Before booking I received some instructions and photos of "how to check in" which entailed walking to a private car park nearby to locate a coded dropbox which contained the keys, apparently the box was one of several others. Not sure which box it would be I had to request further instructions to locate it and was informed I could locate it by its position in relation to others on the wall.
I was expecting to be at the address by 8.30pm unfortunately due to over a 2½ hr delays on the train I didnt arrive until 11.10pm I got a taxi to the car park which was a dimly lit street to locate the dropbox and scoured the walls for the dropbox but didnt find anything, I had also brought a good torch with me as I knew it would be dark. I presumed the box must be inside the entrance to the car park but found that the car park closed at 11pm and the gates were fully shut! I scoured all the walls walked up and down the end of the street and could find nothing at all! I called the host several times on my phone and got no answer- so at nearly midnight having suffered hours of delay I was now stranded in the middle of Manchester with nowhere to stay! My only option was to call a taxi and drive around to try and find a hotel to stay in.
After this nightmare experience it transpired that the host decided instead of simply returning my call or texting me he decided to put a message via airbnb???
After the event I put a complaint to airbnb who were very helpfull, they contacted the host who refused to provide a refund so air bnb kindly refunded my hotel fee.