Fabrice Merone

We are an elderly couple living in Iowa in the United States. We rented an Airbnb in Nice, France from Fabrice Merone, and paid $3142.50 fully and in advance for a 3-week apartment rental.

When we arrived in Nice after a difficult airplane trip (one of our flights was cancelled and our luggage was lost), we went to the location of the rental, where we waited for three hours for Fabrice to let us into the apartment. Fabrice never appeared or let us into the apartment.

While we waited for Fabrice to appear, we learned: Airbnb and Fabrice canceled our rental without our knowledge or approval and without prior notice to us and without justification; Airbnb and Fabrice refused to allow us admission into our rental; Airbnb and Fabrice refused to refund our money. They told us that we would have to secure different housing accommodations.

Not wanting to live on the streets of Nice for three weeks, we paid an additional 4826.63 euros for a hotel for our three-week stay in Nice.

Once back in Iowa we filed a dispute with our credit card company for return of the money that Fabrice and Airbnb took from us. After initially resisting, Airbnb finally conceded our claim, and the credit card company refunded to us the entire amount that Fabrice and Airbnb took from us: $3142.50.

While we were in Nice, we went to the French National Police about this matter, and filed a complaint against Fabrice. That matter is still pending.