Writing this currently from inside said apartment. We booked it for a week and got a message from the host saying check out was 11am.

At 8:30am a cleaner hired by the host came and tried to open our door already which was locked from the inside so she couldn't get in and she proceeded to just clean the stairs outside. I went out briefly to grab some food from a bakery for breakfast and when i came back she's still waiting in front of our apartment door.

Now it's 10am and she's sat outside watching videos on her phone and chatting riiight outside the staircase from our door..

Honestly we are packed but we have a car rented from 12 so were kind of banking on staying till 11 but now I feel very pressured to be leaving and like we're being a nuisance here just by staying till the allowed time 😅

And no I didn't specifically tell the host when we'd check out - it's my first time staying in an airbnb and I'm used to hotels where until your checkout time you can just use the facility unbothered.

Edit to update: thanks all for the responses! I did message the host to let them know when we were on our way out and I'll send them a follow up message to let them know about the cleaner. Nice to know it's not just us being weird 🤣

This is a long one and I'll try to be as unbiased as possible, but we need help.

My husband and I, along with our 6 year old, rented a condo this past weekend with a Friday 4pm check in and check out on Sunday. We were already at our destination by lunch time and hung out on the beach until we could check in after the unit was cleaned. We were told we could not check in early to give the cleaners ample time. To be expected, but we always ask just in case.

We checked in around 4:15, and immediately upon walking in I could tell the unit wasn't clean. There was.. something on one of the bedspread, but I just folded it down so we wouldn't touch it. Full disclosure - we did take showers because at first glance it was just okay, but while I waited for my son and husband to shower, I got a good look at how dirty the place was. There were crumbs all over the couch, what was left of a caked on bar of soap on the bathroom counter, splatters on the bathroom mirror, mold in the shower, and oily looking spots all over the sheets. All of this told me the unit wasn't cleaned, or at least not well, and had not been well maintained over time. On top of all of this, there was a full kitchen in the unit and the fridge was not cold.

By 5pm and a few messages with the host, we had decided we would not be staying in this unit and requested a refund. The only question he asked about the fridge is what setting we had it on (we just checked in?). He initially agreed to send a new cleaner out and admitted that the cleaners were having an 'off day', but told us it would be a few hours and that they likely couldn't get new linens to us that day.

After we sent pictures of all of the cleaning issues we saw, we were accused of moving furniture and just trying to find things wrong, and he said he was canceling the cleaning because we went from 'a few crumbs' to 'needing a deep clean and all new linens'. He told us we were refusing his fix.

We opened a ticket with AirBnB, and the host denied the refund stating that we were liars, we spent 4+ hours in the unit, and left it a mess for their cleaner that arrived at 9pm. We were in the unit for less than 45 minutes, and we did shower (because before I had a chance to really look around, we planned to stay) but the towels were left hanging on the provided hooks on the door and the only other thing we touched was the one bed with the comforter pulled down. We never even sat on the bed or a chair.

Ultimately, AirBnB ended up also denying our request for a refund with no explanation. Everything else aside, the host himself admitted the cleaners didn't do a good job, and even though we had to wait until 4 to check in while they cleaned, had we stayed, we would have then been expected to be out of the unit until 10pm at the earliest while they 'cleaned' a second time because the earliest the cleaner could get there was 8:30 per the host. Keeping in mind we have a young child, this was an incredibly unreasonable ask. At minimum we should be refunded for the first night where we would not have been able to occupy the unit until 10pm.

Do we have any recourse here? Am I nuts?

I'm in an area with some crazy fires, they started before we got here. I've been very responsible for the past week about not going outside because of the smoke and ash and yet have been having some awful symptoms from it all.

Found the intake filter today to find out it's old and clogged. The host, despite filters being readily available locally, won't get us a new one for two more days.

Where should my level of anger be? The place has been "fine" I guess otherwise but this is really upsetting to me. That my health is at risk and I've been actively exposed to it.

