There was enough about this experience in the 24 hours leading up to staying here and the first night that concerned me and my partner enough to pivot and find somewhere else to stay after 1 night there. I submitted the following to Airbnb Help for resolution assistance — while they ruled in Kyle's favor on all points, I think it is worth republishing the complaints here so that anyone coming into this listing, comes to it with set expectations. In my opinion, best case, this listing capitalizes on location while the owner does what is minimally necessary to be a host. Worst case, this host and this listing take advantage of loopholes in Airbnb's policies — knowing that no matter what this listing will make money whether you cancel the res, change the res, leave early, or stay full time and the guest won't have a real path to recourse — thus disincentivizing real thought and care in making this a comfortable and stress-free experience.
1) The listed check-in process was not the same as the actual process Kyle asked us to undertake. [It has since been updated after I filed a complaint.] That raised serious security flags for me — if we had known this on booking, we would not have booked this place. The listing claims this is a place with a smart lock; instead, we were told 24 hours before that we had to meet the housekeeper to pick keys up.
2) Upon arrival the place had repair needs that did not make us confident that it was up to hosting standards. There was major water damage in the bathroom. The shower and tub were extremely rusted and corroded. The water in the bathroom sink would just sit in the basin and not drain for several minutes.
3) Cleanliness and amenities. While the place had just been "cleaned", it was not lost on us that the glassware and mugs had films of dirt on them, the towels were old and spotted with stains, and details about amenities (like the network name for the internet) just didn't match information that we had been provided or saw in the listing. At best, it felt like this was just a bare minimum effort to have an Airbnb listing, and at worst, coupled with the process up to that point, the owner may have been making intentional misrepresentations. Airbnb Help said that the cleanliness was a violation based on what we provided them, but we would have needed to stay there longer and get additional evidence in order to help them assess the severity.
4) The listed address is different than the one the host provided. Airbnb Help said that this is allowed on the platform; however, I think it is an interesting question of hosts' security versus guests' security. From my perspective, having the procedure vary for check-in, with the place under a different address, and an unresponsive host other than canned messages out of context of the questions I was asking, erode trust overall, and are signs I should be thinking about my safety.
5) Poor communication. These four concerns were all compounded when I asked Kyle a question about why the procedure didn't align with what was in the listing. For 24 hours I heard nothing back, and it wasn't until we were already there at the place that I heard back from Kyle, with a message suggesting that we had not arrived and the housekeeper was waiting on us. Meanwhile, we were observing and seeing his responses to his housekeeper in real-time as we asked questions during the key exchange as she sought his response to questions she couldn't answer. So it felt odd to hear nothing from Kyle from his initial "when are you arriving" message through check-in, only to get a message 30 min after we checked in saying "where are you, you haven't checked in yet", even though we were physically there while he was communicating with the housekeeper. This message sent would also be the key for Airbnb Help in determining that Kyle was indeed responsive as a host, despite the context and history of the limited exchange because he was the "last one to send a message".
We didn't feel comfortable staying there more than a night and had to pivot. Unfortunately, we are having to eat the cost of that, but ultimately feel like it was the right choice. So again, I would think twice about this listing — the location will lure you in, but not really sure the host has any incentive to provide more beyond that.