AIBU to not know how much it matters if you get a bad airbnb review.

[Happydays21]

Stayed at an airbnb holiday home - not cheap at over £1200 for 2 bedrooms for the week and it included a cleaning charge. When we left I thought we left it in reasonable condition knowing it was also going to be cleaned e.g. we wiped surfaces etc but didnt clean them. Same with bathrooms.

Anyway, we got an email from the owners saying that we had left a mark on the settee and the rug and also that the place wasnt left clean enough and so they had to pay the cleaners for an extra hours cleaning. As a result they were charging us £90 extra. I wasnt sure how to respond so didnt reply at all and they sent it to airbnb who decided that we didnt need to pay anything and to consider the case closed.

So, last night there was a message saying that the host had written a review about us but we wouldnt see it until we had written our review or the time had passed for submitting one.

Now I dont know what to do. I am tempted not to write a review at all but dont know what they will have written about us - presumably something bad though. I dont know how much this matters as I'm not sure that I plan to use airbnb again and if I did I could always use my partners details. Or should I comment on their place and also the fact they tried to charge us.

If it hadnt been for the request I would have written a fine review - not raving but quite happy with the place overall.

Thanks for any advice.

I would saying 'beware the cleaning charge, no not the one you pay in advance for cleaning it, the one they charge afterwards for...cleaning. Making it a total of X for cleaning.'

I would have also challenged the extra charge. £90 an hour for cleaning? I am in the wrong job!

I would just be honest - if you enjoyed the stay it and it was decent say so but then say that despite a tidy and superficial clean and paying for cleaning they complained about things that were not down to you (if thats the case) and that they had charged for extra cleaning. Sometimes I think its the cleaners being managed long distance and not being paid alot that push the sob stories on owners to get them to try and pay for more time etc

Sorry to be unclear - the £90 extra was for one hour of cleaning, dry cleaning the mat (which was old and horrible) and for getting the mark out of the sofa cover (but I wasnt aware of a mark although they did have a photo of a mark - just not sure we made the mark or that it was bad enough not to have just wiped off.)

Yup like @AlternativeTentacle says.

Give the review you would have put, but at the start put the bit aboit getting hit with a massive extra cleaning charge.

Ok - will go ahead and do that and see what they say about us! Would really rather not have any hassle. We stayed at another place (not airbnb) straight afterwards for 3 days and had to pay £500 deposit which we got back - just to prove we arent total slobs!

Goodness I could have written the exact same post as you op. It's spooky. Were you by any chance on the Kent coast? Somewhere that starts with B? We got stung this way. Just paid the charge but with hindsight I wish we had challenged it as I honestly don't think we created those stains. I also didn't like the way the owner was trying to tell us off via email . When I had spent a good amount of time cleaning up before we left. And left it spotless I thought.

Not the same place! We were abroad. The owners did write it in quite a nice way but I still thought they had a cheek as we really didnt leave a mess. I am guessing that rather than the owners trying to rip people off their cleaners have told them this and they are trying to reclaim the cash.

Maybe this is the latest scam. Wish I'd challenged it now.

They're taking the mick to rake in extra cash. You've got the option of trying to challenge it through AirBnB ( probably long and fruitless) or just walking away and using those other holiday providers who don't allow owners to write personal insults about their guests.

I've used booking.com, owners direct and flip key a number of times and never had any problems. Unless you genuinely want to share a room in someone's house, then pretty much all the same rentals are on multiple sites anyway.

For a wasted evening have a read of www.airbnbhell.com.

This would annoy me. How many other reviews does the owner have ie from people who stayed there other than you?
I've only the best experiences on Airbnb but I only pick places with multiple perfect scores. Delighted Airbnb dismissed the charge

Have just written my review and so then got to read what they had written about us. Now I wish I had written a worse review!!

I wrote the positives about their place but then said only negative was that they tried to charge us for extra cleaning. They said we left the place in a very dirty condition! I did get the opportunity to reply and so kept calm and just said that we didnt agree and neither did airbnb after reviewing the information. Grrr!

Bloody hell. £90 !! I've looked on airbnb but never used it because of the added charges like cleaning charges, even more glad now I know they can try and charge you a fortune after the event.

I think prices have really gone up too. I was looking at a house for another holiday and it was £2800 on airbnb and £2100 on another site.