“Dreadful experience”
This is by far my worst experience with both Airbnb and a host which I hope nobody goes through this!
Before narrating my experience for potential future guests or other readers, I would like to invite anybody who might have any doubt about my story, to read my reviews both given and received from other hosts over the past 7 years!
From the very beginning I did not have a positive feeling about this reservation, because after sending a polite message to inquire about a possible discount, she responded 18 hours later unprofessionally (without saying “hello”) with a rude tone asking, “are you male or female and why are you coming?”!!! This was the weirdest response I had received from a host having used Airbnb over 7 years.
However, I responded almost immediately and in return, never received a response back from her. So again, I messaged her 26 hours later and kindly asked for a response and yet she did not respond!!! So, since there was no other listing available in the area, I just booked it and it was confirmed about 12 hours later and still she never responded do me!
This initial experience was very important to mention, so that readers will realize that the exact same excuse she provided to cancel this reservation was “me being non-responsive” which I will explain is absolutely untrue!!!
Three months later on the day of the reservation, she messages me early in the morning asking when I will arrive and I told her that I will be arriving in the afternoon and do not need the room until later in the night but have some food to leave in the fridge. Check in time on her listing was 3 pm with no limit on arrival for the night and normally any host asking me about my arrival time, is to accommodate me earlier than the actual check in time but in her case, she wanted to inform me that the room would not be available before 4:30 pm! That was no issue on my part and I only needed to drop off my food which she disagreed because she was working!
In her reviews, I had realized that she lives with her family, so when I was close to her house in the afternoon, I messaged her again hoping that somebody would open the door just for the food but still she refused and said the room will be available after 4:30 pm! So, when I reminded her about her listing’s 3 pm check in time, she pretended not to be aware of it!!!
I have to mention that since I was travelling internationally, I had to use a different SIM Card and my new phone plan was limited and I had no Data and could only access internet where Wi-Fi was available. Hence, I could not see her messages until I could access Wi-Fi later in the evening at 8 pm. Then I saw that she had given directions to the room with the PIN code and had asked for my arrival time. I told her that I cannot say exactly when I will arrive at her location since I am in Minneapolis to see the city and I thought I could just access the room with the code provided.
I also asked her if I can explain my situation to her by calling her, rather than texting on the app since I did not have DATA, which she refused and did not trust to give me her phone number!
This was the first instance that a host had not made her phone visible on the Airbnb app after the booking which was weird to me again! So, I just told her that apparently, she does not trust me and asked her to go read my previous reviews from other hosts if she is in any doubts!
A few minutes later (around 9 pm) she makes an excuse that because I have not given her an exact arrival time, she is not comfortable with the reservation and is going to cancel on me!!! So, I hope the readers remember that this is the same person who absolutely denied me ANY response initially during the reservation process and now makes “lack of accurate response” as an excuse to cancel the booking late in the night where I have nowhere to go!!!
Unfortunately, Airbnb was not helpful at all in finding me another place even though their “Air Care” policy stated otherwise! They just asked me to go to her address, since the host had provided me with the entry PIN and had not cancelled the reservation yet, unlike what she had said! (I guess she just made a threat to cancel but did not actually cancel to get paid for the booking without actually allowing me to stay at her place with no valid reason)!!!
So, when I arrived at her location, around 11 pm, I first tried to message her using her WiFi with the password provided on her booking but I realized she had changed the password, since she knew that I don’t have Data internet!!! Then I called Airbnb and they asked me to try to enter the house using the PIN she had provided and then I realized the PIN was also changed!!! Then I rang the buzzer which she wouldn’t answer! I waited at her door for about an hour while trying to constantly contact Airbnb who was trying to reach out to her but she never responded and I had to leave and Airbnb would not help me with a new reservation since it was too late.
So, you could imagine what I had to do after this horrific experience which I am sure is going to be some good news to the host!
I will say no more and leave it for the readers to judge for themselves rather than making any assumptions or judgements myself based on my hurt feelings!