When traveling through New Orleans, I applied to book a one bedroom apartment hosted by Lauren. I sent her a message explaining I was going to arrive at around 11pm and leave by 8am. She accepted and responded to some questions I had about the code to unlock the gate.
When I arrived, the codes worked, but the door to the apartment seemed to be deadbolted from the inside. When I called her, she seemed to be confused- was very rude and unorganized - and after 15 minutes of asking me questions and refusing to give me any information, she asked to call me back.
When she called back after another 20 minutes (of me waiting outside downtown New Orleans at midnight after traveling all day) she informed me the apartment had been booked previously, and air bnb had messed up and her account, had been hacked, and a long list of other excuses- she doesn't accept last minute bookings, she had taken the rental off the available listings, etc. She was unpleasant, and up until the very end of the conversation implied the issue was my fault.
So I was downtown New Orleans, trying to get into an apartment that was already rented, which must have been terrifying for the renters staying there. Not to mention, I had the codes to their house, and had they not locked the deadbolt I would have walked into the apartment while they were sleeping.
By the time I was able to secure a hotel it was around midnight, and I was exhausted from my trip and the entire situation. I woke up to find that my rental had not been cancelled, and I was automatically checked out of the room- giving the impression that I had stayed there. When I contacted the renter, she eventually got around to refunding me- but only a percentage of the total amount (which she said was due to air bnb not allowing her to refund the total amount). She wanted to send a check to my home address for the difference.
She eventually refunded me the total amount, but all in all she was a nightmare to deal with, and I don't recommend anyone renting from her.