Booked for Friday/Saturday night with our 18 month old son. Friday evening just before bed our son found a bag of cannabis in the cupboard under the tv. We subsequently found that the apartment had also not been cleaned properly, lots of hair in the bath, in the lounge, and food that was several weeks out of date in the fridge. Bad as this is (especially in the Covid era!) this would not have prompted this review had the hosts not subsequently behaved in the unfortunate manner that they did.
We phoned them on the Friday night about the issues. They denied any knowledge of the cannabis (they said they did not live there) but fully admitted that they had not been able to thoroughly clean due to the late check out of previous guests that afternoon. They said they understood our discomfort, and promised us a full refund for the two nights we had paid if we left the next day. We left as soon as we could on the Saturday morning. In a subsequent phone call on Sunday evening we again received apologies and again were promised a full refund.
On Monday, however, the tone changed completely. I received a text from the hosts now suggesting that I go through Airbnb in order to obtain the refund. We were accused of leaving the flat dirty, moving personal items, and, strangely, using kitchen equipment and towels. They also questioned why we continued to stay the night if we were so uncomfortable with the flat. They suggested that, having checked in at 4pm, we had plenty of time to notice any dirtiness and therefore leave if we were that uncomfortable. We explained that after a long journey there, then unloading everything (including travel cot) for a two night stay we straightaway went out to explore the area and to buy food for the duration, returning just before our son's bedtime. Therefore no time to check the flat over properly. Our son found the cannabis just before bed, and we would have been unable to find alternative accommodation in London that late on a Friday evening. So we decided to stay with extra caution regarding the safety of our son and then leave the next day.
Through the Airbnb resolution centre the hosts grudgingly refunded us half of what they had promised us. However, they then claimed that it was in fact their home (contradicting what they had told us on the phone) and also said that we "found a small amount of cannabis which I know was not there when I gave you the keys". Not only does this again contradict what we were told in our initial phone call (when they admitted not checking the cupboards) but also pretty much accuses us of planting the cannabis there ourselves. The said they were offended that we had moved personal religious items. We had in fact moved just a couple of items which were on the floor so that our toddler could not damage them. One of these items was on top of an old gift tag covered in hairs, again showing the lack of cleanliness. They refused to accept that open food in a fridge that is several weeks out of date was not acceptable, claiming that is was in fact their food (very strange considering EVERYTHING was out of date). They questioned why we used the towels - the reason was that there was no shower screen/curtain on the bath and the host herself had told us to take extra precautions to avoid our son slipping. They questioned why we used the kitchen facilities - obviously we had to feed ourselves that evening and the morning before we left. They accused us of putting their property in the bin - the only thing we put in the bin was unfortunately the large amount of food we had bought the previous evening. They were also "offended" at my decision to take photos of all of the hygiene issues (food/hair/cannabis etc). Something that Airbnb encourages in case of a dispute.
Looking at previous reviews for this property it appears that the default response of the hosts to any criticism received is to try and turn the tables and accuse the guests of being the ones in the wrong. When booking this property I gave the benefit of the doubt to the hosts. Sadly now I am on the receiving end of the same treatment. If the hosts had accepted their responsibility - that an apartment which they did not have time to clean thoroughly should not have even been available to let that night and then honoured their initial promise to refund us in full then this issue could have been concluded amicably. However, the way that they have tried to turn everything around on us with a series of illogical and incorrect accusations has upset us greatly. We have never been treated like this before and this is why I have chosen to pursue the issue further with Airbnb directly.