新房子里漂亮的房间

My boyfriend and I planned our homestay 3 months ahead. We asked the two in our initial email if they are available to host, I actually wrote a longer message and also pointed out that we would like a real homestay experience in a Japanese home, where we could meet them, have dinner together, and chat. The answer to this was only. We are available to host you, please continue booking“.
This should already have been the first red flag, which I unfortunately ignored.
Not only did they answer my second question just a few days prior to our stay but they have never mentioned that they actually will not be there. Only when I directly asked the host why we feel uncomfortable being alone in their home and not knowing what is happening, they said that they are on holiday.
I get that it was a golden week and everything, but this was clear at the time of our booking.
We were there with 3 strangers who also did not interact at all with anyone.
Dominik did actually offer a refund and a cancellation - sure. But good luck finding an AirBnB on your budget spontaneously in Tokyo. Not mentioning all the other homestay homes have already been fully booked.
And if that all was not enough, there was an unpleasant smell of mold in the room, the bed was squeaking with every move and it was very dirty under the bed.
After we checked out they did not even message us. NOT EVEN ONCE there was a word of apology for this miscommunication from their side.

These hosts just selfishly took our opportunity away to have a nice cultural exchange through homestay in our once-in-a-lifetime-Japan trip, just in order to make some extra money during their holiday.

Very poor experience.

During our stay we haven't met the hosts (they were on a Golden Week trip), so I can't really say much about them. The house was ~10 minutes by foot from the nearest train station (6 stops to Tokyo Station) and from the bus stop to Akihabara (direct line). There were few convienience stores nearby, restaurants (e.g. a local soba restaurant, Sukiya chain restaurant, a sushi restaurant) and a shopping street, where you could buy bento, warm food, souvenirs, kitchen stuff etc. Don Quijote, LIFE, Bookoff and some other nice shops were available by bus (8-10 stops). Our stay was pleasant. The only downside was no lock on the door. Other guests could come to our room anytime.