Page 9 | dear airbnb hosts

comeondover · 2023-08-12T18:21:56+00:00

Enough of the plug-in air fresheners. They're --foul-- a matter of personal taste. Also they make me very suspicious about what you might be trying to hide. And if all the temperature and function settings have been rubbed off, what am I supposed to do, play oven roulette? Give me a fighting chance and leave me the manual so I can look at a picture of it. Anything else?

hopeishere · 13/08/2023 13:09

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 13/08/2023 13:08

I love reed diffusers but not so much plug ins.

I'd just like realistic pictures on the websites. I don't need to see a close up of some flowers on a tray on top of a throw draped over a footstool. I want to see the rooms without a wide lens. I want to see all the areas I have access to and any communal areas onsite.

The place we've just booked has lots of little quirks but the pictures are really vague so I can't see them properly so unsure how/if they're functional

Totally. No close ups of a bowl or a a pillow. Good clear pictures of each room!!

lupinlass · 13/08/2023 13:11

I run two holiday cottages through airbnb and am pleased to say they are extremely well equipped with most things on this thread.

I might purchase an apron and microwaveable bowl though. Hadn't thought of those!

AccidentallyWesAnderson · 13/08/2023 13:27

Pearbear · 12/08/2023 22:20

Don’t let out your own home with the fridge full of food, wardrobes full of clothes, personal items everywhere. Arrange for parcels to be delivered when you’re not living there and then pop back to your property to pick up the parcel, disturbing guests who have paid to stay there.

That's what Airbnb originally was! Don't agree with the parcels and popping back though.

I Airbnb my house so my possessions and food are here but this is clearly stated prior to booking. Sometimes I do the whole place, other times just a room so I'll be here too. I have empty cupboards and space dedicated to guests though. Happy to see that I have all of the above that people want/need - sharp knives, corkscrew, tea, coffee, milk, instructions, no cleaning demands...

What I have found over the years is people expecting 5 star luxury for 2 star prices.

SheilaFentiman · 13/08/2023 14:35

AccidentallyWesAnderson · 13/08/2023 13:27

That's what Airbnb originally was! Don't agree with the parcels and popping back though.

I Airbnb my house so my possessions and food are here but this is clearly stated prior to booking. Sometimes I do the whole place, other times just a room so I'll be here too. I have empty cupboards and space dedicated to guests though. Happy to see that I have all of the above that people want/need - sharp knives, corkscrew, tea, coffee, milk, instructions, no cleaning demands...

What I have found over the years is people expecting 5 star luxury for 2 star prices.

Show quote history

Yeah, I agree - my first few airbnbs a
were very much “you are in the host’s main house, work around their stuff” but now the listings are mostly permanent holiday homes, it can be easy to forget that

EggOverEasy · 13/08/2023 14:47

I don't mind the mix matched cutlery, dinnerware, pots and pans. I'm not paying the kind of prices on Airbnb where I would expect them.

I wish hosts would go easy on scented products. If you have to use softener use just a little bit and for goodness sake no scent boosters!

And yes to a place for recycling! I've been told to recycle but I have no place to collect it. What a pain!

SheilaFentiman · 13/08/2023 15:20

Yeah, mismatched cutlery is a weird one. Who cares?! Not enough plates is a pain, what colour they are isn’t.

Ozgirl75 · 13/08/2023 15:59

How about, please don’t advertise your flat as having a parking space “on request” and when I request it, tell me there isn’t one.
Now I have to look like a twat asking where I leave my car overnight, can I unpack nearby etc and I might have to cancel if there isn’t anywhere to park as we’re coming up by car and staying for a week! We specifically picked this place because it had parking.

CaptainSeven · 13/08/2023 16:48

Ok, well if you want us out by 10am please let us leave with the dishwasher running. Most recent experience we had to make sure everything was washed, dried and put away.

Did not make for a relaxing breakfast that's for sure. It was rush, rush, rush.

Also recycling bins would be handy. Bins at end of drive - over a km away! Had to drive the rubbish to the bin.

ShinyBandana · 13/08/2023 17:08

garlictwist · 13/08/2023 12:37

See this does seem quite fussy to me. Coat hooks in every room?

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Lol! It’s my bugbear about cottage rentals…. I would just love to be able to hang up dressing gowns in the bedroom, towels in the bathroom, as well as Coats, dogs leads, bags, scarves, umbrellas, etc in the kitchen. Tbf, I don’t need hooks in the living room although if there were, then I’d probably find something to hang on them 😉

Sthenos · 13/08/2023 17:21

I really wouldn’t expect a cooking apron!

