Locked out of the Building by the Neighbours

Posted on June 25, 2021

I stayed at an Airbnb last year in a small town close to Thessaloniki, in Greece. There weren’t many choices, so I chose one that had the most good ratings and was nearest to the beach. I’m a single woman in her 40s —not someone who’s having parties or blasting music all night. The host was a surgeon and was generally in Athens. He wouldn’t be there to meet me, but he left detailed instructions on where to get the key to the front door of the building, and then, once inside, to the apartment. So far so good.

The building was in good shape and the apartment was decent. The television and satellite weren’t hooked up, so there was no cable/streaming or wifi. The host promised to send someone to fix that the day I arrived. That didn’t happen, but as I was only there for three days and wanted to be out and about I wasn’t too bothered. I did notice what felt like hostility from the very few other residents I encountered that I just tried to ignore it.

The second day I was walking back from dinner in town and saw a couple outside the building next door and said hello. They spoke a bit of English and were curious about who I was and where I was staying. When I told them, they seemed really surprised and said “But he cannot do that. The building does not allow this and he had a lot of trouble last summer.”

I told them I was leaving the next day but that everything seemed okay. I had booked a car to the airport the final day at noon, so I went down to the beach around 10:00, with a plan to come back up at 11:30, have a quick shower, throw on my clothes and leave. 11:30 came and I walked back up to the property, wearing a bikini and sarong and found, to my absolute horror, a brand new lock on the door to the building… and my key no longer worked.

I rang all the doorbells; no one would answer. Several residents came onto their balconies and shouted down at me but no one would unlock the door. I rang the host and left several messages with his PA. I tried ringing Airbnb, who were worse than useless, telling me that the host was entitled to change his mind about letting me stay. They seemed to totally miss that it was the end of the stay and I just needed to leave.

The car showed up. I had to pay him EUR 100 cash to sit and wait (small town, no cabs, I’d booked him in advance and if he left, I’d miss my flight). Finally, around 1:15, the neighbours I’d spoken to came home and saw what was happening. I pleaded with them for help and they finally convinced a man in the building to let me in to get my things. That man stood there and literally watched every move I made. I couldn’t even change my clothes because he wouldn’t let me close a door. He gave me five minutes to get out.

I never got any joy with Airbnb. Their view was that I’d stayed as planned. The host finally rang me as I was en route to the airport and absolutely reamed me for ‘being mean to his PA and calling repeatedly.’ Never mind that he was prohibited from renting on Airbnb or that I’d been locked out in a bikini for almost two hours. Or that his neighbours were so angry they changed the locks on the building. When I left a review reflecting this, he left a response saying that I had parties every night, the neighbours called the police because we were using drugs… all made up of course. Never again.

Guest Leaves, Takes Keys, Receives Refund

Posted on September 30, 2020

Please consider the following chain of events. I have now been waiting for Airbnb to help me retrieve my keys from a guest for almost a week and two weeks since the guest claimed he moved out (without returning my keys). I have lost numerous reservations and will most likely close my Airbnb account after this is resolved.

I accepted a reservation and arranged for the guest’s arrival and key pickup at my neighbor’s at the guest’s convenience. He checked in and the same day requested a new microwave oven, which I arranged and delivered the next morning.

Two days later he informed me he wanted to leave because of noise that he cannot prove to Airbnb and which was not confirmed by the neighbors. After I refused the change — being informed by Airbnb that I did not have to accept — the guest got hostile and accused me of “taking advantage of him.”

I was then informed by Airbnb that the guest can cancel at his own will, which I also informed him, even though I was not happy with this. I did not know cancellation was possible after checking in. The guest did not cancel, so I assume he stayed.

Prior to the original checkout date, I informed the guest he needed to leave the key where he picked it up: at my neighbor’s apartment next door. I also asked him to take out trash as I won’t be able to visit for a long time due to quarantine. When the checkout date passed and the key was not returned, I asked my neighbor to enter the apartment to look for the key.

He didn’t find the key, but a big mess, unflushed toilet, and trash left out, possibly for 10 days. I was now informed by Airbnb that the reservation is considered cancelled as by the original alteration request that I did not accept. And that I will now owe Airbnb the money for the remaining days.

A day after original checkout date, the guest finally answered and informed me I needed to travel to Stockholm (I am in Norway) to pick up my keys on the other side of town where he now apparently resides. He also requires a receipt of key return. I have no evidence of when he checked out, as the keys have not been returned. For all I know he could have used the apartment all this time, even after the original checkout date.

Instead of help from Airbnb when a guest has not returned my keys, I was informed I owe Airbnb money for the time the guest claimed he has not been in my apartment, even though they keys have still not been returned. The guest repeated he will not travel to return the keys and take out the trash “as I have caused him inconvenience,” thereby somehow “punishing” me for not accepting his alternation request which Airbnb told me I had the right to decline.

