I have never left a negative review on AirBnb before but this is one I feel obligated to write for future guests. I booked a stay for the 3rd of December and check in was 3-5pm. We were at the gate by 3pm and waited for 25 minutes. During that time we rang the doorbell multiple times, called the host twice, left two text messages. I messaged the host asking for the key to be left in the mail box as we had to leave for a function.
We couldn't check in so we had to get ready for our function in the car after a long trip on the road. The host messaged back 5 hours later at 8pm to say that she had been home during that time and she'd leave the key in the mailbox for us. With our attempts to get the host's attention, I find it difficult to believe that she couldn't return a text to us for 5 hours. We hadn't received confirmation by 7pm so we drove home to Palmerston North after our function. It was a horrible experience where I never got to check in and we got half the refund requested.