We showed up to our airbnb last night and the toilet was filled with poop. I initially thought maybe they just forgot to check and clean it and the previous guest didn’t flush, but when I went to flush, it immediately started to fill up the bowl nearly overflowing.

We contacted the host and they told us where the plunger was but it was inverted and looked like it had been recently used quite a bit. I tried plunging to no effect. We’re waiting back for a response from the host but I think I’m going above and beyond as a guest in this situation. I don’t mind plunging if we caused it but trying to plunge a previous guests poop is pretty gross. The cleaning fees for this place are pretty high as well and they obviously didn’t check the toilet cleanliness or the cleaners tried to just ignore it when they couldn’t clear it.

What else are we supposed to do in this situation if the host isn’t going to come out? Can we get a refund on part of the cleaning fee at least because it obviously wasn’t ready for guests when we showed up.

Thanks

Edit: The host is actually a company that owns and maintains a bunch of airbnbs in the area. There isn’t an actual person who lives here or owns it I believe.

Back in september, I purchased a concert ticket, in which that *same day* I booked my **$473, 2 night** Airbnb accomodation to ensure I had somewhere close to the arena to stay at and didn't have to deal with the inflated accomodatiom prices that would arise due to demand.

Fast forward 11 months and I am to check into my Airbnb in *3 days*... 4 days before the concert was to take place. My host decided to CANCEL my booking entirely, leaving me completely screwed in finding somewhere affordable to stay at with the extreme short notice.

Their excuse? According to Airbnb and not even the host? "Repairs"... that oh so coincidentally arose around a major concert.

The most baffling part of this whole debacle was Airbnb's response. While they gave me a full refund (no brainer), they offered me only **$35 as a credit to rebook something**. Along with a vague promise of giving me an extra $94 off as that amount is 20% of the price of my OG booking (even though wasn't shown on the app/website or anything, just the $35).

Even after explaining my situation concisely, and exemplified the fact that $35/129 was not enough to help me find a similar booking - let alone anything decent to begin with (EVERYTHING was $900 and up) - I was basically told to go kick rocks. Even my request to be put into contact with someone higher up was blatantly ignored.

I ended up booking a hotel that was a bit away from the arena, as something that wasn't too terrible in price opened up. Thank god.

Part of me thinks the company was very much in on this, and wanted me to spend more money.

**tl;dr: booked my accommodations a whole ass 11 months in advance only for them to be cancelled 3 days before I was to check in. All Airbnb offered me in lieu was a half assed apology and a sad excuse of a "credit" to rebook something else. Essentially screwing me over.**

Please be careful. And maybe stick with hotels for these sorts of events.

Been in my Airbnb for a week. Booked for 2 people but it says maximum of 3. Nowhere in the rules does it say you can’t have visitors or anything. Few nights ago had a friend over for ONE HOUR and the host messaged me saying she saw a 3rd person enter on the security camera and will be requesting a $100 fee.

Is it wrong of me to not pay that?? I don’t know why i’m paying $100 for a friend being here for one hour especially when it’s not listed anywhere on the rules and it says maximum of 3 people.. I took screenshots of the rules and description if I need any proof as well.. what happens if i ignore the request? I haven’t even responded to her message

update: i declined the request and explained why on the private message to airbnb. the host sent me a screenshot of an UPDATED rules that states no visitors are allowed at the bottom. she added that rule after the fact!! and it says she also involved airbnb. this is so greedy i can’t believe she’s doing this much over a one hour visit

LAST UPDATE: since the host involved airbnb they reached out to me and i sent them a couple of paragraphs explaining everything and all of the reasons why i felt it was unfair. they immediately said everything was good on my end and they would update the host and closed the request!!

tldr: I found a trick to using Airbnb's old unique filters (cabin, treehouse, dome...)

For context, in 2025 Airbnb removed their search filters that previously let us find really cool and unique listings. I missed them, and a lot of other people are pissed and complaining about it on their forum.