Airbnb Host Steals our Bags in Prague

Posted on August 28, 2019

The day of our departure the host had a menacing and insulting attitude when we spoke by telephone. We missed the hour of check-out (Monday August 26th, 11:00 AM) that he had fixed some hours before (he sent me a message at 9:00 PM on Friday the 25th).

When we arrived at 12:30 PM to pick our bags (with our passports and all our personal belongings) and leave the keys for the flat, we found out that our bags had been taken away. In a panic (we thought that the bags were stolen), I phoned the host. He explained to me in a very rude way that, as retaliation for missing the check-out time, he had taken the bags.

He told me that, because of my mistake, he had lost 15 euros, and that now I had to pay for that. I apologized several times and told him that we needed our bags because we had our flight at 3:00 PM. He told me that he was busy with other clients and that he didn’t know exactly at what time he would arrive at the flat with our luggage. “Maybe in two hours,” he said.

He even hung up the phone rudely saying that he couldn’t waste more time with me, as he was with another client. I knew he was trying to frighten us, as he knew we had to catch a flight. We waited in the flat some minutes and then the cleaning lady arrived (the host didn’t even have the courage to give us our luggage personally).

My mistake was that I didn’t check my inbox on Friday the 25th, and so I didn’t know the exact hour of check-out. Nevertheless, this error doesn’t justify the host’s rude, menacing and overall illegal action (he temporarily took away our bags with our documents). We strongly discourage other Airbnb guests from booking this apartment.

As a Superhost, My Account has been Unreasonably Blocked

Posted on December 12, 2017

It is really infuriating and irresponsible to unreasonably block a Superhost. After a crazy guest stayed in my apartment for four nights, I experienced the worst nightmare that I ever experienced in my whole life. This guest considered my place – for which she paid 15 USD a night – a 5-star hotel; she kept calling me to repeat her questions, and asked me to move her luggage (I’m a girl too – not her porter). What’s worse is that she knocked on my door in the early morning, claimed I didn’t give her the keys that first morning, and shouted at me. After a while, she found the keys in her luggage.

This was a really horrible experience. I was worried she would make more trouble, so I called Airbnb to see if I could cancel her booking. They expected me not to cancel and convinced me to continue to host this horrible guest.

The last night, I heard her moving things in the sitting room. I got really worried she would do something weird, so I got up and asked her if she was checking out or something. She just ignored me and then said, “I paid to live here; I will check out anytime I want. It is none of your business.”

I told her, “Sure, it matters to me, because this is my home!”

Then she started to call me a psycho and even attacked me, saying that I have a bad relationship with my colleagues, which was really crazy. I really couldn’t put up with her anymore, so I called Airbnb again to ask if I could still cancel her booking. I refunded the guest to check out earlier in the morning, at 5:00 AM. At 4:40 AM, she locked the room of her door and prepared to leave. I got really worried she would just leave with my key after the four nights of this nightmare experience with her. I asked her to leave the key, otherwise she couldn’t leave. She went to her room, and after ten minutes, the police knocked my door.

She called the police and lied that I threatened her safety. I was the one who got worried about my safety, since she’s much stronger than me and good at lying. As I explained everything, she was still calling my name and screaming. The police understood everything and asked her to shut up and not disturb the neighbours, and then they left. She asked my doorman to move her luggage and kicked my door when she left. When she returned the keys to me, I realized there was only one key for the bedroom left, when I gave her three keys at the beginning.

I thought my nightmare was over, and didn’t want to go after her for the missing keys anymore. I just wanted peace. In the afternoon, I found out my account had been blocked by Airbnb. I had been managing this account on Airbnb with all of my effort for a year. Until this crazy guest showed up, I had all 5-star reviews, and I had already been made a Superhost. I called Airbnb three times with no answer. After a few days, I got an email saying that I have been blocked without any explanation. I don’t understand how they can do this.

Dealing with Airbnb for a Lost Key is Ridiculous

Posted on July 28, 2016

We went to Yoshinori’s place (our host) in Osaka, Japan. Yoshinori has a strange check-in, check-out system. He let us take his key out of the mailbox when we arrived, so we have to put the key back at our departure time. We definitely put the key back when we left. After we went back to our country, we received a message that Yoshinori wanted us to pay $200 because the key was lost. I asked Airbnb for assistance, mentioning that we definitely put the key back in and they should check any surveiliance cameras in the vicinity; $200 seems unreasonable to replace a single key. I received a reply from Airbnb saying that the $200 is reasonable, and I should pay. Ummm…. what about me putting the key back where it was supposed to be? What about Yoshinori’s loose security? They are just making us pay. I HATE Airbnb, and I HATE Yoshinori. What should I do now? I will not pay the money, and is it even possible to sue? I want to get some kind of legal help. How can this be possible?