And mismatched crockery doesn’t bother me as long as there is enough of it.
Actually it’s worse if everything is a perfectly matched set as if we accidentally break anything I know it will be difficult to replace (it does happen, and we always own up and offer to pay for a replacement or try to replace ourselves if possible but not if it’s all a matching set…)

Makemineacosmo · 13/08/2023 17:25

Some of these are incredibly picky! 😂 If the air b n b I'm in is clean and reasonably well equipped I'm happy. It wouldn't even occur to me about a cooking apron!

Original poster

comeondover · 13/08/2023 17:39

An apron was something I wanted in that moment, and I agree it's a want, not a need.

OP posts:

mbosnz · 13/08/2023 17:45

Please, for the love of God, clean the damned oven. No, providing me with two cans of oven spray is not a solution.

And don't send your Dad over to clean the oven, either, do it your lazy self, or pay someone to do it. Although he and I had a LOVELY conversation about you!

Also, a plug. And don't give me 'I was up all night trying to find out what this 'plug' you were on about is, we don't have such things in Canada'.

If we're going to have to shovel snow, leave a damned shovel.

Make sure the central heating works when it's like -20 degrees out there. Or go wild, and actually put it on when you know guests are turning up at midnight. Putting a few damned lights on wouldn't go amiss, either.

Wow. I really needed that. Thank you OP!

rookiemere · 13/08/2023 17:51

@mbosnz sounds like you need an entire thread for that one.

mbosnz · 13/08/2023 17:54

@rookiemere it was an experience, for sure! To be fair, I think I was a bit of an experience for him. . . I think he was used to people taking his shit. At that point, I was about to lose my shit. . .

DuesToTheDirt · 13/08/2023 20:40

CaptainSeven · 13/08/2023 16:48

Ok, well if you want us out by 10am please let us leave with the dishwasher running. Most recent experience we had to make sure everything was washed, dried and put away.

Did not make for a relaxing breakfast that's for sure. It was rush, rush, rush.

Also recycling bins would be handy. Bins at end of drive - over a km away! Had to drive the rubbish to the bin.

I agree on the recycling bins, that's rubbish (no pun intended!) but for breakfast surely you just wash up by hand the few things you've used that morning? Or do you do big cooked breakfasts or something?

Namddf · 13/08/2023 21:39

SheilaFentiman · 13/08/2023 14:35

Yeah, I agree - my first few airbnbs a
were very much “you are in the host’s main house, work around their stuff” but now the listings are mostly permanent holiday homes, it can be easy to forget that

Show quote history

That would be fine if it was cheap, but it’s not. I’ve just booked 3 nights away in a European city and hotels were cheaper than Airbnb.

SheilaFentiman · 14/08/2023 00:09

We tend to stay in airbnbs as it gives more family space and cooking options. Just me, or me and DH, I think we would go
for a hotel.

mydogisthebest · 14/08/2023 08:33

Namddf · 13/08/2023 21:39

That would be fine if it was cheap, but it’s not. I’ve just booked 3 nights away in a European city and hotels were cheaper than Airbnb.

Show quote history

I nearly always find Airbnb cheaper than hotels. This year we have stayed in Airbnb's in London, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Birmingham and York and they were all lovely and cheaper than any hotels. They were all complete houses or apartments

We like having space, a proper settee (hate hate hate having to sit on the bed in an hotel to watch tv), the ability to cook for ourselves if we want to, not having noisy guests come back late at night shouting, slamming doors etc and waking us up.

Ozgirl75 · 14/08/2023 09:29

The main thing I like about Airbnb is that we have two children and it means we can have a bedroom each, and a living room, plus somewhere to make breakfast etc. When people say that hotels are more convenient, you can check in earlier, don’t have to clean etc, I know they’re travelling as a single or a couple!
We had a couple of days in London recently and I booked a family room in a hotel and it was fine, but it was three beds in one room. We were out late and did all go to bed at the same time, but if we hadn’t, I would have had to sit in silence in the dark while the kids went to sleep. Then we had to go and track down breakfast the next morning as well whereas when we go Airbnb we pick up fruit, milk, bread etc and can have a simple brekky before heading out.

Shodan · 14/08/2023 11:52

Oh yes I do almost always book airbnb/vrbo/other private apartments or villas or whatever- I travel mostly with a teen ds, an adult ds and sometimes my (female) friend, and we all prefer to have our own bedroom, so airbnbs etc are invaluable for that.

I just wish they thought things through sometimes!

Having said that- I now purposely book places that state they 'sleep' more than is in our party, and usually it works out ok. It's the old four-man-tent syndrome.