Total nightmare

[Jeff2596]

First time Airbnb guest here. We booked an apartment in London for 6 nights.  First night we wake up in the morning to a door lock knob that falls off and we are locked in.  No response from the host. After about 3 hours we start yelling for help out the window.  I had a 6 year old and we had no food not mention the fire hazard. The building maintenance guys hear us and come up to let us out.  They fix the door after one of them gets locked in with us.  We have everything packed and we leave since we’ve had no contact with the host and obviously we are not risking it again.  Host phone doesn’t work, Airbnb support can’t reach him at all during this time.  Now he refuses to refund for the remaining time.  I offer to pay the one night plus the cleaning fee.  I am so done with Airbnb. The maintenance people were shocked because it’s illegal to operate an Airbnb at this location. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jeff2596 Did Airbnb say you should leave after a day? To be honest, while the host should be available, the door lock was mended so unlikely to be a problem again during your stay.

[Heather289]

Hi there Jeff, 

Sorry you got locked into the flat.  Of course, sometimes things do happen, but of course, Airbnb has such a good App for instant messaging, that it is surprising that your Host did not reply.   You can also call the Host directly and also contact Airbnb, who will try to call the Host for you.

Maybe the Host was unavailable at that precise time for some reason, which is not ideal, but it does sometimes happen - eg if I go to a Concert, I turn off my phone, or if I am on a flight, I am also obviously unable to be contacted.      

As someone else said, if the doorknob was fixed, then was there any other problem?   I suppose the Host doesn't know that you left before the end of your rental time.  

If you didn't feel safe, because you thought that you might get locked in again, you could have raised a Safety issue with Airbnb, and they would ensure you got the refund, without the Host having any opportunity to deny it.  

(By the way, it is not "illegal" for him to use his flat for Airbnb - it might be in breach of his lease terms, but that's not "illegal", but just a landlord / tenant contractual issue)