beginning (we were originally thinking 25-30%), but after lying to us, blaming Airbnb on the compensation delay and stringing us along, we felt manipulated and dismissed so we did a little analysis: 5 nights of a 6 night stay negatively impacted (83% of the nights) so 50% refund request seemed fair to us. If they had offered 25-30% on their own accord after they promised additional compensation, we would have been happy, but after 10 days of being ignored and/or strung along, having to escalate a case, and being forced to come up with a number when I didn't want to, 50%.
* Airbnb contacted them, and they offered $200! That's all they offered $200 -- and only because Airbnb asked them about it! Had it not been for me opening the case, they would have strung me along until the review deadline past and then ghosted me. They could have just said $200 2 weeks ago or Venmo'd me after they asked for my account!
* They actually told Airbnb that WE spilled Coke and that is what attracted the ants so it's our fault -- well look at the pictures in the links below. We only drink DIET Coke and buy diet drinks -- Diet Coke doesn't attract ants. Look it up on google and the Terminix website.
* These people are great when it's convenient for them. Otherwise, they appear to lie to cover their behinds.

I know they are going to come back with a bunch of stuff about me. I see they did a review about me, but I can't see what they said until I post a review. Here's my rebuttal. I believe they are lying. If the links below to all the messages, pics and videos are blocked, then you just have to take my word for it. Regardless, I know -- and the hosts know, that they are not being fair or truthful and whatever they tell you cannot be taken at face value.

So...what do you think? Am I being unreasonable? How much compensation is fair -- again, both hosts and guests perspective. Help me to be a better guest and a happier Airbnb-er. Thank you for your perspective!

[Michael7371]

I just saw his review of me saying I left the place a mess and spilled Coke which attracted the ants. Here's the way I left it.  There's water drops on the floor from carrying arount wet towels, wiping the counters, filling our water bottles before we left, etc -- no Diet Coke. They said to take all sheets/towels/bedding and put it by the laundry so we did.  It's a big pile, but 6 people's worth of towels and 5 beds including the air mattress (which required extra blanket use because the front door does have a big crack/air leak in it).

[Michael7371]

His review said I demanded 6 rolls of toilet paper a day.  I absolutely did not!  The host said they provided 4 rolls per day, I was looking for them.  

 **[Private conversation removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Helen3]

Hello @Michael7371 

Did I read correctly that the only issue with your stay once the host had addressed the issue with the ants was that a couple of frying pans were scratched?

Your host is correct if you leave food out, particularly in warmer climates it will unfortunately attract ants. 

I was rather confused by your comments regarding ants and the scratched pans and being asthmatic. I am asthmatic and don't understand how either ants to scratched pans would impact on either Asthma or Epilepsy ?

You don't mention anywhere asking the host to replace the scratched pans.

I'm also wondering why if you wanted to make a claim for compensation why you didn't follow Airbnb's advice and open a claim on the platform rather than asking the host to pay you compensation off platform.

@Michael7371 

[Michael7371]

Hello, Helen!  Thank you so much for taking the time to understand so you could provide feedback.  I take responsibility for there being so much information.  I hope I can clear this up.

No, the scratched up frying pans were not the outstanding issue.  I had originally intended to post the screen shots of our entire message conversation that would have explained a lot of this, but I found that when I posted a snippet of the messages above, it was removed per the terms of the community so my original post/review was all over the place.  I'll address your questions below:

My biggest (and still outstanding) issue with the host is that when he came over and saw the extent the ants were in the house, saw ants in the 2nd story bedroom and heard about how my son woke up with an ant seeking refuge in the retainer in his mouth, he promised additional compensation.   We said, "Warren this is really unacceptable."  His reply was "Absolutely.  We think it is unacceptable too."  We had further discussion (too much to quote) about compensation additional compensation (he had given us money to cover the groceries right off the bat, but not enough to cover dinner for a family of 6 given we had to leave).  To sum up, he said, "Oh we'll definitely be giving you more compensation for sure.  I just need to talk to [the co-host] so we can figure out how much."  We didn't get any offer for days...I repeated asked about it and only got back that the host was talking to Airbnb to it out.  The day of checkout, and I asked again.  BTW, I never said, "I want $X refunded."  I just said, "Let me know what you think is fair."  No response.  Two days later, the host asked for my VenmoAccount or ZelleAccount.  I gave him my VenmoAccount within an hour.  Then nothing.  No payment, no offer, nothing.  Day 6 and I asked about it again.  Again the response was "We're talking with Airbnb. It's a process.  Just hang in there."  I asked them to at least tell me how much they were thinking, and, again, no response on that, but they did say that we'd get our refund on the 29th or 30th.  I was frustrated that Airbnb was taking so long so I called in to ask about this process the hosts were caught up in only to find out from Airbnb, that they didn't see any outstanding issues on our reservation.  Nothing from the host's side.  What is even worse, is they told me my last possible day to do a review was the 29th.  Even the Airbnb support person, when I pressed her for an opinion, she said it did look like the host was stringing me along until a review could no longer be posted. I believe once that day past, we'd never hear from the host again.

