Airbnb Reviews

Amount refunded (USD) $417.08.

I continued to look for a closer place to my destination. I found another location closer. I booked this and did CONFIRM and PAY. I had no idea that I was double booked and never stayed in one of the places. They would not refund the $512 reservation that I did not stay at. I had no idea the place was even booked. So legitimately the three day trip should have been $648, cost over $1500 with all of the issues. I will never use the AirBNB platform again. Once they get your money, you are toast. Consider a hotel where your reservation and refunds are legit.

During that registration process, I was also presented with a $75 one-time, non-refundable damage waiver/guest-protection fee. I contacted the host through Airbnb and told them we did not want it. The host explained that the $75 supposedly covered minor accidental damages up to $150 and agreed to waive it. The fee was optional, but the outside registration and verification process was presented to us as required in order to receive important information for our stay. Then came the actual property.

After an extremely long drive, my family arrived around 10 p.m. and the house was extremely hot with very little noticeable airflow. We tried dealing with the thermostat, contacted the host, and the problem was not resolved while we were there. The condition of the property made everything worse. The walls were dirty, bedding had stains, the bathtub had stains, and the rooftop area was not properly maintained, with cushions/pillows scattered around and the area looking dirty and neglected. This was not what I expected after paying more than $1,400 for the reservation.

What makes the cleanliness issue even more ridiculous is how much Airbnb properties charge in cleaning fees while guests are still often expected to take out trash, load dishes, gather towels and bedding, and complete other checkout chores. If guests are being charged significant cleaning fees, the property should at least be properly cleaned before they arrive.

We were traveling with children and were not willing to spend the night in an extremely hot and poorly maintained property. We left approximately an hour after arriving. We did not stay overnight and never returned. We then had to find and pay for hotel accommodations at the last minute. The host would not provide us with a full refund, and dealing with Airbnb customer service was awful. After everything we experienced, Airbnb ultimately refunded us only $650 of the $1,444 we paid, leaving $794 of the Airbnb charge unreimbursed, even though we left almost immediately and never stayed a single night. But what may upset me most is what happened afterward.

I left a review on the actual Airbnb listing describing what happened and warning future guests about our experience. Airbnb removed my review. That completely changed the way I look at Airbnb’s review system. Guests depend on reviews to decide whether a property is somewhere they want to spend their money and bring their families. If a guest has a legitimate negative experience and that review disappears, future guests are not getting the full picture.

What makes the removal even more disturbing to me is what I discovered afterward. I recently checked the listing again and found reviews from OTHER guests complaining about the SAME TYPE OF CONDITIONS. A guest who stayed in June 2026, BEFORE our reservation, gave the property one star and specifically complained about stains on the beds, dirty walls, bathroom issues, and said they contacted the property but nobody ever came to resolve the problem. Then another guest who stayed in July 2026 wrote that the owner needed to come see how poorly the unit was being kept. Those complaints are incredibly similar to what my family experienced: stained bedding, dirty walls, cleanliness issues, poor upkeep and maintenance problems. So why was my review removed?

I also recently went to Airbnb’s reviews in the Apple App Store. At first, “Most Helpful” showed many positive reviews. But once I changed it to “Most Recent,” I was shocked. I personally scrolled through roughly 20 recent reviews and every one I saw was one star. Complaints were coming from both guests AND hosts involving customer service, refunds, disputes, accounts, property conditions and problems getting Airbnb to resolve issues.

This was my first truly horrible experience with Airbnb, but the way Airbnb handled the situation ensured it will also be my last. Properties can have problems. Things break. Mistakes happen. What matters is what a company does when something goes wrong. In our case, my family arrived to an extremely hot and poorly maintained property, left almost immediately, had to find hotels late at night, lost hundreds of dollars on an Airbnb we never actually stayed in, dealt with horrible customer service, received only a partial refund, and then had the review I posted about the experience removed.

Meanwhile, reviews from other guests show that some of the same maintenance and cleanliness complaints existed before and after our stay. & now the listing now shows “Property turned off” and is no longer available to book. Oh I wonder why???? Figures 🤦🏽‍♀️ I no longer trust Airbnb with my family’s travel accommodations. I will book hotels from now on. Never again.

