I have used Airbnb many times in the past for both domestic and international travel with only excellent experiences. I’ve always left honest reviews, that until now, were nothing but positive. And I’ve always received positive feedback as a guest in Airbnb properties. I guess eventually there was bound to be a bad apple, and Sophie’s place was just that. After we had booked the apartment and paid the deposit, the host informed us that she would be out of the country and hard to reach during our stay. First she told us we would have to go to her cafe, 10 minutes away from the apartment, and pick up the keys there. Then she changed the plan and told us that her cleaner would meet us there, which she did. There was a basic exchange of keys and that was pretty much it. At all other Airbnb's we've stayed at, the host has provided a packet of information about the neighborhood, recommendations, and details about the rental space, or they've given a detailed walk-through explaining any quirks of the place. Nothing like this was available to us. The place had a terribly musty/mildew smell. Linens and towels smelled the same. Though the apartment was generally clean, as if the basic things are taken care of between guests, overall it could use a deep and thorough cleaning. There were easily visible piles of dust/dirt under the radiator in the main the bedroom. There were spider webs in the bedroom windows. These widows also could not be opened to air out the bad smell. There was a bag of dirty clothes in one of the closets. There was garbage in the front yard, including a soiled diaper. There was garbage on the back porch. The couch was stained and dirty looking. After arriving at this apartment, I went back and reread other reviews of this place to see what went wrong and noticed most of the good reviews it had received were from 2015. Perhaps it was nicer then. Not to bury the lede but the main issue with our stay was that there was a gas leak in the apartment. We noticed the strong odor after using the oven our first night and had to open the back door for ventilation. The suspected leak was confirmed by a city engineer the following day. Needless to say, this ended our stay early. When then had to deal with the hassle of coordinating with the host/her relatives to have the leak checked out, repacking, throwing out food we had bought, securing a new place, taking a cab there, checking-in etc. All off this wasted our plans for a good part of that day. Not until after we had secured the place did Sophie reveal that she would be on vacation and out of the country. She told us the name of the individual who would give us the keys. When we asked if there was anyone that we should contact in case we had any questions, she said that we should contact her mother, but only in case of an emergency and that we should direct other questions to her, but that she might be late in responding due to the time zone difference. As mentioned above, on our first night there, we suspected that there was a gas leak. We asked Sophie using the Airbnb app if there was something wrong with the oven. She didn't reply until the next day. When she did finally respond the next day, I was already out touring the city and was having difficulties with cell reception in a foreign country. I received her messages hours later. Sophie sent her father over to the apartment to deal with the situation and wait for a city engineer to check for a leak. My husband was at the apartment at the time and waited with Sophie's father for the engineer to arrive. The city engineer quickly confirmed the leak and shut off gas to the apartment. As his job was to respond quickly to any potential emergency, he did not conduct a thorough investigation of the apartment. My husband informed Sophie's father that he simply wished to find alternative accommodations and be issued a refund. Sophie's father, who had been corresponding with Sophie throughout the morning, told my husband that this had "f*** all to do with me" and suggested that since the gas was now turned off, that we should consider staying there for the full duration without heat, hot water, access to the oven, and with the possibility that gas had pooled somewhere in the apartment. When my husband talked to Sophie, she suggested the same. When my husband informed her that we would not be staying there due to the leak, she said that she was not in a position to issue a full refund given that we had already stayed one night there, that she would not be able to issue a partial refund until she returned home from her vacation in one week's time, and that she was highly inconvenienced on her holiday that she had to deal with this situation. All in all, my husband spent about two hours with her father and the engineer. It took our group an additional two hours to pack, find a new hotel, coordinate a refund with Airbnb**, take out the trash, generally tidy up, and take a cab to our new hotel. Sophie disputed the fact that my husband's afternoon could've been eaten up by dealing with the affair. While leaving, we left a note for the upstairs tenants (another Airbnb operated by Sophie), that a gas leak was detected on the first floor and that they should contact Sophie with any questions. Although the engineer explained to my husband that this apartment had a separate gas line, he did not conduct a thorough examination of the property. (This was not his job. He was simply an emergency responder who was tasked with finding...