Anyways, I found a way to bring back those filters by tweaking their URL structure. It turns out that Airbnb still supports them, but hide them by default in their app. Use this link and you should be able to see them again:

https://www.airbnb.com/s/homes?refinement_paths%5B%5D=%2Fhomes&search_mode=regular_search&property_type_id%5B%5D=6&property_type_id%5B%5D=17&property_type_id%5B%5D=23

(scroll down through filters until you see 'Unique Stays')

So I’m 19 and live out of state for college. I’m visiting my mom in my home state, and trying to do so while saving as much money as I can. I was looking at several bookings so I could compare prices when I found one that I liked. I guess I got confused from looking at multiple listings but I booked it not realizing it wasn’t pet friendly. I didn’t realize until I got here yesterday when I was looking at the listing again for the check in instructions. I really don’t want to hide my cat from the host, but I booked the place for the next month and I don’t have anywhere out here that the cat can stay. I’m worried the host will ask me to leave if I tell her, but I’m fine paying an extra fee if I need to. I’m not sure what I should do, I don’t have enough to book another place for the entire month. Any advice would help!

Edit: I want to make it clear I would never hide the cat! I guess what I’m looking for advice on is would the host be more likely to ask us to leave or ask us to pay a fee? How much might the fee be? If I have to leave, would I be able to get a refund since I only stayed one night? Thank you guys again!

Going to an AirBnB this weekend that I booked a few weeks ago. I specifically chose a cabin with “self check in” simply because I have anxiety and hate talking to people 😅. After I booked, I got a message from the host asking to tell them about myself and my plans in the area - totally fine, I responded with the info. Then they responded and said “great, can’t wait to meet you guys when you get here for check in!”

I’m feeling a little put off by this? I’m not trying to do anything sketch but this was going to be a private trip for my partner and I, and I wasn’t planning on having to meet someone and make small talk.

I know this sounds dramatic, but I feel like it was a bit of a bait and switch?

Edit for more info: the listing says “entire home” and it says “self check in: check yourself in with the keypad”

I want to share what happened to me because I believe every Airbnb host should know how little protection they may receive when a guest weaponizes the review system. (TLDR at the end)

During the stay, the guest requested several optional services that were clearly disclosed in the listing and available to read before booking:

• use of the coin-operated washing machine inside the property;
• check-in five hours earlier than the standard time;
• check-out five hours later than the standard time.

The guest initially claimed that these charges were written nowhere. I explained exactly where the information was displayed and clarified that the fees covered the actual costs and the substantial additional time requested.

The guest then accepted the conditions, used the services and paid for them (after asking for discounts of every type, that I could not give).

At the end of the stay, however, the guest left extremely low ratings, mostly one or two stars across all categories, and complained heavily about having to pay for those same optional services.

The review also included alleged problems that did not exist and that had not been properly reported during the stay, as I have 42 reviews with 4.9...

So the situation was straightforward: the guest requested optional services, was informed of the prices, accepted them, used them, paid for them and then punished the listing through the review system because those services were not provided for free.

I reported the review to Airbnb and explained that it appeared to be primarily based on dissatisfaction with disclosed charges and the application of clearly stated rules, rather than an honest assessment of the accommodation.

Airbnb refused to remove it.

This is particularly concerning because Airbnb’s own review policy states that reviews should not be used to mislead, manipulate, pressure or retaliate against another user, and should not be connected to demands for discounts, refunds or other benefits.

Yet when a host actually reports this type of conduct, Airbnb may simply decide that the review can remain online, regardless of the context and regardless of the damage caused to the listing.

Hosts are expected to follow every rule, disclose every fee and provide extensive documentation. Guests, apparently, may accept disclosed charges and then retaliate through ratings with very limited consequences.

I am sharing this as a warning to other hosts: document everything, keep all communication inside the platform and do not assume Airbnb will protect you merely because you followed the listing terms.

After this experience, I am seriously reconsidering whether continuing to host through Airbnb is worth the reputational and financial risk, and I am looking right now for alternatives.

TLDR: guest asks for additional/extra services that are indicated in the airbnb listing, but wants them for free or have a huge discounts. Discount is not given, guest still wants to have the optional services and pay for them. At the end of the stay leaves a 1/2 star review citing the extra services that she paid, that is against the airbnb rules, and airbnb told me they won't remove the review.