18 days before my wedding, the host cancelled my confirmed reservation because the owner needed the property for the month of October due to a death in their family. I completely understand that the family situation was unexpected, and I don't blame the owner for that circumstance. My frustration is with how Airbnb handled the consequences for me as the guest.

Airbnb initially offered me a $25 credit. The replacement Airbnb options they provided were not comparable because none were within walking distance of my venue. After having a confirmed reservation cancelled less than three weeks before my wedding, I also did not feel comfortable relying on another Airbnb, so I had to book a hotel.

My replacement hotel cost $2,520.20 for two nights. I had previously secured a wedding room block at that same hotel for $189/night, but the block was full by the time my Airbnb was cancelled. I also now have additional transportation costs that I would not have had with my original accommodation. Beyond the financial cost, this cancellation created an enormous logistical headache 18 days before my wedding. I had to re-coordinate plans with my day-of coordinator, hair and makeup team, photographer, bridal party, and transportation.

After escalating the situation, Airbnb initially offered $400 and eventually increased the reimbursement to $600. I appreciate that they increased the amount, but even then, the reimbursement covered only a fraction of my replacement hotel cost. And unfortunately, the process still wasn't over. Airbnb's payout system wouldn't accept my tax documentation, meaning I couldn't even receive the reimbursement they had agreed to provide without dealing with another technical/customer-service issue.

I understand that cancellations sometimes happen and that the host's circumstances were unfortunate. What has been incredibly disappointing is being left to absorb the financial and logistical consequences of a cancellation this close to one of the most important weekends of my life, followed by an unnecessarily difficult reimbursement process. If you're booking something important months in advance, I'd strongly recommend understanding exactly what protection you have if your host cancels at the last minute.

An Airbnb Support Ambassador, Adnan, reviewed the situation with us by telephone, instructed us to vacate the property and secure alternative accommodation, and told us that a $1,419.72 refund for the unused portion of our stay had been approved. His written communication immediately following the call further documents that we were leaving pursuant to Airbnb's assistance. We relied on Airbnb's instructions, vacated, and paid for alternative accommodation. Airbnb subsequently refused to honor the refund communicated by its own representative.

Most troubling is Airbnb's handling of the evidence. We have repeatedly requested preservation and review of the recorded telephone call with Adnan and the associated case notes. Despite Airbnb calls being recorded, our requests concerning this recording have not been substantively addressed. Instead, later representatives have relied on AirCover policy to reach a different conclusion while failing to reconcile that decision with the instructions and refund representation made by Airbnb's own employee.

We are now pursuing Airbnb's formal dispute process. This is no longer simply a disagreement about a property. Our concern is that we acted in reliance on explicit instructions from Airbnb Support, incurred financial loss by doing so, and Airbnb is now refusing to take responsibility for what its own representative communicated. Guests should be able to rely on instructions given by Airbnb Support—particularly when those instructions require them to leave paid accommodation and incur the cost of relocating.

Even more alarming is Airbnb's ongoing failure to address a severe accessibility violation. During a recent stay, I had to disclose a painful physical disability just to be permitted to keep my shoes on to mitigate severe physical pain. Despite a partial refund for the physical cameras found at that specific property, Airbnb's compliance teams have completely abandoned the Title III Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) investigation for nearly three weeks.

The lack of accountability goes all the way to the top. I have sent several detailed compliance reports directly to the CEO and other members of the C-suite. Every single email to executive leadership has gone entirely unanswered. Airbnb is happy to collect booking fees, but when presented with documented, multi-year security failures and civil rights violations, the executive team opts for absolute silence. This platform is a massive consumer blindspot. If you value your basic physical privacy and legal civil rights, do not trust Airbnb.

I am completely done with it and terminated my account. They do not vet their hosts properly and are not able to handle situations. This is very important when travelling, for health and safety. I urge everyone not to use this site and use another platform that will actually protect the travelers and are actually safe, professional and competent.