That is when we opened the case.  In the case, I found out that the host tried to say that we spilled soda everywhere and that's why the ants came -- but 1) We didn't spill soda (and if we have, we would have cleaned it up -- we're not college kids on a weekend party get away.  We're 50 year old professionals on a family vacation)., and 2) We drink Diet Soda (seen in the pictures above.  Diet soda DOES NOT attract ants.

Up until that point, I was being a nice guy -- trying to work with the host...trying to not escalate to Airbnb. I really wanted to solve this, and I didn't want to go through all this.  All I wanted to review was about how great the location was, how comfortable the beds were, and how when an issue came up, the host worked with me to come to mutual satisfaction (issues will come up in an Airbnb so the specific issue is almost less important than how the host handles the issue -- at least that is my perspective).  Unfortunately, what came out was my normally collaborative nature was manipulated, and I almost missed out on the opportunity to write a review -- all because I wanted to have a positive outcome to the whole experience instead of the negative one I currently have.

Hope that clarifies what my real issues ar:e:  Tne unresolved, un-followed up on promise of fair compensation for the inconvenience, being manipulated in order to prevent a detailed review by waiting out the 14 day clock, and a lie that we "caused" the infestation.

Regarding the asthma/epilepsy.  So I have allergy induced asthma, and my son has asthma and chronic bronchitis.  My daughter epilepsy diagnosis is one of 60-70% of child seizures were they have no idea what causes it.  We'd done genetic test, metabolic ones, etc, and they cannot find a cause.  It could be any number of things, and environment/chemicals/etc is one potential consideration.  I've had allergic reactions to pesticides and chemistry experiments that have induced both allergic reactions and asthmatic symptoms significant enough that my albuterol doesn't completely address.  It hasn't happened that often, but I think that is because I'm fairly militant about staying away from chemicals and other things I'm allergic to.  My son's issues are more generic in nature (fumes, working out hard in higher humidity -- he does crew, etc), but given my situation, he's somewhat adopted my concerns.

The hosts delivered some kind of ant spray and asked us to spray it around which we did.  However, because of the above concerns, my wife, who is especially concerned potential situations that could introduce seizures (you would be too if you've ever heard a code called in the hospital and seen 15-20 people in scrubs run to your daughter's room as he experienced a 7 minute tonic/clonic seizure that only stopped because they gave her IV Ativan, or if the first time it happened holding your 9 month old daughter, alone, while you waited for the ambulance), didn't feel comfortable using the kitchen to cook and prepare food given we were doing daily ant sprays and wiping counters down.  We would buy take out, use the plates from the dishwasher and then put them straight back into the dishwasher and run it, but no food on the counters.  Not exactly vacation behaviour.

Regarding the pans -- the only reason I included them in the discussion is because they also weighed in the decision (to a lesser degree than the above) to refrain from doing our planned meal prep/dinner cooking -- they weren't a little scratch up.  The scratches show places where the cuts went below the teflon.  If you take a teflon pan and rub a paper towel over it, and there are slivers of teflon on the paper towel, that pan can't be good for cooking.  You are right, though, as I laid it out it was more of confusing red herring. lol  You are right, I did not ask the host to replace the pans.  To tell you the truth, though, I didn't even think about that -- I'm pretty new to Airbnb -- only about 9months of using it even though I created an account 6 years ago to see what it was all about.  I didn't understand that for Air Cover protection, you need to report everything to Airbnb within 72 hours.  I didn't understand a lot -- but that's be cause in the previous 2 stays I had (LA and London), the hosts were awesome and the stays had no significant issues.  Thanks for that suggestion -- I guess it doesn't hurt to ask, "Is it possible to XXX?"  Thanks for that advice.

Regarding your last question -- Hope the above clarifies.  *I* didn't request payment off platform.  *The host* requested an off platform way to send me payment.  Again, not being an Airbnb veteran, I didn't realize their request was odd.  Given that the co-host had been saying the whole time that the host was "talking with Airbnb" and that it was "a process," I thought they were just getting tired of that process and were thinking about just paying me directly to get it over with.  Only when I called Airbnb to complain about their long process that was keeping the hosts from refunding money did I find out that there is no such process, the hosts had not contacted Airbnb as they told me they had, that hosts can refund money at their discretion, and it's actually considered to be bad if you exchange money off platform.  Obviously, that didn't feel good.

Again, Helen, thanks for your questions...now that I've given you all the answers, what are your thoughts?  

Thanks!
Mike

@Helen3 

[Michael7371]

Here are the ants in a video Ants in the fridge!

A whole trail of them.

There's a big trail that leads to the fridge but you can't see in pics because they blend in. I can't post video

[Michael7371]

Teflon coming off into your food is not good for you!These pans should be replace. You can get a great pan that will last for a long time for $15-$20 at Home Goods

Here are pictures of the pans we're supposed to cook with.  Teflon coming off the pans into your food is not good for you.  We have 2 asthmatics and an a child with epilepsy diagnosis. Should we have cooked on these pans?  It would cost $15-$20 bucks at Home Goods to give guests pans that were 100% safe.