Airbnb 4+

I have always been disappointed with Airbnb’s support—it’s slow, foreign-based, and lacks policies that truly protect guests. Recently, I booked a room for two nights for my anniversary, paying $700 upfront. After payment, the host requested that I go to a third-party website, fill out a lease form requiring sensitive personal information, and pay an additional deposit. The problem is that I wasn’t informed about this requirement in the listing, which should be a clear violation of Airbnb’s terms.

When I refused to provide my personal information to this lesser-known website, the host refused to let me stay, even though I had already paid in full through Airbnb. When I contacted Airbnb for support, they acknowledged that the host hadn’t properly disclosed the third-party requirement but refused to refund me. They said they would merely advise the host not to do this in the future, leaving me with no solution. I was essentially forced to either lose all my money or go through the third-party site and provide sensitive information, despite having already paid through Airbnb.

This experience was a disaster. Multiple support agents gave me conflicting information, and despite promises of follow-up, no one ever did. In the end, Airbnb showed no willingness to protect guests from hosts who fail to disclose important details. Once you’ve paid, even if the host doesn’t let you stay, you’re out of luck—getting your money back is nearly impossible.

Recently stayed with a host that was very clearly defrauding us. They staged “damage” that occurred from our stay but had faked the damage themselves after we had left. A deep dive into the host’s reviews ended up revealing a pattern of similar behaviour and other scams. After trying to claim over $800 in damages for a window blind that had been taken off the track, we tried to resolve the issue with Airbnb, showing that we had made the host aware of issues that we did find present (there was a tear in the couch and the dryer wasn’t functioning) but this damage was not us. We also showed them the multiple other instances of shady business the host had done. Airbnb originally claimed that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to find us responsible but they were going to reimburse the host themselves and close the matter. Fast forward a few days later and now Airbnb is claiming we are fully responsible and need to reimburse them for the money they sent the host. The lack of consistency and what honestly just seems like trying to make back their money in spite of lack of clear evidence shows they can be just as shady as the hosts they collect their fees from. Airbnb had become a platform where this stuff is permitted as long as they get their cut, and the customer is left to pick up the bill. I unfortunately can’t trust their service team to have my back, so I won’t be using their services again.