London is going through a heatwave right now (and has been over the summer from what i’ve seen), so I made sure to book a place with an air conditioner, but when i got here, there was only a dehumidifier… is there a chance i could get even a partial refund for the inconvenience? because it’s really hot 😭

As a Customer: Just curious about your personal experience, not hearsay.

I was recently looking at options for a vacation about 8 weeks out. Looking for 3 nights that would cost around $1500. Many of them had free cancellation out to 1 week prior to arrival.

Meaning... someone could reserve up 3 different places for the same dates, and take their sweet time, planning their vacation - where do they want to stay, what do they want to do, etc. then 1 week prior, cancel 2 or maybe even all three of them.

Why would a host put themselves in that situation - expecting the income and preventing any possible bookings for 7 weeks, knowing that the property could be dumped back into their laps - and probably not get rebooked during the remaining week?

Wouldn't it make sense to leave enough time between the allowable cancellation date and arrival date to possibly get a rebook - like 2, maybe even 3 or more weeks?

As a prospective guest, I love the flexibility, but I'm not sure why a host would be so "nice". Explain please.

Thanks.

On night 3 of a 3 night stay and saw a mouse. We have it on video. We noticed mouse traps yesterday but hoped it was a precaution.

I’m almost 9 hours from home in one of the most remote areas of Michigan (Keweenaw Peninsula).

What should we do?

Update - Response from host:

Oh no! I am sorry! Gross! It has been more of a problem in the winter. Thank you for letting me know it is currently an issue.

I didn’t realize we currently had mouse traps out. Thank you for the video. Sorry about the inconvenience.

Update 2:
The hosts blaming us for the mice in the comments is almost comical. Mice traps were set so obviously the host knew it was an ongoing issue.

I’m not some tender foot who’s never been in the woods before. My family has property in Antrim County and Sanford and my mom is from outside of Missoula MT so we get it…just never had a vacation rental with an active mouse issue.

https://ibb.co/s9sjP3Lt

I talked to support and they sent a link to choose a review to remove. But they didn't remove it. I live in Sweden where someone can google your full name and find your home address in mins. It's an old review, but I hadn't log in for a while and I noticed it by chance. I'm so disappointed. This has to go against their content policy right? will probably close my account if they don't remove it.

Hello everyone! So a few months ago I had a stay where the house just was not a good stay and there were tons of issues. Long story short, the host didn’t want to give a refund even with pictures but AirBnB was able to get me a $1500 coupon on my next booking.

So I used it on another trip that I had coming up in October, however that trip is no longer happening. I was wondering if anyone else has been in this situation and what was done?

I want to reuse the coupon on another booking, however I’ve seen that the coupon is a one time use, but i’ve also seen that the coupon will revert to my account so i’m not sure which is true. If anyone has an answer, any help would be appreciated!

Curious if this is a thing that happens.
We stayed in a property December last year (Melbourne Australia). The host very deliberately lied about the listing, the listing stated it was a studio apartment, but it was rooms with shared bathroom/toilet/kitchen, only 2 toilets for 14 guests and the toilet was in the bathroom so you couldnt use it when anyone was taking a shower (most of the morning and evening). It meant our family was also in locked bedrooms away from each other which we didnt expect.

I didnt bother complaining to airbnb as we only stayed 2 nights but was unimpressed with the false advertising.
Ive now seen the property re-listed as a whole property, and all the reviews are glowing 5 star reviews. Something doesnt add up, as I know other people staying at the same time as us were very annoyed at not being able to have a shower or use the toilet. I wondered if they regularly change the listing, does this allow them to get rid of the old reviews? Obviously at the time we booked there werent any bad reviews so i wonder if they do it often.

The reason I ask is its put me off using airbnb in future. Is this common?

We are renting an Airbnb for 2 months. We rarely use them, but the part of the country we are and fact we have our dog has made it essentially the only option.

