A woman has slammed her 'filthy' AirBnB after discovering 'cockroaches' and 'mouse droppings' in the property.
Melanie Rio, who hails from Washington, D.C., revealed that she had forked out a massive $2,500 for a one-month stay at the rental property which was, let's just say, far from satisfactory.
The writer took to X, formerly Twitter, to open up about the nightmarish 'saga'.
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Melanie, who goes by the handle of @SureAsMel online, began by sharing with her 10.7k followers: "For a fun game, let's do a tour of the unit @Airbnb refuses to give me a refund for! I'm sure they'd hate if you liked it shared this, which seems to be the only way to get their attention. Let's start with the entryway. Not off to a great start re: cleanliness.
The second tweet on the thread continued: "But wait, @Airbnb! There's more: when I left today I locked the door. When I got back it was unlocked and one of the screws was missing from the deadbolt.
"The host is, naturally, suggesting that I am too stupid to lock a door properly despite locking it ten times before."
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Melanie went on to reveal that when she first rocked up to the property, there was a 'small cockroach' in the kitchen.
"I killed it, which was evidently my mistake, because @AirbnbHelp wanted proof," she revealed.
"Since then I've killed two more and one got away, but here's your proof!"
And, as it couldn't get any worse, Melanie spotted another pest lurking around the rental.
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"But it's not just roaches," she shared. "We also have rodents. Mouse droppings and general filth between the fridge and the cabinets. In case you think there's a chance it could be anything else, think again."
She also shared a snap of some rodent repellent, adding in another tweet: "Fun fact before you accuse me of snooping, @Airbnb, I opened this cabinet trying to see what was up with the hot water after it lasted just long enough to wash another roach down the drain.
"Guess how @AirbnbHelp responded to that problem?"
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Melanie then shared a screenshot of her correspondence with Airbnb which saw the company ask her: "Is there a way that you can send us a documentation to support that hot water isn't working?" to which she replied: "How would I document that?"
And it doesn't stop there.
The hot water issue was far from the only water problem as Melanie claimed that due to the rain one day, the ceiling was 'leaking'.
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And that was just the front room.
Melanie then shared four pictures of the bathroom showing a stained bathtub, peeling paint and a door handle which looked like it was coming off its hinges.
Another screenshot of her correspondence with Airbnb saw the company initially refusing her a refund over a lack of 'evidence'.
She then shared the lengthy 'saga' of what reaching out to Airbnb Help about the ordeal was like.
Melanie explained: "I check in. Immediately notice the furniture is different from the pictures (no couch, but a crappy futon instead).
"Willing to give it the benefit of the doubt because I try not to be an a**hole, usually. Naïve, clearly. But then I notice the heat doesn't seem to be working.
"I reach out to the host, who sends a handyman. He removes an HVAC filter that is BLACK. Like the cancerous lung of a lifelong chain-smoker. Feeling more uneasy but thinking, okay, maybe it's just been a while since they had a guest.
"I haven't seen the roaches yet. I decided to make dinner. (I should mention I have booked this place for A MONTH.) The stove has four mismatched knobs, none of which are pointing the same way. They turn the gas on, but don't turn it off so easy!"
Carrying on with the rundown, she continued: "I contact the host again in a bit of a panic. The gas is off, I think, but the place sure smells like gas.
"So they send the property manager over. He tries and fails to fix the stove then asks me to come downstairs and look at a different unit with a working stove. Sus? Yes."
At this point, Melanie had her 'guard up' but there were even more problems to follow.
"When the first roach shows itself I smash it and toss it, since that's what a sane person does with a roach, right? Wrong! Obviously you stop to take pictures first, or at least you do according to Airbnb," she went on.
So, at round 7:30pm, Melanie reached out to Airbnb to 'explain the issues' to which she was informed the company needed to reach out to the host first and that they would be back in touch within the hour.
"They're not," Melanie said. "I wait. Decide to take a shower. Wrong move. There's a roach waiting for me in the tub. I drown him."
Yikes.
After sharing a little more about the exhausting back-and-forth exchange she had with Airbnb representatives, Melanie eventually packed her bags, was picked up by her partner and finally left the property.
After a load more tweets on the thread, Melanie revealed that, at long-last, she was thankfully issued a refund for the nightmarish ordeal.
"Thanks again for everyone who helped get this seen and shake some things loose," she concluded. "Hugely grateful to everyone. Wow, it has been the weirdest 18 hours."
That's for sure.
An Airbnb spokesperson has since told Tyla: "We were sorry to hear about our guest’s experience, and our team has fully refunded them and offered further support through our AirCover protection for guests.
"We enforce quality standards for listings, and have suspended this listing from the platform."
Rhiannon Ingle