On July 11th my friend and I planned a girls day to have a small celebration for our close friend who is getting married, there were 5 of us total. This day also included the stay at a Lovely Chalet in shediac and a nice dinner.
Prior to making our reservation I made sure to familiarize myself with the COVID-19 protocol and cleaning/sanitizing requirements to ensure our group was safe and comfortable, I was reassured by the required cleaning and sanitizing protocols Airbnb is requiring of their hosts.
When I booked the location I asked if we could possibly check in earlier to give us a bit more time to get ready for dinner or in case the weather wasn’t on our side and I was told the check in time needed to remain at 4pm to allow the cleaning staff to clean the location after the previous guest, which I accepted as this was my top priority.
When we arrived we could see it hadn’t been cleaned, the bedding had been thrown over the bed and clearly not changed from the prior occupant. The bathroom was dirty with no hand soap,towels or facecloths, and there was coffee on the counter. Much later in our evening we also found there was no toilet paper and garbages were full, when we changed them we had to open the door as there were cigarette buts in it and that’s all we could smell while the house rules stated this was a non smoking unit. The fridge was dirty with broken components. This location also states having 2 queen beds which accommodates our group perfectly as the beds are slightly bigger;however, the beds were only a double size mattress
I contacted the host when we first noticed the chalet had not been properly cleaned and we were missing amenities which were advertised. The host advised there had been a mix up with the cleaning staff which I can understand, I know things happen.The issue is we waited the whole day for the cleaning to be completed and with the current increased regulations and sanitizing requirements cleanliness should be a top priority for all locations to ensure the safety and comfort of all guests.
The host advised their partner would drop off the required sheets and towels for us and apologized for the inconvenience. We were brought dollar store towels and sheets which did not fit the beds properly. We were just about to leave for dinner so we took everything and didn’t make a fuss about the situation.
After our dinner we had to wash the sheets and towels before using them and straighten up the place in order to have a place to sleep and use the amenities.
With the time provided between check-in and check-out the chalet should have been properly cleaned and sanitized prior to arrival.
Although I did receive an apology and some supplies were brought to us, I never received an offer to have the location cleaned and disinfected nor did it seem as though anyone wanted to offer this accommodation.
Aside from how this affected my best friends night, my primary concern is the health and and safety protocols that were put into place to ensure the safety and comfort of guests and hosts were not followed. This is completely unacceptable.
We did reach out to the host regarding this and requesting a refund as this was completely unacceptable, they advised if we we “cared about Covid we should cancel”. We do have a concern with COVID as do many people but with the clearly stated cleaning and sanitizing requirements Airbnb have in place we were reassured that our safety was a priority. This did not seem to be the case.
Kind regards,
Chelsea Verner