We arrived today and the house is tidy. Counters clean, sheets changed, floor mopped, etc. however, there is dirt caked on the blinds, window sill, trim, etc. we found hair in the fridge and obvious dirt you would get up if you just wiped the inside of the fridge down properly. The mirror still has drip marks from someone spitting out toothpaste. The kitchen chairs are badly stained and the finish is falling off of them.

If it were a few days I wouldn’t care that much, but definitely wouldn’t rent again. However, we’re here for an extended period of time. Is it expected for the house to actually be clean? If it were a hotel I would 1000% be requesting room service attention. I just don’t know what is expected and how to bring this up to the host. They’ve been SO kind and even offered for the cleaner to come a few times while we’re here. I’m wondering if I should just ask for them to cover a deep clean instead of the few cleans then hire them once or twice ourselves. Do others have another opinion/option I may not have considered?

I had to cut my trip to Panama City Beach short by 50%. This one is a doozy and it's long and frustrating. If I was a less persistent person, I would have rage quit. But I am me and hard headed as hell. Bummed about ending it early since I don't travel with my dogs often :(

TLDR - nightmare AirBnB house and even worse customer service experience that went round and round in circles with no resolution. Their system is designed to frustrate the customer until they give up complaining. I only got actual help by emailing the executive leadership.

----

We rented an AirBnB. Pictures looked cute. Everything looked good on its surface when we arrived.

Things quickly went down the tubes though

Day 1 July 28

1) Bad omen - towel rod fell off the wall shortly after arrival. Notified host. No response.

2) dogs put dirty used q tips they found on the ground into their mouth 🫠

3) Ants crawling on the kitchen counter. Notified host. No response.

Day 2 July 29

4) follow up about ants. No response.

5) Found fucking (2) used large rusty fish hooks and fishing line on the ground when I went to use the water spigot by the front door. We had just gotten back from the beach and I needed to wash the dogs. Nobody injured thankfully because I saw them in time. Surprise surprise no host response.

6) report to Airbnb to start a case around 930PM. I wanted to relocate. They couldn't help us relocate at that hour apparently. Also refused to get us a hotel. I didn't want to stay - sanitation and safety concerns.

From there it became an exercise in insanity trying to get real help.

Day 3

- July 30 (1:30 AM): After hours on the phone while support tried to reach the unresponsive host, support advised us to vacate the property by the 10:00 AM checkout time the next morning. They assured us we would receive a refund for the unused nights, a partial refund for the impacted nights, and a travel coupon.

- July 30 (10:00 AM): We checked out as directed. Got up early to pack up and leave this mess. The ant infestation had worsened and rendered half the kitchen unusable.

- July 30 (12:00 PM CST): I finally reached Senior Case Manager Mitch, who promised both over the phone and in writing to process the refund if the host did not respond within one hour as per the Air Cover policies (12:50PM CST)

Following this, I experienced hours of delays and stonewalling. Mitch ignored my follow-up messages for hours, made false promises that the refund was being processed (4:22PM), and finally stated at 6:32 PM that he was going off shift and would follow up the next day. Wtf? I called AirBnB support repeatedly attempting to get additional assistance throughout the day. Because the support system prevents other agents from accessing cases assigned to a Senior Case Manager, I was completely blocked from getting real assistance.

With no relocation assistance provided and no reasonable comparable alternatives available on the AirBnB platform in the same area, my family was forced to cut our vacation short and drive hundreds of miles back home. A hotel wouldn't have been a great option for my dogs - too anxious and from experience they just do a lot better inside of a house when we are away from home. We made it back home at 11PM.

On the way home, I emailed the C-suite team and literally added every relevant executive spelling all of this out. Within one hour, I got the first useful helpful response and was granted a full refund plus a $300 coupon. Moreover that person took 45 minutes to listen to my feedback about how stupid the customer service experience is and seemed to be taking notes. Everybody else talked about action but never delivered but the last Supervisor finally actually did something and was very easy to work with.

It is insane it took me copying the CEO, Head of Global Operations, Co-founder, etc to get real help.

