I trusted the Airbnb reviews and ignored the neighborhood. Big mistake. $1,000 later…
My family and I recently took a trip to Orlando to do the usual tourist stuff because apparently my kids are finally at the perfect age to enjoy everything Orlando has to offer, including draining my bank account.
We booked what looked like a nice Airbnb. The property had great reviews, a pool, and was relatively close to the theme parks. Based on the listing and reviews, it seemed like a solid choice.
As ee drove into the area, we started noticing businesses along the main road with bars over the windows and doors, security fences, and a lot of people hanging around on corners and near convenience stores.
Once we got into the actual neighborhood. Houses were in rough shape. Yards had junk everywhere. There were broken-down cars in driveways and parked along the street. It was immediately clear that the area was very different from what we had pictured when booking the property.
We pulled into the Airbnb, looked around for about 15 minutes, and decided we weren't comfortable staying there with our kids. So we backed out and drove across town toward the resort areas to find somewhere else to stay.
Over the next three days, I went back and forth with Airbnb and the host. I was eventually able to get about half of my money back, but I still ended up roughly $1,000 out of pocket, plus several hours of time dealing with the situation.
I'm curious, when you book a trip, do you research the surrounding neighborhood before booking?
This guys is not going to make the same mistake twice.