It was supposed to be a relaxing holiday reunion for a Martinez family, not until they were greeted by an unlivable Airbnb they rented, ABC7 reported.
The space appeared to be in complete contrast to what was advertised. They were left with no other choice but to find another Airbnb for rent amid the holiday rush.
When looked up online, the unit appeared clean and spacious in photos.
This convinced Photos Parenti and his wife to get the space, but saw something they did not expect.
Photos’ wife Wandah said: “The driveway is full of trash, garbage, garbage cans, broken furniture.”
The rental place’s walls have scuff marks on, its window broken, its electrical outlet covers missing, and grasses were uncut.
“You could clearly tell that there was some sort of raging party there that just trashed the place,” Parenti complained.
They were requested by the host to vacate the place for a while and return to it later – promising that it will return to normal.
To their dismay, they came back to the unit having a similar condition.
They were told they needed to get a refund from Airbnb, to which the company refused to.
“In line with our guest refund policy, for your case to qualify we would’ve needed you to contact us about your problem within 24 hours of check-in,” it said.
On 7 On Your Side, Wandah said: “I felt that was very wrong,” as she felt she does not have many choices at that time
“I thought there was nothing we could do because the doors were closed. Airbnb said no,” she said.
The couple reached out to ABC7 and the outlet forwarded the concern to Airbnb.
Airbnb said they will pay the refund but did not provide any more information.