To not know what the F our air bnb host is talking about in her review of us???

[cricketmum84]

Ok I'm literally gobsmacked.

Got back a week ago from an air bnb apartment holiday. Before we left I cleaned top to bottom. Stripped beds and put all bedding and towels together for washing, swept, mopped, wiped down showers, sinks, cleaned toilets. The works. DH said I was being over the top but I was conscious that this wasn't the usual big company holiday let and wanted to leave it as we found it. We left a really good review for the owner.

Today received a notification that the owner has left us a review. It's HORRIFIC. It says the apartment was dirty, towels were dirty (not sure how they expect them to be sparkling clean after a 2 week stay and surely they wash them between guests???), she then goes on to say that there was EXCREMENT on the duvet!!! I aired and folded that duvet myself and it was spotless!!! And that there was excrement smeared on the bedroom walls and she has to redecorate!!! Like WTAF???

I have no words right now... I haven't been able to compose a reply as I have nothing to say except WTF? I spent half of my last day of holiday cleaning the apartment.... I think I would have noticed shit stains on the walls??

What do I do?? Can I argue the review with air bnb? I wish now I had taken pictures before we left but it never occurred to me that this could happen??

Before we left I cleaned top to bottom. Stripped beds and put all bedding and towels together for washing, swept, mopped, wiped down showers, sinks, cleaned toilets. The works.

Oh yeah that sounds like holiday fun
Issues with the nutso owner aside, OP, come on, you're being a right martyr to do that, it's your holiday too (I note you say "I" so presumably nobody else helped?)

@ShotsFired haha you would be right!! I did ask the 14 year old to sweep the sand out of the hallway but had to take over Cos he was making more of a mess...

I just thought it was the done thing to leave a private apartment as you found it? It was our first time as we usually stay in hotels abroad.

Before we left I cleaned top to bottom. Stripped beds and put all bedding and towels together for washing, swept, mopped, wiped down showers, sinks, cleaned toilets. The works

I don't understand why people do all that for holiday lets. Surely the property is going to be cleaned and checked properly by a professional cleaner or the owner between lets, because the owner shouldn't/couldn't expect renters to leave it in a state ready for the next tenants and need to do the beds and towels anyway, and it is the very reason why you normally have to be out by 10/11 and can't get into a property before mid afternoon at the earliest, to give someone time to go in and clean properly.

The review sounds horrific. Could the account have been hacked? Or the owner sounds mad. Is it possible to see if they have left similar reviews for other renters?

Query it with airbnb immediately. I am a host and do get mixed up if I have a stream of guests. I have also had a review which was bad and obviously not meant for my property (details were all wrong), i let it slide but considered bringing it up with airbnb and would if it happened again

We remove rubbish, wash up and wipe cooker/worktops (but not especially thoroughly), leave used towels in the shower, make sure there isn't any great piles of sand or crumbs anywhere and that all furniture etc was where we found it.

But never strip the beds, or do any 'proper' cleaning of floors, bathrooms etc because there's going to be a cleaner coming into do that, and there is usually a cleaning fee stated in the rental (or it is included in the cost).

Never had any complaints or requests to do otherwise. If there is a dishwasher, we usually load it and set it running, but there's never any time to empty it when finished.

Wow how odd - it does sound a bit like she has mixed you up with someone else! Normally Airbnb owners wouldn’t want to turn away repeat business by leaving their customers bad review, and if it was that bad she would’ve surely asked for cash as you say!

I once (pre-Air bnb and tripadvisor etc) had a cottage owner phone me up and bollock me at length about the state we'd left his cottage in. We hadn't - like you we'd cleaned up very thoroughly, but he totally refused to listen to my protestations.

Until a week later when he phoned again and said he'd got me mixed up with someone else and grunted an apology

I've also had the owners turn up in person as we were leaving and make a huge fuss that it wasn't clean enough, when it totally was - tidy, hoovered, cleaned, bins emptied, everything back in place etc. I don't know what some people are on.

Taking photos is a great idea, I'm going to do that from now on!

Sounds like they've definitely got you mixed up with another person. Will you contact Air B n B even though you may well not stay there again?

Also I know from people who let places out, that some people do actually leave a horrific mess, damage the property, or similar. So if you have actually left it clean and nice, which I always do, the owners should appreciate that at least.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune, that sounds absolutely horrendous. The owner appears to be looking for compensation money here and I’m sure there are a significant minority of owners who do this to try and redecorate etc. It’s a risk you do take with Air BNB unfortunately - it looks as though you’ve been bitten by a shady landlord who will do this as an attempt to extort extra money from renters. I agree with another poster, please contact Air BNB as soon as possible. Explain what’s happened. Request photographic proof directly from the owner or via the company of the condition you are alleged to have left the property as it is such a damning review possibly affecting your ability to rent in the future. If the owner can’t provide it, request the comments to be taken down. Don’t let the landlord do this ! It’s a defamation of your character really; a tenant leaving excrement on the walls is a serious breach of the terms, so make sure you find out your rights in this situation from Air BNB. Don’t leave it as it could have consequences if you wish to rent again. Get the owner to prove they are telling the truth, put the pressure on them to show you have breached terms. The owner will have had plenty of opportunity to take photographs after you left; I certainly would if I found my home in that state! I would then use that evidence to pursue a claim again the tenant. I hope you can resolve this OP and get on that phone to Air BNB soon as ! Good luck.

