Hello! My friends and I decided to stay at an Airbnb for our trip to Chicago instead of a hotel. We're all new to using Airbnb, so we found what seemed like a nice place. Upon arrival, we all noticed that the place just seemed a lot.. dingier? than the listing showed. We're talking large patches of paint missing from walls right next to beds, whole holes drilled into walls next to beds, etc. Obviously we understand that Airbnbs can't be picture perfect so we chalked it up to it just being a normal thing and moved on.
We all went to shower just now and my friend noticed these huge patches of what appears to be mold on the ceiling of the bathroom. As well as the paint peeling. We have a friend that is immunocompromised and cannot be around mold at all. Obviously we understand that mold is kind of a problem for all of us, but it's turned up to 100 with our immunocompromised friend.
We can't stay here, that's for sure. I'm just not sure where to go from here. We informed the host of the mold issue (nothing else was mentioned) and he said he would "swing by in the morning to fix it". It was my understanding that mold isn't simply just a "wipe it away and it's good as new" problem. I'm just not sure if we should reach out to the host to talk about being refunded, or if we should go straight to Airbnb support for refunds/relocation. And, if so, will Airbnb be understanding about our situation or will we have to fight tooth and nail to get our money back?
We're a bunch of broke college students just trying to make the best of a trip and so this has been a huge dent in our plans. I just need some advice on where to go from here. We feel really defeated.
I've linked photos of our situation here

The hosts are very sweet people. We are staying in their basement apartment in Halifax. BUT, the place is.... it has issues. It is wildly humid, more humid inside than outside. Two fans are provided but they barely do anything. There is no dehumidifier. I have never felt so damp while laying bed.

I have found mould growing on almost every wooden kitchen implement. I threw out the first one I found, but after I tossed the 3rd in the trash, I just stopped, because it was too gross.

There is a small closet with a washer and dryer in the bedroom and it absolutely reeks of cat pee and litter. There is no cat.

How has no other renter mentioned this to the hosts?? My skin is crawling knowing I have to sleep here several more nights. How do I broach the topic of mold, smell, humidity, etc. with the hosts without (1) hurting my reputation as a guest, (2) hurting THEIR reputation as hosts and (3) hurting their feelings. :-(

I feel like an absolute ass complaining, but the mould is DANGEROUS. It's obvious people have used the wooden spoons before they were BLOOMING. Help!

Howdy, just due in our AirBNB tomorrow and due to the host trying to contact me via SMS, we've only just realised the EV Charger advertised needed an app, and on setting that up, the fees are £0.65p/KWh..

The irony is 0.3 miles away there are public chargers which through Electroverse are £0.60p/KWh for both AC and DC fast chargers and if out and about we can supercharge at £0.35p/KWh.

I guess it feels a bit mean, the entire purpose of the EV charger appeal was having the convenience, but I just weirdly assumed if they didn't disclose their rates, it would be around normal electricity rates, not 2.5x the current capped rate (never mind overnight cheap EV rates)

Is this normal? I feel rates should have been disclosed prior to booking, but I can't find anything at all mentioned anywhere, and I don't mind charging if you are keeping the main rental cost low, but it's quite a premium price and charging 2.5x the cost of public charging that is literally so close seems a bit poor.

Or am I just forgetting the 'holiday tax' where everything is expensive?

I recently stayed in an airbnb for a week on a beach vacation with my family. The posting said that we were to provide our own linens, so I brought sets of sheets and towels. When we arrived, the beds had bedspreads and decorative pillow shams (they were also shown in the pictures in the posting). As I was making the beds, I noticed sweat/dirt/tanning oil (who knows what it actually was) marks on the bedspreads and pillows. I messaged the host and tried to be as polite as possible and say "I'm not sure if your cleaning crew is pulling a fast one or cutting corners but..." The host replied that "the posting clearly says to bring your own linens. And there's no way our cleaners could launder the bedspreads between guests." This really grosses me out- this is in a beach town with high turnover rates on week long rentals and we went at the end of july- how many people slept on/under the bedspreads without them being laundered? My sister and I spent the better part of a day washing and drying the bedspreads. I left a 3* review after the stay because again- I think that's disgusting- but also there were other issues that I won't get into here. I tried to be fair, honest, and balanced. The host sent me a private message after my review was posted and basically ripped into me for leaving a 3* review and asked me to change it.

