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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Would this annoy you? (Airbnb stay)

101 replies

mydogisthebest · 04/02/2019 19:00

Me and DH have used Airbnb a lot and always been more than happy with the places we have stayed. We always chose the whole place and not just a room.

We stayed in place over the weekend which was a self contained apartment at the end of the owners' garden. We had our own parking space and own gate through the garden to the apartment.

We arrived Saturday afternoon and the owner showed us round. She was very nice and friendly but a bit over the top. The place was quite small with a kitchen area at the end of the living/dining room so everything was in clear view but she pointed out the fridge, the oven, microwave, washing machine etc. Then the bedroom and bathroom, again pointing everything out

She asked if we had any plans and we said we were spending Sunday with my family. She then asked if we knew what sort of time we would be out as she would come in and change the towels.

I had seen that there was a large pile of towels so said not to worry as we would not need new towels and could dry our used ones on the heated towel rail anyway,

So we unpacked and then went out to meet friends, not getting back until about 1am. We literally went to bed, got up at 8am, had a shower, ate breakfast and went out to go to my family. We washed up our breakfast things but left them on the draining board.

We didn't return until about 10pm. As soon as we got in and turned the light on we could see the carpet had been hoovered just because of the way the pile was. We then saw the owner had put the breakfast things away. I went into the bedroom and she had re-made the bed and piled all the cushions back on it (I had left them on the floor as I could not see the point of putting them on the bed only to take them off again when we went to bed).

She had put clean towels in the bathroom even though there were 4 bath towels and 6 smaller towels on the side which we had not used.

She had also tidied up my makeup and put our toothbrushes and paste which I had left on the shelf in the bathroom into one of the glasses which were there.

Both me and DH found this odd and rather annoying. The carpet didn't need hoovering (we had barely spent any time there), we would have put the breakfast things away ourselves., we didn't need new towels and I didn't want our things tidied up.

We were only there 2 nights so no need whatsoever for her to go into the place.

We go back to the area at least once a month and were hoping that we could use this place all or most of the times. It was really lovely and had everything we could have wanted. There was even things like eggs, milk, bread, 6 different breakfast cereals, croissants, jams, butter, biscuits, fruit, chocolate, tea bags, proper coffee.

DH is now adamant he doesn't want to stay there again. I tend to agree but the place is really is lovely and very reasonably priced (much cheaper than any hotel in the area and almost all the other Airbnb places).

They have loads of reviews all of which are not just positive but absolutely raving about the place.

So what would you think about it? Would you be annoyed or uneasy?

OP posts:

Maryjoyce · 04/02/2019 22:37

We stay in a place often with service like this it’s fantastic and since we found her 5 years ago we now need to pre book a years stays in advance as she is so full always.
She has 6 very different places to stay all very unique.
So I guess it proves there must be lots of others out there that love this kind of service.

ninalovesdragons · 04/02/2019 22:39

I get your point about it not being necessary to clean each day but it sounds like great service there and while not necessary hotels clean everyday.

Just ask her not to next time, I think you're over reacting to this.

GabsAlot · 04/02/2019 22:55

she did ask her not to nina and hotels dont clean eve4yrday if u ask them not to

Costacoffeeplease · 04/02/2019 23:00

Just don’t go back if it doesn’t suit you. No big drama

Shambu · 04/02/2019 23:16

Moaning about a place being dirty ok. But moan about a being cleaned and tidied for you, really?

She's just trying to do the best job she can. If you prefer to stay in a hovel book one next time.

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 04/02/2019 23:19

Just tell her you don't want the place to be serviced, I bet she will be delighted. Bloody hell, there really is no pleasing some people!

ABoozedMoose · 04/02/2019 23:32

Is OP the landlady trying to drum up interest?

marymarkle · 04/02/2019 23:34

Hotels do not come into your room if you don't want them to. OP was not expecting anyone to come in and could have left embarrassing stuff out like a vibrator, or just underwear she did not want anyone else to see.

starfishmummy · 05/02/2019 00:00

If I was in a hotel then I'd expect people to be going in and that's fine. But in a self catering then no. We're not very tidy - I don't mean we're dirty but we leave things lying around and wouldn't like someone going in and tidying up.

We did stay somewhere once where the entrance to the cottage was in the owners garden and every time we got back she was there in our faces. She also went in when we were out and the final straw was on our last morning - we were supposed to be out by 10 and at 8 she tapped on the door, and marched in to collect the bedding to get it laundered for the next guests!! Luckily we were up and dressed but we were busy trying to sort out the last of the packing, grab breakfast feed toddler etc.

Joanne721 · 05/02/2019 00:49

@mydogisthebest I would be annoyed.It reminds me of a b&b i stayed at when i was married(unfortunately)(now divorced,happy days!) the landlady had been in the room we where staying in,and at the evening meal she loudly(in front of a rugby club who where staying!) told me not to leave my contraceptive pills lying around in the room they should be in a drawer! CF!

Original poster

mydogisthebest · 05/02/2019 07:58

Brizzledrizzle, but I DID say I would not want clean towels (there were enough there for about 6 people anyway) and yet she still changed them.

It seems I am in the minority but I am pretty surprised that so many others would be ok with it. When I was a chambermaid years ago we were told not to move personal items unless we really had to (ie if they were on the bed and so had to be moved to make it). Also I cleaned holiday homes for a while and would never have touched any personal items

What if you stayed in a holiday cottage for a week would you be ok with the owner going in every day, changing towels, making the bed, hoovering and tidying? Surely no one expects that?

Me and DH choose to stay in Airbnb places because neither of us like hotels. We feel for the time we are staying, even if only 1 night, we want to feel comfortable and have some privacy.

It's a shame but we won't be staying there again. I don't want to upset her by saying anything and, anyway, DH is adamant he won't stay again. He said it made him feel like a child being followed round cleaning and tidying after him.

