r/AirBnB

This is a "What would you do?" question.

We made this res back in January 2026. We chose it due to its proximity to a friend we're visiting, and the price was "Good" for the neighborhood.

The host just messaged on the platform and asked if we could talk on the phone. I put my number in the app, and I guess the app just makes a "Call Guest" button without disclosing my number.

The host was a nervous sounding young woman who wanted to let me know that the guest who was in there until today or yesterday was making cookies in the oven and a fire started. She said the apartment is okay, but they had to remove the rug, and the stove & cooktop aren't operable.

She offered the opportunity to cancel, except that there's nothing available for this weekend in Chicago that comes close to what we paid in January. I asked if there would be a partial refund if we choose to stay anyway, and she said no, best they could offer is an early check in at 2pm (It's usually 3pm), or we could just cancel with no penalty. I told her i was concerned about the apartment smelling like smoke, or there being ash/residue in the air. She said there were no problems like that.

I don't love that she went around the platform to contact me, for startters, but it's now 8:30pm, and we are getting on a plane in the morning at 8am, so I don't have much time.

What do you all think I should do, and should i document the phone call on the platform?

We got to our destination and found a bedroom was infested with yellow jackets. The host showed no concern about it "these things happen" and said he would address it on wednesday. We arrived on Saturday and were to check out on tuesday. Now he's offering a partial refund, 800 out of 1300. He says "we have to pay Airbnb for their portion" and for a cleaning fee. What steps would you suggest for pursuing a full refund?

ETA: I had no idea the PRICE was based on head count (I asked here, but I thought it would have been a sneak tactic if the host did that in response to a headcount change…I didn’t know it was an option in Airbnb if that makes sense). I’ve never seen that in an Airbnb reservation before. it’s also been a long time since I booked one for such a large groups. I thought the headcount in the search was just to help you find a big enough place. My questions below are more along the lines of “hey we are still not a party, and we still fit in the space, so if the price is no different what’s the big deal?” I followed someone’s advice and tested out a reservation change without submitting it and there is a price increase so I’ll be speaking with the rest of my party and probably requesting the modification. I wish this had been more clearly communicated or that I had noticed the terms that the price was based on headcount. Probably my bad. thanks to all for the help, this is higher stakes than I thought lol.

I booked a large property to attend a convention some friends and I are attending. We aren’t there to throw a party. The listing (with a superhost, but it seems like everyone is a superhost now) says it “sleeps 16 comfortably”. it has 6 bedrooms with a total of 3 kings, 3 queens, and 2 queen air mattresses.

At the time I didn’t have a solid headcount so I said 8 guests, didn’t really think it mattered.

Sook after booking, the host messaged me:

“[Guest], thank you for booking. We look forward to hosting you!

If you have not already done so, please let us know what brings you to town? Will you be having any parties or events? Also, how many people will be at the property including anyone staying or even stopping by?

Guest Count Rule: You have booked for 8 people. This will be the max allowed at the property regardless of how many are sleeping or staying overnight. For example, even if only 1 person is staying overnight, but 5 people are visiting, the reservation guest count must be 6. If you have questions about this feel free to message.”

I already replied and told him we are mostly in our late 30s and 40s and what convention we are in town for and that he didn’t need to worry about us partying (no it’s not Comic-Con, no it’s nothing involving costumes or making a mess). He said “That’s great, thank you!”

Fast forward to today: We are now up to 12 people who want to stay and I’m going to cut it off at that number. We are still well within the “sleeps 16” range. I know this host is just trying to avoid parties. My question is, given his language, do you think he’s counting heads with a ring doorbell camera or something? I am afraid if I tell him we are 12 guests now, he’ll get nervous we are partiers and will cancel the booking. But if he’s monitoring the doorbell camera I don’t want a bad review.

Should I tell the host we have 12 people now, or just leave it be?

funny enough, 2 of our guests are twin sisters who can pass for one another lol.

We’ve all seen the YouTube videos, I’m curious what folks are deploying as unique amenities in 2026 and seeing great customer feedback/appeal.

Indoor and Outdoor

We're currently in an Airbnb hotel in a city in Armenia. We booked this place because it listed breakfast as being included in the About this space section.

The line is exactly: "Breakfast is included in the room price , we have a great specialized fruit vodka shop in the Hotel by [Hotel name]"

When we messaged the host, they first ignored us and then after some following up, said flatly that they don't provide breakfast. He acted surprised that that is shown on the listing and then told us that we shouldn't have expected breakfast because the room was too cheap.

