It had to happen; my first bad experience with Airbnb.
I asked them (twice) if they needed my ID to confirm the booking. Every time, I got unhelpful automatic responses telling me to register in a third party website and app. So I did. I asked them to update my phone number because Airbnb had my old one registered. Again, bot responses. After insisting for days I finally got someone to update my number. Asked again if anything else was needed. Bot responses. I was told the check-in instructions would be on the app (Oh btw, super annoying: I had to download their app). Once I got there -late at night after a delayed train- there was no way in. There were no instructions on the check-in tab. I called support. BOTS AGAIN. It was freezing, it was late, no one would answer. When I finally got hold of a human, they told me I had to verify my ID (Which I had begged them to do for DAYS!). They wouldn't even let me inside the building even though it was freezing, so I took refugee on the Five Guys down the road and started their very long and difficult verification process. It took ages. They were not responsive, they were unhelpful, they ignored me, and left me outside in the cold at night. The use of a third party website and app was really uncomfortable and I'm not even sure it's ok according to Airbnb rules. Their bots and automated messages were frustrating, annoying and unhelpful. Overall it was the worst experience of my life, and the most frustrating too. As a tourist, I had to borrow a phone to do their whole (very long) process on that Five Guys to be let inside the apartment I had rented and paid already. I cannot believe I begged them to verify my ID and they ignored me. I received no notification for it, which could be an error on their automated system, but then they had no human personal to solve it.
When we finally could get in, we were exhausted and went to sleep. I had a terrible experience and got a cold from staying on the outside for so long, so I was really looking forward to a hot cup of coffee in the morning. Turns out, the coffee pods did not match the coffee maker. THERE WAS NO COFFEE. UNACCEPTABLE. Truly the breaking point. I can't get over at how bad this experience was and how it ruined my Montréal trip. I will never book Sonder again and I highly recommend you not to book them either. I'm also getting in touch with travel blogs to alert people about them. Overall awful. I could maybe understand a lack of personal around the holidays (which wasn't even the case, they just have useless automated bots for everything) but the coffee thing was just unacceptable. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk