Tag Archives: airbnb noise

How Long Will Airbnb Allow Communities to be Ruined?

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My partner and I live in a rural, wooded gated community that must have decided to look the other way as far as regulating short term rental houses. When neighbors complain about short term rentals, the Airbnb hosts (who are homeowners in the gated community) probably just get small fines or warnings, which makes us believe they haven’t got any tickets; the same problems occur over and over with the same rentals: loud music, and other kinds of loud noises (guns, fireworks, parties) all day and night, burning fires without a fire pit (a rule in our community), garbage and littering, speeding, overusing our amenities, like the pool showers.

We think the community management doesn’t want to make waves with these homeowners because the community charges them fees to allow short term rentals. So it’s screw the homeowner who just lives here, because the Airbnb hosts are giving “revenue” to the community. At what expense? If the community doesn’t regulate them, the homeowners who live here will just move out.

Call us conspiracy theorists, but maybe that’s the management plan: make it so miserable for the full time homeowners that they move out, and turn this place into a rental community, where nobody lives here; it’s just a community of rentals. Another big problem is that they allow more people in the house than is permitted. For example, they have a four-bedroom house, but they advertise that it sleeps 24. Our so-called police safety crew will come if you call them, but they don’t do anything. State police won’t help because we are in a gated community. Bottom line: our serenity and peace and quiet and safety is regularly disturbed and we are stuck here until someone starts to regulate the short term rentals.

Weekend Millionaires in Neighbour’s Airbnb Flat

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Just another neighbour complaining about living next to an Airbnb, hoping that something might be done one day. If not, maybe it just feels good to rant…

For the last few months now, my partner and I have been living next to what is now some kind of party den for weekend millionaires who appear to have no regard for other human beings who actually live in the area. We’ve had it all: thudding music, screeching girls, boisterous louts, fights, shouting, swearing, glasses being thrown onto the street (from the 8th floor), someone almost being thrown off the balcony (again, from the 8th floor), police turning up, etc.

It’s simply unfathomable to me how people can be so oblivious or simply apathetic to the fact that it’s a Tuesday at 5:00 AM and usually people are asleep or about to get ready for work. The flat in question faces over a large expanse surrounded by several blocks and the acoustics mean that any noise quite literally echoes around the area. God forbid you want to open your windows to let some air in during the summer. Isn’t it lovely having the choice to either sweat to death in (somewhat) peace or be cool but slightly insane from sleep deprivation in your own home?

The host has refused to even acknowledge the problem and has essentially disappeared off the face of the Earth since I managed to contact them, demonstrating complete contempt for the fact they’re disturbing roughly near 200 residents for financial gain. What’s even more hilarious is that with each complaint I submit to Airbnb (regarding separate occurrences), I get a lovely auto response saying they’re not going to do anything because it’s been flagged as a “duplicate” complaint. Their “neighbours” system only permits you to complain once and then that’s that. Despite all this we are in the process of building up a nice, juicy “nuisance diary” hoping that the local authorities can do something… if not then god help us all. I suppose we’re just expected to put up with it. What a day and age we live in.

Airbnb put a $200 Coupon Value on my Personal Safety

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My husband and I stayed at an Airbnb, where on our very first day within hours of our arrival, the downstairs neighbor shoved a passive aggressive threatening letter under the door stating that the hosts have not fixed the insulation in the apartment, the result of which is the neighbors downstairs hear all of our footsteps in the lounge, kitchen, and bedroom areas. In fact, the letter itself said the neighbors downstairs have made it a habit to serve every single Airbnb guest of this host with the letter, so that the hosts will do something about it.

At around 9:00 PM on our first day, when I was walking to the kitchen to get a glass of water, the neighbor downstairs started shouting at us through the floors to stop walking and hurling insults. As a result, we had to tiptoe through the whole apartment through the most of our stay. To tell you the truth, we felt so unsafe that we were ready to call 999 during our stay if the yelling neighbor ever decided to knock on our door. It was that bad.

We did contact the host as soon as possible on the very first day of our stay stating in detail how the neighbor verbally harassed us and how we have to tiptoe around the apartment now so that he doesn’t start yelling at us again. The host said he would take care of the situation but nothing was done at all. Neither the host nor Airbnb took any steps to protect us from harassment. In fact, both the host’s and Airbnb’s negligence allowed this verbal harassment to occur in the first place.

Despite previous reviews mentioning the insulation issue with the neighbor and the neighbor’s behavior, Airbnb allowed this host to continue to rent this place out to unsuspecting guests like us. When we contacted Airbnb about this they stated that they can only give us a $200 coupon for the verbal harassment and bullying we suffered at one of their properties. I’m sorry but a $200 coupon is unacceptable and frankly offensive.

