Booking HMF5M9ARDA · 12 September 2026
Everything needed to get the money back for the flat, in the order to do it. Rosie booked it, so all of this runs from her account. Three messages are written for you. Tap Copy, then paste.
Read this before you touch anything
"I'm very sorry for the experience and the inconvenience caused. Please cancel the reservation from your end, and once the cancellation is submitted, we will approve a full refund."
Rahman, Elan Residences, this evening
Two things are true about that message, and they pull in opposite directions.
The good part: he apologised and offered a full refund without arguing. That is the host accepting the flat was not fit to stay in. Keep that screenshot. It goes in your claim.
The problem: the booking is non-refundable. The receipt says free cancellation for 24 hours only, and that ran out on 9 August. If you press cancel, the automatic refund is £0. Not reduced. Nothing. His promise to approve a refund afterwards would be the only thing between you and losing the lot, with no way to hold him to it once the booking is closed.
If he cancels instead, you are refunded in full automatically and it counts against him. That is the whole reason he is asking you to do it. Don't.
Send this back on the Airbnb thread.
Thank you for confirming you will refund in full. I'm not going to cancel from my end. This booking is non-refundable after the first 24 hours, so a guest cancellation refunds me nothing at all and leaves the entire amount to your discretion once the booking is already closed. If you are issuing a full refund, please do it in one of these two ways: 1. Cancel the reservation from your side, which refunds me in full automatically, or 2. Send the full amount to me through the Airbnb Resolution Centre. The replacement hotel cost £199.99. I am not asking you for all of it, because we would have paid £100 for a room tonight in any event. I am asking for the £99.99 difference, which we only incurred because the flat could not be slept in. I have reported this to Airbnb as a travel issue. My claim stays open until the refund and the hotel cost have actually been received.
And don't worry about the angry message you already sent him. It doesn't weaken anything. If it comes up at all it shows how bad the state of the place was.
Airbnb gives you 72 hours from arrival to report this, so by around 3pm on Tuesday 15 September. Do steps 1 to 4 tonight anyway. It gets harder to argue the longer you leave it.
Rosie booked it and Rosie also paid for the replacement hotel, so the whole claim runs from her account and any refund goes back to the Mastercard ending 9412. Whatever Kirsty has already sent her towards the hotel, square that up between yourselves afterwards. Don't try to split the claim across two accounts.
Upload from your Photos app. WhatsApp strips out the time and location stamps, and those stamps are what prove you took the photos at that address on arrival. Send everything: toilet hinges, oven, cupboards, skirting board, washing machine seal, the bed slats, the street.
You've already told him what you thought of it, which is fine. Follow it with the itemised version so the case handler has something clean to read. Attach the photos to this one.
To put the specific problems on record properly: The apartment was not clean, not safe to sleep in, and not as described, so we left and paid £199.99 for a hotel. Photographs attached, all taken on arrival: - The toilet seat hinges are covered in heavy black limescale. That build-up takes months. The bathroom has not been deep cleaned. - The oven and kitchen units are covered in dried food and grease. - The skirting board is rotten with visible mould, cobwebs and a spider. - The washing machine seal is dirty with debris in it. - The shower and toilet were both filthy. - The bed has broken and missing slats. - The shelves are coming away from the wall. - The breakfast bar shown in your photos is jammed behind the fridge and cannot be used. - The smell was so bad I was physically sick. None of the windows open, so there is no way to air the flat. I would also point out that in April a guest reported the oven and bins being dirty and you replied publicly on the listing that this had been "addressed and resolved, including cleaning and maintenance improvements to the kitchen and waste areas". It has not been. A guest last week also reported the bed being broken. I am requesting £199.99 in total: the £100 booking refunded, plus the £99.99 extra we paid for a hotel purely because your flat was unusable. I have reported this to Airbnb as a travel issue. Please respond here on Airbnb only. I will not be arranging anything by private transfer or outside the platform.
In the app: Trips → tap the reservation → Resolution Centre → Request money. Put in the booking total plus the hotel. Attach the same photos again. Then paste this as the details.
