Airbnb experiences
1. The Background:
When you’ve had a bad Airbnb stay, there are various options which may apply to you. Try to reach a resolution with your host directly. If that doesn’t work, you might be eligible for a refund. Reporting a bad stay through a review is an easy process, but keep in mind that it is not anonymous. Future potential hosts will be able to see your past reviews, and may be hesitant to rent to you if your reviews are extremely negative. Thus, aim to keep your review as constructive as possible
2. Things You Should Know
- Always contact your host first and attempt to resolve any issues with them before getting in touch with Airbnb support.
- If you believe you are eligible for a refund, navigate to https://www.airbnb.com/resolutions and click the “Request money” button to submit a refund request.
- Leaving negative and constructive reviews is acceptable (and helpful to others), but too many negative reviews may make future hosts less trusting of renting to you.
3. Contact your host.
Navigate to https://www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us. Log into your Airbnb account, if prompted. Click on the text “Resolve Issue” on the left-hand side. A box with your recent host(s) should appear. Click “Send Message” under the appropriate host’s name. Use the message to outline and detail your concerns.
- You can contact your host during or after your stay if something is missing, not working, or otherwise not the way you expected.
- Allow your host some time to respond. If you don’t hear back, you can try their listed email address or phone number.
4. Contact Airbnb directly if your host remains unresponsive.
Navigate to https://www.airbnb.com/contact. Alternately, you can reach Airbnb by phone at 1-855-424-7262. Explain your situation and that you attempted to reach the host but have not heard back.
- Contact Airbnb at https://www.airbnb.com/contact within twenty-four hours of your check-in to make a record of the issue and initiate a hold on your payment.
- The Airbnb phone number is available 24/7. The average wait time on the line is twelve minutes.
5. Check your refund eligibility.
Navigate to https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2868. Review Airbnb’s Guest Refund Policy to see if you may qualify for a refund. Eligible travel issues tend to fall into one of the following categories: the host failed to provide reasonable access to the location; the listing misrepresented details; or the location was unclean, unsafe, or contained an animal not mentioned in the listing.
- You must have used reasonable efforts to resolve the situation with the host before filing a claim. In other words, you must have contacted your host and attempted to resolve the issue with them directly before resorting to initiating a claim.
- You won’t be eligible for a refund if you’re directly or indirectly responsible for the travel issue. Your own action, negligence or omission must not have caused the travel issue.
6. Submit a refund request.
- Contact your host first to agree upon a refund amount.
- If you’ve been unable to reach a resolution with your host, use Airbnb’s 30-day satisfaction guarantee instead. Navigate to the Profile tab and contact Airbnb.
- You have up to 60 days after checkout to submit a Resolution Centre request.
7. Contact Airbnb if you can’t reach an agreement with your host.
- Make sure to answer any requests Airbnb may have for additional information.
8. Go to your Airbnb reviews.
Navigate to https://www.airbnb.com/login. Alternately, you can reach the Airbnb login screen by going to Airbnb’s homepage at https://www.airbnb.com and clicking on “Log In” in the upper right-hand corner. Enter your email address and password. If you signed up for Airbnb through Facebook or Google, click the respective button instead.
- If you lost your password, click the link under the Password field that says “Can’t log in?” Enter the email address you used to sign up for Airbnb. Check your email and click the link to reset your password.
9. Find the stay you want to review.
Click on the tab that says “Reviews By You.” Select the user profile you wish to post a review about.
- Your stay must be completed and you’ll need to be checked out of the location before writing your review.
- You have fourteen days from the time of checkout to submit a review about your stay.
10. Assign a star rating.
11. Write the text of your review.
- Have the text-editing program check your spelling. View your character count occasionally as you go.
- It’s also a good idea to write your review in a text-editing program first because you don’t want to lose the text you’ve written if there’s a problem with the website or your internet connection as you try to submit your review.
12. Evaluate and submit your review.
- For example, the content you submit can’t be profane, threatening, or illegal.
- Your review must represent the personal experience of you or your travel companions during that stay.
13. More tips
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If your stay is still ongoing, make sure to take photos to document the issues you’re experiencing. This can be the proof that distinguishes between a successful and unsuccessful claim.
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You can revise a review you’ve written on Airbnb for up to 48 hours after submitting it (or until your host posts a follow-up to your review).
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If you want to publicly report a bad Airbnb yet remain anonymous, you’ll have to use a site other than Airbnb. For example, try using https://www.airbnbhell.com/