We booked David’s apartment to stay from October 15th to October 26th. When we arrived, the place appeared clean, and had everything we needed. David was quick to respond to any questions and provided anything we asked for. This included us asking for help when the door was not locking properly, when we requested a hair dryer, along with other questions.
At the beginning of our stay, I started receiving small, red bumps on my arm. They were not itchy or swollen, so I ignored it and attributed this to something in the ocean, the sun, etc (I live in the Midwest and am not used to or familiar with a tropical climate). Fast forward about 3 or 4 days, the bumps were swelling fast, itching like crazy, and more and more were appearing. However, despite sleeping on the same mattress, my boyfriend did not have any bumps on his body that were similar to mine, which is why we continued to attribute it to other environmental variables (e.g., swimmer’s itch, sun rash, other allergic reaction, etc.).
On October 24th, our worst nightmare came true. We saw a bed bug on the wall. Immediately we put it into a plastic bag for further inspection. Upon confirming that it was a bed bug through Google Images, we moved the mattress and found at least 7 to 8 more bed bugs at varying stages underneath my side of the box spring (the king size mattress was bisected by two separate box springs underneath). We’re talking eggs, babies, and adult bugs. Immediately we packed our clothes and belongings into garbage bags and contacted David. He did not have a timely response, so we filed a claim with Airbnb for a refund for our remaining nights and sought a new accommodation. We provided more than enough documentation and evidence, including photos of all the bugs we found and the damages to my body. Airbnb did NOT help us find a new accommodation and have refused to compensate us for the remainder of our stay. David did not handle this situation professionally and left me with 40-50 bed bug bites all over my body. He put us at a health risk and has had minimal communication with us since. Do NOT stay here.