I had to leave after the 1st night and cancel the rest of my 5-day reservation. I felt so unsafe, especially with COVID around, because it wasn’t clean and made the impression somebody was living in it before we got there to stay for a short time (Oct. 8-13, 2020).
Here’s what I messaged Martha and shared with Airbnb customer service/support:
Hi Martha, I hope you’re doing well. I just want to give you a heads up that I am cancelling my reservation right now due to uncleanliness, especially during COVID.
The bathroom looked nice and all the furnishing looked nice. The place smelled like cleaning solution which made me feel comfortable at first because that was an indication that you actually took your time to clean the area.
However, in the short time we stayed, we noticed there were still food in the fridge and the freezer. It seemed like it wasn’t cleaned at all especially the freezer because it stunk when I opened it up.
There was still opened/used food in one of the cupboards; random stuff in another; and the cupboard doors were still dirty because there were still highly visible finger prints on them.
Additionally, there were a couple of what seemed like used cups that were just randomly placed—On top of the ledge of the wall that divides the bedroom and the living room, and on the table under the TV.
We felt very uncomfortable and unsafe after discovering those things because we don’t know if the previous people who stayed there have been in contact with somebody who had COVID. It also gave us an impression that the “guesthouse” was actually someone’s permanent living area because of the state it was in.
Aside from those, there were a few other red flags that I feel need to be addressed: There was no smoke detector installed, all the blinds were broken and dusty, and we found other people’s hair on one of the living room chairs.
I want to talk about the blinds in the kitchen, above the sink, specifically. It is off the track so it couldn’t be opened and closed when you pull on the string. There is a hole that is covered with a napkin draping over the slat above it. The string was too long that it was touching the stove, which is a huge fire hazard. Granted, the stove is inoperable but I think it shouldn’t be there at all.
Thank you for the time reading this and for willing to host me and my fiance. I hope you take in consideration some of the things we mentioned so the next guests wouldn’t have to experience what we did.