I am not one to normally write reviews but the interaction with the host was not enjoyable. Overall Lex responded in a timely manner, the house was clean for the most part, and she offered snacks.
One of the issues we had with her was we booked her house 2 months prior to our trip. We ended up needing to cancel a month before for an unforseen family issue that was causing us not to be able to travel. After back and forth with Lex and the Airbnb team, we were told that because we paid the nonrefundable rate we would only be refunded the cleaning fee. The nonrefundable rate was not clear at time of purchase. I don't normally book refundable rates for that reason.
We ended making it work and traveled to Dallas. When we arrived, there was not any check in instructions. When we contacted Lex, she said she would be over to let us in. Never have I met an owner or had to be physically let into an Airbnb. That was the first red flag. When she arrived, she asked for our ID's. Again, not normal. After she opened the door, she went to show my husband the house. As they entered the home her son proceeded to video my husband. He noticed and asked why he was being filmed. At that moment the boy put the phone down. She asked if he was filming and he said no. They continued on and the boy held the phone back up to continue filming. After they were done showing him the home, my husband came to the car to wait for her to leave. She went back into the home, went across the street to speak to the neighbor, and the son also went back inside. After about 10 minutes they left. At this point we entered the home. It was cold out and getting dark. The first thing we tried to do was turn on the heater. We picked up the remote for the heater and it broke into 3 pieces. We wrote and asked Lex to call us for help. She called and we then found out it it wasn't plugged in. We didn't want to move anything much. It still wouldn't turn on. She said because it wasn't cold season they don't check that stuff. We are from FL and it was in the low 50's high 40's at night while we were there. My husband made a comment that he didn't didn't know if they would return or if we would have issues with the neighbors. At this point we agreed to leave and get a hotel. After all day traveling, cold, and tired, this was becoming quite the adventure. We tried to call Lex back to let her know we were leaving but she didn't answer. We wrote her on Airbnb messenger so she could secure her home and let her know that it was no longer occupied.
Again, I'm not one to write reviews even if I have a bad experience but this was NOT normal.