Disclaimer: I didn't actually get to stay here.
I saw a review talking about how the Check-In process was a nightmare and the host was not communicative, but I thought, "Oh that's unfortunate, that probably won't be the case for me." I was wrong. My friend and I were looking forward to this stay for weeks. We both were not able to go home for the holidays and see our families so we were excited for our first visit to San Diego. This Airbnb was perfect for us – great location, not *too* pricey, the pictures looked beautiful – we expected it to be a wonderful, RELAXING stay. So, you can imagine our disappointment when we showed up at the check-in time to an empty lockbox and an unresponsive host.
Maybe I am a bit at fault here – I realized I hadn't actually gotten an email 5 days before the check-in like promised, but I saw that the reservation details had been updated to say "self-check-in" via the lockbox, so I mistakenly thought I didn't have to reach out to anyone. Again, I was wrong (though at this point, I'm not sure it would have made a difference if I had). The lockbox was empty, we tried calling the host on 3 different numbers. We tried the number linked to the Airbnb account, the office number, the office was closed so we called the emergency pager number – no answer. We also sent them messages – no answer. We reached out to Airbnb's customer service who was very helpful and they also tried their best to reach the host numerous times but to no avail. We waited more than 5 hours for a response from the host before customer service had to cancel our reservation and we had to find somewhere else to stay... ON THANKSGIVING WEEKEND. The whole thing almost ruined our trip before we were able to find another host who was super accomodating and very responsive.
I wish I could have been adding to the many positive reviews this place has, but I can't. To this moment, I have not heard so much as an apology or even a reason from the host as to why we were left hanging. Hopefully, future visitors do not come across this same problem. If you plan on staying here, I suggest you be more proactive than me and consistently reach out to the host days before your trip.