Complaint Review: AirBnB.com - San Francisco California

We have stayed at AirBnB's all over the country several times. Usually the place is adequate and the hosts are kind and gracious, but our last stay in Florida involved a property management company (the host) who insisted we leave them a 5 star review. When we didn't because the place was not what was advertised, they left us a negative review where they actually lied about us. They claimed we were rude when we checked in because they messaged us the day before and asked what time we were arriving the next day. I told them I couldn't guarantee our arrival time because we were flying in and renting a car but asked if that was dependent on the property being ready when it was supposed to be or not. That's a fair question because never before has anyone asked us to tell them what time we are arriving when we have paid well in advance for the entire stay.

It shouldn't matter what time we check in, UNLESS the property isn't ready. So I just asked why they were asking. There were other issues while we stayed there and we informed them of some at check in and some throughout and some at check out. They seemed nice enough and even apologized for the issues we encountered. When we got home I left a review about the property and the rules we weren't informed of prior to entering the premises. I said the beds weren't comfortable and that the coffee pot carafe was cracked so we couldn't even have coffee there our entire stay. The internet was also not working for two days when we arrived. Further they let us know the day before we arrived that to use the pool that was in the listing photos would cost us an extra $100 per day per person. It was a condo and that is a pretty steep price to pay per person and not know about that before you arrive. AirBnB requires you to leave your review of the property before the host leaves a review about you as a guest. This policy is completely biased because it allows the HOST to retaliate should you say something negative about them. We should both (host and guest) be allowed to leave a review that is NOT based on the other side's review. They do this to show preference to the hosts. Guests do not matter to them, obviously. Otherwise they would let us both leave a review at the same time, OR let guests go last. I left a review of the property that was honest and truthful.

I even included photos showing what I was talking about. The host didn't like that review one bit and made up lies about us to post when reviewing us. They claimed we were rude to them at check in (no one was ever once rude to them and until we left our negative review there was no negative comments either way). Then they said we should have told them about issues when we first checked in instead of when we checked out. But we did this. There were pee stains on a bed, there was a broken coffee carafe, and the internet was spotty. No one slept in the pee stained bed so it didn't matter while we were there so I told them at check out. We bought coffee out each morning so it didn't matter the carafe was broken. And we did tell them about the internet otherwise it never would have been fixed for our entire stay. All our conversations were there in our account for AirBnB to review and see we never once were rude to them at all. AirBnB will not remove their lies about us. They claimed it's not against their policy for hosts to lie in their reviews. The fact that they place their priority on protecting hosts and not guests shows you they don't care about guests which is so completely stupid. If it wasn't for guests they'd have no customers! The hosts are merely providing properties that AirBnB allows them to post on their site for a fee. I will not use AirBnB ever again and I highly recommend you think hard before you do. There are tons of videos online about AirBnB hosts cancelling people's reservations the day they arrive to check in leaving them stranded and AirBnB does nothing to help these people. This is criminal! AirBnB will never have a guests back and will always only protect a host, even when they are liars and falsely advertising a property as luxury when it's barely basic. Stay in a hotel, you get better service and don't have to deal with greedy morons like these hosts and AirBnB people.