During my stay, the host’s handyman sent me completely inappropriate and sexually suggestive messages. He called me “sexy,” told me he was coming over, and told me that if I happened to be “lying around in a towel, or wearing nothing,” that would be okay with him. This was not some random person on the internet. This was a man associated with the property who knew exactly where I was staying and had access to the home. I know he had access because I have video from my doggy camera showing him entering the property while I was not there.

Think about that situation from the perspective of a woman traveling alone: a man associated with the property is sending sexually inappropriate messages, knows exactly where you are staying, has access to the property, and you have video showing him entering the home while you are away. I immediately told the host what was happening and specifically told her that I did not feel safe. Her response was that she would tell him. That did not make me feel safer. It made me feel more unsafe. Now I had to worry that a man who had already sent me sexually inappropriate messages, knew I was staying there alone, and had access to the property would know that I had reported him. I became frightened enough that I slept with a knife beside my bed.

I ultimately left the Airbnb early. I was already dealing with a family emergency involving my mother, but the fact that I no longer felt safe at the property was also a reason I left. I filed a police report the following day. What was particularly disturbing to me was that when I explained who I was referring to, the police knew exactly who I meant. After all of this, however, the narrative somehow became that I had supposedly “trashed” the property. That accusation is simply not true. I have photographs documenting exactly how I left the home, including photographs of the refrigerator. I also paid for a professional cleaner to clean the property three days before I left.

When I left, I followed the checkout requirements. I cleaned the home and, in fact, went above and beyond by having it professionally cleaned. I turned off the air conditioning, fans, and lights as instructed. The primary thing I could not do was empty the refrigerator and freezer. There was a very simple reason: the property has a large commercial/industrial-sized outdoor garbage container. Guests have to go outside, unlock it, put their garbage inside, and lock it again. That container was completely full. There was literally nowhere for me to put additional garbage. What exactly was I supposed to do with an entire refrigerator and freezer full of food when the property's garbage container was full and had not been emptied? I was certainly not going to put perishable food into garbage bags and leave those bags sitting inside a closed house in the Alabama heat. That would have created an even bigger sanitation problem.

So portraying me as someone who “trashed” the property because food remained in the refrigerator, while leaving out the fact that I had professionally cleaned the home and had no available place to dispose of the food, is extremely misleading. The backyard was also in terrible condition and was a stark contrast to the otherwise pleasant interior. What I find most disturbing is that after I reported sexually inappropriate messages from the handyman, documented him entering the property while I was away, told the host that I felt unsafe, left early, and filed a police report, the response seemed to shift toward making ME look like the problem.

Then there is Airbnb. Airbnb repeatedly says that guest safety is a priority. That was absolutely NOT my experience. I paid more than $2,500 for this reservation. After reporting what happened and leaving early because I no longer felt safe, I received only a very small refund compared with what I had paid. Because I could no longer remain at the property, I also had to pay for a hotel for an entire week. So I paid more than $2,500 for the Airbnb, reported a serious safety concern, left the property, filed a police report, paid for a hotel for a week, and was still left carrying the overwhelming majority of the financial loss.

Based entirely on my experience, Airbnb’s handling of this situation did not make me feel that my safety was their priority. It made me feel that the money was. I also specifically asked Airbnb to allow me to leave a review so that future guests, particularly women traveling alone, could make an informed decision about this property. I was told that the review period was 14 days. The problem is that Airbnb was still actively handling my case during that period. I was waiting for the situation to be resolved before leaving my review. Instead, Airbnb ultimately closed the case and marked it “resolved,” even though, from my perspective, the matter was absolutely NOT resolved.

I was then unable to leave the review. That is extremely troubling. If Airbnb is going to tell guests that safety is a priority, then guests who report serious safety concerns should have an opportunity to document their experience and warn future guests—especially when the concern involves a person associated with the property who allegedly sent sexually inappropriate messages and had access to the property.

If you are a woman traveling alone and this handyman is still associated with this property, please take my experience seriously and ask questions before booking. If you encounter inappropriate behavior and feel unsafe, do not assume that Airbnb will automatically step in, protect you, or financially make things right simply because safety is part of their messaging. That was not what happened to me.

