r/AirBnB

My husband planned a wonderful trip for him, me and my daughter in the American SW. At late notice, our daughter’s partner was able to join us on part of the trip. My husband forgot to change the number of guests on our reservation. Host was upset; is going to report us to AirB&B. Why does this matter? We rented the entire house.
Do hosts up charge for 1 extra guest? I’m a little puzzled.
Thx for any clarification.

Good night

I booked a 3 night stay in Cleveland. In the listing, it says the host uses a 3rd party site for screening and reservation. It also says they charge a standard security deposit or damage waiver. I figured this would be through Airbnb as I have seen others do this.

Today, I get a link for a 3rd party app, and not only are they asking for ID and other details. It's asking me to pay through the app and not Airbnb. I reach out to the host and ask if this can be done through Air bnb as I am not comfortable using a 3rd party app. They refused and said the app is vetted by Airbnb, but I can't find evidence of this. They won't allow me to check in even though I have provided my ID and verified through the app. They won't do the payment through Airbnb either

I reached out to Airbnb customer support, and they are instructing me to go ahead and use the 3rd party site. Even though the policy online says not to. Customer support also refuses to assist with a refund as they are claiming that some cost are allowed to charge a security deposit and that since they claimed they charged one in the reservations they are not going to intervene. Yet they can't tell me what allows some host to do this and others aren't. They also can't tell me what 3rd party site is allowed or what happens when I use this site and can't get my money back.

So I am in the city and stuck between losing my money, paying to a unverified app, or paying for a hotel. Is this new, and have anyone else encountered this?

Edit: I have called Airbnb using the official number. The support agent says some hosts are allowed to collect a security deposit but can't tell me which ones are allowed and which ones are not. She was actually instructing me to go ahead and use the 3rd party app (which is scary). When I said I won't, she said they cant assist with a refund since the host indicated that they charged a deposit are are following the cancelation policy of the host. She didn't answer my question on why they are allowing this one host to use Suite app for payments or when their policy changed. I have asked for an escalation to a supervisor, so I am waiting for them to call me back. ☹️ I also got a hotel.

Hey fellow guests and hosts,

I want to see how everyone feels about this alleged "sticky finger" situaiton.

After a group of 2 guests checked out of our place, we noticed the following miscellaneous items unaccounted for.

1. A queen sized pillow together with case and enclosement.

2. An entire box of first aid kit (incl. 30+ bandaid, pads, wipes, a tube of polysporin)

3. A few brand new spare cleaning rags we left for guests to use.

4. A 22oz bottle of stain remover (we left for guests to use too), hardly used before the guests

We are not sending an invoice for any of the items as they totaled less than $100. The booker has 16 reviews and 5.0 rating, and left before his coworker. They were here for 5 days on a work trip to install some kind of equipment near by. We were not informed any of these items were used up during their stay.

There is the possibility the coworker who's not the booker did all of this. But that's pure speculation.

If you are guest, do you feel this warrants a sub-5.0 review?

Granted many things on the list are consumables. But when viewed as a whole, this seems a bit more than normal, especially considering there is also a pillow missing.

If you are a host, how would you handle this?

I am on the fence of writing a review. Do you care to know these kinds of guests?

They are also not the cleanest. But they are not causing an extra hour of my cleaner's time. But I did have to endure 10 minutes of complains from my cleaning lady. For example, French fries were on the floor everywhere, food staines were on the kitchen counter, faucet and floor, etc.

Finally they already left us a review. So as long as we don't "spook" them, whatever we do in their review should not affect how they rated us.

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting here, so please excuse my English, as it's not my first language.

Yesterday, we had a couple staying at our hotel who had come from Toronto, Canada. Whenever we have guests who don't speak Spanish, I usually handle the check-in, check-out, and any communication they might need during their stay, since my family doesn't speak English very well and relies on me to help with these things.

We had originally planned to do their check-in at 2 PM, but I believe the couple had some kind of issue and didn't arrive until 9 PM. My dad and I were waiting for them outside, so I welcomed them when they arrived and started showing them around the hotel's common areas, such as the reception and swimming pool. After that, I showed them to their apartment.

That's when things started going downhill.

The first thing the woman did was go straight to the bathroom. She then asked me if I thought it was normal for a bathroom to look like that. I had no idea what she was talking about, so she showed me a hair in the shower. She also claimed that there was mold in the bathroom, but what she was referring to was actually adhesive used during the installation of the shower screen, not mold.

