I booked recently for 35 nights in SF. Around $3.5k booking, turned up, completely unworkable construction noise from next door, to the point you couldn’t hold a conversation. Tried to make it work, didn’t work.

Told the host I needed to cancel, who told me to contact Airbnb about the refund. I speak to Airbnb, they say I will pay for the days I had the keys and get refunded for remainder. Heard nothing from Airbnb for 10 days after, despite prompts.

At this point Airbnb informs me they can’t contact the host. I contact the host, they immediately respond. I have to act as the go between, this lasts for days.

Host had a 30 day cancellation policy. At this point Airbnb tells me that because I didn’t let them know within 24 hours and because of the hosts refund policy. I will get nothing and their decision is final.

They offered a $20 credit against my next booking and wondered why I laughed.

Interesting side note, requested all information including phone calls via Subject access request. They provided inaccurate/bad transcriptions instead of audio recordings.

Now exploring arbitration / legal action. If anyone has resolved a similar situation I’m all ears.

Seems insane to me there is no other option to escalate. Are they assuming people will just drop it at this point?

I contacted my credit card company and disputed the charge on the grounds that the host wasn't providing the product that was advertised. They agreed and refunded me.

Seems crazy, I provided video evidence from inside the apartment and outside the apartment after they asked and then they just ignore it as the host doesn’t want to refund.

What other options are there? I'll go with the CC option if nothing else works.

You can call and that was a faster option for me to get responses.

In their terms and conditions you agree to arbitration. IANAL so I don’t know if this is binding in all jurisdictions. Amusingly(/not depending on your side) there are stories in their forums where a guest has taken the host directly to small claims court.

You can then keep ringing that number without going back through the app. First person you speak to will likely be the first line support and you will need to be transferred to their resolutions team, you only seem to be able to escalate 1 level before being told the decision is final.

I would record everything because you will get given contradictory statements and the transcriptions if you request them are inaccurate.

Good news is email addresses are cheap, and it's unlikely that the bans are based on anything other than the email. Have had problems with PayPal in the past, and had to just make a new account.

I've used Airbnb across 30-40 countries, and it is absolutely a mixed bag.

They're rarely cheaper than using a hotel anyway...

Though I use booking.com for looking at reviews and hotels, because I like the interface more and trust those reviews more.

Eventually what I've learnt to do when booking a place for more than a few days is to book a more reputable place for the first few days and then actually go look at the places where I'm planning on staying the rest of the time.

For instance, two days in Ibis and then during those two days go look at 10 different Airbnbs or whatever else exists in the area.

I really wonder what would happen if you got a locksmith to open the house and just went back in for the night in that situation. Probably depends on local laws and definitely a terrible idea. Just kind of curious if it's actually a crime since you have rented the place.