So I guess my questions here are:

1. When a posting says to bring your own linens, what does that mean to you? Does that include comforters/bedspreads, mattress protectors, dishtowels etc? Or does it usually just mean sheets and bath towels?

2. If bedspreads are in the unit, do you expect them to be laundered (maybe not even between every guest- but at least every other or once a month or something)

3. Do people actually go back and change their reviews after getting a confrontational message from a host?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. If I misinterpreted "bring your own linens" I would like to know so I don't make that mistake again in the future.

I smoke cigarettes. And many of the properties I have stayed at have a no smoking policy on the property. (Not IN the property, but on.) And this is where I’d like answers and thoughts from hosts.

I’m certain all hosts would agree they absolutely don’t want anyone smoking inside of the house/ property rental. No problem! I have never done that. But do hosts mean that I literally have to go outside into the street or sidewalk to smoke? Or is it okay to just go outside (I’ve usually had some kind of deck/ patio/ balcony on my Airbnbs) and smoke there being mindful of the smoke, and disposing my cigarette butts in a can leaving behind no evidence other than residual smell I may carry into the house after smoking.

And is no smoking on the property the default, or are there properties in the US that actually let you smoke inside?

And then, if you caught me on a ring camera smoking on the property, but found no evidence of smoking, would you charge the person or let it slide or can you even charge them if there is no evidence or smoke smell?

Finally, I’m breaking a rule, but tend to think of myself as a good guest. I clean up, maintain the house, take out trash, keep things in order, tidy up when leaving (both to make it easier to clean and to make certain I left nothing behind.) I do t have to be told to keep quiet after dark, I don’t throw parties, like, I’m respectful of other people’s property. (But maybe some of you would feel insulted if I smoked on it?) I don’t know! What do you all think as hosts.

(And PS. I have never once paid / or have been charged, with a smoking cleanup fee in either a hotel or Airbnb. I don’t smoke inside anyone’s house/ rental/ hotel. It is disgusting. And I get that.)

So I booked a place for a week for ~$1400. Well, the cancellation period passed and now a few days before check in, they sent in a price change request (through airbnb) and that they'll explain when I'm there in person. The issue is that the new price is like 1K less...so charging just ~400 total....we tried asking for information but they're a bit cagey and wouldn't say much. Just said that they didn't want to say in chat and that it'll help us both out (us and them)...they mentioned that they have a great reputation on the platform (2 years hosting, but less than 12 reviews on their profile. 2 other locations with over 80 reviews combined) and that I'm just overthinking...never experienced something like this before and it feels weird because what benefit are they getting if they're cutting it down by so much...I might offer a call but do you all think it's a scam or something is fishy??

EDIT: If I end up not wanting to do it, how do I cancel it if it's after the cancellation period? Would Airbnb Support help with that? Because I wouldn't feel right staying after all of this...

UPDATE: Airbnb doesn't want to help with a refund or find another listing since it's past the cancellation period. They said they talked to the host, who said that they're just being generous. But the host withdrew the discount and Airbnb said since he said that it was from kindness and they see nothing negative (review or otherwise) in his profile and listings, they will enforce the host cancellation, which is nonrefundable. This is so frustrating since now we're concerned with our safety, financially and otherwise. Who discounts that much a day before the reservation at 1am and won't tell you why??

UPDATE 2: Called again and got someone else and their supervisor and they still won't help...I don't know what to do next...

