Sadly, this has been my worst experience in this platform since I joined many years ago.
I saw the reviews and there was a recent review expressing how unpleasant was the stay and even though, I took the risk. Now, I hope this helps the people to know what to expect.
First of all, I rented this room for 7 days but I could not stay more than 1 night. I asked the host to accept my change and that was for 2 nights and I left the first day. I lost my money for the second night but that was better than sleep there other night.
Now, the details. I need to go very deep into the details because it’s important.
Ruby has a specific caveat in the description saying that you must respect her nights and do not make any noise. That is very clear and also she has there that you need to confirm (quoting here): “You read the description twice”. That is explicitly what she wrote.
The first day, I arrived around 4 pm and the Ruby was there. We talked for some minutes and then she showed me the room and I realized that the room does not have any key and I asked her about that. She told me that there are some locks I could get on Amazon to close from inside and also I told her the same, that there are some keyless devices for indoor doors because that is important for any guest; the privacy and security. That is host’s responsibility.
My company gave me an equipment that I need to take care of and even if you don’t have any special equipment, everything is valuable, our phones, bags or laptops. Nobody knows if a guest who is checking out would take anything from there and leave. So, don’t expect that privacy in that room.
Then, I asked her about the Internet speed and the router because I need to work close to it because my job depends on the Internet speed. If the router is in the backyard, I would try to work the closest I can to the router.
After that, I went to the room, then around 6 pm I went out to grab some food I asked her if I could get something for her and she said no. So, she saw when I left and I came back around 6:30. After that, I went to my room and I didn’t get outside for anything until I left definitely the house the next day. During the first night, I needed to work on my computer and I had a personal emergency. I received a message from Ruby saying “did you read the description twice?” around 10 pm and I didn’t see it until 2 am because I could not sleep well; obviously I did not reply at that moment and I fell asleep. I knew Ruby was asking me that for the caveat about the nights and even I didn’t sleep I tried to very quiet and I didn’t make any noise. That’s why I preferred to text instead of calling about my personal matter.
That morning, I received a message from AirBnB support saying that my host; Ruby, raised a “Home Rule Violation” because I did not reply in the night and I left unlocked the main door. Which was not true, she did it just to escalate the issue.
I told her that was serious and may affect my history.
I messaged her about that and told her that I did read the description more than twice, it would be better if she asks exactly what I should avoid or be aware of. Reading the description twice is very ambiguous. And I added “I’m here in the kitchen”.
We met in the kitchen and she started telling me she didn’t feel safe since I arrived because she does not know me and she needed confirmation that “I did read the description twice”. I told her I was working and busy to reply and I knew she meant about the caveat and I told her I was aware of that. And she told me that I was actually very quiet but she wanted to have the confirmation of reading the description twice. She was not asking for the caveat, she was asking confirmation of “reading the description twice”.
Then, everything started to get out of control. She said I need to leave right away and get a new house. She said, in tears, that I offered her an unsolicited costly advice for the bedroom room and it was something that she can’t afford and I told her that she also asked me to get a lock for the room by my own. And she started to express some really personal things and she told me that I was the first person asking for “her personal electronics belongings” (the router) and saying that nobody has asked that before. She inferred that I wanted to steal a router. That was very insulting. She even mentioned to call the police.
I don’t want to share personal details about her but after a very sensitive talk everything was “fixed”. Then, I told her I was leaving and she said “please, stay. Tell me how we can fix this”. She gave some nice soaps she made and she asked me if a 5G connection would be better and then we started talking in a very calm way and she was a very nice and sensitive person.
At the end, I preferred to leave that day. I couldn’t bring those lovely soaps with me, I left them in a small drawer. I wanted to avoid any claim 😕
I asked her to accept my change from May 7-14 to May 7-9 and I left May 8.
Sorry for sharing this but this may be something serious and I prefer to add the details here. I sent her a private message too.