Airbnb Reviews 

I was a loyal Airbnb customer until this experience changed everything.
I arrived at my booked property in Shoreditch to find I couldn’t get inside. The host was completely unreachable — no response to messages or calls for over three hours. Airbnb’s own support team also failed to reach her. I was left standing alone on the street at night in London with all my luggage. Fortunately I work in the city and was able to call a colleague for help — but had I been a tourist unfamiliar with London, this could have been genuinely dangerous.
What made it worse was Airbnb’s response afterward. Despite being fully eligible for a refund under their own AirCover policy, their team spent days pressuring me to return to the same property where I had felt unsafe and stranded. After lengthy back and forth they still refused a full refund, leaving me to pay for a host’s negligence.
I never stayed a single night. I lost money, lost a day of work, and was made to feel like the problem was mine.
If you are a tourist or unfamiliar with the area you are visiting, please be very careful. When things go wrong, Airbnb’s support is not what they promise. I will not be using Airbnb again.

Airbnb allows a system where there is a lot of bias and unfairness in their review system towards Hosts. Guests can leave a bad review and there is no true assessment and judgement of the real situation.

I have been using them for 10 years and unfortunately their service has gotten worse over the years. I can see why they bave a lot of bad reviews.

I’m unhappy because my reservation was cancelled by the host, yet I still haven’t got my money back. I paid for a service I never received, and it’s unfair that I have to wait to be repaid what is legally mine.

Extremely disappointed with Airbnb. Our 4-bedroom villa in Lanzarote for July 2026 was cancelled after being booked and confirmed for 8 months because the property was sold and the new owners wouldn’t honour the booking.

Although Airbnb provided a £550 voucher, this doesn’t cover the huge increase in prices for comparable villas during peak season. We are travelling for our brother’s wedding, so this has caused major stress and financial pressure.

What was most disappointing was the customer service. I was refused escalation to a manager and ultimately told there was “nothing Airbnb could do” despite the cancellation being completely outside of our control.

We booked in good faith far in advance and expected much better support from Airbnb in helping us secure comparable accommodation. Very poor experience overall.

Greedy Fee: They shifted the entire fee burden onto hosts while pretending to guests that it’s free, all while pressuring hosts to raise prices.

Complete Bias: Airbnb Support always sides with the guest. Guests who fail to get a refund because they have zero evidence are still allowed to leave malicious, negative reviews to punish the host.

Encouraging Scams: They actively encourage guests to demand discounts without providing a shred of proof or communicating during their stay.

Useless Investigations: Their "checking progress" and review system is a joke and completely unreliable.

Booked a one night stay in a house in Wordsley Manchester LUX STAYS via air b n b. Once booked, we couldn’t confirm the booking without paying a deposit of £400. In there terms and conditions this would be paid immediately after check out.

The property was freezing with no hot water 😳. We contacted host twice who seemed disinterested and has been so throughout the whole experience. After a short period we were not able leave a review.

After weeks of contacting Air b n b they finally responded via phone and were apologetic, which I was grateful for. They promised some compensation for the poor quality which was appreciated.

Approx 14-21 days later received 1/2 the amount promised. I’m just assuming the other half will be sent at some point. The communication and customer service overall very poor.

Approx 3 -4 weeks later, still awaiting deposit from the host. Reported to air b n b who eventually sent a link for us to request the deposit. The links they sent don’t allow u to request even half of the deposit amount.

I have no faith in them, so I’m raising a dispute with the bank now.HOST *LUX STAYS WORDSLEY* have had some bad reviews since our stay, so until they are suspended my faith remains low.. and I’ll stick to hotels through booking.com

Some people may have grown up in more controlling times .
But think about this . More scams and identity fraud every year .
I want to book a holiday I give my personal details and my credit card details to some one . That’s trust . Given the above .
But I have to PROVE. My details to someone I don’t know to be able to get a holiday . So no trust is given even though my bank detail are given
The world is getting more controlling every day . So now you are unable to take a break without security checks to verify who you are

Booked this place in London only because it advertised private parking on the premises — that was my main reason as I had business meetings. Turned out to be a complete lie from the host. Ended up stressed every day, moving my car around because of 2-hour max street parking.
My trip with my wife was ruined. I spent 2 hours on the phone with Airbnb support and they refused to give any refund — just offered a $200 coupon “to make me feel better.” Felt completely unprotected as a paying guest.
After this nightmare, I deleted the Airbnb app. Not worth the hassle. You’re basically tossing a coin with your trip or holiday.
Save yourself the stress and just book a hotel or serviced apartment instead. At least there, when something goes wrong, they actually fix it.

Our host of SmiddyHill Lodge, Innerleithen, notified us of an unsafe for human consumption water issue 2 days prior to our trip, owing to the fact that the water comes from a borehole. She had been aware of the issue for 5 weeks. The refund window had elapsed & it was too late to find alternative accommodation.
Thank you Airbnb for showing great empathy.

Very disappointing experience with this rental company.
We booked our London accommodation from May 13th–18th back in February because we were travelling for work with a team of four people attending a coffee festival. We specifically chose a property close to the event venue with two bathrooms so the team could rest properly after long workdays.
The day before our trip, after contacting them ourselves to confirm everything, we were suddenly informed that our reservation had been cancelled. We never received any proper notification beforehand.
Even worse, weeks earlier we had received suspicious messages asking us to enter our card details through an external link or risk cancellation. After contacting Airbnb support, we were advised it looked like a scam attempt, so we froze our bank card for security.
The replacement property they offered was far from the event location, causing us additional transport costs every day. The apartment itself was dirty, had only one bathroom, not enough towels, and one member of our team had to sleep on the sofa despite the booking being for four guests.
We were promised compensation, but we still have not received any clear update regarding the refund.
Overall, this created unnecessary stress during an important work trip, and the lack of communication and professionalism was unacceptable.

