A Canadian man says he prefers hotels over Airbnbs following a “horror story” experience with the vacation rental company.
On Sunday, Brandon Li went on a rant on X detailing his frustration with Airbnb while in London. Li is a former Toronto resident who is now based in San Francisco. He says he’s been an Airbnb user for ten years but this one particular experience changed everything for him.
According to screenshots, Li and his wife were supposed to stay at the London flat from Sunday, June 9 at 4 p.m to Saturday, June 15 at 10 a.m. However, due to a three-hour delay to their flight, they arrived at 2:30 a.m. BST.
Li said he messaged the host of the flat prior to informing them that he and his wife will be missing the check-in window, despite it being a self check-in.
But upon arrival at the Airbnb, he noticed the lockbox did not work, so he messaged the host to inquire. In response, the host apparently said, “too bad, you missed your check in window” and so, he changed the lockbox code.
At this point, the couple was desperate to find a place to stay and booked a last-minute room at a nearby hotel as they waited for further responses from their hosts about getting inside their Airbnb the next day.
The following day, Li says he contacted Airbnb to let them know of his situation, ask for a refund, cover last minute costs and to investigate the host for fraud. He goes on to explain the events of the day.
“Update: It’s 9am, I wake up to check on the status. 4:30 am, supervisor writes back ‘I’m sorry… we have reached out to the host’ Are there no other mechanisms for handling support at @AirbnbHelp? 5am: ‘as I have not received a response from you I am closing this case,’” reads a tweet by Li.
“Airbnb has given up on us. The host has still not written us with a plan to get into the apartment this morning. I guess they’re just going to take our money and leave us stranded?” he continued.
Li explained that the host claimed they were a no-show and refused to provide them access to their accommodation. As a result, he asked Airbnb for aircover which is when the company helps find guests a similar place to stay that is comparable to the price of their original accommodation.
If a place is not available or if the guest prefers not to rebook, Airbnb can provide a full or partial refund. After 18 hours of back and forth disputes, Li said Airbnb finally came to terms with their arguments and agreed that the host should’ve let them stay.
“I should add that this was not their original position. It took them 18hrs to decide that yes, I should probably be allowed to check into this stay that I have pre-paid for,” he said in a tweet.
“And here’s the sad thing: I’ve been using Airbnb for 10 years. Most of my experiences have been great. But 10 yrs of trust can disappear in a moment. 80% of my travel has been hotels of late. There are…cases where Airbnb still makes sense… but they’re shrinking,” he continued.
In the end, Li said Airbnb offered a full refund and offered to cover his next stay.
“As 1 friend put it: you shouldn’t need to go viral just to get a resolution,” he emphasized.
In Li’s final update, he revealed that he’s not alone when it comes to Airbnb nightmares.
“In the last 5 hrs, I’ve had two people DM me that they had the SAME experience with the SAME host. One even had receipts. Increasingly looking like a fraudulent ring of 20+ London flats. Surely @Airbnb will investigate?” he said.
AIRBNB RESPONDS
Now Toronto reached out to Airbnb for comment and in response, it said it has suspended the host in question.
“We were disappointed to hear about this guest’s experience, and we have provided them with a full refund and a voucher, as well as offered support with reimbursement for alternative accommodation. The host has been suspended as we investigate,” reads a statement from an Airbnb spokesperson.
The company adds that its hosts are required to meet a high standard and when these are not met, they take action to investigate the host and in some cases, remove them from the platform.
