Please read this review carefully. I didn't stay at Eric's place but I have had interactions with him during my booking. To sum up, Eric is a superhost who is not understanding, not human, someone who seems to be greedy.
I booked Eric's place by a mistake. I had a bad experience with another listing after check in that day, it was a Friday afternoon, AiBnb was telling me to contact 2 to 3 hosts to see if their listings were available, I felt rushed, I was stressed out, there were not many good listings left in Paris. I needed a place to stay for the weekend, I felt stranded.
I was searching for the new listing on my phone, I had three or four tabs open, searching, and I did't notice that AirBnb reset their filter on me to search all listings, including private rooms. I saw Eric's listing, read the reviews, looked at his description of the space. If you've ever done that on a phone, you will know that it's difficult to read and catch everything about listings, especially when they are long.
Before booking, I contacted Eric about smoking in the house, the other apartment issue that I had that day was because it smelled like smoke and I couldn't stay there. Eric said the place is clean, and one of the first things you see in Eric's listing, that his place is available for last minute booking.
Immediately after I booked it, Eric sent me a message to remind me that I booked a private room. I was glad he said that. My preference was an entire home. My mistake for not catching that. I immediately send Eric a note to say I was sorry and I had to cancel. Eric then told me that the cancellation policy would apply, meaning I lost ALL of my money. This happened within 2 or 3 minutes from the booking. I would understand if I made the booking weeks or days before and cancelled the last minute, sure then, that's understandable to apply the policy. I don't understand why someone would not accept a cancellation within 2 or 3 minutes of the booking, under my circumstances of being stranded and stressed out because of an issue with the listing I was supposed to stay at. The only thing I can say, this seems like easy money for Eric, sticking to the policy, and not being human about it. It's greed. AirBnb tried to talk to Eric to release my money, but Eric didn't budge.
I sent a lengthy message to Eric describing in detail my circumstances but I have't heard from him at all.