AIBU to be upset at review on AirBnB?

[ballerina1971]

This is my first time ever using AirBnB. There was so little available in area we wanted to go , but a property came up. It was an active Church, with 2 camp beds and 2 air beds for the children (aged 11 and 12). No bathroom but a toilet with sink, no cooking facilities or fridge, but a little table was set up with 4 chairs to eat breakfast at. A simple cereal, tea and coffee breakfast was provided. We slept in the Church. On the last day we cleaned the toilet and sink. We washed cups, bowls and spoons we had used and set it all back up, how it was when we arrived. All rubbish was put in a black sack and all recycling put in recycling box, these though we did not know where the bins were despite looking. We don't remember being told where the bins were or where to put rubbish. We were never there during the day, didn't eat there other than breakfast. We didn't make beds the day we left as they would be stripped and washed any way. I smoke, but respected it was a Church and did not smoke anywhere in the grounds, but went out to where my car was parked, smoked there and placed all butts in an empty packet and put in a public bin where ever we went that day, so did not leave any cigarette butts on the grounds even. So, I was shocked to read Hosts review which said
* and her family weren't the tidiest of guests, but they were a very jolly group.'

I don't know what we did wrong, what exactly is expected of us as I can find nothing in Terms and Conditions that says about expectations of how property should be left and my friend was still in the Church to give key back and collect key deposit, so if something bothered them in could have been mentioned then.

I will write a response to the review just not sure yet what to say.

AIBU to be upset at this as I assume other hosts can read this and put them off accepting us in the future, should we use AirBnB again. It has not sat right with me, yet we had a great time and loved the Church and all it's history.pö

Good grief, that review sounds like what you would expect from someone who thinks they are better than everyone else.

YANBU

Was the church open to visitors during the day as most of the ones on the champing website are? Perhaps you were untidy during the stay rather than at the end and they were complaining about that.

I find the whole concept very odd to be honest.
It seems a bit odd to be setting up camping beds and mattresses and letting people camp in what is a sacred, consecrated space. The church must be absolutely desperate for money to do this.
And for the campers, don't know why people would want to pay what is essentially a lot of money for next to no facilities. Don't see the appeal at all myself.
Maybe some Christian families might like it as they could spend time praying together in that atmosphere in the evenings. Who knows!
Not for me - but each to their own.

@WorkHardPlayHard1, my point exactly.

Huge assets, huge building, huge potential....ruined by petty minded people with no vision and no handle on the real world and no desire have either.

The review manages to be both self-righteous, patronising ("not the tidiest") and sarcastic/snide ("jolly" could mean noisy, drunk, etc, while superficially being a nice word) in one sentence. Quite an achievement to be proud of.

When I stayed in an airbnb during Covid I did strip the beds/pile my towels up as I thought the cleaner wouldn't want to touch them much, but otherwise I can't think what you could have 'tidied'?

If you’re that upset, leave a shitty review pointing out lack of facilities and their snide review, then set up a new Airbnb account.

This sort of bollox is why I am staying in a Premier Inn on my UK holiday next week. I won't be making beds or doing any cleaning. I'm on holiday. The person whose job it is to clean and make beds will be doing it.

It's like they think they are doing you a favour by letting you pay £stupid to sleep on the floor. FFS.

I expect the OP and her family were the victim of the rampant greed which stalks the nation. All those smug people ramping up the prices for families who have been climbing the walls for months and want a break.
Then we have " The Church", that welcoming, Christian group of people who open their doors to OP and her family , smile at them and have the cheek to leave a snide review of them. They bloody payed !!!

@Gh0stontoast

If you’re that upset, leave a shitty review pointing out lack of facilities and their snide review, then set up a new Airbnb account.

She can't leave a review now She's either left one already or the window has expired.

I’m picturing Maggie from Little Britain writing the review…

I run an airbnb and very happy for people to leave beds unmade and towels all over the place. I love hosting and just want guests to have a lovely time, they pay me to clean so clean I do after they've left.