I haven't ever cleaned an air bnb....was there an extra charge for cleaning?

I've just had a nosy back through the reviews she has left for people and it looks like we aren't the first! She left a review stating the person had thrown parties, smoked indoors and left blood on the beds. The renter has responded very shocked saying they cleaned thoroughly, would never smoke indoors etc.

I've never had an issue with AirBNB yet but after reading things like this I've got in the habit of whizzing round taking a video before we leave just to show how we've left it. I don't do all that cleaning but I do leave it neat and tidy and surface clean.

Heard of this happening too often, I will never use AirBnB as a result. As usual what started out as a nice simple idea has been appropriated by the greedy and the shady to rinse even more money out of honest people.

She’s a nut @cricketmum84

If you rent property, use air bnb, use holiday lets as a customer or house swap eventually you are likely to come across an upsetting nutter.

It sounds like confusion or someone broke in. I would contact airbnb and owner - the biggest thing to exonerate you is the age of your kids. They wouldn't leave sh*t around the place and they wouldn't exactly let you do that either!

I do think there is a minority of Airbnb hosts who claim the cleaning fee, do it themselves but then resent cleaning. I’ve always left properties in a clean domestic state, but on ocassion hosts have complained as if I was an end of tenancy cleaner who wasn’t up to scratch!

There isn’t a uniform standard as I had one terrible review when on the same holiday (at another Airbnb) I had a glowing review. We left them both in the exact same state.

Clearly though this is extreme claiming poo! Either they are mixed up or just plain conmen. I would say as much.

There does seem to be an odd martyrish thing on mumsnet - " when we leave a holiday let we deep clean, take off all the roof tiles and clean each one, launder all the bedding, hire a carpet cleaner and deep clean all carpets" etc. Holiday fun!

That is really odd. Like others say, they either mixed you up with other guests or they are bonkers. I would say something to Airbnb if I was you, they may not be able to do much, but its worth mentioning. Plus I have always found their support team to be very friendly and responsive (huge contrast to booking.com, for example).

I'm a host and I am chuffed to bits if a guest takes their own sheets off. Certainly don't expect you to clean. I very rarely write a bad review, people don't pay me to clean for me, ffs!!

As others have said, cleaning charge can be included in the price up front if you feel like that (and with large groups of young people I have been known to take a cash deposit on arrival, but I don't do that with the majority of guests).

Only times I have written bad reviews is when people really take the piss - eg large quantity of unwashed dishes left in the bottom of the shower, half eaten food on the bed/couch, unannounced breakages etc etc. I don't charge for breakages either, although I do appreciate it when guests tell me when it happens (so I have maximum notice for fixing/replacing).

Also, on Airbnb you write one public review and one private one (that only the guest sees) it would have to be something pretty major before I'd put it on the public one.

Haha at the roof tiles 😂

My DH stopped me when I went to put all the bedding in the washing machine and start it running before we left. He said I was going too far... I had already washed and ironed the tablecloth as one of the kids had left 2 of those single serving butter packs on it and they had melted.

Respond back, referring to previous reviewers confusion and denial of mess.

I don't use Airbnb because of exactly this. Some hosts seem to exaggerate our of spite.

We rented one during the last general election, for some reason, the Labour supporting host decide it was my own personal fault Labour list. She also became irrationally angry that we'd eaten naked beans in her property. AIRBNB are very poor at dealing with it and rarely remove reviews.

Not worth the bother of paying that amount of money to spend a week with a complete loon breathing down your neck.

Air bnb are awful. I would never use them again.
Mostly filled with proper holiday let’s, who should just be using a company but they’re too tight. The times of actually having real peoples homes on it are gone.
Someone tried to scam me out of 5000 I complained and nothing happened to the listing! It’s still there now.
They always complain about cleaning, I mean I’m sure there are lovely people on there, but it’s SO hit and miss it’s just unbearable. A reputable letting company is the only way to go.

I once read an awful review on TA of a wonderful little coffee shop in Norwich, it clearly was rubbish, it talked of dirty carpets when the place has lovely wooden uncovered floors, it sounded like the seedy pub next door. This may be a mix-up with another review.