Mac was very responsive to me initially, however he side-stepped answering my specific questions about the neighborhood prior to my booking. I don’t think it was responsible for him to rent this place to a single woman given the neighborhood it was in.
The house was cute and had lots of nice touches that he added, and while I was there Mac did everything in his control to make the stay comfortable. However, after the first day when I tried to go for a run midday, I realized how bad the neighborhood was (I arrived at nighttime so didn’t get the full picture), and I was concerned for my personal safety in broad daylight. I decided to cut my stay short as a result, and remained inside the house with the doors locked for the days I was there until my next air bnb rental was available.
Mac gave me his word that if the place booked during the vacated days (I left 20 days early), that he would reimburse me for the nights I didn’t stay. Hosts cannot reimburse fees and taxes, it was just the nightly rate. However, he has avoided all of my attempts to contact him since I reached out when I saw the remaining open nights had been booked. I don’t believe it’s an ethical way to run a business, especially after feeling misled about the location of the rental. I understand that Mac cannot do anything about the neighborhood, but he could have done the right thing and stayed true to his word to reimburse me for the nights I didn’t stay, especially since someone else booked. To add insult to injury, I had a discounted monthly rate and the rebooking was at a higher nightly rate so not only was he paid twice for the same nights, but he profited from me leaving and still won’t reimburse me.