Okay I’m not (probably?) the literal dumbest Airbnb guest EVER, since that seems like a pretty low threshold, like the ones in this reddit thread
- “the ones that stole everything from my house”
- “The guy who was renting it drank himself to death”
- someone tried to make meth and LSD in one
But anyways, I did something that made me feel really idiotic at my recent Airbnb stay in Athens
My first Airbnb in Athens
This is actually a story of my first Airbnb stay ever – too many hotel points I guess! I felt like I got a pretty good deal – with a coupon for new users, I got 4 nights in Athens near the subway and the Acropolis for $138.03 (which I wrote off with 13,803 Arrival miles)
I mean look at the actual view from our balcony!
Arriving in Athens
After our flight was delayed, we ended up getting into Athens about 4 hours later than scheduled, at about 5:45 local time. I had been in communication with our host, and he was very responsive. He messaged me that he had to go somewhere at 6:45pm, and a friend of his would meet us at the apartment and let us in. By the time we got our rental car and out of the airport and made our way into the main part of Athens, it was a bit past 7pm.
We pulled up to the address and had a bit of trouble finding parking (only on-street parking). Originally we found a spot right across from the apartment, but there were some construction workers doing something to the road. They started talking to me, in Greek of course, and I (of course) had no idea what they were saying. I figured it was possible that I couldn’t park there, so I decided to find a different spot. It took many circlings of the block but we eventually found a spot a few streets over.
We walked back to the apartment, rang the buzzer, and walked up to the 5th floor. I wasn’t quite sure where we were going but thankfully the host’s friend met us there and showed us around. His English wasn’t great but it was okay. He gave us the keys and we were set
Perhaps we should have paid more attention when he was explaining the keys…
Then…. problems
We decided to go walk by the grocery store (right across the street) and check out the neighborhood. We locked the door with one of the keys and headed out.
But when we got back, we tried to unlock the door with what we thought was the right key, in the upper lock (where we had locked it)
But turning the handle didn’t seem to open the door, and in fact we eventually turned the handle so far it came completely off! At this point we emailed the host asking for help.
Then we figured we would wait for him down on the street.
ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT MY SON HAD ACCIDENTALLY LEFT THE KEYS IN THE LOCK OF THE DOOR UPSTAIRS!
(and we were locked out of the building and couldn’t go get them)
Solving the problem
We couldn’t reach the wifi, and I was still having trouble connecting my phone to the Greek cell network to get Internet and texts (why does the Sprint International Plan always seem so complicated?!?). So we had no way to know if our host was responding to our message or not.
After a bit of dithering, we walked down the block, bummed the wifi password off of a local coffee shop and logged on. Our host had been VERY responsive – he had sent like 6 messages trying to help diagnose the problem and offered to come over. We took him up on that and within 5 minutes he was over and showing us how to use the door.
I felt awful that we had made him come show us how to of all things open the door! It turned out that we were using the wrong keyhole. We both swore that we had used that keyhole but none of the keys had fit, but of course when the host was there, everything worked perfectly 😀
It was an auspicious start to a great Athens vacation
What is the dumbest thing you’ve done (or seen done) in an Airbnb? Leave your thoughts in the comments
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Well, you did misspell “dumbest” and “threshold”, so…don’t sell yourself short!
Oh my goodness. I am glad you host was able to help you so fast.
Do you have a link to that Airbnb? That view is amazing and the price is unreal. Even with a coupon code.
I am planning on doing a full review of it, but I believe it’s at https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/14032896
I needed a good laugh, thank you. Glad all turned out well. I was interested to hear that the Sprint network didn’t work so well. On my recent trip to Mexico, my Boost phone (even though I paid for Mexico coverage) was also very spotty, so I could not use Uber the way I had planned. Very frustrating. (And yes I know Boost is not a top tier provider). Curious if other providers are spot on when traveling interanationally.
This post is so dumb i wasted my time reading it..jeez
Ha! The dumbest Airbnb guest ever would have been looking for the view of the Acropolis and unhappy because all they could see what this ruin in need of repair.
One of my Airbnb experiences; we had a code number to enter into a keypad (keyless entry). That was very easy, no problem. But when we went to leave it took a long time for us to figure out how to lock the door! It’s been 2 years since then so I am not 100% sure but I think we had to enter the code to lock the door. Not sure on that, but I know just walking out the door (and closing it) and doing nothing did NOT lock the door as we tested it before walking away. We have had mixed results, some very nice and some not very good. One place had us sleeping on the box springs, with no mattress on top. We survived but it was not too comfortable. Another place said it was a real bed but it was a futon, maybe only a foot off the floor that would tip over if you sat on the edge of it. Makes for some interesting stories…
I’m really fussy about reading EVERY review for my Airbnb stays ..have used them numerous times and know what to expect. the reviews are pretty accurate. but now that I think of it, there was a time with a lumpy mattress.
We rented a large house on the beach(T&C) via a lux rental company but when we got there the Lux co had been sold to VRBO. They charged for using the AC in the 4 bedrooms, for a crib, and so many other little things. It was a nightmare… None of the XTRA charges were in the initial contract with the other company. On arrival I had to go with the rep and see and document all of the electric meters and at the end do so again.. Also with the water,,, never again.. what a nightmare vacay,