r/FuckAirbnb

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.

I live in a popular East Bay town in California that has a large tourist population. Our town is very against AirBNBs, it is incredibly hard to have one and maintain it. Plus if there is an AirBNB our property management is supposed to let us know before renting out to us. This AirBNB is upstairs and in between multiple units. The guests are incredibly disrespectful and will come in at 11 pm stomping, rolling around suitcases and running around. We have complained to property management, they have basically told us to suck it up and call the cops when being disturbed. When we do call the cops, they blow us off and respond hours later. We will tap on our ceiling with a broom or our bat that we keep by the bed and some guests quiet down, but recently the guests aggressively drop heavy items or pound their fists into the floor as retaliation. We’ve tried calling the city to get this place taken down, but they keep sending us to voicemail. We also complain to AirBNB, but they have a bunch of open cases and none of them really come to an end. Only one report has been closed and a strike was given. We are at our wits end. The noise keeps us from sleeping, they are breaking the law and we are just so exhausted. We cannot keep living like this. It feels torturous, I haven’t had a quiet night of sleep in months. What can we do?

Edit: For some more added context, we have had issues with the cleaners banging around early in the morning, loud groups of people up there, and the first week we lived here there was a domestic dispute going on up there. The cleaners are the worst, as they are moving every piece of furniture without a care in the world. The city laws say that no AirBNB can exist within an apartment complex with more than 5 units, ours has 65. So there are entirely breaking city law.

So i decided to give my property for a daily rent, and opened a booking account. From the first freaking day the whole bunch of scammers acounts from pakistan or indonesia decided to book my apartment and for the first time i did not know that i should mark them as no show or cancel. Then i got a text that i should pay up like 100€ commission or something and i was furious and ask them to cancel it. They canceled a part of it and i do not knkw why left one with commision 27.24€, and now i get final warning before legal actiom. Is it even possible to go to court or legal action for that much, and also to mention i am not going to pay up anything because no one stayed in my property coming from booking and they only caused trouble with their scam profiles, so i wonder what should i do.

You will not get a full refund once you hit pay. Even if days prior to your trip. You will automatically be billed for a one night stay minimum. Then I was double booked for two different places on the exact same dates. One billed me $648 and the other $512. So a stay cost me over $1500 for three nights. Please, please, book your stay in a hotel where your refunds are honest and legit. If not you may be sorry.