Airbnb

AVOID this site as a guest or a host!
I recently started hosting and had bookings almost every night. After a month of having herds of strangers going through my flat, washing sheets, cleaning and waiting on them – I still haven't had any payments released to me by Airbnb...
Many expensive calls to their US office later and talking to many totally incompetent members of staff all I have is assurances that they are dealing with the problem.
In the meantime, I am forced to cancel all the reservations I have through them, which means that some of my potential guests will have no place to sleep when they arrive to London.
I am fairly certain that nobody in Airbnb is going to help them, as in my experience "24/7" and "local contact number" are a myth - you can only really get to talk to a human on the US number, during US office hours, after 7-12 minutes of being kept on hold only to get to speak to some American kid who sounds a bit $#*!ed.
Sorry guys. Good luck to everyone who decides to put their holiday and money into Airbnb hands…

Is Air cover only a joke? I had continuous failed host guarantee claims that I could not get compensated when damages happened! Reps handling claims are ridiculously unprofessional. They are finding excuses as much as possible just so they don't pay me. As ridiculous as it sounds, they are not following any terms or conditions of the policy. In one case, the rep told me I passed 14 days filing deadline by counting hours from guest check out without even confirming the actual check out time! Even later after I informed him guest had a late check out, this rep is not doing any investigating or changed any his decision a bit. The communication is in void, a big time waster for the host accompanied by frustration. In another claim, room wall and floor had damages. I spent a lot of time collecting all documents required. I called in contractor to do an estimate. Airbnb said they might send their third party to do a valuation but they never did and directly declined the claim! I even received a warning for file the claim! One more case, I was stolen by one guest. But after wasting ton of time to collect required police reports. Airbnb declined my claim anyway. I was never paid when theft and damages happened. I asked certain security deposit for these strangers to stay at my home. None were ever used to compensate when loss happened. Will sue to get compensated!

This is a scam to both renters and guests, and I would suggest that you keep away from using their services. Not only is it run by a computer with no humans in sight, not even a contact link NOR PHONE number in their website, but should you encounter problems with the reservation, you are on your own. They just simply dont give a damn, because they charge the traveller upfront, and then wash their hands of any issue that may arise. Also, they delay payments to the renter, if they ever pay, that is... Unfortunately, there is no other similar site, which should give you an idea of a great business model ran professionally and decently. AVOID AIRBNB AT ALL COSTS!

We have two rentals on Kauai. In mid March when covid19 hit the world we had 100% cancellations through mid December.
Oh geez, there goes our retirement income and possibly the loss of our condos.
We have HOA dues, property tax and insurance to pay every month.
In desperation we decided to rent the condos out long term.
We needed to cancel two reservations for late December and mid January. I called Airbnb to get help with the cancellations and was told that there is a penalty for the two cancellations.
Wtf?
Also, when covid19 hit Airbnb refunded the guests their full fees even though the cancellations were under our strict cancellation policy. Nice.
Under the circumstances I think splitting the fees with the guests would have been fair.
Airbnb made a nice bit of money off of their fees with out listings.
We were going to use Airbnb again after our tenants 6 month leases were up.
Instead we have canceled our listings.
What a POS Airbnb is.

I had to cancel a reservation with Airbnb due to the event I was traveling to attend being cancelled due to COVID-19. I had tried for three days to message Airbnb to get advice on how to proceed to get a full refund with no response. This morning, I went in and actually cancelled the reservation and got an immediate response that a "cancelled event" does not fall under their COVID-19 refund policy. They stated that I might contact the host and see if she was willing to refund any of the $640 "processing" fees, and she responded and said she received NO fees from them and they are a horrible company to host with. I will never be using them again!

There is no way that AirBNB can protect itself against side-channel attacks from from the Russian mobsters. They are simply not capable. The US Government could not do it against the Chinese, and as a result at least 100 Million (not a typo) people's personal information - the closest family and friends of military/civilian employees with classified clearances - are now in the hands of the Chinese Government. AirBnB is asking you to send them all the info necessary to steal your identity. How long do you think it will take for the international identity mobsters to penetrate THEIR defenses? Do not send this information to AirBNB. Do not allow your ignorance of vulnerabilities to match the ignorance of AirBNB security architects.

My kids and grandchildren were here from CA. Because I line in a small condo an AirB&B was a good idea. This house was larger than it looks. The MBR had a sitting area in it and the second BR had a double and 2 twins with more than enough room to get around in it. The home is very well decorated and was very clean. Kitchen has been recently remodeled and is well provisioned. Great place to stay in this area. I will use Michelles Oyster House again.

Stayed at Shayna Weeden's Pool House in Fort Worth, TX. Bed was full-sized, but this was not posted on her site (until I complained and she changed it). Not only that but the bed frame AND MATTRESS were ANTIQUE. Felt like a small waterbed. Left after one day, expecting a refund. After a couple of days and no contact or refund notice, I complained. Went to AirBnB site to complain and AirBnB would not let me request a retroactive refund. Been fighting it ever since. Shayna Weeden said AirBnB owed me the refund; AirBnB said Shayna owed me the refund. Then, they stopped responding. After several phone calls, messages, and complaints. They offered me a pittance. Do yourselves a favor and use VRBO.

