[gcb0]

until you find yourself in customer care hell.

I've rented a fake room (lied about size, noise, etc. and had three honest-looking reviews) and I was talking to a rep in the US, in english. Meanwhile the host was talking to a service rep in the country i was in, in french.

In the end, the US rep promised me a credit and help. But then the France rep flagged my account. Now i could not book anything until i reactivated a credit card. Even the US rep now couldn't help me until I did that. It was a Saturday. I needed until Tuesday to validate any credit card via their statement methods. Twelve international calls later, and there was nothing they could do. at all. And I was a several-year long customer with 5star reviews all around.

Ended up on the street, with three bags, hunting last minute hotels and paying counter price. Never used airbnb ever again. The savings is not worth the risk.

[tedmiston]

Luckily I have not experienced any international issues.

I have experienced one issue where the host cancelled hours before arriving while we were already en route, but Airbnb upgraded us to a much better place as everything comparable was sold out (New Year's Eve in NYC).