Booked this apartment and when we did chose the option for a 9am check in. As we booked quite late I emailed the owner to say that if 9am check in was not possible then could we drop our bags in early. No response. Tried again. No response. Then we got an email from Airbnb saying 9am check in was granted and confirmed.
We went to check in just after 9am AS INSTRUCTED, and bearing in mind all of my emails had been ignored. Got to the apartment, stepped over a few people smoking in the corridor to get to the front door, and I can’t emphasise enough that I know the owners aren’t responsible for the previous tenants but I have never seen an apartment in such a state, it was filthy. Every room from floor to ceiling was disgusting. We couldn’t even find a clear floor space to put our bags. So, we turned around and left. With no choice we had to check in to a nearby hotel. After several more ignored emails to the owner, he was very rude and abrupt, and with little or no customer service experience/education judging by his email manner. He said that the 9am check in confirmation email, that had 9AM CHECK IN CONFIRMED, in large font at the top of the email, was actually just for bag drop in and that I should have assumed that was the case.
We argued back and forth for most of the day, him refusing to give us a refund and telling us that we should be grateful as most places charge £25 for bag drop (bizarrely) even though we didn’t stay in the apartment or drop our bags off.
We agreed that small claims court was the best was to go (lovely bit of customer service) which I was happy to do as his entire argument was based on assumption and ours was based on factual emails. Airbnb got involved at this point and quickly apologised and granted us a full refund as Tony was at fault.
Please avoid this guy just as effectively as manners, compassion and professionalism seem to have done him.