Air BnB question

[ginislife]

not sure if I’m being U or not so asking here before I go to them. Booked an Air BnB in London for Tuesday/Wednesday night this week as we were at an exhibition at the Excel. The apartment we booked looked beautiful - floor to ceiling windows with a view of the river, 2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms and walking distance to Excel. When we got to London and were looking up the directions I’d been sent a message to say there was no hot water where we’d booked (boiler issue that couldn’t be quickly fixed) so we’d been booked into one of their other properties. It was ground floor, no view, 1 bathroom - and as it turned out no hot water on the first morning as it hadn’t been turned on (involved switching off the main fuse board and back on again as it turned out, which wasn’t obvious as the fuseboard was hidden) and it was 5.5 miles from Excel. Oh and the TV didn’t work very well - we had to spend ages tuning it in.

Would you suck it up or ask for a partial refund ? Or give a 3 or 4 star review rather than 5 ? At the end of the day they didn’t leave us bedless but we were so disappointed we didn’t get our fancy apartment close to where we were going and it was a bit of a trek.

first world problem I know.

I would be seeking a partial refund.

I would check other reviews and see if other people have actually stayed in the right apartment.

It sounds to me like it was a “bait and switch” and I suspect the first apartment doesn’t really exist.

My first thought was a bait and switch too.

Can you find the second apartment on booking.com and see the price difference?

I’d want a complete refund (no idea if that is possible).

I'd want a huge discount!

I'd have actually said no thanks and stayed in the original apartment with no hot water for a discount.

If they don't give a huge discount then I'd leave a poor review as the apartment you got was clearly much cheaper than the one you paid for.

Yes, I’d be seriously questioning whether that first apartment is even available, and if I did leave a review I’d outline what happened very clearly to warn others. If it’s unemotional but factual - ‘host had hot water issues but booked us into a different property which was much further away/didn’t have xyz facilities’ - then they can’t argue for it to be deleted.

Serious refund!!!

I’d suspect it was a bait and switch too.

I’d want all my money back.

Definitely ask for a refund! Don't let them get away with it.

That's shit. You definitely should get a refund.

I would too. You didn't book that room, and wouldn't have chosen it

Yeah, bait & switch did occur to us (not that I knew it was called that 😂). I’ll message Air BnB then and see what’s said.

I would be looking for more than 50% of a refund. Like 100%. You paid for a particular experience and views of London and didn’t get it.

Rude they offered it at the same price! They should be the ones offering you a partial refund. Get all your money back!

Complete refund. It’s not what you booked or like for like.

Should be fairly easy to tell if it's a scam if there's no reviews for the fancy apartment. I think asking for a full refund is pretty unreasonable and unlikely to happen, but definitely ask for a partial refund and bad review as it sounds like basic things were missed by the host. I used to Airbnb host myself and unfortunately issues do happen but none of my guests ever asked for a refund as I always resolved issues quickly and turned up in person if I could. And only ever received one bad review in 5 years from some particularly difficult guests as a result.

There were reviews of the first apartment as I remember reading them before I booked. All positive. I get that shit happens and it’s probably true about the boiler but it was a definite downgrade on what we thought we’d booked - and cost me for 2 days DLR travel for 2 of us that we wouldn’t have had - plus the “stress” of having to even catch the DLR ( we got on the wrong train first morning 😂)

This happened to me last week. It might be the same host tbh. He gave me a fortnight's notice though, so I looked at tue reviews of the "similar" apartment, and they are terrible. So I contacted airbnb, who were initially helpful, then spoke to the host and came back to me saying it was a "similar" apartment.

All they offered was to cancel and refund, despite my pointing out that I wouldn't be able to find similar accommodation at such a late stage at the same price.

I've just had a look at the booking, and I see it hasn't even been cancelled, with check in due on Monday, so I'm going to have to chase that up!

I would ask for a full refund and i would complaint to Airbnb. Airbnb are hot on this kind of thing

I’d want almost a complete refund. Of course, ‘things happen’ but that should be the hosts problem not the customers.

Definitely would be wanting a substantial refund.
The apartment you got was significantly inferior to the one you booked and the apartment you got wasn't properly prepped, ie no hot water , TV not tuned in.
Contact Airbnb hopefully they will be on your side

I’d be giving them a scathing review!!!

Agreed, we had something like this recently but they tried to move us sooner than on the day so thankfully we had time to sort something else. We had a full refund and compensation from Airbnb but it took a lot of persistence. I would start with asking for a partial refund as the apartments weren't equivalent (can you check a typical price for this other apartment on Airbnb to see how much would be the difference plus I would ask for more than that for the inconvenience) and escalate to Airbnb support if they don't refund you directly

5.5 miles away from Excel? Where did the put you?

Definitely a partial refund. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was a scam and they don’t actually own a river view apartment!