Be aware, firstly, that this property is right next to a trap house. My email is shawnstarcevic@gmail.com if you would like to see pictures I have collected from this stay.
First and foremost when we showed up our unit looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a WHILE - so if COVID cleaning standards are something you care about look elsewhere. That isn’t even what bothered me the most about this property.
If you contact the “host” about any issues you’ll get hit with a copy and pasted blurb which is very impersonal at best or dismissive if you ask me. The phone number the “host” gives you for issues is basically just a text/voicemail only line. This is because Benjamin Vail is basically an AIRBNB slum lord for about 70 different clients.
I could deal with the absence of cleaning and bad neighborhood (gunshots in the middle of the night, homeless people sleeping in the alley near the property, inoperable security flood lamps on the building, broken glass etc) but I drew the line when I realized the “host” has two properties listed at the same address.
What this means in essence is that any delivery that you try to have main to this address will be missed delivered to the front home. Even if you give your delivery service specific instructions to go through the back alley they will still miss deliver it and this happened twice, I had to leave the event I went to in order to rectify this essentially ruining the whole reason I even came to Columbus.
I had asked Ben what would happen if I had to call 911 in case of any emergency (my mother is on dialysis) and his dismissed it essentially saying hopefully it doesn’t come to that and I should specify the rear property. Keep in mind this rear property has absolutely no markings whether it be Unit A Unit B or rear etc. Not only is this an acceptable answer is doesn’t follow state or local 911 regulatory standards in order to get someone that needs help any service.
I have stayed at dozens of AIRBNB stays in multiple states, this is not only by far the worst - but I will not longer be staying with AirBNB as a whole. There are too many failed real estate agents “managing” properties poorly to try to make a quick buck.
Impersonal, dismissive, and just straight up shady. Ben reached out to offer refunds to “fully resolve” these issues and sweep them under the rug. Prior to this his he had basically made it sound like I didn’t know how to order food to this address and after multiple attempts we found out the hard way he has two units listed at one address and ours is completely unmarked and barely accessible.
Do yourself a huge favor, avoid avoid avoid. You will pay half at a DoubleTree and get a clean stay and not be right next to a gutted out trap house in a bad neighborhood. Bye Ben, Bye AirBNB hold yourselves to higher standards.