The inside of the house may be quaint. It may be comfortable. It may photograph beautifully. None of that matters when you are afraid to go to sleep. No Airbnb is worth sleeping with a knife beside your bed because you are frightened of a man associated with the property who knows where you are staying and has access to the home. For women, particularly women traveling alone, I absolutely cannot recommend this property based on my experience. For men, take your chances.

After I repeatedly explained the error and provided documentation establishing my identity, Airbnb sent me a second link purportedly associating me with a registered sex offender. Again, the individual was not me. For more than a week, I repeatedly contacted Airbnb seeking an explanation and escalation. I was transferred between departments, given little meaningful information, and disconnected while trying to resolve the matter. After I escalated to Airbnb’s corporate executive my account was quietly restored. However, Airbnb provided no meaningful explanation, leadership apology, or documentation explaining how these records were matched to me.

Restoring my account does not resolve the underlying issue. I was presented with extremely serious criminal allegations that did not pertain to me after Airbnb had received documentation verifying my identity. I lost professional time and experienced significant administrative burden and distress. I seek a meaningful explanation of how this occurred, confirmation that inaccurate criminal information was corrected. I am also concerned inaccurate information could remain in internal or third-party systems and affect me and that this can happen to another customer.

Despite my efforts, Airbnb continued sending me the same article and refused to provide any meaningful proof or conduct what I consider a meaningful review. As a result, my account was permanently suspended, my reservations were canceled, and I lost access to Airbnb services, disrupting my travel plans. I believe this action was unfair and based solely on a name match rather than verified identity. I respectfully request that your office review this matter and assist in obtaining a full explanation from Airbnb along with appropriate relief. I advise people to boycott this business. Do not book, do not buy their insurance, just know customer service absolutely sucks! If there’s no issues your stay will be smooth. There are morons working for this company and not doing thier job. I can’t believe they did this to me from a name match.

My history is nonviolent and more than 30 years old. I have never rented an Airbnb, and I have never had an incident involving an Airbnb host, guest or property. I understand Airbnb’s responsibility to protect its community. But there is a difference between addressing a current safety concern and continuing to define someone by nonviolent mistakes made more than three decades ago. At some point, rehabilitation has to mean something. I became a mother. I raised my daughter. I changed my life. I pursued education, maintained housing and employment, built a career and progressed into positions of leadership and responsibility.

Airbnb has made its decision, and I can make mine. There are other companies I can rent from and other places where I can spend my money. I don’t need Airbnb to travel or enjoy my life. My past is part of my story. It is not my entire story. Airbnb has chosen not to have me as a customer. I can live with that. What I cannot agree with is the idea that more than 30 years of demonstrated change should count for so little.

Original review: My experience with Airbnb has been extremely frustrating and disappointing. I have never rented an Airbnb in my life. My sister booked an Airbnb for our family vacation, and while trying to access information related to that trip, I discovered that Airbnb had restricted my account based on nonviolent criminal history from more than 30 years ago. I take responsibility for my past. I was young, I made poor decisions, and I changed my life.

One of the greatest turning points in my life was becoming a mother. My daughter changed the direction of my life. Becoming responsible for another human being changed my priorities, my choices, and the woman I wanted to become. She is now 22 years old, and the life I have built since becoming her mother is something I am incredibly proud of. I don’t believe I need to publicly disclose the details of mistakes I made more than three decades ago to make this point: 30+ years of demonstrated change should matter. Airbnb offered me an appeal process, and I have now gone through that process TWICE. I cooperated and provided substantial documentation showing my post-conviction stability, including employment offer letters, pay stubs, a W-2, my résumé documenting my employment history, and previous and current leases showing stable housing.

Airbnb acknowledged receiving my documents and specifically told me they had reviewed them. Yet I continued receiving generic requests for additional information without anyone telling me specifically what was supposedly missing. I was also asked to obtain things such as third-party letters while being given only 24–48 hours to respond. My first appeal was closed approximately 24 hours after I had originally been given 48 hours. So I started over and appealed again.

