Upon arriving to SF, my girlfriend and I showed up to Alison’s early around 1:30 pm while running into the guests before us. We were asked to wait around the area while the “suite” was being cleaned which we had no problem doing. Around 3:10 pm we started making our way back to the place so we can put our things down and relax, we had some trouble getting in but still managed too. Once we started heading inside we realized there was a connecting door into the suite, which we were curious about so we attempted to go inside but had the door slammed shut on our face by someone already inside. While realizing we can’t lock that door from our side we continued heading up the stairs as we were instructed to. We walked into the “suite” and realized there is NO DOOR to open or close for privacy and it is all an open space from the staircase.
This was never discussed with me nor my partner and made us feel very uneasy. Checking out the rest of the apartment we were a little skeptical already, noticing that the bathroom door didn’t fully close nor lock as well as the bedroom door that did not lock. Honestly this made my girlfriend feel very uncomfortable which was understandable due to the fact that there was no closing door from the staircase and a connecting door that was also already INSIDE THE “APARTMENT” which we had no access to and no way to lock from our side.
We tried to relax at the apartment for about 2 hours and decided to leave for the day, while outside we wanted to voice our concerns to our host, as well as have some questions answered. When texting Alison through Airbnb we had to wait about an hour at a time for a response. When receiving said response we were spoken to very cold and as if we had no knowledge of the city. Every time we messaged Alison a question or concern we had, our questions were getting unanswered and our concerns were getting dismissed. After a while of going back and forth with our host, we made it clear that we were uncomfortable with nothing being discussed with us. People underneath us, A connecting door inside, No door to the suite itself, it was all these things concerning us and made us feel a bit uneasy. While trying to have our questions answered, we received a response stating if we were uncomfortable we could receive a refund because now we made our host uncomfortable with our concerns and our presence. Even while never meeting our host or being welcomed by any person(s), somehow we were told we made her uncomfortable. On that note we decided the best decision for us was to review our options, get our stuff and leave the property.
This was honestly the most unfortunate and uncomfortable experience we’ve ever had to deal with as first time Airbnb users. Considering this all occurred our first day of vacation, it made us very skeptical of trusting a host’s word because of the way we were treated. We managed to go to another location where we felt more comfortable, safe and we were treated with respect.