The booking being occupied when we arrived at check in. After we entered the unit, we found other people's possessions and were soon followed in by the owner of these possessions. He said he had a confirmed reservation for the property and spoke with the owners when he arrived. We spent over an hour on the phone talking to Vacasa. It turns out the tenants who were renting the main house had occupied the basement unit that we had reserved, since there is a staircase that connects them. There was a significant delay while this was sorted out. We were told that once we enter the unit we could lock the door to the stairs that went upstairs, but we couldn't because we didn't have the key. About an hour later some people arrived to clean the unit, and they told us that the key was in the main house. So even if the upstairs tenants hadn't entered the unit that night and taken it over, they could have entered it any time during our stay. This was incredibly distressing, and is a safety issue. This situation could have easily become hostile dangerous, the tenants were outside and saw us enter the unit, and immediately followed us in and confusion ensued regarding the booking.
The host refunded some of the fees, but I requested that one of the nights be refunded due to the safety issue and the significant impact on our stay. They have ignored my texts ever since. I tried seeking help from Expedia, since that's how I found the property, but I was told they couldn't help because I didn't contact them within 24 hours. I assumed contacting Vacasa was sufficient, since they're who expedia goes through, but I was wrong. I tried contacting Vacasa again about all this and got an email saying they would "forward it to their local manager." Overall the clear lack of concern for our safety and our experience overshadowed the entire experience.