My second appeal was also closed, with Airbnb telling me: “Because we didn’t hear back from you within the requested time frame, we’re closing this appeal.” That was incredibly frustrating considering the amount of information I had submitted and Airbnb’s own acknowledgment that my documentation had been received and reviewed. I called Airbnb hoping I could finally speak directly with someone who could resolve the situation. I couldn’t. The representative told me she could not transfer me to the department responsible for my appeal. She could only send them a message and wait for someone to contact me. I asked for a supervisor and was told I could not be transferred directly to one either. A request could be sent asking a supervisor to call me back. I was then told I had to choose between having my issue sent to the department responsible for the appeal or requesting a supervisor. I could not do both. I chose the supervisor.

Shortly afterward, I received another message saying my case had been forwarded and someone would contact me. So after two appeals, multiple document submissions, repeated emails and a phone call, I am still waiting to speak with someone who actually has the authority to address my situation. I understand Airbnb’s responsibility to protect its community. But context, rehabilitation and the passage of time should matter. My history is nonviolent. It is more than 30 years old. I have never rented an Airbnb, and I have never had an incident involving an Airbnb host, guest or property. I am not asking Airbnb to erase my past. I am asking Airbnb to acknowledge my present and the more than three decades of my life that came after those mistakes.

I became a mother. I raised my daughter. I pursued education. I maintained stable housing and employment. I built a career. I progressed into positions of leadership and responsibility. I became a completely different woman from the young person who made those mistakes decades ago. I followed Airbnb’s appeal process—twice. I provided documentation. I responded. I called. I asked for clarification. I asked for escalation. At this point, I don’t need another generic response or another cycle through the same process. I need someone at Airbnb with the authority to actually review my case and provide the fair, individualized review that Airbnb’s appeal process is supposed to offer. People can make mistakes. People can change. People can build entirely different lives. I did. More than 30 years later, that should matter.

Instead of raising it with me, the host used undisclosed security cameras to catch my friend entering, then demanded $200 with no warning or conversation. Then came the review: “THIS PERSON DOES NOT RESPECT RULES!! He brought an unknown person into my property, thereby exposing it to risk and himself to danger…” That wasn’t accurate. My friend wasn’t unknown to me — I’d known him for years. The same cameras would show a greeting kiss on the cheek and a hug goodbye, nothing resembling a threat.

Airbnb agreed I didn’t owe the $200 and paid the host directly. They even acknowledged the host appeared to have a pattern of this behavior. They still wouldn’t remove the review. I cited Airbnb’s own Review Policy, which prohibits false statements or claims not grounded in firsthand experience. The response shifted every time I pushed:

Round one: you technically broke a rule, so the review stands. But I wasn’t disputing that a rule existed — I was disputing what he chose to say about me because of it. Round two, on appeal: hosts are entitled to their opinions. Also beside the point. “This guest does not respect rules” is a sweeping judgment built on one disputed incident. “He brought an unknown person into my property, exposing it to risk” isn’t opinion — it’s a false factual claim. Round three, after I escalated to Airbnb’s executive team: now the applicable standard was supposedly the Content Policy, not the Review Policy I’d been citing all along.

Three rationales, same outcome. An accurate review would have said: “This guest had a friend visit for about two hours. I considered that a violation of my no-visitor rule and tried to charge $200. Airbnb determined the guest didn’t owe it and paid me instead.” I couldn’t have argued with that — it’s true. I never asked Airbnb to punish the host or rule his policy unreasonable. I asked them to apply their own review standard to claims they already knew were false. They declined, three different ways. This isn’t really about one host. It’s about hidden surveillance, punitive fine structures, and a support process built to defend outcomes rather than apply rules. A platform earns trust by applying its policies the same way every time. Here, they didn’t.

Multiple undisclosed security cameras. I invited my local friend to stop by for an hour or two. Was shocked by a message demanding $200 (I refused to pay; Airbnb paid him instead) for having "no respect for rules!" and allowing a "stranger" in who posed a "risk and danger". (He conveniently supplied Airbnb with security cam images of two professional people who were obviously friends walking IN but not of them leaving). Airbnb's own review policy states that statements that "reviews are irrelevant if they don't provide...first-hand experience... Reviews may not be used to mislead or deceive..." and yet this generalized condemnation about not following the rules (plural) and lack of first hand observation about the friend who visited, which in combination painted a broad, false moral judgement was allowed to stand.