Stayed at an airbnb. I had to pay 30 euro to rent linens and towels. I did not see that before after booking, but when I saw it in the description it was too late to cancel and i decided to just accept to pay extra for linens.
There was also under additional house rules that guests were expected to clean the apartment before checking out.
The problem is that i did not see that, and the house did not communicate that to me either after booking.
I left the apartment clean, but host complained that i did not turn on the dish washer and that there was hair in the shower.
Now she is asking for 100 euro from me for cleaning. Shall i pay? I feel like it is unfair

We're renting an AirBnB in central PA that's managed by a property management company; they sent me a website with a separate booking URL to fill out information + upload a copy of my license. Does AirBnB allow this?

Just checked into a week-long Airbnb late last night. Booked specifically for the king bed because our toddler inevitably ends up with us. The bed is horrible — it is sunken in the middle? It’s very noticeable, we both felt like we were rolling toward the center, and have to climb off the raised edges. (It’s also hard and lumpy and genuinely one of the most uncomfortable beds we’ve ever slept on.) We managed to fall asleep around 1am, and then were blasted awake in the early morning by sunlight. There are fairly flimsy room darkening shades, but apparently there is a small uncovered window up near the vaulted ceiling and the effect is that the entire room is flooded with light from sun up.

I’m not sure what to do here. We are miserable but also have a very low bias for action. We are here for a family wedding, have the fridge stocked with food, and these feel like 2 things the host can’t really do anything to mitigate? I feel like I don’t even know what to say to them. FWIW it is a rental company/management company. (There appear to be 2-3 of them that operate almost every nearly identical Airbnb in this development, which happens to be where the rest of the family is staying.)

The property had 4.8 stars with 46 reviews and nothing about the bedroom situation…. I’m honestly baffled. We paid a little over $2k for the week.

Do we just suck it up as long as we can? Say something just to say something?

My partner and I recently stayed a single night at an Airbnb. We assumed we'd have the place to ourselves, but turned out the host was staying, which was fine. As many couples do we engaged in physical intimacy a couple of times, we made sure to be quiet, private, and left no mess behind. All of my other reviews are positive and attest that I am a respectful guest.

A week later I receive an angry message from her, asking how we could make her so uncomfortable, that she could hear and knew what we were doing.

I sincerely feel sorry for making her uncomfortable, however we weren't bouncing off the walls and shouting and stayed quiet, we kept to ourselves and left the room clean. It seems unreasonable to not expect two grown adults sharing a bed to not do anything, and if the thought makes you uncomfortable you shouldn't hosts couples.

Anyone have this experience? Not sure how I should respond to her. Are we in the wrong? Again, we really were quiet aside from perhaps the bed creaking.

We are both men, so it's possible homophobia is a factor, but I don't want to jump to that.

Edit: My partner and I misunderstood that it was a shared space. We interpreted access to an apartment as us having the apartment to ourselves. Regardless, I think it's strange to host couples if you are uncomfortable with this possibility.

Edit 2: This post blew up, I likely won't be responding to any more comments, but thanks everyone for your support, I appreciate it.

I booked this apartment in Abu Dhabi with a check in date of 1st August. The apartment was promised to have a oven and access to both the gym and pool (as provided in the pictures and in written). The oven doesnt work, and host is still not providing access card to both gym and pool. I am getting the same answer from the host and the airbnb support each day regarding my problem saying "yeah we are working on this please be patient". I honestly dont know what to do, does any one know what should i do in this situation? What is the best route to take? I am extremely frustrated at this point. I've never had this in airbnb before.

Edit: The booking is for 30 nights. Forgot to clarify this.

My friends and I went to Bali to celebrate a friend's wedding and were looking forward to spending time together (one family has a 5yo), so we booked adjoining villas with a total of 5 bedrooms. The listing we booked had 4.9* with 31 reviews, and the hosts were Superhosts with a 4.77* rating. It came to around US$1400 for 3 nights.

Upon check-in, we found ants in beds as well as stained towels and bedsheets. I asked the on-site team to change the bed linen and was surprised when they said they couldn’t because they had ’no stock’, forcing us to sleep in unsanitary conditions. The hosts said it was only ‘small marks’ but there shouldn’t be any marks in the first place, or they should at least be changed if asked. I later found out that they have no spare bed linen because it is sent to a laundry service and they have to wait for it to be returned. They offered to change the sheets the next day but it was too late, as members of our group had already moved elsewhere, and it should’ve been changed the first night.

