HORRIBLE. Sebastian double booked and my mother and I had no place to stay.
Before booking this accommodation, I wrote him to confirm that we can check in around 2 AM and he agreed. This was a month before our trip. I messaged him several times before our flight/check-in reminding him of our booking and arrival but he didn’t reply often.
We finally arrived in NY after a 16-hour red-eye flight and got to the apartment at 2 AM. Upon opening the lockbox, the key wasn’t inside so I wrote him immediately and that’s when he said OOPS SORRY MY BAD. Someone else was staying inside and the room was occupied. Totally disappointing because I had reminded him over and over. That should have been a red flag as most hosts would proactively write their guests about reminders. And so we were left to find a new accommodation at an ungodly hour and he could not cancel our booking immediately for the refund.
Meanwhile, contacting airbnb customer service was also a nightmare as I was put on hold so many times and was on the phone for over an hour trying to get them to refund me ASAP and apparently send me a $62 coupon to use towards a new booking on airbnb. We were in the stairwell and roof of the building in like 18° weather waiting for an acceptable solution while also trying to find a new place to stay. So many hotels were fully booked around Brooklyn and Manhattan because it was pride weekend so it was so hard to find a new accommodation at like 3 AM.
We finally found a hotel which was much pricier than we had planned (not to mention what we spent on several unnecessary Lyft rides) but after this disdainful airbnb experience, we didn’t want to risk accepting the coupon and booking another airbnb to be disappointed. We were able to check in and rest at our new place at 5 AM which was a horrible way to start our vacation, so book at this place with caution as the host is not very detail-oriented.
@AIRBNB: Appreciate the help of your staff but please act with more urgency about cancellations like this that happen at 2 AM. Do not make the customer wait for an hour on the phone. I’ve been using airbnb since 2016 and always recommend it. Never had a bad experience until this booking and after experiencing the company’s crisis management, I am no longer inclined to use this platform nor recommend it.
@SEBASTIAN: Please read your messages diligently and understand them. You disrupted a family’s trip because of carelessness. We ended up wasting so much resources for a replacement. Time, money and energy. We were so tired and stressed at the beginning of our trip. Hope others don’t have to experience this unnecessary inconvenience because of flippancy.