Until this point, we have been pretty lucky with Airbnb.
We've done close to 20 Airbnb stays all over the world and never had any major issues. We've had some minor issues like unstable wifi or the hot water system not working for a day or so, but the hosts always fixed everything pretty quickly.
This time it was awful.
We arrived at the apartment complex and were greeted by two Mexican people. They were not the people we've been talking to on Airbnb website but the host did mentioned that he may not be there and that he could be sending someone else..
We were also aware that this host had a few different units in this apartment complex (We knew this from reading his profile on Airbnb). So we figured that he probably manages few properties with the help of his staff, friends, family member or whatever.
(a quick background story...)
About three weeks prior to arriving in Cancun, I was doing some TripAdvisor reviews and came across some really scary reviews about this apartment complex.
So we contacted the host asking a couple of things like security, cleanliness, wifi stability etc.
The host ensured us that the place is clean, no problem with security & the wifi works fine.
Then, for whatever reason, he offered us a different unit saying we may like the other unit better as it is facing the ocean and it is quieter.
We like ocean and we like quiet so we’ve decided to change our booking to this ocean facing unit. The host sent us a revised booking on Airbnb.
All good.
So we were expecting to be taken to an ocean facing unit but when we arrived, we were taken to a different unit.
We were confused.
Me: “Is this the place we booked?”
The Mexican girl: “No. The thing is……Very loud teenagers are staying next door to the unit you booked so we think you'll like this place better”
Me: “err. No, we want to stay in the unit we booked”
(Looking around the unit….it was dirty, smelly and the backyard was facing the busy main street and the door doesn't even lock properly!!)
The Mexican girl: “The thing is you can’t stay there. We have someone else staying there now”
Me: !#!?$%#$&’”#$ wtf?
The Mexican girl: “We only have this unit”
Me: "There is no way we can stay here. You have to call the owner (the host) - if you can't get the unit we booked, we are not staying"
(and I might have said many other things which included explaining to her the concept of “reservation”)
The conversation continued with my blood boiling and I was about to explode.. or maybe I did.
So the Mexican girl went on the phone to call the owner.
I searched for wifi and I was going to look for a new place to stay (f this place), but wifi wasn't even working!!!!!
Actually, it was connected but it was too slow that it timed out every time I try to do anything. So we were stuck in a dump with no access to the outside world.
After about 20 minutes, she came back and told us she can move us to the unit we booked tomorrow if we could stay (at the crappy unit) for just tonight and they will refund 2 nights.
(Still suspicious but) we accepted.
And we went out to have some Mexican food & much needed margaritas!
It was a little stressful day but the night ended well.
We told ourselves it can only get better from here......
.
.
.
.
However, the next morning we woke up to find this.
Ah, not again with the rats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (In case you missed Panama mouse story..)
So we inspected the house. Traces of rats / mice were everywhere.... gross!
From the damages caused, we figured there were more than one so we emptied all our bags and inspected everything…… then we waited outside for the owner to come and move us into the new unit.
Finally around 2pm, they came.
And we moved to the actual accommodation we booked, it wasn't perfect but much better than living with rats.
Btw - the whole loud teenagers story and someone staying there were total BS – as we learnt later that the unit we booked is owned by someone else (the Russian couple). Our Airbnb host was renting the unit out for them.
Apparently, the Airbnb host and the Russian couple had some kind of disagreement in terms of payment, we don’t know who was telling the truth but we heard different stories from each side, interesting…. I guess it’s all part of the fun with Airbnb.
We've done close to 20 Airbnb stays all over the world and never had any major issues. We've had some minor issues like unstable wifi or the hot water system not working for a day or so, but the hosts always fixed everything pretty quickly.
This time it was awful.
We arrived at the apartment complex and were greeted by two Mexican people. They were not the people we've been talking to on Airbnb website but the host did mentioned that he may not be there and that he could be sending someone else..
We were also aware that this host had a few different units in this apartment complex (We knew this from reading his profile on Airbnb). So we figured that he probably manages few properties with the help of his staff, friends, family member or whatever.
(a quick background story...)
About three weeks prior to arriving in Cancun, I was doing some TripAdvisor reviews and came across some really scary reviews about this apartment complex.
So we contacted the host asking a couple of things like security, cleanliness, wifi stability etc.
The host ensured us that the place is clean, no problem with security & the wifi works fine.
Then, for whatever reason, he offered us a different unit saying we may like the other unit better as it is facing the ocean and it is quieter.
We like ocean and we like quiet so we’ve decided to change our booking to this ocean facing unit. The host sent us a revised booking on Airbnb.
All good.
So we were expecting to be taken to an ocean facing unit but when we arrived, we were taken to a different unit.
We were confused.
Me: “Is this the place we booked?”
The Mexican girl: “No. The thing is……Very loud teenagers are staying next door to the unit you booked so we think you'll like this place better”
Me: “err. No, we want to stay in the unit we booked”
(Looking around the unit….it was dirty, smelly and the backyard was facing the busy main street and the door doesn't even lock properly!!)
|
|
|
Me: !#!?$%#$&’”#$ wtf?
The Mexican girl: “We only have this unit”
Me: "There is no way we can stay here. You have to call the owner (the host) - if you can't get the unit we booked, we are not staying"
(and I might have said many other things which included explaining to her the concept of “reservation”)
The conversation continued with my blood boiling and I was about to explode.. or maybe I did.
So the Mexican girl went on the phone to call the owner.
I searched for wifi and I was going to look for a new place to stay (f this place), but wifi wasn't even working!!!!!
Actually, it was connected but it was too slow that it timed out every time I try to do anything. So we were stuck in a dump with no access to the outside world.
After about 20 minutes, she came back and told us she can move us to the unit we booked tomorrow if we could stay (at the crappy unit) for just tonight and they will refund 2 nights.
(Still suspicious but) we accepted.
 |
| Huge margaritas! |
It was a little stressful day but the night ended well.
We told ourselves it can only get better from here......
.
.
.
.
However, the next morning we woke up to find this.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Ah, not again with the rats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (In case you missed Panama mouse story..)
So we inspected the house. Traces of rats / mice were everywhere.... gross!
From the damages caused, we figured there were more than one so we emptied all our bags and inspected everything…… then we waited outside for the owner to come and move us into the new unit.
Finally around 2pm, they came.
And we moved to the actual accommodation we booked, it wasn't perfect but much better than living with rats.
Btw - the whole loud teenagers story and someone staying there were total BS – as we learnt later that the unit we booked is owned by someone else (the Russian couple). Our Airbnb host was renting the unit out for them.
Apparently, the Airbnb host and the Russian couple had some kind of disagreement in terms of payment, we don’t know who was telling the truth but we heard different stories from each side, interesting…. I guess it’s all part of the fun with Airbnb.
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