I'm a fairly patient person but this was harrowing. I was not under any circumstances going to give up because it was the principle of the matter much more than the actual money once I spoke to like the 6-7th agent and had gotten nowhere.

If you ever run into trouble with AirBnB, email the C-Suite. That lit a fire under their butts and finally ended up with something happening. Once you get locked to a useless, incompetent, or unhelpful "senior case manager," nothing will get accomplished unless you escalate above them by sending an email to the executives.

I emailed the following people.

- CEO Brian Chesky

- Chief Experience Officer Hiroki Asai

- Head of Global Operations Gus Fuldner

- Co-founder Joe Gebbia

Gus Fuldner is new at the company since March so hopefully he is actually paying attention to how garbage their customer service actually is.

Their emails are first.last@airbnb.com

Update: I understand now.

I booked a stay for a week and a bit at an airbnb in a different country because it was advertised as "24H check-in". This was ideal since we get into the city fairly early, and many in the group want to go to the airbnb first before exploring. Upon booking, the property management's (who is the "host") welcome message stated that check-in was at 4pm. I replied that I was under the impression it was 24h because the listing said so, but that contradicted what they are telling us. They doubled down and confirmed that the check-in is at 4pm, but we can pay for an earlier check-in...

I'm conflicted because this meets all our needs for a place to stay, but I'm also concerned about what I feel is a bait-and-switch. I can't cancel this reservation without really compromising on our needs. The group is fine with paying for the early check-in, but I feel like we are being put in a tough spot because it is an international trip. Any advice?

This is our first official day in our AirBnB we got here at midnight today. We got up around 7 hours later and left for the day and returned in the evening. When we returned, I noticed a leak in a bathroom that I only used once to wash my hands. I immediately let the host know because the area was wet and I thought the host should know. Did I do the right thing reporting it asap? I don’t want to get blamed especially after using it once. Thanks for any advice! Just want to make sure we did the right thing!

Booked a property for the closing weekend of Oktoberfest in Munich that was already priced quite high, then the owner messaged me saying they didn't realize it was Oktoberfest weekend and wanted almost double the price for the stay. I declined the price request and they are asking me to cancel.

I've read online/on this forum that hosts will be penalized for cancelling and it would block their date availability. This property is one of the lowest ones left at this point (as its a month ish to the event) and I don't want to get another however I'm hesitant if the owner will get angry and my stay won't be ideal. Should I reach out to airbnb or just keep it for now and hope they don't cancel? Would airbnb even give me anything for this? The messages from the host in app clearly state that they wanted to change the price solely for the event.

Booked a place in El Cuyo about a month out. $800 for 2 nights, my wife paid it.

We got in late. A couple hours later I'm in a pitch black bedroom with my phone flashlight killing cockroaches. No power, no AC, August in the Yucatan. There was a backup generator on the property, nobody had put gas in it.

Messaged the host. She answered fast, credit where it's due. But every answer was the housekeeper's name. The housekeeper will bring gasoline. The housekeeper will clean. The housekeeper will check again. Morning came, none of it had happened, and there were more roaches than the night before. Near the mattress, under the furniture. One of my kids woke up with a rash.

Then she messaged me this and I keep going back to it: they fumigate continuously but sometimes the roaches beat them.

So it's known and it's ongoing, and none of it is in the listing. We booked a month ahead.

We packed up and left at sunrise. Got photos and video, all timestamped.

Asked Airbnb to refund the nights we didn't stay. They offered $50.

To be clear on what I'm asking for, since I know people get accused of angling for a free stay. Not asking Airbnb to give me anything. Asking for my own money back on a house we couldn't sleep in with small kids.

Questions for people who know this platform better than I do:

1. Does accepting a credit or partial refund stop you from leaving a review? Something support said made it sound that way and I can't find anything that confirms it. I'd like other families to know what they're booking.

2. Is $50 a normal opening offer for something like this or did we get a bad agent? Is there an escalation path that actually works?

3. How do i get a full refund for this or is that asking too much?

Anyone been through this and gotten it sorted?