TLDR: This is a pretty nice place, except for the mice and the cockroaches and the gaslighting hosts.*
We thought we’d be happy here for a month. It met our Covid criteria - no shared spaces and no elevators - and the L-shaped layout meant we could both take Zoom meetings in opposite ends of the house. Plus, it’s nicely decorated.
But then I saw a mouse. I notified the hosts immediately and told them we could stick it out with some traps. The next day I found and killed the first cockroach. Again, I notified them promptly (with pic) and told them if it got worse, we would have to leave. I actually felt bad for them that they had to undergo the embarrassment of renting out a vermin-ridden unit! That was, until I realized were not going to offer us any assistance beyond getting or reimbursing us for traps. They remained friendly, but did not apologize, only repeatedly insisting that they had never seen signs of mice or cockroaches in the unit before.
Nine days later, not having heard from the hosts again, we had to kill a mouse that got stuck on the sticky roach traps, which was awful. By this point, we’d killed 2 mice and had found 3 more cockroaches (so, so gross). Upset, I messaged the hosts (with more pics) to say we had to go, and asked if we could we get our money back for the remaining days. Their response was, “I’m sorry to hear about 3 now. Do you think you will leave around the 19th?” This don’t-let-the-door-hit-you-on-your-way-out sorry was not the apology a ‘guest’ might expect from a ‘host’. So we were not expecting much cooperation when we agreed to have an off-the-app phone call the next day to discuss – we assumed – the refund. But we certainly didn’t expect to end up feeling like we were being blamed for the infestations. During the phone call, the hosts reiterated for the 5th (but not final) time that they’d ‘never had this problem before and also the woman who lived downstairs had never seen any’ and really focused in on when and how the vermin could have got into the unit. We were confounded: why did they show so little concern for our obvious distress?; why weren’t they offering to compensate us for the inconvenience and expense of having to find a new place to stay?; and why did they think we might be able to shed light on (or even care about) how the vermin got in, unless they thought we had something to do with it?
This is when we began to recognize the telltale signs of gaslighting: the trivialization of our concerns; the distinctive lack of empathy or apology; the deflection of blame and responsibility and so on. So, after the phone call I asked our hosts if they thought we were somehow responsible for the problem. They responded indignantly, doubling down on trivializing, denying and deflecting before defensively protesting that they were “respectful individuals” who “always do the right thing” and “have nothing to hide.” Where I come from actions speak louder than words.
While the hosts did finally agree to prorate the cost to reflect our early departure (minus the taxes), the time, trouble and expense of moving elsewhere were our problem. The apartment appears to have been rented continuously since we left on the 19th, so caveat emptor.
Long story short: these are not the ‘hosts’ you want to have when there’s a problem with your stay.
PRO-TIPS: Report your first sighting of vermin to Airbnb within 24 hours or you’re on your own when trying to negotiate any kind of compensation. Document your issues, which means don’t communicate with the host off-app.
*I’ve been an Airbnb member for almost 10 years and have had nothing but stellar hosts and good things to say about them up til now. But this experience was beyond the pale.