She then started saying things like she wouldn't even bathe a dog in our bathroom. At this point, she began yelling at me in the bathroom, asking whether I was responsible for this. The thing is, I'm not the person in charge of maintaining or cleaning the apartments. I was simply helping my family by welcoming guests and communicating with them in English.

I called my dad and asked him to come upstairs, since he had stayed downstairs waiting for me to finish the check-in. While we were waiting for him, the woman started stripping the beds and pulling apart the sofa bed, apparently looking for more dirt or other things to complain about.

When my dad arrived, she immediately started demanding a refund, aggressively shouting at him. Things got so heated that her partner, or husband, actually had to pull her away from my dad.

They also threatened not to leave the apartment unless they got their money back. Eventually, they got the refund, and the whole situation was over.

What really shocked me wasn't the fact that they had complaints. If a guest finds something they aren't happy with, I understand that they have every right to bring it up, and I'm not saying that everything has to be perfect. What bothered me was the aggression and the complete lack of respect.

I always try to welcome our guests politely and make them feel comfortable, especially when they come from abroad and I know there's a language barrier with the rest of my family. I genuinely try to help them and make sure they have a pleasant stay, so being yelled at like that when I was simply doing my job was a pretty unpleasant experience.

I understand that guests expect a certain standard of cleanliness, and if there really was something wrong, we should obviously take responsibility for it. However, I don't think that justifies screaming at someone who is only trying to help.

So, what do you guys think? Has anyone else who works in hospitality experienced something similar? Was this just a case of dealing with a particularly difficult guest, or do you think we could have handled the situation differently?

Feel free to ask me any questions if you'd like to know more about what happened.

I will make this short. I know a couple who own 3 air bnb locations. They told me today that they are going to fire the cleaning lady because she took home an unopened Coors Light beer a guest left in the fridge. They said she should have known to call them and let them know about said beer as they consider this theft of "their trash". I explained I think they might be acting a little extreme. I think that something like this should be fine to take as it was left in the fridge. This is a multi million dollar property that is rented. I called my friends cheap.

What do you all think? Would this 1 can of beer be the reason you let the cleaner go? They told me the cleaner always calls with left items to return to guests so she is honest... Editing to clarify these are not my friends. These are acquaintances at my work. I am friendly with these people as it is my job to be friendly with the public.

Hi, I rented an air bnb for a month from a listing that said “private bedroom”. The listing said there’s no lock on the door but when I arrived I found there isn’t a door at all… I was rented a living room and they hung a curtain up on the entrance as a “door”. There is someone living in the actual bedroom.

I’ve been here a week and have just been dealing with it. I am a female and the person living in the bedroom is a man. He seems to be on something tonight and he just opened the curtain into my room saying he “heard someone” and then said “I knew it” when he saw me. Then he apologized over and over and went back into his room.

I am a female and feel incredibly uncomfortable. I am going to contact air bnb but wanted to know my options. I passed the 72 hour complain window

while i was staying at this airbnb, my roommates and i encountered a phrogger. basically a person who secretly lives in the house. in the case, the basement. the police were called and the intruder was arrested. initially, i assumed that this was just a one time break-in. however, the police report tells a different story. the police report noted that the basement reeked of urine and that makeshift bedding was present, which indicates the intruder had been there for some time.

all the host did was drill down the basement door and set up a decoy alarm sign. he did not get a professional cleaner for the pee odor and continued to rent it out. i think the host was negligent in addressing the issue. my understanding is that hosts are required to conduct walkthroughs of the property prior to renting it out. based off of the pee odor and bedding, the intruder had been there for some time.

i also posted a review for the specific room regarding the intruder. however the host has since deleted the listing for that specific room. i assume this is so that people can't see i posted about it. i asked airbnb support to remove the host's profile because it is clearly an unsafe property and the security is not sufficient but they haven't done that yet.

it scares me to think how many people stayed at that airbnb and assumed the intruder was just a ghost or raccoon. the security at the property is clearly not sufficient. still i am glad that i was there because my roommates were oblivious to the danger they were in. one was asleep, another knew of him but wasn't aware he was an unwelcome guest, and another had not yet arrived. host also has a pet that is not disclosed.

why has airbnb not removed this host yet?

