The unit itself is a great value and the location is very centrally situated for travelling between Ala Moana and Waikiki.
We found rat droppings and traps when we checked into the unit and the unit absolutely wreaked on fermenting food. I have travelled throughout China/HK and i know this smell, its the lingering odor of dried shrimps and most likely Cantonese food. I don't how it smelled that bad but it was disgusting. We could barely be in the unit. I contacted the host at 4pm, 1 hour after our earliest available check in and they said they could deal with it the next day. At this point we requested a refund and ability to move from both the host and Airbnb. Neither took action and continued to defer until it was not worth it to move.
Airbnb said they were concerned were going to make it right until my case got "escalated" and they conveniently went MIA for the next 2 days until someone finally contacted me. They said they needed documentation of the rat droppings and odors. I sent them the rat droppings but they required documentation of the odor... umm ok? How am I supposed to provide that. They deferred to the hosts decision.
The host came and sprayed febreeze and put the AC on and left and said it was fine. When our keys stopped working at midnight on Friday, they messaged on Saturday stating they would give me a pro-rated refund. The timing of Airbnbs and the hosts decisions seemingly trapped us because we could not move to a hotel without confirmation of refund and we would still be looking at about another $900 in cost.
The host was quite responsive once they knew of the issue and I know it's not their fault if a guest comes and destroys the place. I just wished they would have taken quicker action instead of waiting 3 days to allow a refund.