AIRBNB used to be OK - but recent experiences give me a sinking feeling.

Last October, in London, the room I book had been given to another and I got something much less than I expected. No apology from AIRBNB.

I recently booked an apartment in Copenhagen. The host gave a non-peak rate, but AIRBNB tacked on a hidden fee to this rate. When I asked about it, the reason, they said, is due to a currency conversion fee. The AIRBNB site posts US Dollars - and I paid in US Dollars. When I ask what the currency fee is about, nobody can explain - yet I still have to pay the fee.

You can do far better elsewhere. The prime-time for AIRBNB seems to be over.

Airbnb has been great for us in the past. We've stayed in several different places and states and have never had a complaint - all have been 5 stars until Sue in Grand Lake, CO cancelled our booking and asked almost 3 times the advertised price we paid. I booked at $59 per night which seemed too good to be true. I wasn't too happy when the booking was finalized to see that it was actually a lodge, not a true Airbnb type venue. But for the place, time, and price, I was thrilled. Immediately after booking, I sent an email to the host to say how much we were looking forward to our visit next year. Within a few minutes I got an email from her saying it was a mistake, she cancelled our reservation and offered for us to book again at the rate of $149 per night. I checked later and the posted price was $159 per night, and I just checked again and it shows $135 per night. This host obviously doesn't have a clue how to run a business and their customer service is customer disservice. Airbnb is great, just watch out for bait and switch. I can't blame Airbnb but I was disappointed with them for not requiring a host to honor a booking unless there is a negative report on a customer that warrants them not wanting to accept their reservation. We have had nothing but 5 star reviews from all of the hosts we've stayed with. This is a one-off experience.

Last month I booked an Airbnb for a month in Orlando. About an hour after I booked my husband tells me there was a conflict with the dates and his work, so I contacted the host and asked to cancel (1.5 hours after booking). The host replied 10 hours later, he refused saying he lost two people who were interested in those dates and so he will not be refunding me. All I would get is the cleaning fee if I chose to cancel on my own. I contacted Airbnb support and tried to reason with the host to reconsider since I would be losing $3000+. I offered to pay a percentage, anything, just please don't take all of my hard-earned money. The host refused and refused to even respond to me. Airbnb had to tell me his decision. My booking was from today, I noticed that the host has managed to book his place for the entirety of what was my stay. So not only is he keeping my money but he is also making money off of this place for the entire month. Christmas will be nice for him I guess. Airbnb has refused to help me. There is no support for customers only for hosts who are free to exploit people with zero conscience. One major red flag was the fact that the message where he tells me the reason he cannot refund me is that he lost out on bookings is deleted because that reason is now null and void. I didn't even know that was possible?! Airbnb is disgusting for allowing predatory behaviour by hosts who are exploiting a system that was setup to protect them from losing money due to last-minute cancellations. It's now being used to double dip by being paid multiple times for the same rental. How is this ok?

I have been a host on AirBnb going back to their very beginnings. They were a great company to work with but over the past two years that all has changed. I have had multiple issues with guests that I have reached out to AirBnB for assistance on and I get nothing but a major runaround. They charge all hosts for damage insurance but when you actually have an incident and try to get reimbursed, they take weeks without even responding to messages. Calling them is completely useless as apparently the only people who can do anything are supervisors but they do not existing when you speak to the representatives who take the calls. This is a disgusting way to run a company. AirBnb's sole source of income comes from the hard work and dedication of their hosts and they turn around and treat these same hosts horrendously. I wish someone with an actual concern for the wellbeing of the people who are funding them would start a company to complete with this awful company but unfortunately they have a monopoly on this industry and anyone looking to rent out a property must deal with them and be subject to their abusive and unethical treatment.

Airbnb in Ottawa, ON: a host who manages a lot of buildings cancelled while I was in the air. Upon landing, she stopped communicating with me: husband had dementia, plus traveling with two dogs.
Airbnb in Toronto: I contacted host and he said he'd get room ready. I showed up at the door and he didn't. It was late at night and I was a senior widow.
Airbnb in Phuket: broken gym equipment, dirty building. Host shows 7-year old photos: now couch and chair are dirty, broken table and chair, broken showerhead, and faucet moves around.
What's troubling is that there is no customer service to compensate guests. In a hotel, they'd offer you a free night's stay. They accept the dirty place in Phuket and didn't do much to help me out in Toronto. As for Ottawa, the Ottawa Citizen wrote up this "host" as she was very bad at managing multiple buildings. There is no quality control. Airbnb does not ask for recent photos from hosts. It's not worth it.
Besides the rates are getting so high that I might as well stay in a hotel. And it's become apparent that hosts have multiple homes that they rent out. This creates a housing shortage and increases prices in homes. This locks people out of the housing market. There are too many negatives.