I had a 6 day stay for school, stayed 2 nights as we thought it was mosquitos biting us.

by day 2 found 20-30 cockroaches in our food and all around the house, and realized these were bed bugs eating us alive once we found their bodies.

left immediately once we realized what was happening, air bnb said they’d find us a place, they didn’t said there were no options, so they told us to go to a hotel and we’d be reimbursed.

so we went to literally the cheapest hotel we could find, 2 rooms 2000$ CAD plus paid for a car decontaminatio/steam cleaning 275$ and 75$ in laundry fees to bake everything we had immediately whatever we didn’t throw out.

okay so air bnb would not refund untill we checked out and submitted receipts, we are back home now and airbnb says they’ll give us 450$…. that’s after escalation higher 3 times….

what on earth, what am I supposed to do? i expected a 2400 refund not 450…

TLDR - city of LA allows permit STR permit theft in LA as it’s a lucrative scam for both taxes and lawsuits. Won’t fix the mechanism that allows for widespread theft.

I’m an Airbnb host in LA with a 120 day permit. For the past three years, my Airbnb calendar has been prematurely blocked by the city prior to my using all my 120 days. I’ve flagged the home share dept repeatedly and each year, it ends up being months of stress and begging them to fix it. Last year, they mentioned permit theft then backtracked. I was confused - the permit is allegedly non-transferable.

This year, I noticed the inflated count on my listings in April and began emailing the home share department. My calendar has now been fully blocked since August. I chatgpt’d my permit number and found that some jerk down the street has been stealing my number for his illegal Airbnb. I have alerted the city and told them for over a month. They have done nothing.

During this time, I dug further and found that there are thousands of illegal listings in the city of LA, often run by rings of 6-7 people who steal legit permits from unassuming hosts. The city’s own contractor, Granicus, has been flagging this issue since 2023. The city’s won’t fix the loophole that allows the theft nor will it release activity logs of bookings to the affected parties - these would show the exact listings where the theft is occurring.

Why? Money. These listings are often luxury Airbnbs. The city collects 14% transient occupancy tax and these properties often cost over $1K per night, vs what’s often a 2nd room or a portion of a home of a legitimate host for much less. Secondly, the city seems to wait until these rings garner millions in revenue, then they sue the rings for $5-$62M per ring. They are also currently suing Airbnb for “allowing” this to occur. It’s lucrative fraud whereby the city cashes in millions in taxes on illegal listings then millions more in fines/lawsuits Meanwhile, legitimate hosts are paying the price and not even aware of the lawsuits.

Thoughts from this group. Was staying with a family of 6 including 2 babies. I would say mid-upscale airbnb (400 euros for 3 beds/2 baths in a tiny village in Tuscany)

Pros:
- Modern, renovated appartment
- Clean
- Great location
- Fast communication with host

Cons / issues:
- Host did not disclose permitted construction in unit upstairs, noise going on until 22:00 first night. After communication with host, it was resolve-ish / less noisy but still construction going in
- Automated blinds broken in a bedroom. Lots of street lights / morning lights prevented a person from sleeping. They did a temporary fix the next day but I feel like host should have noticed during inspectation before our check in
- Host super cheap on basics (1 trash bag per bin, half a roll of paper towel, 2 rolls of paper towels for each of the 2 bathrooms)

I'm honestly most pissed off by not having enough trash bags with two kids in diapers. Is this worth 4 stars?

We stayed at a villa in Portugal for a few nights. On day 2 the host messaged saying "abnormal electricity consumption" had been detected, reminding us of the rules and implying it was us.

Here's what I found:

The solar app graph showed a flat ~1.5-1.7 kW load from midnight to ~9:40am (about 15 kWh in 10 hours). We were asleep from 9pm.

Our first guess was the aircon, since the listing says it's pre-programmed with an auto shut-off. But the host confirmed AC was included, and when I checked, every unit was off while the usage continued.

We'd requested pool heating (listed as a paid extra), but it's on a separate panel in a locked utility room, so we can't control it.

The host says the pool system should be off from 5pm to 11am. We saw the pumps and heater running at 9pm and 9am.

Host sent a technician, who confirmed the timer was set correctly but said the pump had also been running at 9am. He said other properties do the same because of excess solar energy. That doesn't obviously explain overnight usage

She later left a public review:

"The only problem was an excessive and abnormal electricity consumption. Everything else was perfect." She hasn't asked for any money, but the review implies it was our fault.

My questions:

1. Should I post a public response? Here's my draft: "Thank you for hosting us, host. We looked into the electricity usage together during our stay: all our aircon units were off, and the pool technician confirmed the pool pumps were running outside the programmed schedule. We really enjoyed the villa."

2. Should I raise it with Airbnb, or leave it alone since the review is mild?

3. Is there anything else I should do in case she tries to add a charge later?

I saw a post saying guests could pull up their star ratings on the app/website. I am a host and a guest and I’m curious what mine is, but I can’t find that functionality. Apparently it was in profile info?