My as well as my husband’s personal safety and well-being is worth more than a $200 coupon to me. I don’t think it is asking for too much to expect Airbnb to value their customers’ personal safety and well-being more than a $200 coupon, especially when their own negligence in supervising the host’s property allowed this harassment incident to occur. I’m writing this review because I want to highlight Airbnb’s negligence in allowing this verbal harassment to occur despite previous reviews mentioning the insulation issue with the neighbor and the fact that Airbnb, as a company, puts a $200 value on their customers’ personal safety and well-being to warn future customers.

Undisclosed Noise, Refused to Adjust Cancellation Policy

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I rented an apartment in Dusseldorf, Germany for ten days to visit my seven-year-old daughter. The place seemed to be as advertised. Then it got dark and the thumping bass started. It turns out the apartment is directly across the street from a nightclub. The nightclub played thumping bass that emanated through the entire apartment until 3:30 AM. This was unexpected because it was not disclosed in the listing and in the US you usually don’t see nightclubs in residential areas (zoning).

The next day I canceled the rest of my stay and booked a hotel. I had to pay a premium for the hotel because I was booking last minute. The landlord sent me a message asking me why I canceled. I explained the thumping bass until 3:30 AM situation and suggested they modify the listing to clearly state there is a nightclub across the street and it can be quite loud.

I asked for a refund, agreeing to pay for the night I stayed in the apartment plus cleaning fees. The landlord refused to give any refund. He did, however, modify the listing to note it can get loud due to the “pulsating life in the old town.”

When Airbnb looked into the issue they said the listing states that it can get loud. I explained this was not noted in the original listing and that I had communicated to the landlord that I would be staying there with my seven-year-old daughter. I sent Airbnb the email correspondence with the landlord where I specifically mentioned he should disclose the loud noise in the listing. He thanked me for the feedback. I explained to Airbnb that the listing was modified after I booked my trip.

Airbnb replied they acted fairly and are not going to refund any money. This is outright fraud. Airbnb’s business model is flawed and it is time for congress to setup up and defend consumer rights. If this were a hotel I would have been treated completely differently, but because of the decentralized nature of Airbnb they seem to be able to get away with acting unethically and stealing people’s money.

Couple Comes and Destroys Serenity with Airbnb Rentals

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We bought our land two years ago. We built and moved in last year. This is (was) our dream home: quiet and secluded on a pristine lake. Not a big lake, a very small one that is non-navigable.

A few months after we moved in, a few chalets started popping up. I turns out it’s all the same couple that built them… for the sole purpose of short-term rentals. They have turned our nice, quiet neighbourhood into a constant stream of loud strangers who disrespect the surroundings and the nature.

I’ve had to call the police numerous times. I’ve even had a renter call the cops on me accusing me of making death threats with a shovel (which is BS). I am in the process of taking this up with the city to get their rental permit revoked. In our HOA it states that the lots are for residential habitations only and cannot be used as a commerce or business, even liberally.

These people don’t live here and I, along with the other owners, have had enough. Quite frankly, f$#& Airbnb. Airbnb, and other short-term rental companies like them need to be outlawed entirely. This is unfair to people who just want peace and quiet.

Living Next to Airbnb Pool House Worse than Hell

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I’m too tired for words right now but it is total hell – worse than hell – living next to a Airbnb with a pool in the backyard. It’s like every weekend or every day there’s a pool party, living next to a water park, and kids screaming their heads off from 8:00 in the morning till 8:00 at night. It started out last night; I didn’t go to work. I work overnight shifts at Amazon and when I can’t sleep, I can’t work. During the summer, it’s particularly hot; we don’t have air conditioning. These houses were built with no air conditioning. We didn’t need air conditioning in Southern California when we moved here. However, now that it’s getting overcrowded there’s more humidity and it’s hotter than hell. Not only that, but this neighbor built a wall in his backyard on the hill so they can look right into our bathroom window, and my bedroom window. It is very uncomfortable and noisy and I’m tired of it. I don’t care where we go on vacation; my parents never allowed my sister and I to scream like that all day long anywhere. It’s ridiculous living next to an Airbnb property.

Noise Issue with Greece Airbnb Vacation Home

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I am a host and just started a vacation in Greece as a guest a few days ago. Unfortunately, as soon as we arrived we discovered that the place was very, very noisy because it is on a very traffic heavy road, and does not have proper modern windows. We could not sleep and after the first night, decided to change our accommodation, as we could not spend our vacation there.

We immediately contacted the host and Airbnb support to get refunded for the unused nights (we ended up staying for three nights, the time to find another place). The host denied the issue, saying we knew all about the place (which is not true, we knew it was near a street, but nothing was mentioned about the level of noise to expect).

