Airbnb Supports Lying, Shady Hosts
Booked a property that claimed to have 10 acres of land, and based on photos of a pool and fire pit for my 11 day honeymoon. Because we wanted to stay so long, we wanted those amenities for the down days. As the date approached, the photos quietly changed and the address led to undeveloped woods when searched online. The host claimed a storm washed out the entrance and gave us a ‘south entrance’ address 2.4 miles away — on the opposite side of the road, with an entire neighborhood in between. The host also gave conflicting acreage claims (10, then 20) and referenced a recording studio miles off-site that’s been inactive online for years. When we tried to cancel, Airbnb initially refused a full refund, citing the cancellation window — despite the fact that these red flags only surfaced as check-in approached. It took a month of escalation, a support agent claiming we had ‘no proof’ anything had changed after they had deleted some of my support chats without my knowledge or permission, and a call where a rep named Christi tried to hang up on me, before Airbnb’s own investigation confirmed the property had been secretly re-booked (a requirement for full refund) and our messages ignored the entire time. We got our money back, but only because we refused to let it go. If we hadn’t pushed this hard, we’d have shown up in Nashville with nowhere to stay, and be out $500. We also lost money having to book a more expensive hotel. Refuse to use their service again.