AIRBNB PROBLEMS

These tales cover a variety of Airbnb problems that guests — and sometimes hosts — have brought to Consumer Rescue. Each article tells a dramatic story and highlights our advocacy team’s efforts to investigate and resolve the issue.

Filthy garbage outside a vacation rental

A filthy vacation rental is not my thing! How do I get a refund?

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When an Airbnb host directs Andrea Walker to use the service elevator in the building where she is renting an apartment, she’s slightly suspicious. However, when she opens the door to the unit, she knows she definitely won’t be staying. The Airbnb host apologizes for the state of the filthy vacation rental and quickly agrees to a refund. 

So why does the host later tell Airbnb that Walker spent the whole weekend at the property?

Spain, colorful street in Barcelona, nearby Airbnb

I accidentally locked myself out of my Airbnb. Whose fault is this, really?

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What if you locked yourself out of your Airbnb rental thousands of miles from home? Would your host or the caretaker immediately come and rescue you?

Xiamin Qi discovered the answer to both questions after she locked herself out of her Airbnb rental in Barcelona. Despite the host warning her about the self-locking feature of the front door, she says jet lag caused an oversight. That fatigue led Qi to walk out of the vacation rental and leave the keys inside.

Now she is asking the Airbnb host to refund $500 for her trouble. But is this a reasonable request?

This article explains exactly why you shouldn't try to sell a flight voucher from American Airlines.

You should not try to sell your American Airlines vouchers. This is why

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Attention all American Airlines passengers: If you have any flight vouchers stored away somewhere, don’t try to sell them. If you do, the airline might use high-tech security systems to catch you.

If you try it and American Airlines finds out, it will mark your vouchers stolen, leaving you with nothing.

This tale is a cautionary one for anyone considering skirting the terms of their American Airlines vouchers. There are many hacks out there advising travelers about how to make a profit on these bonuses. But much of that “guidance” overlooks an undeniable obstacle: almost every airline forbids this practice, and offering your vouchers for sale can cause them to become instantly worthless.

Airbnb host account hit by hackers. How did a hacker steal $34,250 from an Airbnb host ?

Hackers stole $34,250 from this Airbnb host. How did this happen?

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Airbnb host Nancy Isa recently got a terrible shock when she discovered hackers had broken into her payout account. Unfortunately, by the time she noticed something was wrong, Airbnb had been making regular payments to the scammers – for five months.

In total, the hackers stole $34,250 from Nancy’s Airbnb host account. 

Then things went from bad to worse. With all that money on the line, Nancy contacted the listing giant in a panic. She was hoping for some calming reassurance that all was not lost. Instead, Airbnb immediately locked the host out of her own account and then went radio silent. 

That’s when Nancy reached out to the Consumer Rescue team. She’s hoping we can convince Airbnb to give back her access to her host account – and her $34,250.

But after six months, is that possible?

Airbnb host asks a guest to pretend to be a friend, Airbnb refund problems,

Why did a worried Airbnb host ask me to pretend not to be a guest?

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If your Airbnb host asks you to pretend not to be a guest during your stay, would you?

That’s the odd situation that confronted Josephine Avina last July when her family planned a short trip. But pretending not to be guests wasn’t the only thing the Airbnb host wanted the Avinas to do. She also expected them to be OK with living in the remnants of a bachelorette party held the night before.