[dannowatts]

I stay in contact regularly with the host (on the day of as well as leading up to my trip) because of some of those same concerns. to help alleviate any of those concerns in the first place, I don't book a host that :

  - has poor rating
  - has less than a certain number of reviews in the past 3 months
  - looks like they own a ton of properties as rentals, not their personal residence.
  - responds snarky or in a condescending way to reviewers who voice level headed concerns
  - have less than 3 photos
  - don't have photos of the actual bed/sleeping device
  - have more photos of the neighborhood and google street view photos of whole foods nearby than of the actual place that I would be staying
  - doesn't respond within 48 hours

all that said, to answer your question, I believe AirBNB has "emergency" services available at any time that you can call and they will put you in a place for your trip in the event that you're at the airport and they flake out on you.