Unfortunately this is the first negative experience I've had through Airbnb, which I booked on behalf of my parents who are visiting from overseas. All appeared well with the apartment until my parents went to bed on the first night and noticed that the bedsheets seemed to be unclean. In the light of day the next morning, they found stains all throughout the sheets, and even an old pair of socks tangled up near the foot of the bed. I called Gregory's partner Shawn who was our contact for the stay describing what happened, and she replied with disbelief, saying she found it 'very hard to believe' my story and claimed she was present when the maid cleaned the apartment. She then questioned why I was the one calling her instead of my parents (they are an older couple from Australia who didn't have a US contact number) effectively accusing me of staging the whole thing to take advantage of them. An hour or so later she came to the apartment (where my parents were present) and examined the stained sheets. Without offering a sincere apology, she offered to clean the sheets herself and refund one night's accommodation. Both myself and my parents said we felt a refund for 2 nights accommodation would be fairer given how unsanitary the soiled sheets were. After initially objecting by saying this "isn't a hotel", she eventually agreed to the refund and we figured at the time we could put the whole matter behind us.

A couple of hours later however, Gregory called me for what I thought would be a courtesy call, but instead turned into more accusations being levelled at us. He said we had the wrong expectations about what a Airbnb actually was, repeating that it "wasn't a hotel" and that my parents could have cleaned the soiled sheets themselves if they thought it was a problem. He then said he'd only offer one night's refund instead of the previously agreed to 2, but after conferring with Shawn re-offered us the 2 nights refund. It was at this point he stepped up his insults, calling us 'well heeled' and accusing me of bullying them (which are both completely ridiculous) and it was then I decided that I wouldn't like to deal with them any further. I requested a full refund, which he replied bluntly "wasn't going to happen". This was despite soiled sheets being clearly laid out under Airbnb's full-refund policy. Wanting to get my parents out of there as soon as I could, I accepted his offer for 5 nights refund and cleared the apartment straight away.

What was horrible about this stay wasn't just how unhygienic the bedsheets were for my parents, but how their legitimate concerns were met with suspicion and disdain by our hosts. We had just had two wonderful stays with Airbnb, and could never imagine our other hosts treating us the way they did. Hopefully in future they treat their guests concerns with more empathy.