We arrived as a family to our booking after driving over 6 hours at 10pm. Upon entry, we were met with an immediate extremely pungent chemical smell and saw that an ozone machine had been running since whoever cleaned the apartment, so at least 6 hours in an unventilated space. The host even confirmed that the timer must've broken. If you don't know what ozone is, it is a toxic, explosive gas that can cause extensive lung damage or even death in people with asthma (like my mother who was there). Originally we tried to open the windows but there was no cross breeze and no way this place would ventilate without hours of airflow. In doing this, we all got immediately dizzy and had sharp lung pains. There is probably security footage of all of us standing outside talking about it and covering our nose and mouth with our shirts.
I call support, he says we need to make a decision to stay or go. UNLESS THEY WANTED to pay thousands in medical bills and have us cause lifelong damage to our health and possibly die, the only option was a hotel. Since it was 10pm and a weekend, all hotels were practically booked. We finally booked and the support agent reassured me multiple times that the balance would be reimbursed. I probably asked 10x on the call and he even got rude with me and said "I know how to do my job".
Well clearly, he doesn't. Because suddenly airbnb is saying they will only reimburse 20%. I cannot tell you how much stress this caused my family. It ruined our entire trip and risked all of our health. And now we have an outstanding balance that airbnb promised to pay on a recorded line and is now changing their minds?
I truly hope someone competent and higher up rights this situation. Otherwise we will be getting our lawyer involved and I will be taking it to the press and social media.
