I booked this guest suite for work and the stay didn’t go quite to plan. First, the good: I was greeted by Tom who was absolutely lovely and made me feel comfortable right away. He explained the parking situation and offered to help me with my bags, so all good there. The room itself is small and basic, that was fine, I’m not a princess and besides I only needed to sleep there. The problem I couldn’t get past was that there was some kind of chemical smell or fumes - it hit me like a punch in the face when I first walked in with Tom, and I noted it but thought that I’d just get used to it. So I started to settle in, but after being there for about an hour and half I felt like I was actually getting more sensitive to the fumes - not less - and started to feel very sick, like I might vomit. So after only being there for a short while I decided I’d have to leave. There just was clearly no way I could sleep there. So I booked a last minute hotel, which cost me way more than I’d budgeted for.
I spoke with Tom on the way out and explained why I couldn’t stay. He was apologetic, and explained that because TJ (his wife who normally manages it) had been busy, he’d arranged a cleaner who they had never used before. I accepted the apology - these things happen sometimes. I figured we would work it out. So I later that night I reached out to TJ via the Airbnb app. I have to say I was really surprised that she denied what Tom said about the new cleaner and basically told me I was making it up. She refused to give me a refund or go any way towards reconciling with me.