I booked a room for a night in Paris for me and my 70year old grandma. We reached the Apartment at 23:00. He had said the key is hidden near the door. But the main door for the aprtment building was a combination lock. I mailed him, called him and no reply. My grandma was panicking and finally at 1AM a guy came iutside the aortment and we asked him to let us in. The room key was in the place he had told us.
The room was a mess. It looked like a room where somebody has just ate and slept! The bed was so durty with Food and was not made!!
I have stayed only in airbnb for around 2years and have very good experiences, but this one was the worst experience!! Especially with my old grandma!
Will I get any answer for this from airbnb as that guy does not reply to my mails!
You won’t get an answer from Airbnb on here. We are not Airbnb.
To help you a little as I assume you are stressed and confused, even though your post is unclear and comes across as aggressive to forum members…
- You can’t get an answer if you don’t ask a question
- This is a forum for hosts, not for guests to vent about their bad experiences, which are nothing to do with the hosts here, there are lots of places you can do that
- I too travel on Airbnb and that make it very easy for guests to contact them 24 hours a day. Go to the app or their website and select the option you need, If what you say is true they will help you immediately and find you alternative accommodation. I’m very surprised you don’t know this given you say you have used Airbnb many times and managed to do a whole lot of searching online to find us
Airbnb tells guests if there is a problem that you need to call them on their 24 customer service line. Why didn’t you do this when you couldn’t get in and couldn’t get hold of the host, so that alternative accommodation could be found.
I am surprised you put your grandmother through this awful experience - having her wait for two hours in the early hours of the morning to get into an apartment.
In your situation I would have ensured there was a decent hotel for her to stay in if arriving at that time of night.
Yes Helsi. I should have ensured I booked a decent Hotel!!! instead of airbnb…
Hello. Since we can’t help you I hope you were able to reach Airbnb to get help. Their number from the US is 1-855-424-7262. Good luck and hopefully your trip will improve!
How is this aggressive, judgemental response helpful?
This is a new user to the forum. We have no way of knowing that her story is true, in fact this rings a bell and I may have read this story before but not sure where. Poster may have an ax to grind against Airbnb based on her comment to Helsi. In any case, this is not something we as hosts can help her with, she misunderstood the purpose of this forum or just wants to trash Airbnb. IMHO
Awh Helsi that’s harsh.
We don’t know anything about the posters finances and Airbnb should have been a good option. I don’t think we should deflect the failings on this occasion.
For the OP. Airbnb is great 99% of the time and normally should be a reliable choice, regardless of who you’re travelling with. Some hosts are riskier propositions than others, and in future, in cases like this you should prioritise listings with consistent high reviews or superhosts.
Call Airbnb and get this sorted.
It maybe harsh @Zandra put would you really have made your 70 year old grandmother wait outside a property for two hours in the early hours of the morning in a strange city, rather than calling Airbnb to resolve the situation?
Personally I would never have agreed to accept an arrangement to find a hidden key late at night when travelling with an older relative.
Personally I don’t know if I believe this story. 
I think a hotel with 24 reception would always be preferable to arriving at an Airbnb where the host tells you to find a ‘hidden key’ late at night when you are travelling with an older relative.
I would have been fine with it, but I would also have a heightened awareness that something could go wrong so I would have disclosed I was travelling with my grandmother, and would have confirmed the hosts contact details with them in the event something went wrong.
And then when itv became clear something had gone wrong I’d have immediately gone to a hotel and booked in. I’d then have called Airbnb immediately and explained that due to the fact I was travelling with my grandmother I had no choice and would request a refund.
But then I’m an experienced guest and host and I am fully aware of how to cope with the scenario. I also have a credit card that isn’t maxed out, and that gives me a tonne of options that people with limited incomes may not have.
It’s hard to remember that not everyone has the same choices I do, but my recent stint on a minimum wage job reminded me just how hard things can be and the sacrifices that you can be forced to make. Why was I doing a minimum wage job? Because I’m starting to lean towards minimalism and the idea of working to live as opposed to living to work. That said it swiftly became clear that minimum wage (especially in London) is no way to live and I swiftly changed the situation.
I therefore read the OPs story and I do not assume they’re tight or money pinching; my assumption is that’s the best choice that was available to them. It’s not my job to pass judgement on their personal circumstances .
The point for me @Zandra is that the OP
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Accepted an arrangement to find a hidden key late at night when travelling with an older relative
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When there was a problem she didn’t contact Airbnb straight away but waited outside for two hours. Airbnb makes it quite clear on their booking confirmation that if there is a problem you should contact them. That doesn’t require any expert knowledge of Airbnb or a credit card.
This is not passing judgement on her personal circumstances just surprise that she didn’t use any common sense.
I disagree. So much of Airbnb requires a) knowledge and b) the confidence to follow through.
I have had one set of guests ignore my check in instructions and wait outside for 2 hours without contacting me. This was 8pm to 10pm. They then went back into central London, presumably to find alternative accommodation. The whole time they did not contact Airbnb. Meanwhile I was trying to call them as was Airbnb, but my guests in an effort to save money had kept their phones off. Eventually Airbnb confirmed it would offer them accommodation and agreed I could go to bed.
The guests then turned up at my front door at 12.30am.
Highly stressful for both parties and my assumption is they panicked. Totally unnecessarily, but that’s my only explanation for their totally bizarre behaviour.
In my experience the ability to stay calm and rational comes from experience, and the confidence that experience gives you.
As a relatively inexperienced guest, likely in a less than central part of town, late at night, I too would probably think it was safer to stay put than to walk the streets trying to find an alternative.
I travel with my almost 70yo mother all over the world: I put her through cold, through heat, I make here walk cities and forests, we wait for buses, go looking for hostels and the whole charade . She loves it! I love her, she loves me and we love everything about it.
I must admit that my mother is in great shape. Maybe this lady’s grandmother isn’t. In that case I would not have hung around for two hours but would have taken action. Hotel or AirBnB IMO doesn’t matter: When you travel sometimes you have to solve problems.
Yeah same. My gran is 86, still drives, walks daily and is annoyingly good at scrabble. I hate it when she beats me!
In this situation she would have been fine but grumpy that the host had let us down.
The OP said she is an experienced Airbnb guest of two years, my comments are based on her telling us this. She’s not an Airbnb newbie.
Just because someone is 70, doesn’t mean they are a frail, weak individual. It does sound a bit over dramatic. Did the place have good or bad reviews?
Arriving that late is an invitation to a bad start.
It does seem strange that OP went to the trouble of joining this forum, when contacting Airbnb is what should have been done. Even if they didn’t have a phone number before coming here, the pinned post at the top gives all the phone numbers.
2 years does suggest experience but to be honest we don’t know if that was 3 stays in 2 years or very frequent travelling. But yes, missed that and suprised by the flapping.