£118 a night for DH to stay in an unheated church, complete with bats, no running water, camp beds, candles and some even have flushing loos!
I'll stick with Premier Inn I think. I'm sure there are people this will appeal to, I am definitely not one of them.

champing.co.uk/what-is-champing/faqs/

Hi all that have posted. I have not long risen from my comfy hotel bed, taken a long hot shower and sat down with a coffee and read all your replies. I appear to to have created a whole debate on making/not making bed on last day, unintentionally!! 🤣🤣 To try and answer some of the points asked

It was AirBnB, I attach a copy of my receipt
for the booking, there was a £98 Service Fee, as you can see which more than covers any cleaning they felt needed to be done on top of what we did.

We had very little choice of where to stay, due to looking late and embraced the stay as somewhere to lay our heads at night and 'quirky' . We definitely did not make or leave a mess as we were hardly there during day and came back about 10.00pm to lay our heads. We touched nothing else in the Church. We thought it a good way for a Church to raise money for it's need I.e. a new roof and paid the cost for 4 nights despite it being a bit pricey for lack of amenities (we are church goers ourselves back home, so appreciate the need to come up with funds).

This is my first time using AirBnB, but would definitely think twice before doing so again.

I will be responding, just didn't want to last night as I was really annoyed and didn't want to off the back of annoyance, as I can be quite 'spicey' when I do this.

I take on board the texting to establish about bins, my mistake.

They are supposed to let you know if they have to come in or have been in, so not aware they went in.

And the ladies that asked about cleaning feet in the Font and finding the stash of Communion Wine, dang it ladies!!! Were you spying on us??🤣🤣🤣🤣

YANBU that review was code for “bad guests” or the person who wrote it was an airhead.

The Airbnb service fee goes to Airbnb, not to the hosts. Just a point of clarification.

Can you contact the host privately? I'd do so and say that you'd like to clarify about being 'not tidy' as (you're sure they can appreciate) your reviews are important for yourAirBnB profile. Say that you didn't know about and couldn't find the bins. Be polite and approach it like starting a productive dialogue.

Well, apparently cleanliness really is next to Godliness

Hmm it was messy not putting the rubbish in the bins provided, strip the beds, give a wipe down, quick sweep, wipe down any human scum/mess in bathroom It takes minutes once everything is packed in the car.
You should have found the bin area by leaving it the accommodation wasn't left as you found it.
I left our accommodation cleaner than when we arrived, the cupboards and countertops were sticky. I didn't leave a bad review as we had lovely times.

Hmm it was messy not putting the rubbish in the bins provided, strip the beds, give a wipe down, quick sweep, wipe down any human scum/mess in bathroom It takes minutes once everything is packed in the car.

a) the op said she couldn't find the bins
b) she did clean the toilet and sink but didn't do the bathroom as there wasn't one.

Also, as a B&B host I'd think 'jolly group' is code for loud and disturbed people.

I mean that you caused disturbance to people not that you were disturbed people!

Op in so glad you are going to tackle this because that service charge is disgusting and the way they have taken your money and spoken about you is awful.

You need to really pin it down, ask for specifics ask if their level of cleaning required for a family on holiday clear on their website?

How much more cleaning do they expect?

Ask them to retract the comment.

Unfortunately, I've had some bizarre encounters with people who work in a church.. Different churches at different times.. Sometimes they do attract people who are perhaps not used to normal life as it were.

Hmm it was messy not putting the rubbish in the bins provided, strip the beds, give a wipe down, quick sweep, wipe down any human scum/mess in bathroom
They cleaned the sink and the toilet. TBH that's more than I'd do (I swill out obvious things if in the sink e.g. coffee grounds, and obviously get rid of any skidmarks in the loo, but I'm fucked if I'm scrubbing a toilet on my holiday).
I left our accommodation cleaner than when we arrived, the cupboards and countertops were sticky. You're a cleaning martyr. It doesn't make you better than the OP.

I never see the point of wiping down anything more than real filth as they've got to do it again anyway.

What do they mean by a 'very jolly group'?

Unless they were living there as well, surely they only met you when you arrived?

Were the kids running wild and being spied on by nosey parishioners?