No control of hosts – no help for guests

A very bad experience in Uptown West69th Street apartment It was described as spacious, comfortable, you feel like in a hotel ecc It had good reviews. It was the contrary: extremely small, badly equipped with old stuff, smelly, old kitchen, cushions, sofa, carpets with stains. The fotos years old. When we arrived the sheets on the bed were so smelly, that is was not possible to sleep in them, we had to take it off and went out to wash and dry them and I bought one new pillow. We wanted to cancel immediately. But first you have to report to the host and find a solution with him. Only within 24 hours. You must be lucky to reach somebody and get an answer. The guy I contacted at airbnb told me to call back, but never did. The host agreed to accept the cancellation, but only at 50%, airbnb take their share anyway. They did not take any action even though I had sent them fotos that showed the reality. Only the host decides and counts. We had booked nearly two weeks, so we were not ready to lose so much money. We stayed and tried to be as little as possible in the flat. I wrote a realistic description of the flat in my review. Jane, the host, accused me in her review aggressively. Only lies and retaliation. Airbnb had our emails, knowing it was not true, only said: free speech. The only one that looses iand gets the blame is the guest.