Airbnb support has not been helpful at all so far; for three days they have been asking me to send sound recordings, which I have done, but their email address response@airbnb.com does not work, and they don’t understand it. The support staff seem to be very weak and unable to help me. I had to cancel my 21 days stay after three nights, and for now I still have to pay for 50% of the remaining 18 days, so we are paying 1700 Euros for three horrible nights.

Please can anyone help – what would you do in this situation to get a refund? Who can I contact at Airbnb to get a serious resolution and refund? Thanks very much.

Florida Airbnb Not Close Enough to Beach

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Well, let’s start with our arrival. Upon arrival, the door code that the host sent didn’t work. We had to stand around for 45 minutes until we received the code to get into the key box located downstairs. She then failed to send her maintenance guy over to program the code for the door.

On Monday morning, we woke up at approximately 7:30 to the sound of construction noise at the building next door. We set out to find the beach, which was supposedly across from the unit. After a 10-minute drive down the road, we finally in came across Sombrero Beach. It was not within walking distance for the kids. Both the image posted for the unit, as well as the one from Google Maps, indicated the unit was across the road from Sombrero beach.

For the rest of the week we endured noise and construction workers gawking at our 13-year-old girls. This made the girls too uncomfortable to swim without an adult present. Additionally, music was blaring from the construction site all day long. After explaining all of these problems to the host, she indicated she was going to give us a credit for three nights. That never happened and I have attempted to contact her multiple times since with her simply ignoring my text messages and phone calls.

The location of the property, the hassle we endured, and the inconvenience was not worth the $2800+ we payed. I would not stay at any property that this woman represents. She simply lies to appease you for the moment and does not honor her word. Find another property.

San Diego Airbnb Gem Turns out to be Nasty

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The tags more or less say it all. We arrived to an overwhelmingly bad smell, a mixture of body odor and dog pee. It turned out the sheets were dirty – I mean really dirty with hair on the pillowcase and a horrible smell. We contacted the host who sent out her mother (the head of housekeeping) to put on fresh linens.

Fortunately, we lived close (long story) so we went and brought our own bedding. After removing all of the bedding the whole house smelled better – except the dog pee – so we sort of got used to it. The bath linens were dirty too. The towels smelled of mildew but the hand towel smelled of ass, literally. I found out the hard way after washing my face. Looking closely anywhere showed a lot of dirt including dust, stains, grime, hair, spider webs, spider shit, rat shit, mildew, and more.

The filth kicker was the cabinet above the kitchen sink. There was an opening to the outside and rats have been coming into the house. Two un-set rat traps still with peanut butter residue sat patiently waiting to be used again and were peppered with rat shit. Another cabinet had three other rat traps in it as well.

The amenities consisted of a used roll of paper towel, a nearly empty bottle of dish soap, a mishmash of silverware not even making up a full complement, some pots and pans but no colander for making spaghetti, and just random barely acceptable $1 store plastic ware. I mean it has some charm, but this crap sets the stage for a lovely four-night stay.

During the stay we discovered the casita next door had a couple in it on a vacation where they never left their unit, talked and laughed loudly all day and night with their windows open we think on a recreational weed holiday. On the other side the neighbors had a nest cam pointed out their window at the Airbnb unit looking past a fence cut down low for visibility and peering into the bathroom and kitchen windows. With no fan in the bathroom you open the window only to be filmed while showering.

When you go to write a bad review and you dispute the $85 cleaning fee, this is the response you might get: “We have to keep traps because of the surrounding fruits trees. I’m sorry that you experienced uncleanliness. I will bring this to the cleaners attention. I just ask you to not write me an awful review. Thank you for your understanding.”

Fortunately they refunded that fee. I am absolutely stunned that anyone recently even wrote a positive review.

Domestic Violence Nightmare at my Home

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I have been a host on Airbnb since 2009. I had guests stay at my place at the end of March 2018. During that visit, the police were called by a neighbor at 3:00 in the morning due to a domestic dispute. In fact, the police had to break down my front door to get in. The incident was pretty serious.

I received a copy of the police report. There were physical marks on her and apparently he had his foot to her throat to the point where she could not breathe. I had to have my entire front door and frame work replaced. Additionally, as a result I was forced to cancel all future Airbnb guests who were confirmed as my HOA was so freaked out by the entire incident that we can no longer do rentals under 30 days.

All in all I have approximately $10,000 in damages that has not yet been addressed by Airbnb, despite the fact I have submitted all invoices, photographs and police report. They are also aware that I had to cancel already existing reservations (which I relied upon as supplemental income.) Not one person from Airbnb has called me to let me know my case is being handled. What is really sad is that I went to the guests who destroyed my place and violated my living space to ask them to pay for the damage to my home and also the loss of income. They pretty much told me to F off and that they were “trying to heal” from the incident. Wow.