This is the first time I have ever given a negative review. I have stayed in many Airbnb’s in both the US and in Europe.
We were so looking forward to our stay in Minneapolis. It looked like very cool, with a loft vibe, great location and the free parking was really a plus.
The reviews seemed good, some said “excellent” some not so much, but I usually go with the 80/20 rule, and I felt that this was in the 80% category, after all, you can’t please everyone all the time.
When we arrived, the key in the lock box would not open the door. After contacting Frontdesk, I was assured that they cleaners had just left, and someone would be over to check it out. The key had been mixed up with another unit.
We went up to the room, and this is what we found: The kitchen/living room were ok at first glance. The main bedroom: no blanket on the bed, pillowcases were missing, bed sheet was just laid on the bed all wrinkled, and the bottom sheet was just draped on the mattress, and it was a fitted sheet. The bifold door between the bedroom and the closet was broken and leaning against the closet wall, there was a big stain on the carpet by the bed, and more stains in the comer of the bedroom. The bathroom: no towels other than two bath towels in the closet, the toilet was dirty (in a bad way if you know what I mean), and the washer had dirty towels in it. Then I went to the loft to check for bedding and towels, and it was the same up there.
On further investigation we found:
Old food in the fridge, dirty kitchen counter, floor, and island surfaces, ice maker not working, top of fridge dirty and sticky, kitchen cabinet doors dirty/sticky and spotted like someone threw something on them, very dirty oven with chunks of food, vertical window shades that would not open nor close without shoving them, the glass slider between the bedroom and living room was so dirty, it had dried on gunk (like someone sprayed a bottle of champagne on it) from top to bottom, dirty floor everywhere, sliding door to the deck is missing it’s latch/handle. This place needs to be painted, carpets all need to be shampooed, the bathroom sink drain runs very slow. It needs a through deep clean by a crew that knows how to clean.
We then contacted Frondesk again, and they had the person who gave us the correct key come back and reclean the unit. It was now about dinner time, and we decided to leave and let her do her work. Soon after we contacted Frontdesk, they gave us a $45 “have dinner on us” refund. When we returned, the bed was made as it should be, the bathroom cleaned, kitchen cleaned, and floor mopped. She did a bang-up job for only a bit under two hours. We found out that she was brought to Minneapolis from Texas to “manage things” during transition issues apparently with the cleaning staff. She had never been in that unit we were informed.
At the end of our stay, I again contacted Frontdesk, sent the photos (as requested), described in detail what the issues were, and asked for a 50% refund (less the $45 already refunded). The reply was: “We truly value your feedback as we take our city operations very seriously and are always looking to improve. We strive to provide our guests with an enjoyable stay experience and I'm very sorry that this was not your experience. I appreciate you taking the time to share these concerns with me and I assure you I have already spoken with my team and we have formed a plan to address and fix the issues you have brought to our attention, immediately. While we sincerely apologize for the way the apartment was upon your check in, we acted quickly to remedy this and clean it properly. In addition, to express our sincerest apologies, we refunded $45 so you could enjoy dinner on us for the inconvenience you experienced. We do feel this is a very fair solution and are not comfortable extending an additional refund as you did stay in the apartment and there were no further complaints. We hope you understand and we can show you a 5 star stay experience the next time you visit Minneapolis.”
As for Airbnb support: “Based on our AirCover policy, and since you were able to provide evidence of the issue, we’d be able to offer a further refund of 10% of your first night at Frontdesk Minneapolis’s place. That’s a further amount of $12.40”. And the final word from Airbnb:“It breaks my heart to inform you that after communicating your additional refund request we were unable to reach an agreement with your Host and Frontdesk Minneapolis is unwilling to refund any additional refund. I understand this may not be the outcome you're hoping for. I would love to help you further, but my hands are tight with the policy and procedure that must be followed. What happened here goes against our Host Standards, and we do keep a record of this kind of report. Our primary concern is the integrity of the community so actions that can be taken, from education on standards to full removal from the site. It’s worth noting that repeated cases of this sort will lead towards sanctions on the Host's account.”
So a word to the wise, check out the reviews, look deep into them, not just the first few, and if you have an issue, and it cannot be resolved through the host, there most likely is not much that can be done to get much of a refund.