And that in contrast to nearly 100 prior 5-star reviews. The hot-headed little princess was allowed to say what he wished because "technically a rule was broken" and "hosts are allowed to express their opinion." You can't make this stuff up. The poorly trained offshored agents who manage these appeals are obviously disallowed critical reading of thinking. But ultimate responsibility rests with executive management allowing this kind of nonsense. I'd been a user of the platform for 15 years. I've had to contact Care 3 or 4 times; each time it was infuriating, humiliating and an utter waste of time. Each time I was "this close" to closing my account because I was so needlessly aggravated by the surreal experience. NO RESPONSE from a human other than low end guys in the off shore care centers sending apologetic sycophantic form letters.

NO RESPONSE from their legal or trust & safety or executive teams to requests that someone explain why clear policy standards were ignored. And meanwhile some nut job was allowed to write a nasty review because he was cranky Argentina lost the World Cup the day before or because he isn't renting his barbed wire enclosed apartment often enough these days or... whatever arbitrary thing. These guys don't know how to recognize or treat a valued customer. Anyway, the quality of the listings has gone down so dramatically, the hosts are more often unlikable people and the costs have risen too much. The pain to gain ratio is severely tilted in the wrong direction. Bye Felicia.

I documented all of it with photos and filed a claim, confident Airbnb would stand behind me given how heavily they market host protection. After a lengthy investigation, they dismissed the photo evidence and offered me $300. The actual damage ran into the thousands. Support was useless. Every response read like it was either AI-generated or pulled from a script. Apology after apology, and nothing behind it. The guest who caused the damage then left a retaliatory negative review, and Airbnb refused to remove that too. Then a few weeks ago, a different guest reported a hair on the sheets. There were clean sheets sitting right next to the bed. No evidence requested, no questions asked. Airbnb comped an entire night.

That is the policy in a nutshell. A guest claims a hair and gets a free night. A host submits photo evidence of thousands in damage and gets $300. VRBO and Booking.com are clunkier to use, but they actually back their hosts. If you are considering hosting on Airbnb, look elsewhere. As someone who built something here early on, it is disheartening to write this.

Despite promptly reporting the issue, following the instructions given by their representative, and providing the requested recordings, I was later told the evidence was insufficient because the audio files did not contain verifiable time and location data. This requirement was never explained when I first reported the problem. It felt as though the burden kept changing after the fact. I understand that Airbnb needs to verify claims, but I believe there should be reasonable consideration for guests who report problems immediately, follow the guidance they are given, and act in good faith. Customer service should focus on resolving legitimate issues rather than creating additional obstacles. I hope Airbnb reviews its evidence requirements and complaint process so future guests receive clearer guidance and more consistent support.

Could not sleep. No one helped, so we went home the following day. Airbnb were of no help when we send videos of the problems. They just kept passing me on to one after another so called Ambassador then finally said we are not entitled to a refund. Terrible service. All our friends and contacts will certainly not use airbnb ever again.

Bad: 100% host advocate. Despite us providing photos of 10 bedbug, host alleging to have fumigated, Airbnb refusing to provide us proof of fumigation AND host cancelling reservation so that we couldn’t leave a negative review, Airbnb still sided with the host. Why? Because Airbnb will make far more $ siding with the host whom rents their unit 300+ days/yr vs a guest whom may only book 2 weeks out of the year. Will absolutely utilize alternative sites in the future.

After we returned home, we were repeatedly asked to provide additional photos because we were told the original images were not clear enough. Since we were no longer at the property, it was impossible to take more pictures. For more than a week, we continued to receive the same questions, such as asking for additional photos and where the bugs were located, despite having already provided the information we had while we were there.

The handling of this situation was frustrating and unprofessional. Instead of addressing our concerns promptly, we felt we were given the runaround after leaving the property. Based on our experience, I cannot recommend staying here. I encourage future guests to carefully inspect the property and consider our experience before booking.