The thing is, we rechecked reviews on Airbnb and Google and noticed several reviews back to 2024 that mention breakfast being noted as included but not available once they arrived. This proves to be that they are aware what it says on their listing.

When we explained that it's not very honest to offer something on the listing knowing that it's not available, he sent us some confusing messages that the About this space is "not confirmation of breakfast" and because the price is less on Airbnb than it is on their private booking site, they should not need to provide breakfast.

At the end of the day, we aren't going to force somebody to make us breakfast. But since we usually prefer to book Airbnbs with kitchens so we can make our own food, the included breakfast was a deciding factor in booking this place.

I know that Airbnb policy says that Amenities shown must be available, but I'm not sure if that covers the About this space section. It's put a bit of a sour taste in our mouth.

After being a loyal Airbnb customer of a decade I deleted the app. The customer service and behavior of this company has become completely asinine.

Long story short, I asked a host for a partial refund and was denied by Airbnb because of the listed “rustic” aesthetic, which apparently included ruined floors, disguisting chairs, holes in walls, trash on the property.

The reason my claim was denied? Because the host offered a dusting service. Which apparently would have solved everything :) And yes, that was the final reasoning after escalating it.

This comes after another instance where I reported a seperate Airbnb for health & safety issues and Airbnb completely ignored me. Thankfully local officals did not, and fined the stay heavily due to a gas leak.

Completely at my wits end. It’s sad to let this app go for the many, many amazing experiences my family and I have had with kind hosts who take their stays seriously, but it’s just not worth the time, money, and risk anymore.

ETA a follow up: in a weird stroke of luck, I found a leather repair person who had worked on this exact sofa for the hosts before. She recognized it from the pictures I texted her. I let the host know, they were totally reasonable, and I was able to take the cushion to the shop and have it fixed in an hour. She did an amazing job for a reasonable amount of money and the sofa actually looks better than it did when I got here. Sometimes the universe works.

I had a mishap and stained the sofa where I am staying. The stains are noticeable, although not huge, but I made them worse trying to clean them. I would be upset if it was my sofa. The sofa currently retails for $2750 and my guess is it is anywhere from 2-5 years old, it is in good but not pristine condition. I have started contacting upholstery repair companies to try to get an estimate for fixing it, but my guess is they won't be able to completely undo the damage.

What is the best process to handle this? This is the first issue I've ever had, my guest reviews are excellent and I'd like to keep it that way as I travel a lot.

I stayed at an Airbnb that was $600/night for two nights. Unfortunately, the place was not clean and I took video and images of all of it.

There were ants on the kitchen counters, in the kitchen sink, on the floor, in the board games, and on the TV stand. There were also dead ants in the fridge. The shower curtain had mold spots, and there were spiders in a spider web in the bathroom and huge dead flies on the floors. We had to kill multiple bugs while we were there. The walls were also dirty in some areas and scuff marks and the AC did not seem to work adequately. The temp outside was 90 degrees, and the thermostat was set at 73F but the house remained in what felt like the 80’s. My spouse and I were so uncomfortable sleeping and we were sweating in our sleep.

I left a two star review and now the host has called and texted multiple times saying she wants to make it right and turn my review around. She has asked if I was open to a refund. I don’t care for a refund at this point and don’t want to change my review. How do I stop the harassment?

I recently stayed by cherry springs with Rough Cut Lodges. Their staff was amazing. Location was excellent. Host was frankly awful. We had bats in the house, twice. One of which was very early evening. We informed the host when we couldn't get the bats out the second time. (One flew in while we waited for the other to leave). Maintenance came the next morning and while talking to him I speculated that we MAY have left the door open for a few minutes or something, because I assumed that the house was properly sealed (we later learned and got pointed out to by maintenance that it was very much not sealed and quite a few large holes for bats to enter the walls). The host heard of this and immediately took the stance that we left the door open for hours while we went shopping???? We didn't even go shopping that day.

I told the host ALL of this and they stonewalled me. They did not offer a refund and attempted to require I censor my review and leave 5 stars to get a 25% refund (we did not feel comfortable sleeping in the basement where we saw the bats and therefore lost 2 of the 7 beds we paid for.). After quite a few days of pushing the host relented and gave me the refund I asked for, and left me with no review, just a "." So theres nothing there for me to respond to, instead leaving a long effectively rant (of course with the made up door open while shopping) on my 3 star review saying that the bats were all my fault and to ignore my review.

