I use Airbnb quite frequently as I travel to see my boyfriend while he is on leave, among other trips. This was by far the worst experience I’ve had, but unfortunately was in my own home-town, so we had a place to stay after I cancelled the stay.
We arrived late the first night of our stay, unloaded just our day bags + Christmas presents for each other, and went to bed. The next day, we spent the day in Asheville so we’re not at the house until nighttime again. We opened presents and afterwards my boyfriend went to take a shower. I went in to grab a snack and set up our movie. When I flipped on the light in the kitchen, 8 or more roaches scattered. We found around 30+ full sized/teen/baby roaches in the unit. Of course, we immediately cancelled the stay, packed up, and woke my parents up at 1 am to let them know we were leaving and coming to stay in their guest bedroom.
I let the host know and his response was “Are you sure they didn’t come in your bags?” Which just, wow. A tip about roaches I learned from Google that night: If you turn the lights on and roaches don’t move or care that you’re there, that basically means that there isn’t enough room in the walls for them to live, so they come out.
I tried to ask the host for a refund, but he stopped responding, so thankfully Airbnb support was tremendously helpful and I received and almost full refund. Video and photo proof provided of the situation, of course.
Also, we had to wash some of the linens as they were stained upon arrival. Other than all of this, decent location and decent unit.