When my guest and I first saw the listing while browsing airbnb.com, we said this is perfect. A beautifully designed apartment modern and sleek, in an area with tons of nightlife activates, that is not too far from us, and is listed with reasonable pricing. *Great.* So, we went through with booking and paid for our day(s) to stay and so forth like you would normally for a BnB a few days before the actual date. Soon after we received a message from a member of the Abode team writing us about a pre-arrival form through an external website different from airbnb.com. This was odd for me as I've never had to do this. Pre-arrival agreement/form required a photo ID and some other personal info which did not take long to fill out. At the end of the pre-arrival form they offered early check-in in which we opted in for 2pm at a 50.00 dollar deposit to Abode and the checkout time you would like to request, 11am in our case. Later on I received a message regarding issues with the pre-arrival form and a member of the abode team helped me correct this. The issue being incorrect departure dates marked which was said to be fixed by re-doing the pre-arrival form. This also included a additional 50.00 dollar deposit to Abode which was said to be refunded by a Abode team member. I also contacted them to make sure the early check-in at 2pm *not 4pm* wouldn't be an issue/voided as we had planned a full day of things to do around LA so our timing was important to us. I was notified that their Trust and Security team would into it and would contact me for anything else required.
*Fastforward to arrival day*
When walking to our room we saw a neighboring room under complete construction, obnoxious sounds and all. We got to our room, dialed the code given and the door did not unlock. We checked again multiple times to make sure the input was correct but the door would not unlock. We checked the time to make sure we weren't too early but our time in the apartment had started and we still didn't have access. Next thing to do was contact Abode. We were greeted with an automated machine which hung up every 4mins7seconds after you remain on the line too long. We waited in the hall for about 30mins with the construction and heat coming from the work they were doing waiting for Abode to respond. Soon after the fire-alarm went off and naturally we left the building and waited outside. I contacted Abode again multiple times through Airbnb and through Text and didn't get a response until 15min later. We have now waited 45mins for access and Abode has finally contacted me only after the fire dept. arrived. After asking a fire dept. official if it was safe to proceed, we go to try the door again, it opens at around 4pm. We had paid for early check-in for nothing. I contacted an Abode team member again to make sure I would be refunded for the early check-in that was now pointless since we paid for time that we couldn't use on the property. I was told rest-assured I will be refunded but rest-assured as of 3/24/22 I have still NOT BEEN REFUNDED THE first 50.00 dollars I paid.
Having access to the room we could see how beautifully designed it was... Superficially. We found bunches of hair on the bed headboard. A severely peeling leather couch which put leather bits all over your pants. Various colored small stains on the bathroom walls around the sink and toilet. Dirty used knives, bowls, and placemats which kept us on edge about eating with their kitchen ware without washing first. We attempted to bake a Pizza in the oven but when warmed up to required temperature the oven billowed out smoke and a disgusting smell because there was pre-baked on black residue in the back of the unit. With all of the above we were really considering going home at the end of the night to stay in our own bed as we didn't want to inspect the sheets or comforter further for whatever the Abode team left for us.
All in all, we were very disappointed with our stay, un-attentive customer service, and the inconvenience Abode had caused us ruining our night reservations for our stay in LA. I intend to avoid any Abode listings on the Airbnb website for future bookings and would recommend you reconsider.
And yes, I will be reaching out to the Abode team soon after I post this as I am still looking for the refund I have yet to receive.
Thank you for your time