We had originally booked this air bnb for 4 days and 3 nights. By the time we had gotten to the air bnb it was around 9PM and we were exhausted already. Unfortunately upon arrival, within the hour we found multiple things wrong with the air bnb and were having second thoughts about staying there. The place overall was dirty and did not look as described and shown in the listing, we felt very misled. We even tried to find a hotel, but there were none available, leaving us to have to stay the night there and leaving right away in the morning. Before leaving we sent a refund request detailing our reasons for leaving and why we were entitled to a refund, however the host refused and put the blame on us when we had legitimate reasons for leaving and followed the proper procedures as doing what we felt was best for our safety.
The listing gave us the impression that the house would be clean, however within the first hour we had found bugs flying around the house most likely due to one of the windows being open prior to our arrival, along with dead bugs in the closet, and 2 cockroaches. In the kitchen, the dishes provided were still dirty along with a sponge that did not look safe to use. In the bathrooms there were soap dispensers provided, one of them didn’t work, but that was probably for the better as they both had mold in them, which begs the question of how long has it been like this and how did it even grow mold in the first place? In the bedrooms, the sheets were not clean, after lifting the covers the sheets had stains from who knows where and one of them had a stain that could possibly be blood. We just wanted to rest and enjoy our stay in New York, yet we were greeted by bugs and an unsanitary house instead, where it was one problem after another.
The vents throughout the house also had a large accumulation of dust within them, which posed another concern because some of us have sensitivities to dust, which could cause allergic reactions or breakouts. Due to finding so many bugs, it’s not wrong for us to be worried that there may be more throughout the house and what else we may encounter throughout the night. It didn’t even feel safe to stay there for just one night, but we had no choice since the hotel we booked last minute wouldn’t be available until the next day.
Before leaving the air bnb we sent the host a refund request with why we were leaving along with pictures to provide evidence. It wasn’t until 3 days later that the host messaged us, asking us how our stay was and wasn’t even aware that we sent him the refund request until we mentioned it. After seeing our request, he said that it was our fault that we didn’t message him prior to leaving, but it’s his responsibility as the host to check his notifications, it’s not our fault that he didn’t see the request. With his logic, he said that it would be unfair to refund the money due to how late he saw the message, even though it was his fault that he saw it after the duration of our stay in New York. He also disregarded our concerns for why we left the house and instead felt the need to state that one of our reasons was inadequate to provide as evidence, which was that we opened the door which let flies into the house, even though there was a window already open when we arrived.
After waiting 72 hours for the refund request, the host did not refund us, so we contacted air bnb to resolve this and even then the most the host would refund was only $80, which is less than 10% of the price that we originally paid for the booking. Overall this was a terrible experience with the house, the host, and none of us felt as if we belonged there due to how the host neglected to keep up with the house and didn’t prepare it properly prior to our arrival.