Reservation HMF5M9ARDA - "Modern 1BR Apartment - Free Parking - City Access", Greater Manchester, one night, check-in 12 September 2026. Booked by Rosie Zabel, paid £100.00 on Mastercard ending 9412. I am reporting a travel issue and requesting £199.99 in total: a full refund of the £100.00 paid, plus £99.99 towards the replacement hotel. To be clear about how I have calculated that second figure. We booked a standard double room for two adults at the Manchester Central Arena hotel for the same single night, confirmation number 233152273, at a cost of £199.99. That is a like-for-like replacement, not an upgrade. I am not claiming the whole amount, because we would have spent the £100 on a room tonight regardless. The £99.99 I am claiming is the additional cost we incurred solely because the flat was not usable. Booking confirmation attached. The property was not clean or sanitary on arrival and was not safe or usable to sleep in. I could not stay and left the same day. Photographs taken on arrival are attached. PLEASE NOTE FIRST: THE HOST HAS ALREADY ACCEPTED THIS This evening the host messaged me on Airbnb: "I'm very sorry for the experience and the inconvenience caused. Please cancel the reservation from your end, and once the cancellation is submitted, we will approve a full refund." Screenshot attached. The host is not disputing the condition of the property. I have declined to cancel from my side, because this booking is non-refundable after the first 24 hours, so a guest cancellation would return nothing automatically and would leave the entire amount to his discretion once the booking was closed. I have asked him either to cancel from his end or to send the refund through the Resolution Centre. I am asking Airbnb to ensure the full refund and the hotel cost are paid. 1. NOT CLEAN OR SANITARY AT CHECK-IN - The toilet seat hinges are covered in heavy black and grey limescale build-up. Limescale of that depth takes months to form. It is physical proof the bathroom had not been deep cleaned for a long period, not a spot missed during a turnaround. - The oven front and kitchen cupboard doors are covered in dried food and grease. - The washing machine door seal is dirty with debris in the rubber. - The shower and toilet were both filthy. 2. HEALTH HAZARD - The skirting board is rotten and blown, with visible mould staining, cobwebs and a live spider. - The smell inside the flat was severe enough to make me physically sick. None of the windows open, so it could not be aired. 3. THE HOST PUBLICLY CLAIMED THIS EXACT PROBLEM WAS ALREADY FIXED This is the point I would ask you to verify first. Open the listing reviews here: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/1639880146839369520/reviews Set the sort order to "Lowest rated". The three reviews below are the first three in that list. In April 2026 the guest "Chantel" wrote: "the oven is gross with no racks, the bin smelled like it has not been clean for some time" The host replied publicly on that review: "The issues you mentioned have already been addressed and resolved, including cleaning and maintenance improvements to the kitchen and waste areas." My photographs from today, five months later, show the oven and kitchen units still covered in grease and dried food, and the flat still smells. The host stated in writing on Airbnb's own platform that this was resolved. It was not. This is documented neglect and it can be verified from the listing page without relying on my account. 4. UNDISCLOSED CONDITION AND DISREPAIR The listing does not disclose that none of the windows open. Four separate guests have reported it: "Chantel" (April 2026), "Mohammed" (May 2026), "Suhas" (July 2026) and "Anna" (one week ago). Combined with the smell, there was no way to make the flat usable. The bed has broken and missing slats. "Anna" reported a broken bed one week ago and it has not been repaired. The shelves are coming away from the wall, and the breakfast bar shown in the listing photographs is jammed behind the fridge and cannot be used. 5. PLEASE NOTE A PATTERN OF THIS HOST AVOIDING THE PLATFORM On the same reviews page, sorted lowest rated: "Georgia", 1 star, March 2026, describes the host telling her: "not to bring it to airbnb as it would end up bad on me as they'd open a dispute but instead to text them privately my bank details" and says the host sent someone to her door to repeat it. "Chantel", 3 stars, April 2026, writes: "I was asked to not leave my feedback here in exchange for a 5 star review" I am recording this now so it is on the case file. I will not be accepting any private transfer, off-platform payment or arrangement involving my review. All contact from this host should be through the Airbnb message thread, and I will report anything offered outside it. I am requesting £199.99 in total: the £100.00 reservation refunded in full, and £99.99 towards the replacement hotel, being the additional cost caused by the condition of the property. I am reporting this within the 72-hour window and I have not cancelled the booking myself.
Go back to Trips → the reservation → Get help. That is the button that pulls an Airbnb case handler in. Give the host a few hours, not days.
Airbnb UK on +44 203 318 1111. Tell them you have already reported a travel issue in the Resolution Centre and you want it escalated. Have the reservation code in front of you.
This host has been caught doing the first two before, which is why they are on the list. If they ring you, afterwards write in the Airbnb thread what they said and what they offered. The pressure then becomes evidence too.
the bin smelled like it has not been clean for some time.
airbnb.co.uk/rooms/1639880146839369520/reviews — sort by Lowest rated to see all of it.