To think this AirBnB review was unfair?

If it’s just DH and me I enjoy a hotel. But when travelling with our teen DC we almost always book something self contained to have more space and let the DC have privacy in their own bedrooms. We do longer, multi city trips so having laundry facilities is essential.

Up until 5 or 6 years ago we used a lot of Airbnbs but these days I prefer to use one of the other booking platforms. The cancellation policies are better, you don’t have your accommodation cancelled at the last minute and you aren’t expected to vacuum the property and strip the beds before you leave. I put dishes in the dishwasher and turn it on and put the rubbish out if asked but I don’t think it’s necessary to leave it as I find it because there will be cleaners coming in and that’s their job.

I just leave it as I found it and put everything away, strip bed, take rubbish out etc. As you would do staying in a lodge. Does seem a bit unfair I know as a clean will hopefully be done but just me, I like to leave anywhere as clean and tidy as possible, including hotel rooms. Your review does seem harsh though, I've heard some b and b owners find the place a mess, things missing, toilet mess left and so on. Xx

Quite right too I have never stripped a bed.

I am finding hotel offers make Airbnb look expensive. The fact a host supplies creamer makes them a five star host and I guess charge more.

Airbnb with all the rules and cleaning charges just make it stressful.

Just move on, they employ cleaners, as long as you didn't leave it like a tip. I always put the washing up away though.

Sound like u didn’t do something that was in the list of rules.

I got a bad review on airb&b for not stripping beds.
there was NO information to say we had to strip beds, I checked all emails and correspondence so replied to the comment saying so and telling them they charge a cleaning fee so they can strip their own beds!

I've stayed in airbnb type places (one on airbnb the other was a Sykes cottage) and I'm not keen to do it again, I'd rather an actual bed and breakfast or a hotel next time to be honest. I always tidy up food mess, put stuff away and follow any instructions that are left re bins etc but I'll be buggered if I'm doing a deep clean at 7am to be out by 10. I'm on holiday and that's what they pay the cleaners for surely.

You should have put the dishes away.

God, tell me about it. Last time we stayed in an AirBnB we paid for an extra weekend so DH could lay them a new patio.

How did you get crumbs on the floor?
Gravity - do you not have it where you're from??

Really can't be arsed with the 10.00am check out that seems to be the new norm.
You barely have enough time to work your way through the guests' to-do list - sometimes you have to pay for another night just so you can finish regrouting the bathroom and clearing the gutters.

Yes, I cant sit there in my undercrackers shouting at OH to grab me the crisps!!!

Are you actually from this planet?

We dont really cook when on holiday but I want the option to have my snacks when I want them, we virtually exist on wine and cheese in the evenings after a meal out anyway. we eat out for most of our meals

We're normally cycling so things get grubby I like to be able to wash things if I need to, we dont always.

An iron is essential, I like to go out each day and night looking smart and well presented, no matter how carefully you pack things get creased.

I spend about an hour before we leave making sure I leave it how I found it. Theres no week long cooking and cleaning. I dont even clean at home as I have a cleaner

And of course there is the cost, a hotel like others are describing on here are way way more expensive than renting self catering, thats why people go self catering because its far more cost effective. I dont want people bringing me food in a hotel in any case, I want to go out and have lots of different experiences but still buy in things I might want to snack on and store. I dont want to have to order drinks or store them in some cupboard sized fridge, I want to have things that I want around me, plus the space. We struggle to find places thta have good bike storage anyway, hotels never do, although once we found one where you had to go into the basement, ask for a key, hang around waiting for a member of staff, blah blah blah, never again

Sometimes we want to fix or tinker with teh bikes in the garden.

I find this type of thing so annoying when the cleaning fees for air bnb are so expensive! We stayed in Scotland in a 2 bed place this year it was £110 cleaning fee for a 4 night stay! I obviously did what you did but I wasn't willing to sweep floor etc

You can avoid this by only staying with Super Hosts. I've never had a bad experience.

I stayed at 3 Airbnbs this summer in France, Austria and the Netherlands and all had check-out times of 11am, with later possible by arrangement, which we didn't want.

Our holidays are very much based around sight-seeing and exploring cities etc. They're quite tiring really and when evening comes we want to be relaxing in a private environment in which it is possible to be as near to horizontal as possible! DC are teens now and feel similar, but when they were younger I wanted them to have a private space to be loud and silly in, which would not have been possible in most hotel lounges and gardens, especially the nicer ones.

Obviously we all enjoy different things and have different requirements of a holiday, but I don't understand why so many people have come onto this thread, as they always do when Airbnb is mentioned, to go on about how great hotels are and make out everyone who stays SC spends their entire holiday cleaning and has foolishly booked an 'underperforming holiday,' as someone upthread described it.

SC and hotels provide completely different experiences and both are available at a huge range of different prices, so why not accept that some people do not want to stay in a hotel and the fact that someone had an issue with their particular Airbnb does not mean that the whole model is shit, just like someone having an issue in a hotel wouldn't mean that the whole hotel industry was shit.

This is why I would never use Airbnb. You always run the risk of being 'hosted' by some very petty minded, precious and unreasonable people. People who charge you a cleaning fee and then expect you to do a deep clean without providing any equipment, tell you not to walk on the carpet with shoes (WTF?) and so on.
Imagine a hotel treating guests like this!

What is it with the cleaning fees on Air BnBs? I don’t remember it being a thing before - perhaps a refundable deposit that you’d get something deducted from if you damaged something? Why not just build it into your nightly price? Puts me right off.

I would have personally dried and put the stuff away. Was there stuff left out on the draining board when you arrived? A bit OTT to criticise you so harshly though. We just stayed in an Air BnB in Spain and swept, hoovered, wiped down the shower glass and surfaces, emptied all the bins and took the recycling to the recycling area (that we researched and found ourselves)

If you pay a cleaning fee it makes you feel disinclined to do all that work but I’m just used to doing it now.

I’m trying to book a place in the UK for 3 nights in December - the quoted price per night is £150, the Service charge is £95 and the cleaning fee is £115! That takes a ‘£150’ per night price to £220 per night. I totally won’t book it because I think they’re ’at it’ by advertising as a £150 per night place. Rant over.

Fair enough. The difference to me, is that I can enjoy the gardens without the hassle of having to maintain them myself (hate gardening, so pay a gardener at home).

I don't want to sit in gardens with strangers thank you and what difference does it make who is maintaining it?

Again, any good hotel will usually have lovely gardens to enjoy (that someone else has to maintain). And, if abroad, you usually have a good sized balcony or private patio area (that someone else has to maintain). I must just be super comfortable letting someone else do everything for me whilst on holiday.

We're starting to move away from Air BnB and back to hotels. Really can't be arsed with the 10.00am check out that seems to be the new norm.