The host communicated with us throughout the day as we were travelling from Valencia to Barcelona.
He asked for our ETA once we arrived in Barcelona and we said 6:40pm.
The host didn't wish to give us the address to the property and instead asked us to meet them outside a nearby bar to the so called apartment called Tosca.
We were also under assumption that we were speaking to a woman called Francis, as the host's profile is a picture of a woman.
Upon messaging the host that we had arrived at the Tosca restaurant, all of a sudden the host stopped messaging us for a stretch of time.
I decide to use the call feature and instead we get a mans voice and are told to wait 10 minutes (without an apology) as he had to go and open up "a bar" that he runs.
20 minutes on so approximately 19:20pm nothing, so I try and call again. Straight to voicemail.
19:44pm and I'm saying to my girlfriend this is a scam lets contact air bnb which we do.
Just as we contact the support team, a man shows up and says hi is it Luke? At this point i reply, yes it is but forget it.
Bottom line. The host is inaccurate, it is a man and not the woman called Francis who has been messaging us.
Second, he didnt want us to see the listing in person, instead asking us to meet him at a restaurant which he was not at.
Third, he also refused to let me come to the so-called bar he was opening when we spoke over the phone.
Fourth, he stopped communicating and according to the air bnb support line he wouldn't communicate with them once I made the report. Literally would not communicate with them so that air bnb could help us get a similar replacement.
I wouldn't trust this person as far as i could throw him or should i say 'them' and let me make clear that I'm incredibly pleased that my girlfriend was not on her own dealing with someone willing to leave you out in the street for an hour without the address. (And not the person you'd been messaging).
Also, looking at some old reviews on other ads that they have it seems to me that in some situations that the photos of the ads and people's encounters do not match up, and I've read others regarding the host situation and pest reports as well such as cockroaches everywhere, so i think my instincts about this individual or collective people..... i.e joe / Francis/ whoever they actually are... The crcumstances we were put though were far too weird and i just hope that air bnb takes a full review into this before they continue letting bookings go ahead. Incredibly strange behavior and never again.
Stay well away. He tried to message us saying lets talk about it over a drink / you won't get better rates round here at this time in Barcelona etc etc, all manipulative tactics (once he realized i was onto it) and such tactics that i worry for anyone that may fall for it, but most definitely not us. I could see that coming long before it happened.