Our experience with this Airbnb highlights the importance of quality customer service from hosts. What could have been an otherwise positive Airbnb experience was derailed by the hosts inability to take responsibility for a simple oversight and their attempts at retaliation after we raised the issue to them and subsequently through the appropriate channels at Airbnb.
Our flight arrived early Friday, February 21st so we booked the Airbnb for a day earlier, Thursday February 20th so that we could check-in immediately. Once we arrived, we put our luggage in the Airbnb and then went out to meet with friends who live in Rio and had agreed to be our de facto tour guides during our stay. Apart from a couple leftover items (soap bottles, wash rag) in the bathroom, everything seemed to be in order. However after the first night sleeping in the Airbnb, we realized there was SAND in the sheets, pillows, comforter and blanket in both the MASTER bedroom and the bedroom adjacent to it. When we took showers that morning, we realized that the master bathroom was especially dirty. There was a trail of ants all going to a mystery substance and had items (soap bottles, wash rag, etc.) left from the previous guest(s). The other full bathroom had leftover items as well (soap, wash rag, etc.). The refrigerator had leftover McDonald's and drinks. It was very obvious that this apartment had not been cleaned from the previous guests.
That morning (Saturday, February 22nd) once we realized the true condition of the apartment, we notified the host and asked that he clean the apartment. At this stage we were slightly annoyed of course, but figured it was a simple oversight and that since we were spending most of our time outside it would be quick and easy for them to address. The host’s response was to tell us to clean the dirty sheets ourselves, using the washer/dryer in the apartment. This was unacceptable in our opinion; why are we paying a cleaning fee if we are the ones cleaning?
After further pushback on our part, the host sent the doorman who we had seen during the day up to that point as well as during the day after that point to change the sheets. Not a cleaning person or service, the DOORMAN. Guess what? The sheets that the doorman used to replace our sandy ones, ALSO had sand in them. It wasn’t until Wednesday, February 26th that the host sent an actual cleaning person to FINALLY clean the beds, bathrooms, and the rest of the apartment. After seeing what the apartment looked like this was further proof that this was in no way cleaned before our arrival.
Things escalated further the following day on Thursday, February 27th when he messaged me saying that we weren’t allowed to bring any guests into the apartment during our stay. As mentioned earlier, we have friends who live in and near Rio, so there was no way we would have booked an Airbnb with such a rule. I double-checked to confirm that I was right and took a screenshot of the rules for safe keeping. Later that day, he sent me a screenshot showing me the rule about no guests being allowed but this was clearly recently added as I had taken a screenshot prior to him being able to change it. Lastly, we believe that he was harassing us via the night doorman who would take up to 10 minutes to let us into the building. This apartment building is a 24/7 doorman building and all tenants (residents and Airbnb guests) cannot enter the building unless the doorman on duty lets you in. You can imagine how annoying and UNSAFE this was when we were trying to enter an apartment building we were paying to stay at. This was my 10th reservation on Airbnb and I would strongly recommend against staying at this apartment building due to the rude, lying host that is in charge of this apartment!
N.B. After reviewing our complaint AND the exchanges on the Airbnb app between the host and I, Airbnb refunded us the cleaning fee.