Our unhappy experience with our recent Paris booking. After years of successfully booking through the AirBNB, we were doubly disappointed with our Paris booking, casting serious doubt on the reliability of the AirBnB system.
We booked months back for a three-bedroomed apartment hosted by Joffrey Ichbia in Avenue de la Grande Armee near the Arc de Triomphe that could accommodate our party of six. A week before we were due to arrive AirBNB emailed us that the host Joffrey ichbia had cancelled our booking. No explanation was provided either by the host or by AirBNB of this highly disruptive last minute cancellation. We strongly suspect that the host had decided that he could make considerably more money by cancelling our book and re-renting the apartment to football fans who had come to the Champions League final in Paris. The effect was that our party was forced to split up and make very expensive last minute arrangements for alternative accommodation. AirBNB did not have the courtesy to respond to the online complaint I made.
My wife, brother and I found the charming flat I’m currently reviewing. In a delightful neighborhood, surrounded by restaurants with splendid Parisian markets a stone’s throw away, it is attractively decorated. It is though on the fourth floor (European style, 5th floor North America) up a steep staircase and is without a lift, so is unsuitable for anyone lacking a certain degree of fitness. This apart, by far our largest problem was the absence of a functioning shower. We arrived at the apartment last Friday after long journeys from South Africa and Canada respectively and found that not a drop of water came out of the rather odd plumbing. Bernard , a charming man who works as the local agent for the absentee owner Paola Franco based in Milan in Italy, spent most of Saturday afternoon at the apartment attempting to locate a plumber who eventually came and started repairs. The plumber returned on Sunday and by Sunday evening, on the eve of our departure, our dirty and sweaty party were at last able to shower. Bernard, recognizing that this was deeply unsatisfactory for an expensive, or indeed any rented apartment, volunteered to approach the owner Paola Franco for a partial rebate on the rental. This unfortunately never materialized leaving a rather bad taste in our mouth.
The twin morals of this unhappy AirBnb story: Do not rely on AirBNB bookings which can be arbitrarily and disruptively cancelled at the very last moment without explanation and without any recourse; Secondly, beware an absentee AirbNb landlord who take no personal responsibility for the serious failings of his rental property.