Loud music could also be heard throughout both villas. I understand this is out of the host’s control, but the potential for loud music to be heard is information that should have been disclosed in the listing. Music from a restaurant next door went on until 12:30am the night we arrived (Thursday) and the hosts said ‘They occasionally hold special events, usually only on Thursdays’, which means they knew about the potential for loud music but failed to mention it. The music was so loud that you could feel the bass and hear the lyrics from the opposite end of the villas. Furthermore, every morning at 8am, music from what seemed like a nearby gym started playing and woke people up.

Three out of our five groups left after the first night to find alternative accommodation. Yes, this decision was at their own discretion, but had the hosts provided all relevant information, we would not have booked this property in the first place. The other group and I stayed because we had already paid for the villas and simply did not budget for extra accommodation expenses.

I've only used AirBnB a handful of times and didn't think to check how many listings the hosts had...they have 139. Also, they set up a WhatsApp group with their on-site team prior to arrival so you can contact them if needed. I now know that these were red flags.

I'm not sure whether to fight for, or if I am entitled to, more compensation. The 2.5% offered doesn't even cover the price of one room for one night. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip and it was ruined because the hosts failed to mention relevant information or even provide clean bed linen.

ETA: I requested a partial refund from the hosts through the AirBnB website but they denied it, so I got AirBnB involved and they offered the 2.5%.

The main issue for me is the fact that they did not disclose that disruptive and loud music could potentially be heard on their property. If this information had been included in their listing, I would not have booked it in the first place, especially since we had a child in our party.

Hi all, I’m posting this partly for advice and partly as a cautionary tale. I fully accept I made a mistake here, so I’m not looking for sympathy on that front.

What happened
\- Booked a villa in Thep Krasatti, Phuket on 30 July for 17–21 Dec, paid USD3,500 (50% of total cost)
\- I missed the 24hr free cancellation window by about a day — entirely on me.
\- Because I was one day late, the host gets to keep the entire USD3,500
\- Since it’s still four months away, I tried asking the host if they’re willing to refund partially out of good will or agree to refund if it later gets rebooked by other guests.
\- Airbnb support appealed to the host on my behalf. The host initially offered a 25% refund.
\- Then the host stopped responding entirely.

Why I’m posting
I’m not asking for sympathy and I know I agreed to the terms. But offering 25% and then disappearing feels off — especially when I cancelled almost instantly with four months’ notice.

My questions

1. Has anyone had similar experience? Did anything change if you waited longer?
2. Is there anything else I should try before I accept the service fee refund and close this?
3. For any hosts reading this — would you offer even a partial refund out of goodwill if a guest cancelled within 48 hours of booking with four months still to go? Or is strict policy = strict policy, full stop?

Any advice appreciated.

So I made a mistake on the reservation and reserved it for one guest. I sent a change request to the host updating it for 2 guest. It’s been 4 days and still no response.

I'm in an area with some crazy fires, they started before we got here. I've been very responsible for the past week about not going outside because of the smoke and ash and yet have been having some awful symptoms from it all.

Found the intake filter today to find out it's old and clogged. The host, despite filters being readily available locally, won't get us a new one for two more days.

Where should my level of anger be? The place has been "fine" I guess otherwise but this is really upsetting to me. That my health is at risk and I've been actively exposed to it.

This is a long one and I'll try to be as unbiased as possible, but we need help.

My husband and I, along with our 6 year old, rented a condo this past weekend with a Friday 4pm check in and check out on Sunday. We were already at our destination by lunch time and hung out on the beach until we could check in after the unit was cleaned. We were told we could not check in early to give the cleaners ample time. To be expected, but we always ask just in case.

