Painful bed bug bites deserve more compensation

[Courtney-Blair0]

I recently stayed in a place in London- the first two nights we couldn’t sleep because there was an undisclosed night club next door - and I mean dance club/hip hop til 3:30 am.

i asked them to move us to another property and they did- that one smelled like cigarette smoke but we stayed so we could sleep.

the first night i woke up with bites but didn’t know what they were. After the second night i realized they were bed bugs and reported it to the host at 7 am that morning, requesting a cleaning and a solution. Nothing was done and we weren’t told until late that day that we were only being offered a one bed replacement and I was with my son- so had to stay that night on the couch.

i was only refunded the cleaning fees and 5% from the host.

hardly adequate when it ruined my next 5 days in Paris with awful, blistering bites all over my body. After they blistered they felt like burns- I had to cover them with bandaids and cortisone cream so they wouldn’t rub on my clothes and sheets. I ended up having to take a round of oral steroids because of the skin reactions to the bites.

In addition, because our Paris accommodations were also Air BNB, we were forced to cancel that and find a last minute hotel and launder all of our things on our own in Paris with no support.

After being exposed to bodily harm I expect a full refund but have not heard anything more and want to ask other people what they have done in this situation.

[Kj8]

I doubt you can expect anything unfortunately. You do have to pay for the nights you used the units. Unless a prior guest also complained of this in their review (in which case you surely would not have booked it), how can you prove there were bedbugs at that second London location or that you or your son weren’t the ones who brought them in via your own luggage or clothing? And everyone knows cities can be noisy, maybe email hosts before booking in the future to specifically ask if they are in a generally quiet residential area.  It’s also unclear why you cancelled your Airbnb in Paris and stayed at a hotel instead when the problem occurred at a unit in London? In the future be sure to carefully read prior reviews for mentions of noise or other issues. I don‘t see how you can force any compensation here beyond what was offered though. 

[Courtney-Blair0]

We did not bring the bed bugs. They were in my bed at london. I love how hosts try to vilify the guest. This would never happen at a hotel.

There were no reviews on the unit with the noise - which is very fishy. They said they had "just become aware" of the club - which has been open for over a year.

We were forced to cancel our Air BNB in Paris by Air BNB so we wouldnt accidentally spread bed bugs that were infesting our accommodations.

[Marie8425]

@Courtney-Blair0 @Kj8 

Actually there was no vilify of you.  Bedbugs are not dirty related.  You could of acquired them in the first listing or someone else (another Guest) could have unknowingly brought bed bugs.  Bed bugs are not cockroaches.  It is a chance of them being present usually  in a bed but couches and chairs are also great spots for then to hide and opportunity to bite.

If you had such a severe reaction to the bites which is unusual but you can bed allergic to bee bites and not know until you are bitten.  You should be able to get a note from your doctor concerning reaction and treatment.  I would suggest asking for Aircover for the event of allergic reaction.  If you are allergic then your doctor can comfortably say when he thinks exposure,

[Zheng49]

It does seem very likely that there are bed bugs in the second listing that you stayed at. 

Did you talk to Airbnb support by any chance? For an incident as severe as this, I would expect nothing less than a full refund. 

[Courtney-Blair0]

I had several conversations with Air BNB and requested a full refund more than once.

i was told all they could do was refund the fees, which was 1/5th of my full cost.

The host has never responded to my request for a full refund. they refunded me 39% of one nights stay for my trouble.