I contacted the owners the day prior to arrival to ask how I obtained access and also the route to the property. The owners provided details of a key collection address and also provided details of the route to be taken to collect the key.
We collected the key from the owners friend and proceeded to the property which took a 10 minute walk since we had a large suitcase to push.
The apartment looked tidy upon arrival and appeared to be in a quiet residential area not too far from the city centre.
Unfortunately, there were a number of things within the property which we did not expect and which, made us contact the owner before we proceeded to stay.
I was unable to contact the owners whom latterly I found out were on holiday in Italy so I contacted the owners friend whom we collected the key from.
I explained the situation and provided details of why we felt it would be impossible to stay at the apartment.
The issues being;
1. The fridge had food stored in some compartments and on shelves, some of which were unwrapped and some of the vegetables / fruit were past their best. There was also a half-empty carton of milk which I do not know how long it had been there for.
On one shelf, the owners had left an opened half-bottle of wine which they had taped a message on to drink if we wanted.
The food / milk etc left in the fridge were clearly not left for our consumption and I was very concerned of any cross-contamination with any food products we would have to store in the fridge alongside the food already left in the fridge.
2. The coffee machine had been used and left with coffee still remaining in the bottom of the jug (small issue which would have been acceptable on its own).
3. There were no cupboards or wardrobe space to hang or store our clothes due to the fact all the cupboards and wardrobes were full of the owners clothes. I opened a basket by the side of the bed hoping this would be storage however, it was full of clothes ready to be washed. The only facility for clothes were 2 hangers left on a couple of hooks on the wall (again, smallish issue which would have been acceptable on its own).
4. The main issue besides the fridge contents, was the condition of the pillows which although covered with clean pillowcases, were in a dreadful state and brown / yellow with grease and wear which completely put us off staying in the bed.
The owner eventually rang me back however at that stage, I had searched and confirmed alternative hotel accommodation due to the fact we had to try and find somewhere else to stay that evening and for the following 2 nights.
The only thing he was willing to accept and to try and resolve was to somehow to obtain new pillows (presumably via his friend) however at that late stage, I had already confirmed arrangements with a hotel nearby to ensure we had somewhere to stay that evening.
We have stayed in Airbnb's previously and have always felt welcome when we arrived. It would have been a nice touch to have been left some provisions however, the half-empty bottle of wine left for our consumption was neither expected or desired.
The owner believed the issues I had raised with him did not constitute any refund in fact the opposite, he firmly believed these things were acceptable because it was a house that was lived in by himself and his family and therefore, I should accept this fact.
I believe the concept that we were fee paying guests and not friends was possibly lost on the owner. We had paid a good rate for the accommodation and expected much more.
The owner subsequently offered to refund the final cleaning charge which in any event was not applicable due to the fact we did not stay at the property longer than an hour.
In summary, if these things are acceptable for the owner and indeed any other Airbnb customers considering the rate we paid then so be it.
However, it is certainly not for us and has put us of using Airbnb in future albeit our previous experiences with Airbnb properties have all been very good and we have never had to complain previously.