First of all, Ryan is a fake name. The host I corresponded with is Andrea and she said she is the COO. As best as I can tell, this is a San Francisco based operation due to the 415 number she called me from. This operation is not customer focused, but rather focused on providing the least possible for the most money.
Finding the unit was difficult and no guidance was provided, not even which floor it was on. So I spent about 10 minutes walking up and down stairs with my luggage until I found it.
When I opened the door, it was completely dark and the light switch next to the front door did not turn on any lights. So I had to walk into a dark unit in a questionable neighborhood by myself and grope around for lights.
Once I found lights, my stomach twisted. There were stains all over the living room rug. Cracked paint along the ceiling. The bedroom carpet was the worst with some sort of pinkish-red stains all over. The white fabric bed had stains all over it. The curtains were too short to cover the window and the blinds didn’t close all the way. In fact, in the dining room, the blinds allowed people to see into the unit from the street.
When I tried to use the toilet paper, the holder fell onto the floor and the toilet paper fell in the trash can.
The street noise was unbearable. All night there were extremely loud vehicles, sirens, music with high bass, and drunken yelling and fighting. When I went to see where all the noise was coming from (because it sounded like it was in the unit rather than outside), I discovered a huge gap under the front door.
All of this aside, the worst part was the way the host treated me. Instead of asking how she could make it better, I was told she has no control over the noise in downtown Austin and since I obviously don’t like the unit, I can leave.
Fortunately AirBnB read the messages back and forth and issued a partial refund. I post this review in hopes that no one else has to be swindled.