Stayed 2 nights in a nice high rise property in Cleveland. 14 days after check out the hosts requests through the resolution system $450 for 3 dirty towels and some filthy sheets. I have a 13 year perfect track record with Airbnb. I also take great care with a property when I am there. The host provided pictures that do indeed show dirty towels and beat up linens. I simply didn't do this and do not have a way to prove I didn't except that I took a picture upon leaving of the general living space showing it perfect (I even ran the dishwasher). I declined the request and uploaded my image of the checkout. Is this the new normal? The whole process makes me want to just go back to using hotels for business travel.

Tl;dr:

Airbnb relocated me and refunded me after I reported a dirty apartment with many broken amenities, zero functioning locks, and the host entering my room without permission.

After I moved out, the host falsely accused me of overstaying (first dispute), stealing and breaking €650 worth of stuff (second dispute).

Airbnb dropped her overstay claim and the €650 claim after I disputed it with evidence.

The last retaliatory thing she did, was leaving an extremely defamatory review accusing me of racism, theft, breaking house rules, etc. None of which are true, of course.

I already appealed twice, but Airbnb refuses to remove her review.

Honestly I dont know why a host gets to write a review about a guest that was relocated by Airbnb because of a policy violation by the host - why is that a thing? They even deleted her entire account/listing after everything that has happened. Why not her review of me?

I already spent many hours (10+) writing out my full report, curating the evidence and dealing with the fallout. I'm tired. Is there anything more I can do?

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Long Version in the comments for anybody thats interested.

And her review as reference:

"Worst guest I've ever had! Don't accept him! He doesn't respect the host or the house rules! She brought visitors she knew she shouldn't, and she invaded my privacy! She broke and ruined a lot of things in the house! She showed no respect at all! She left the house filthy! In the bathroom, she always left the toilet disgusting, filthy and with feces! I would have a lot more to say, but it was so horrible that I don't have the energy! Just don't host her! Because she doesn't respect us or the rules! There's no care or empathy! And she still treats us like subjects, like slaves, as if she were superior! She paid for a great house and was welcomed with total affection, but she acted as if I were his subordinate! She treated me like a housekeeper! She was racist! And she still didn't respect the check-out time. She lacks humanity! Decency and ethics! A person with no quality. Horrible! Disappointing!"

I paid for my airbnb rental two days ago, and the stay is 2 weeks away. I'd like to add trip insurance in case we get a cold or flu and can't make the 10+ hour drive. How can I do that?

We are at an airbnb, got here on Thursday and scheduled to leave tomorrow morning.

Waking up this morning at 7, the water was off and upon a quick google, it was scheduled to be off until 9pm.

We asked our host if he was aware since it was pre-scheduled (we also asked the neighbors who were aware) and he said he wasn’t aware.

We cannot cook, shower, flush the toilet, wash our hands or drink water for 6 hours as of now. Possibly for 14 hours.

We contacted our host and he just said sorry. Is this a small oops or should we be asking for some sort of concessions?

We ordered water bottles and gallons of water to drink/cook/flush the toilets but it seems like
they shouldn’t have allowed bookings today.

Thoughts?

I was under the impression that "dedicated bathroom" meant a completely private bathroom meant only for my usage, however upon arrival I see it is located in the hallway to be shared with others guests.

This isn't a complete deal breaker but I'm staying a month here, and that is a lack of comfort and privacy I wasn't expecting. The private bathroom is partly why I chose this place.

Am I entitled to any kind of refund?

I am very nonconfrontarional, and my AirBnB has a room with what appears like blood on a wall and ceiling. We took pics of the spots. AI (for whatever that is worth) also thought it looked like blood. I reached out to the host who is coming in while we are out to dinner to clean it. I feel weird about it, especially after finding out a recent shooting occurred in a home in that block (just cant get the exact address from reports). Should I be satisfied with him just cleaning the wall? How would you feel? In total, there are maybe 10 splatter spots, a stain on the floor, and a hole in the carpet in that bedroom.

Hello, I am staying in an air bnb and was left without water in the bathroom for a day. The host did make reasonable efforts to fix it and I understand I cannot expect the same standards of service as a hotel, but I am thinking it would be fair for me to ask for a partial refund as I was unable to shower or flush the toilet in that time. My question is how much is reasonable? I have a figure in mind, but would like to hear others thoughts. I have paid around £900 for a stay of 7-8 days.

Thank you.