I did this after reserving a very nice place on a lake for my family of four. My youngest daughter is a person with disabilities. She uses a professionally trained service dog specifically trained for her (he does balance work, interrupt behaviors, alerts, and retrieving objects).

I booked a home through Airbnb. I read their anti-discrimination policy and they suggest allowing the host to know about her service dog. I reluctantly did this and explained that her service dog is trained. I actually gave them more information than was required so they would feel comfortable that her dog is indeed a well-trained “actual” service dog.

Once the host found out he abruptly cancelled the reservation, citing “allergies.” I complained to Airbnb who sided with the host — they told them the house was occupied. We rented the whole house. I looked at the tax records and they also said the house was unoccupied and that there was monthly rental income. Basically, the host lied and that was the end of their so-called investigation.

I tried to find another place and every one of the places was denied access due to her service dog. I have documented all of the incidents with a paper trail. I’ve spent most of my life serving the public. I am really appalled at the lack of respect for my daughter. It is shameful.

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When I returned I found my credit card had been charged $4,658. I attempted to download an invoice from their very difficult to navigate website and was unsuccessful. Only after sending a “chat” message, I obtained a customer service phone number, which I called. My first attempt I was disconnected after finally obtaining a representative and explaining my dilemma. I called back and again after a long wait and final explanation, I was disconnected again. The third attempt, again a long hold and menu negotiation, I got a customer rep.

I addressed the $1,300 additional charge and asked for an explanation. After several holds, the final explanation was a $501 Airbnb service fee, a $600 occupancy tax, and a cleaning fee of $250, which I’m told is kept by Airbnb and not even given to the host. None of this was disclosed at the booking. The difference from my original daily rate of $550 turned into $775/night. Armed with that information I probably would have made different plans. The customer service person was apologetic, but offered no explanation as to the Airbnb policy. I will never use their services again and I will tell anyone standing still long enough to do the same.

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My brother, sister and I booked a luxury property through Airbnb for Father’s Day Weekend. The booking was made in May 2021 for a stay from June 18-20, 2021. The day before the trip, I learned that the owners fired the property manager who accepted the booking and the new property management company had no record of my booking.

A few hours before the trip, I was contacted by a representative asking me for my personal information so she could make a reservation and grant me access to the property. Although reluctant, I acquiesced. When we arrived at the property, it was 115 degrees outside and 90 degrees inside the property. There were huge lizards over the entry door, spiders and bugs throughout the property due to a cracked foundation, inadequate seals around the windows and doors and no working wifi.

After a couple of hours of trying to restore the wifi, I called property management and my sister attempted to reach someone at Airbnb. I started receiving text messages from one of the representatives who walked me through everything we already tried. After five hours in the extreme heat, they sent out a technician. The technician was able to restore the wifi, but could not get the air conditioning to work.

Airbnb provided no valuable assistance by phone. We made the difficult decision to stay overnight, because it was pitch black in the desert. I came from Moreno Valley, my sister from Los Angeles and my brother from Big Bear. We spent most of the night outside, unable to sleep well due to the overwhelming heat, an influx of spiders and the smoke detector going off at 3:00 AM. We got up at 6:00 AM, called The Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage who generously accommodated all of us with an early check in and attempted to salvage our trip.

I have spent the last month attempting to get resolution. As of today, Airbnb and the property owners are withholding my money for the first night’s stay. They did not provide the accommodations that were advertised, but are charging me for what was the worst travel experience of my life. The property management company is refusing to take any responsibility even though they accepted the booking, were responsible for managing the property, provided failed technical support and left my family in an extremely unsafe situation.

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I don’t mind the verification process and understand the safety/accountability issues, but waiting until days before my reservation to spring this on me is absurd. Worse, the 24-hour window is egregious. I don’t check my email every day, much less every hour. I had family from three states joining me and now it was all in peril. I submitted the required info and photos on time only to get a vague “we are working on your verification” that lasted two days before I called Airbnb customer service to resolve this absurdity. The rep was pleasant but clueless and powerless to resolve since he “did not work in the verification department.”

I asked to speak with supervisor or someone in the “verification department” and was told that was impossible and that I must wait for an email from them telling me my verification was confirmed. All this a few days before check-in by my entire family and weeks after making my reservation and paying a large sum of money. Thankfully direct contact with host allowed me to go around the Airbnb insanity confirm the reservation. To this day I have not received any verification confirmation from Airbnb. I am shocked this company is so popular given its incompetence, indifference, arrogance and dysfunction.

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