Our arrival started out with a search for towels and toilet paper. We found one towel in the bathroom cabinet and one in the dryer, and those were all the towels we could find at that moment. We couldn’t find any toilet paper (even the holder in the bathroom was empty) after searching the whole apartment and opening every cabinet and closet. The bathtub was disgusting with hairs in it and so was the oven, with a molded dish in it. The floors throughout the apartment were dirty too; walking for only five minutes barefoot left us with black soles on our feet. The couch was so dirty, we didn’t even want to sit on it. This was a surprise, as we choose the apartment because several reviews mentioned it was clean. After communicating with Maggie, the host, she did immediately send a maid, Hilda.

However, Hilda did a very poor job. We came in shortly after she had left, and the bathroom floor was wet with hairs still on the floor, as well as some fine black sand. The apartment floors still were too dirty to walk on barefoot. We couldn’t believe the “well stocked” comment regarding the kitchen in one of the reviews, as there were only four cups and three glasses. Every time we wanted to use something we had to wash it. The dishwasher in the apartment was in very bad shape; most things we had to thoroughly pre-wash for them to come out clean.

Apparently, there was an “unexpected” tenant in the apartment (a friend of a friend – not a paying Airbnb guest), who was making a mess of everything. She constantly left dirty dishes in the sink, makeup splatters in the bathroom, food stains on the counter and table, a wet bathroom floor after taking a shower, etc. The fridge – from where we were allowed to “take anything” – looked like a biological experiment with several items well over the expiration date. Not that we wanted to eat anything from it in the first place, but we felt the need to bag everything we bought ourselves, before putting it in this fridge.

The “icing on the cake” came the last morning, when we woke up to pee and poop on the apartment floor from the other tenant’s dog. We were so disgusted. She also had eaten my breakfast, which I had stored in a bag in the fridge. Maggie (who actually lived next door, we found out) promised us her friend would reimburse us for the last night. After a couple of days, I inquired about the check which I hadn’t received; Maggie basically told me to chase after my money with her friend myself, who sent me a text explaining why the check hadn’t come yet. After two weeks of back and forth texting (with Maggie, the host) I received a nasty text in which she promised to send me the check. Eventually, I did get a $100 check in the mail.

With the exception of the last night, we also feel we absolutely didn’t get our money’s worth for the first five nights. I have been patiently communicating with Maggie about our complaints, but besides sending a maid who didn’t know how to clean, I think she wasn’t on top of things in the first place. She should have checked the state of the apartment on the day of our arrival and checked in after Hilda finished cleaning; since she lives next door, this should not have been too much of a hassle. This friend of hers was a problem, but it shouldn’t have been our problem. We worked hard all year for this vacation, paid plenty of money to rent this clean place, and instead we got a dirty apartment with a troublesome tenant. Even though Maggie apologized for the issues and her friend’s behavior we felt part of our vacation was ruined due to this very underwhelming stay. Maggie did not deliver her end of the deal. We paid in full, but we didn’t even get half of what we paid for.

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After six years it saddens me to say we were thrown off Airbnb without even a phone call -just a email and all future bookings refunded to the guests. We were erased like we never even existed. They say we broke the rules of not allowing four single men to rent our two bedroom with just two beds. After a phone call they said they planned to have girls over, which would have brought the total to eight people in my two bedroom. I am not anti-gay or anti-lesbian. We just had a great gay couple weeks prior to this and none of this matters to me. What matters to me is fitting double the occupancy for my apartment. When you have this many people coming through our place you’re bound to have a few arguments with people. I’m not saying we are angels; we have had to straighten out some people trying to damage our property.

Here in Medellin, Colombia things can crazy with our renters partying too hard. On top of all this, in September Airbnb renters had a underage girl in our apartment. Someone called the police and they came at 1:00 AM. The renters were rude to the police. They found the girl and kicked all of them out and then sealed our building. It took two weeks and $8,000 to remedy. To this, Airbnb said they were sorry. No financial help. No million dollar policy they claim in ads is available to help. We were left with the bill. We swallowed hard, paid it, and opened back up. Now we have been removed? It’s the silliest thing I ever heard. We have done nothing wrong accept say no to a booking which included four men and four more on the way to stay there. Above is a picture of the guy opening the door to a slew of police. Six years and many happy clients are gone in a blink of a eye. Try to talk to Airbnb about it: you can’t. They are the Microsoft of the industry and we will hurt because of it.

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