Summary: significant insect infestation; no response from host. Airbnb refunds 20% (USD57 of total $255) and unable to refund more (turns out to get larger refund we must not have stayed there, but we discovered the infestation at 11pm). We reach out to host, David, multiple times. He ignored all communication. No explanation, apologies, certainly no refund of any amount despite a direct request.
Detail: We (a family of 4) checked in, changed, and left for town. Got back at 11 pm and noticed many, many dozens (hundreds?) of little worms crawling in pairs chasing each other, mostly on curtains in the living room. A few were on floors throughout the apartment and even in bed where we slept. A few were flying around. Shook out our luggage and zipped it up, miserable night, checked out and left first thing in the morning. Still some bugs made it in our luggage to home.
We are reasonable, and can handle noise, little uncleanliness, and we understand that things, even infestations, can happen. The place was not clean, and we would not come back, but I never leave bad reviews for that. The problem is the infestation *and* the host's refusal to even acknowledge the issue. First time in 10 years on airbnb and 40 (?) stays I felt that it was appropriate to politely request a refund and an explanation. Host's response, verbatim, "airbnb is on it". I explained the limits to airbnb policy, and that I thought that it is inappropriate to charge $200 for the stay in an infested apartment. No further communication from host beyond the 4 words.
I am certain that David knew about the infestation when he rented the place to us. It is impossible to miss. I asked him about it -- no response. I think he cleaned the bugs he could see before we came in, but obviously dealing with infestation is not that simple. I think the bugs were moths/larvae, but I am not sure, and David did not respond to messages. I have pics and videos which I showed Airbnb who agreed with the issue and gave me maximal refund under their policy.
I am, honestly, surprised that David handled this in this manner. Reputation on Airbnb, and just simple honorable hosting, ought to be worth something.