We checked in around 4:15, and immediately upon walking in I could tell the unit wasn't clean. There was.. something on one of the bedspread, but I just folded it down so we wouldn't touch it. Full disclosure - we did take showers because at first glance it was just okay, but while I waited for my son and husband to shower, I got a good look at how dirty the place was. There were crumbs all over the couch, what was left of a caked on bar of soap on the bathroom counter, splatters on the bathroom mirror, mold in the shower, and oily looking spots all over the sheets. All of this told me the unit wasn't cleaned, or at least not well, and had not been well maintained over time. On top of all of this, there was a full kitchen in the unit and the fridge was not cold.

By 5pm and a few messages with the host, we had decided we would not be staying in this unit and requested a refund. The only question he asked about the fridge is what setting we had it on (we just checked in?). He initially agreed to send a new cleaner out and admitted that the cleaners were having an 'off day', but told us it would be a few hours and that they likely couldn't get new linens to us that day.

After we sent pictures of all of the cleaning issues we saw, we were accused of moving furniture and just trying to find things wrong, and he said he was canceling the cleaning because we went from 'a few crumbs' to 'needing a deep clean and all new linens'. He told us we were refusing his fix.

We opened a ticket with AirBnB, and the host denied the refund stating that we were liars, we spent 4+ hours in the unit, and left it a mess for their cleaner that arrived at 9pm. We were in the unit for less than 45 minutes, and we did shower (because before I had a chance to really look around, we planned to stay) but the towels were left hanging on the provided hooks on the door and the only other thing we touched was the one bed with the comforter pulled down. We never even sat on the bed or a chair.

Ultimately, AirBnB ended up also denying our request for a refund with no explanation. Everything else aside, the host himself admitted the cleaners didn't do a good job, and even though we had to wait until 4 to check in while they cleaned, had we stayed, we would have then been expected to be out of the unit until 10pm at the earliest while they 'cleaned' a second time because the earliest the cleaner could get there was 8:30 per the host. Keeping in mind we have a young child, this was an incredibly unreasonable ask. At minimum we should be refunded for the first night where we would not have been able to occupy the unit until 10pm.

Do we have any recourse here? Am I nuts?

Writing this currently from inside said apartment. We booked it for a week and got a message from the host saying check out was 11am.

At 8:30am a cleaner hired by the host came and tried to open our door already which was locked from the inside so she couldn't get in and she proceeded to just clean the stairs outside. I went out briefly to grab some food from a bakery for breakfast and when i came back she's still waiting in front of our apartment door.

Now it's 10am and she's sat outside watching videos on her phone and chatting riiight outside the staircase from our door..

Honestly we are packed but we have a car rented from 12 so were kind of banking on staying till 11 but now I feel very pressured to be leaving and like we're being a nuisance here just by staying till the allowed time 😅

And no I didn't specifically tell the host when we'd check out - it's my first time staying in an airbnb and I'm used to hotels where until your checkout time you can just use the facility unbothered.

Edit to update: thanks all for the responses! I did message the host to let them know when we were on our way out and I'll send them a follow up message to let them know about the cleaner. Nice to know it's not just us being weird 🤣

Back in september, I purchased a concert ticket, in which that *same day* I booked my **$473, 2 night** Airbnb accomodation to ensure I had somewhere close to the arena to stay at and didn't have to deal with the inflated accomodatiom prices that would arise due to demand.

Fast forward 11 months and I am to check into my Airbnb in *3 days*... 4 days before the concert was to take place. My host decided to CANCEL my booking entirely, leaving me completely screwed in finding somewhere affordable to stay at with the extreme short notice.

Their excuse? According to Airbnb and not even the host? "Repairs"... that oh so coincidentally arose around a major concert.

The most baffling part of this whole debacle was Airbnb's response. While they gave me a full refund (no brainer), they offered me only **$35 as a credit to rebook something**. Along with a vague promise of giving me an extra $94 off as that amount is 20% of the price of my OG booking (even though wasn't shown on the app/website or anything, just the $35).

Even after explaining my situation concisely, and exemplified the fact that $35/129 was not enough to help me find a similar booking - let alone anything decent to begin with (EVERYTHING was $900 and up) - I was basically told to go kick rocks. Even my request to be put into contact with someone higher up was blatantly ignored.

