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Fiascos and Fixes
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.
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.
If an airline convinces you to cancel your flight during a pandemic, does it get to keep your money? That’s what Lon Allan wants to know.
When Mary Scholtz planned a trip to Las Vegas, she was not anticipating that her biggest gamble would be on her Airbnb rental. Unfortunately, this thoroughly unsatisfactory illegal Airbnb rental was anything but a winner, and now Mary wants a complete refund. Can we help?
According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), mishandled baggage rates increased by 0.21% from January 2019 to January 2022. The percentage of luggage lost or delayed in the first six months of 2022 was .6%. That equates to 1,443,306 bags on domestic flights.
The good news: Lost or delayed luggage comprises a small percentage of the sheer volume of luggage transported from one airport to another.
But if an airline has lost your luggage, it becomes personal. Here’s what you need to know to make the ordeal a little less painful.
An Airbnb hacker spent a month in Malaysia using Laura Ward’s name, account, and stored credit card. Now, after a failed chargeback, Laura wants to know how this happened and why she’s being held responsible.
Mary Shaw was confident that she had done everything right while planning her trip to Paris. She had carefully selected what she thought was the perfect apartment for her family. But when Mary arrived in the French capital, she hated the Airbnb vacation rental so much that she knew they couldn’t stay.
Now Mary wants to know how she can get a refund from the unwilling Airbnb host.
What if you don’t feel safe after you check into your next Airbnb rental? That’s the frightening situation that confronted Ericka Wilson and her sister during a short vacation to Puerto Rico. They didn’t expect luxury, but they did expect to be able to lock the front door. When that wasn’t possible, they wanted to hit the eject button and get a refund.
So why was the refund request for their three-hour stay rejected? That’s what the sisters want our advocacy team to find out.
Is your Airbnb account safe from scammers and hackers?
Berenice Anaya certainly thought so. In fact, the possibility of a criminal accessing her Airbnb account and causing havoc had not even crossed her mind.
However, this Airbnb user recently woke up to an unpleasant reality after a scammer successfully hacked right into her account. The Airbnb security team thwarted the thief and prevented him from completing his ultimate goal. But not before $1,942 was removed from Berenice’s bank account.
So why won’t Airbnb return the money to its victimized guest? That’s what Berenice is asking our team after repeatedly trying unsuccessfully to retrieve her cash from the company.
What’s going on here, and can we help?
If you book a vacation rental and it has mice, are you responsible for catching and disposing of the rodents? And if so, does the Airbnb host owe you a refund or other compensation for your troubles?
That’s what Gabriella Costanza wants to know after her recent unpleasant experience. She and her significant other had planned to celebrate the holidays in a clean, cozy Airbnb property. Unfortunately, soon after the couple arrived, it became clear they weren’t alone in the vacation rental. And although Airbnb allows shared-space rentals, these additional “residents” were of the most unwelcome and unapproved kind – mice.
But maybe even worse than the reality that mice were living at this Airbnb was the host’s response. This vacation rental owner expected Gabby to put down glue traps and spend her holiday dealing with the inevitable outcome, which the young traveler did.
Now Gabby is asking Airbnb for a refund for this vacation rental experience. But will the fact that the couple completed their entire stay make that an impossible outcome?
Lee Smith believes she just had the worst Airbnb experience ever. And after you hear — and see — what she (and her cat) endured during the past month, I think you might agree.
Her tale is a harsh reminder of the risky nature of shared-space rentals. Smith assumed the Airbnb host had properly vetted the man with whom she would be sharing an apartment. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case.