On holidays we self cater because we are quite happy cooking and cleaning for ourselves. As I said we always do a thorough clean when we stay somewhere (obviously the longer the stay the more thorough the clean) and strip the bed etc.

Shambu, no need to be sarcastic. We have stayed in many Airbnb's and none of them were hovels but also none of the owners felt the need to go in and do unnecessary cleaning and move our personal items around.

OP posts:

Costacoffeeplease · 05/02/2019 08:19

Fine, so don’t go back, problem solved

I know a tourist apartment development nearby where the maids go in every day except Sundays and bank holidays

Daisydoesnt · 05/02/2019 08:20

OP I completely get where you are coming from - I think the problem is with AirBnB it is not clear either as a host or as a guest whether booking "the whole place" means you are booking self-catering or a BnB type service, but in an apartment/ cottage/ whatever. As a host myself the tendency is to overcompensate (providing breakfast, servicing the room) as disappointing guests that are expecting a BnB type service would be really bad and no-one wants to lose their hard-earned superhost status.

AirBnB needs to make it clear to hosts/ guests what "whole place" because at the moment they don't, which is why you have different hosts offering completely different levels of service. If as a host and a guest you have the same expectations on booking, (ie I'm going to hand over the keys, leave you to it, and you'll have to sort your own breakfast) then everyone tends to be happy.

CowJumping · 05/02/2019 09:12

As an airbnb host sometimes you can’t win.

This.

I wonder (as PP have said) whether someone had complained and left a bad review. AirBnB hosts aim to get the "Superhost" listing as you get more business that way, and depending on how long she's been doing it, one bad review - or negotiated non-review - could scupper the extra boost you get with a Superhost listing.

I think you're overreacting.

Original poster

mydogisthebest · 05/02/2019 09:39

No bad reviews, only pages and pages of good ones. She already has Superhost status.

Daisy, many of the Airbnb's we have stayed in have provided things like breakfast cereals, bread, milk, tea bags, coffee etc. In fact more provide than don't. One in Sweden had cupboards, fridge and freezer full of food and the owner left a note saying we could use whatever we liked.

The food in the weekend one was all in the cupboards and fridge so its not as though she was bringing the croissants, eggs etc in in the morning for us.

Obviously we have the option not to stay again and we won't but I was interested to see what others thought of the set up. It really is a shame as the area is not a tourist area at all (we go to visit family) and there are not that many places to stay.

It does make me laugh though at some of the double standards on MN. The owner hoovered although we had only spent around 9 hours there between arriving Saturday afternoon and going out Sunday morning and 7 of those we had been in bed.

She knew what time we arrived back Sat evening (1am) as she laughed about us "staying out". She said this as we were going out Sun morning so, again, she knew exactly what time we went out.

We had barely walked on the carpet and both only in socks. No way did the carpet need hoovering.

On a thread about housework I said I hoover my carpet most days as I have two big dogs. I am home most days so am walking over it a lot, the dogs run in and out from the garden bringing in twigs, bits of grass etc. They also come back from their walk with twigs etc in their fur which ends up on the carpet.

I was told that was over the top and unnecessary and yet it is fine for this owner to feel the need to hoover for no reason at all!

We didn't feel comfortable because we felt she thought we were messy. If we had got crumbs or anything on the carpet we would have hoovered the bloody thing (probably would have done before we left anyway)

OP posts:

Disfordarkchocolate · 05/02/2019 09:43

I think if everything else was good I would book again but send a message saying you don't need any tidying etc during short stays.

jay55 · 05/02/2019 11:42

I hate it when hotels move my toothbrush and contact lense stuff in the bathroom, I'd have found this intrusive in an air b&b.

Notsurprisedatall · 05/02/2019 12:29

I wouldn't like her coming in either and neither would my DH. I would leave a raving review but sandwich in a comment about how you had requested no hotel type services but got them anyway which was unwanted, but how it was a lovely overall stay.

Rowenaravenclawsdiadem · 05/02/2019 15:34

To give you an example of a guest today.

I’ve had eight messages asking me how to turn on a lamp.

thecatsthecats · 05/02/2019 15:59

I'm with you, OP.

I haven't had anything like that in whole place rentals, indeed, not in the one room rental we did.

I would absolutely feel like I was a kid being tidied up after (I got told off for doing exaclty that when people were in my house for my hen party! shouldn't spill glitter on my sofa then you div). I go away to relax, and feeling like I couldn't leave whatever I liked on the bed etc would really put me off.

Dieu · 05/02/2019 16:02

You cannot actually be serious with this thread?!
Are you and your partner complainers in general?

thecatsthecats · 05/02/2019 16:13

You cannot actually be serious with this thread?!

Do give over. The OP has explained perfectly rationally why it bothered her.

I agree, because it would bother me too, and it's certainly not typical in my experience of AirBnB lets.

The OP has accepted that it appears lots of people would like this level of fussy, bothering, overprecious- cleaning.

Original poster

mydogisthebest · 05/02/2019 17:37

Dieu, we are far from complainers and, if you read my posts, we didn't complain about this. I left a really glowing review because the accommodation was brilliant.

I just wanted to see (as I already said) if others would also have been unhappy. Although the majority seem to like intrusion when staying somewhere as in their bed being re-made, towels changed, personal items tidied up etc there have been quite a few posters who agree with me and would not be happy.

OP posts:

MagicalTwinky · 05/02/2019 19:56

I couldn't get het up about this at all, and it definitely wouldn't be a reason not to stay again in my book. That said, I stay in a lot of hotels for work so probably wouldn't have thought twice about being tidied up after whilst away.

Ellie56 · 24/10/2019 19:15

Can you post a link to this place OP? It sounds great.

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