Customer service is about the worst I have dealt with booked a 2 bedroom apartment was given a 1 bedroom 4 hours back and for
Spoke to actual landlord who said its there fault and he is happy to put us in the correct property if Airbnb make contact with him
AVOID Airbnb at all costs

I made a booking and within seconds made a payment of £150. However the booking was declined again within seconds of payment being made A refund was apparently initiated but it could take 10 to 15 days to reach my account. That’s 10 to 15 days I cannot use my money for no fault of my own!
Surely payment should not be requested until the booking is confirmed? This is a scam surely?
This is my first and last attempt to use Airbnb. Imagine if this had continued to happen? The property is still showing as available for the dates I wanted so how many others will be caught?
In short, Airbnb is unreliable and you shouldn’t risk using it until they initiate sound business practices. £150 is a lot of money to a pensioner and this is totally unacceptable.

Absolutely disgraceful customer service.

We reported damage to our host from an item that was found to have fallen that was placed precariously on a shelf by the host, we reported it to the host to attempt to help them rectify the situation.

Since this, we've had claims and threats of taking money from our account with constant 24 hour deadlines, but missed deadlines on their part... all for non fault damage for amounts that seemingly change on a weekly basis with no explanation.

This should absolutely be covered by Airbnb/the hosts insurance, not by ourselves.

We will not be using Airbnb again.

Airbnb initially handled my complaint professionally and ultimately supported the concerns raised regarding the cleanliness, maintenance and presentation of the Airbnb property “Larch Lodge” during my family’s stay between 8th–11th May 2026.

Property listing: Larch Lodge Airbnb Listing

Following review of extensive photographic evidence, Airbnb approved a partial refund and advised that action had been taken against the host.

However, despite upholding the complaint itself, Airbnb later refused to remove what appeared to be a retaliatory host review left against my profile after I raised legitimate concerns through the platform. The host simply stated “would not host again” without providing any factual explanation, allegation or reasoning whatsoever.

Having reviewed a number of responses to previous guest reviews, there also appeared to be a recurring pattern whereby guests leaving negative feedback or raising complaints were publicly criticised or blamed by the host. This made the later review left against my profile feel particularly punitive in context.

My concern is that this type of vague but negative feedback risks discouraging guests from reporting genuine cleanliness or safety concerns for fear of receiving punitive reviews impacting their future bookings. Airbnb’s own review policies state that retaliatory reviews are not permitted, which made the refusal to remove the review feel particularly inconsistent given Airbnb had already substantiated the underlying complaint itself.

I was also frustrated by the complaints process itself at times, as Airbnb repeatedly asked me to complete the same forms and resubmit the same information and evidence on multiple occasions before I eventually refused to continue duplicating material that had already been provided.

The complaints team initially appeared fair and evidence-led, but the later moderation decision regarding the host review felt inconsistent given Airbnb had already substantiated the underlying complaint.

My advice to future guests would be:
- photograph/video the condition of properties thoroughly on arrival and departure;
- document all concerns carefully;
- and raise issues directly through Airbnb within the reporting timeframe.

I do appreciate that Airbnb ultimately refunded part of the stay and acknowledged the concerns raised, but I remain disappointed by the refusal to address what I believe was retaliatory feedback from the host following an upheld complaint.

We had an absolute nightmare with our booking and the host, we had to leave the flat after a month being there. And we booked it for 3 months. We paid for the whole May month and we left on 7th May. I did a complaint with overwhelming evidences. Host promised refund but then she disappeared and refused to allow airbnb to refund almost £1200. Airbnb didn’t protect me and basically took host side and didn’t care what I’m going through. I had unfair treatment. DO NOT USE THIS PLATFORM TO BOOK YOUR HOLIDAY. they will put their hands up and only believe the host!

What a letdown and disappointment!
We booked the Grand Seafront Balcony Apartment at Marine Parade in Brighton for the 2 July for 3 nights! Air B&B took our money, stating that the host ADAM would confirm by email within 24 hours.
HOWEVER because ADAM didn’t confirm our booking request Air B&B cancelled 😡 and than said by email it may take 7-12 days for our money to come back to us! OVER £1000!!!! Really disappointed! Can’t book anything else until our money comes back.

THANKS AIR B&B and a special THANK YOU TO ADAM!

Customer service is very very poor. Some staff, if you do get throught, have a poor command of the english language making communication very difficult. My issue remained unresolved after four day of phonecalls. The whole experience is frustrating and if you do have any issue with booking on Airbnb I wouldn't bother trying to get it resolved by contacting customer service. Just book usng a different company and save yourself a lot of time and frustration

Guest trashed my home; created mess, damage and stains. Airbnb cover didn’t cover the damage; they paid me 50%; then the guest left a retaliatory 1* review. Airbnb did nothing. It has been 18 days. I have been chasing; they haven’t been In touch with me once.

Despite having policies in place; despite you paying insurance as a host; none of this matters; the customer service is awful.

I'm an Airbnb Superhost. Have had no support from them regarding a vindictive guest. Although this poor review stands out from all the others, Airbnb refuse to do anything about it and refuse to give a proper explanation on the findings of their review.
Hosts are customers of Airbnb too, we pay for that priviledge.