What are my next steps.

Hey I’m relatively new to Airbnb as a guest! Last year I stayed in this lovely Airbnb for a week in NYC and had a wonderful host that did above and beyond. Couple months ago, I booked for another stay with the same host that will be upcoming in late September for about a week, but a situation came up where I may have to cancel the reservation a week before the stay. I am aware of the host’s cancellation policy in which gives me a full refund by the time the situation is resolved but, I feel so bad cancelling on the host!
Mainly the situation I’m facing is that I might be able to stay at another house of someone I know, but I won’t be able to verify that until the week before my stay. I really don’t like the idea of cancelling so close to the date of my initial booking, but if it’s to save money and convenience of location, I may have to. For hosts, is this something that you wouldn’t worry about for guests that book but end up cancelling? Are there worst cases? Would you allow a guest like this book again in the future?
I know I may be too worried for no reason, but I am curious on the thoughts of other hosts’ experiences with these guests.

We caused some damage at an Airbnb. It was an accident, and we told the owners right away. We are not trying to get out of paying for it, but I don't know the best way to handle this. They are giving us the option of: 1. Paying outside of Airbnb (cash) for the damaged item and a minor installation fee, or 2. Paying through Airbnb's resolution process, but they have warned it will cost more due to 20% VAT (location js UK) and a "call out charge" (I am not sure what this means, maybe a tradesperson to install?).

I am looking for advice on which option to choose. We'd obviously like to pay the cheapest amount. I don't believe that VAT would apply to the damage invoice from Airbnb, and I think perhaps Airbnb would only require us to pay for the value of damaged item, not the cost of a new item. So I am wondering if the cash option is actually more expensive despite what they are saying. They have provided a receipt for the item so I don't have any reason to think they are trying to scam us. They seem very flustered and have said this is their first damage at their rental so they aren't sure what to do.

I’m tired of filtering my search for places with a hot tub, and almost all of them are community hot tubs and not private. There’s no distinction between the two. I get that it’s not a dealbreaker for some, hell if the price is significantly better I’d even make that trade off. But not listing it as a shared/community hot tubs seems misleading.

I live in San Diego and I have to take a staycation because I'm having repairs at my apartment and I'm paying just under $500 for two nights. I checked out the outdoor space and it was advertised as a very nice little space with your run of the mill wicker patio furniture. It's actually filthy and looks worse than furniture that you'd find next to a dumpster in an alley, it's very obvious that the cushion covers have never been washed despite there being a washer and dryer 15 ft away. I certainly would not want to sit on them. One of the tables actually had a giant hole underneath the glass top, and the other table was absolutely caked in dirt and dust and the glass top was sitting crooked. There was a chair that was upside down on top of a garbage can and a few other things just sitting around that looked really sloppy and messy. I think it's absolutely nuts, the people who own this unit must never come here in person because what the hell? Additionally, the microwave handle was completely unattached on the bottom and would just swing back and forth, the ceiling lights in the bedroom had no cover either, but neither of those things are a huge deal to me.

What would be fair for me to ask to have returned? It's blatant false advertising.

Edmonton, Alberta

I am wondering if anyone else experienced this and if they managed to recover their money

This host named Jonah advertises a loft in airbnb with a $1,350 damage deposit with a 15 day window, 15 days have passed no response from the host.

None of the reviews can warn about this practice because there's a 14 day review window.

He claimed i ‘smoked weed’ in his property, with no evidence except the cleaner saying there was a ‘smell’

Just a bit worried on what to do here as we're going in two days and the host hasn't even read any messages asking about the check-in process. I'm not asking for the code from them just the general process but they're not even reading them, having sent one last week about 6 days ago and another this morning.

Host seems to have good reviews and listing has good reviews but I don't know if something has happened or such since last I spoke to him he was at least reading messages. Also a bit concerning should anything come up during the stay. I'm aware a lot send automated messages but there's nothing in the listing that says that this will be the case nor has the host stated as much.

Anyone else been in this position and how did they deal with it? Considering I'm travelling to another country and will be getting there in the evening I'd rather not find myself stranded in a foreign country at night.

Feeling overwhelmed need to see if this has ever occurred to anyone and how they went about it. Me, BF, and Co-worker booked a place that's listed as a 2BR, 2BA on AirBnB. In the written description, it just says living room = bedroom #2 with the front door. Bedroom #1 has a sliding glass door, so each room has an external exit. There are also two doors within the kitchen. No proper living room. In the photos, none of the doors are open that give you the actual look of the layout.

