Updated 7:18am CT, April 29: A spokesperson for Airbnb told the Daily Dot in a statement its “guest refund policy does call for a full refund in this type of situation. We’re making things right and facilitating her refund now and we apologize that our original customer support fell short in this case.”
Original story: A travel blogger claims that Airbnb “customer service royally screwed [her] over this week” in a viral TikTok. Lauren (@lawofwandering) says she arrived at a dirty Airbnb and due to delays in customer service, is now not getting any money refunded.
On April 16, Lauren posted a clip explaining the situation. “For those who don’t know, I’m living in Airbnbs at the moment and working remotely. On Sunday, I got to my Airbnb and it was very obviously not clean,” Lauren says.
As of April 28, the TikTok has over 282,200 views.
@lawofwandering Very upset about how this played out #airbnbcustomerservice #airbnbnightmare #longtermairbnb #airbnbscam #fyp ♬ BORN FOR THIS – Foxxi
She says the floors were “not swept, they’re not mopped. When I look closer, there’s dirty footprints. And then I start looking around, and there’s bugs and there’s cobwebs in the kitchen. I was so grossed out.”
“I’m by myself, so naturally, I start panicking a little,” she continues in the clip. “I didn’t know where I was going to sleep that night. All I knew was I couldn’t sleep there. I had to work at 8am in the morning. It was going to get dark soon, I had to jump into action.”
She says she drove to the closest hotel to check in for two nights and began researching how to get a refund. She also says this is the first time she’s been in this situation.
Lauren says Airbnb told her to contact the host first and that if the host doesn’t comply, the company will step in. Lauren says she told the host who checked and assured her the cleaners came by.
“‘So sorry it wasn’t up to your standards,’ she says,” Lauren recalls. Lauren says she was told she could cancel for a 50% refund and that the host was giving excuses for the conditions.
“It was now nighttime and I already checked into a hotel, I didn’t feel comfortable going back,” the text overlay reads.
Lauren says she decided to contact Airbnb directly, “and they [assured] me they will now deal with the host.”
After 24 hours, Lauren says she “should have heard back from Airbnb and I didn’t.” She says she called Airbnb again and was told her case manager was not there. Over the next six days, Lauren says called Airbnb “without hearing back from anyone and without them letting me know what the status is because my case manager is the one who has to give me an update.”
Lauren says her case manager “finally called me yesterday” and told Lauren that she was not getting a full refund, and if she canceled her reservation now, according to the host cancelation policy, she would get 25% back.
By the time the cancelation went through, Lauren says she got “zero dollars” refunded.
“I absolutely lost it,” she says. “This is your fault for not getting back to me. Someone should have let me know. Now I’m getting no money for a dirty Airbnb that I did not stay in, and on Wednesday, someone told me I’d get a refund for a hotel.”
Lauren says she called her credit card company to refute the Airbnb charge.
In the comments, Lauren wrote: “I’m so upset about the way they handled this for me, no point of booking through a big platform if they don’t even have your back.”
Other TikTokers shared their own experience with Airbnb in the comments. “Our host cancelled our reservation the day before we arrived in DC. Then messaged us to book off the app. Airbnb did NOTHING FOR US. I was livid,” one said.
“And THIS reaffirms my decision to never try #airbnb,” another TikToker wrote.
“Airbnb has the worst customer service. All they do is protect their hosts they don’t care at all about their customers,” another commented.
“Airbnb just told me they won’t refund us for our trip that had bedbugs because the owner told them they didn’t have them. We sent them literal photos,” a TikToker commented.
According to Airbnb, guests are eligible for a refund if they did not stay the night in the rental. As Lauren says she was told, guests are not eligible for a refund “if a Host is able to resolve a serious issue quickly enough to avoid any negative impact on the stay or for a minor issue, like an unemptied trash can.”
According to a policy that starts on April 29, accommodations that are “not reasonably clean and sanitary, including bedding and towels” are a travel issue that is covered as long as it is reported, “no later than 72 hours after discovery.” Once reported within the time limit, Airbnb says it will provide a full or partial refund. As far as how much money is refunded, it reportedly depends “on the severity of the issue, the impact on the guests, whether the guests remain in the space, and the portion of the stay affected.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Lauren via email for comment on this story.
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