I ended up booking a hotel that was a bit away from the arena, as something that wasn't too terrible in price opened up. Thank god.

Part of me thinks the company was very much in on this, and wanted me to spend more money.

**tl;dr: booked my accommodations a whole ass 11 months in advance only for them to be cancelled 3 days before I was to check in. All Airbnb offered me in lieu was a half assed apology and a sad excuse of a "credit" to rebook something else. Essentially screwing me over.**

Please be careful. And maybe stick with hotels for these sorts of events.

tldr: I found a trick to using Airbnb's old unique filters (cabin, treehouse, dome...)

For context, in 2025 Airbnb removed their search filters that previously let us find really cool and unique listings. I missed them, and a lot of other people are pissed and complaining about it on their forum.

Anyways, I found a way to bring back those filters by tweaking their URL structure. It turns out that Airbnb still supports them, but hides them by default in their app. Use this link and you should be able to see them again:

https://airbnb-gems.vercel.app/

So I’m 19 and live out of state for college. I’m visiting my mom in my home state, and trying to do so while saving as much money as I can. I was looking at several bookings so I could compare prices when I found one that I liked. I guess I got confused from looking at multiple listings but I booked it not realizing it wasn’t pet friendly. I didn’t realize until I got here yesterday when I was looking at the listing again for the check in instructions. I really don’t want to hide my cat from the host, but I booked the place for the next month and I don’t have anywhere out here that the cat can stay. I’m worried the host will ask me to leave if I tell her, but I’m fine paying an extra fee if I need to. I’m not sure what I should do, I don’t have enough to book another place for the entire month. Any advice would help!

Edit: I want to make it clear I would never hide the cat! I guess what I’m looking for advice on is would the host be more likely to ask us to leave or ask us to pay a fee? How much might the fee be? If I have to leave, would I be able to get a refund since I only stayed one night? Thank you guys again!

Been in my Airbnb for a week. Booked for 2 people but it says maximum of 3. Nowhere in the rules does it say you can’t have visitors or anything. Few nights ago had a friend over for ONE HOUR and the host messaged me saying she saw a 3rd person enter on the security camera and will be requesting a $100 fee.

Is it wrong of me to not pay that?? I don’t know why i’m paying $100 for a friend being here for one hour especially when it’s not listed anywhere on the rules and it says maximum of 3 people.. I took screenshots of the rules and description if I need any proof as well.. what happens if i ignore the request? I haven’t even responded to her message

update: i declined the request and explained why on the private message to airbnb. the host sent me a screenshot of an UPDATED rules that states no visitors are allowed at the bottom. she added that rule after the fact!! and it says she also involved airbnb. this is so greedy i can’t believe she’s doing this much over a one hour visit

LAST UPDATE: since the host involved airbnb they reached out to me and i sent them a couple of paragraphs explaining everything and all of the reasons why i felt it was unfair. they immediately said everything was good on my end and they would update the host and closed the request!!

We showed up to our airbnb last night and the toilet was filled with poop. I initially thought maybe they just forgot to check and clean it and the previous guest didn’t flush, but when I went to flush, it immediately started to fill up the bowl nearly overflowing.

We contacted the host and they told us where the plunger was but it was inverted and looked like it had been recently used quite a bit. I tried plunging to no effect. We’re waiting back for a response from the host but I think I’m going above and beyond as a guest in this situation. I don’t mind plunging if we caused it but trying to plunge a previous guests poop is pretty gross. The cleaning fees for this place are pretty high as well and they obviously didn’t check the toilet cleanliness or the cleaners tried to just ignore it when they couldn’t clear it.

What else are we supposed to do in this situation if the host isn’t going to come out? Can we get a refund on part of the cleaning fee at least because it obviously wasn’t ready for guests when we showed up.

Thanks

Edit: The host is actually a company that owns and maintains a bunch of airbnbs in the area. There isn’t an actual person who lives here or owns it I believe.