In order for me to go to from bedroom #1 to the kitchen *a common space*, I need to go into bedroom #2. And this place is TINY. How was this even able to be listed as a 2BR 2BA is mind boggling. It never mentioned that it was a pass-through or shotgun style room. Kitchen is only accessible from bedroom #2. Airbnb keeps saying they're unable to give me a refund because she said that the living room was the bedroom, but how do you fail to mention that this is a passthrough room? and how is that a bedroom when no privacy is given. 2nd door in kitchen leads to nowhere, so only way to access the kitchen is through bedroom #2. Reservation is 2 weeks out still and host is not allowing a refund. If anyone's gone through this, please let me know and how you went about it. Support is going no where.

Airbnb owes me a good deal of money (~$3000) in unpaid, completed reservations and has paused payment on all future reservations.

 They claim I need to :

 "Add your payout and account information"

 I have added this information several times in the past month or so to no avail. 

I can't even "add information" anymore because my information has already been added, so the page where I'm supposed to add it is just "frozen." It just shows a picture of some cartoon character that shows I've added it.

 I've spoken with several Airbnb "customer service" agents, and also on the Airbnb "customer service" messaging area... they just tell me the issue has been "escalated" to a "Specialized Team Member"...

I haven't heard back from them in 3 days.

When I call and ask to speak with a Supervisor, I get put on hold for 20 minutes and then get automatically disconnected... this has happened 3 times. 

I have a group of 13 guests who are supposed to be checking in within a couple of days... what should I do?

I'd hate to leave them without a place to stay, but having to pay to have the almost 5000 s/f home cleaned is almost $500 every time (I lose money on the "Cleaning Fees"). There's also the massive cost of the guests running the A/C for days on end during the almost 100-degree weather... It's not cheap to air-condition a 5000 s/f home.

What to do?

I have more guests expected the weekend after that and the weekend after that, etc. 

Any suggestions?

I have been with Airbnb (as a "Superhost") for 11 years... my banking information is exactly the same as it was when I joined Airbnb, 11 years ago. Nothing has changed.

 Thank you in advance for any information anyone can provide to resolve this issue.

My family and I just had the most horrifying experience with Airbnb, and I want to share our story both as a warning and to ask if anyone has successfully gotten Airbnb to cover out-of-pocket emergency expenses.

We planned a short family getaway to see Prague for one night with our two young daughters. Upon entering our booked apartment, we were met with a traumatic sight: two unauthorized squatters/homeless individuals having sex on the bed my wife and I were supposed to sleep in.

The whole place smelled heavily of cigarette smoke, was filthy, and was completely compromised.

Here is how the situation unfolded:

• Host's "Solution": The host left us stranded and refused to arrange alternative accommodation, offering only to "send a cleaner to clean up the mess."
• Airbnb Support Delay: We reached out to Airbnb immediately, attached photo evidence, and requested urgent help. We received zero real support during the night, forcing my family to spend hours stranded in the building hallway. Support only offered accommodation help at 5:00 AM—long after we had to find and pay for an emergency hotel out of our own pocket just to get our children somewhere safe.
• The "Compensation": Airbnb refunded the original booking fee (around $80 USD / 319 PLN). When we asked them to cover our emergency hotel stay so our ruined family trip wouldn't leave us financially out of pocket, the support agent offered a $24.99 USD coupon.
• After I pushed back and pointed out how unacceptable this was for subjecting minor children to a severe safety breach and emotional distress, the case was "escalated" to leadership. Their absolute final offer? A $50 USD Airbnb coupon.

We have rejected the $50 voucher. Our kids were traumatized, our single night in Prague was completely ruined spending the night in hallways and hotel lobbies, and we are out of pocket for both the emergency replacement hotel and wasted travel expenses (fuel, vignettes).

Has anyone here successfully fought Airbnb's "support" to get actual cash reimbursement for out-of-pocket emergency hotel costs caused by host negligence? What is the best way to get this escalated past front-line agents who just quote corporate policy scripts?

(Case reference: A120990289)

EDIT / UPDATE: After escalating directly to Airbnb Executive Support, a Senior Case Manager reviewed the file and approved a 100% cash reimbursement for our emergency hotel and travel expenses, on top of the original booking refund.

I have just submitted my payout details as requested. However, the funds have NOT hit my bank account yet. I will post a final update here once the money actually arrives to confirm if the issue is officially closed.