'AITA for ruining someone's business after feeling like they ripped me off?'

'AITA for leaving a $700/night Airbnb that didn’t live up to the hype?'

IoniOpts90 writes:

So my wife and I finally decided to splurge on a dream vacation, thanks to a nice little windfall. We found this Airbnb with glowing 5-star reviews, looked perfect online, $700 a night, but hey, it’s a special trip.

We get there, and immediately it's not as advertised. The photos showed this luxury spot with ocean views, high-end decor, and all these nice touches. In reality? It was cramped, outdated, and honestly, it looked like the place hadn't been cleaned in weeks.

I'm not usually the type to make a fuss, but when you’re dropping that kind of cash, you expect what you paid for. I contacted the host right away, told them the place didn’t match the listing, and they were kinda dismissive, telling me it’s “subjective” and that it’s a popular spot.

After seeing how dirty it was and how sketchy some things were, I decided to cancel, got my refund, and left a bad review because honestly, it was misleading AF. The host flips out, starts sending messages saying I should’ve given them a chance to fix it and that I’m ruining their business.

Meanwhile, my wife is saying I was too harsh and that maybe we should’ve just dealt with it or at least given them a chance to make it right. She gets that it sucked but thinks I was too quick to pull the trigger and that the bad review was too much. Now I’m second-guessing myself. I just didn’t want to spend our vacation feeling ripped off and uncomfortable.

Here are the top comments:

MissingBothCufflinks says:

This was a scam and you did the right thing.

DutchDaddy85 says:

NTA. Wouldn't have mattered if it was $70 a night: If the photos aren't of the place you're actually renting, they're 100% in the wrong. The host wouldn't be able to "fix that" anyway. Make sure to contact AirBnb about this, with photos, so this host gets banned from their platform.

374852 says:

NTA for leaving the place or the bad review. That’s what reviews are for. You’re doing a service to other people looking to get an experience that matches the photos and price. And honestly, if you’re spending $700 a night, what are they going to do to fix it? You’ll spend half your trip with people coming in cleaning and fixing stuff. You did it right all the way.

HeightEnergyGuy says:

Yeah, you can get a 5 star hotel in Hawaii for that.

What do you think?