Our stay at James' place was really good. The location is perfect and the place is beautiful. It well stocked and extremely clean.
However, this listing is through a rental company (not a person) and James would not let us in until we authorized a 200 CHF security deposit through a third party website (not Airbnb). This security deposit was not mentioned in the listing and he started asking for it the day before we checked in. We were locked out for about 30 minutes while I explained to him I did not feel comfortable sending more money through a website that is not Airbnb. He eventually let us in without paying the security deposit, which I appreciate, but it is against Airbnb's policy to charge a security deposit like this. Airbnb did nothing to help and it was up to me to negotiate with the host. I do not believe this is a scam of any sort, but I shouldn't be asked to send more money to a third party website the day before I check in.