Update to the latest Airbnb Saga

https://airsicktravel.blogspot.com/2016/10/more-airbnb-issues.html

As an update to the post above, the host initially said they'd refund us the money but then later changed her tune and asked us to cancel and that she'd give us a full refund.

Either she's ignorant that if we cancel we get hit with the severe penalties (50% of our money + we don't get the airbnb fee back) that she has in place or thinks we're stupid.

So we just escalated to Airbnb and sent them a note explaining the location is incorrect in her listing and that we want to cancel and surprisingly Airbnb quickly responded overnight and gave us a full refund plus a token $22 coupon (original booking was $220) to use for a new reservation.  The Airbnb rep also assured us that she would talk to he host and make sure the location gets corrected.

I'm surprised that with hundreds of reviews she has for her place that no one really complained that it's in a completely different location vs what is advertised.  Initially I was afraid the host would use that line of defense (but hundreds people have never complained...) but I'm glad to see Airbnb acknowledge the misrepresentation and correct it.

So key takeways, raise your concerns even if you see hundreds of other people just grin and bear it.  And secondly, it's tricky to find where you can contact Airbnb.  For this type of issue you can submit the message like this:

From this page:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us

select - traveling - issues with host - trouble with host

then type in your message, I included screenshots (hosted on imgur.com) of the wrong location + the actual location from her house checkin instructions in the message.

More Airbnb Issues...

I've previously written about 1 downside of Airbnb: https://airsicktravel.blogspot.com/2016/08/1-major-downside-of-airbnb-bookings.html

I'm running into another right now for a property in Seoul, Korea.

Basically, the location is not where the listing says it is.  On a listing, you have these teal circles which represent the area where the property is located.  I wanted a place next to Seoul Station and the title of the listing also said "SEOUL STATION" (amongst other words).

So I get the directions to the place and it's actually farther south than the map above and it's actually further south than the Namyeong subway station that you can see at the bottom of the picture.

The main reason I booked this place is to take 1 train from the airport directly to Seoul station (the main central station in Seoul) and just walk to the apartment.  Now I have to switch from an airport train to a subway and go an extra stop and worst of all, I may not have elevators or escalators at the subway station and need to carry my luggage up the stairs to street level.  I know Seoul Station has elevators and escalators to street level and was another reason I booked this place.  And now I found out the location of the listing is completely misrepresented in the listing.

The listing does have positive reviews and no one among the first few pages of reviews complained of the wrong location.

I am getting really tired of Airbnb...  I am messaging the host to ask about this.  If she wants to cancel, that'd be ideal since that way she gets penalized.  If she does not want to cancel, then I have to involve Airbnb for an inaccurate listing and get them to cancel it for me and to correct the listing.  Will update on what happens...