To not want to stay in an AirBnB that is basically someone's home...?

[LiveInFulhamGetOverIt]

So for the second time, I've stayed in an AirBnB that appears to just be someone's home, except the host wasn't there.

Food in the fridge, family photographs, laundry in the washing machine, a bag of opened avocados on the surface. Clutter.

It's like the owner has just decamped and left the home to me for the night.

What's going on here? The photographs on AirBnB make the house look like a it is a serviced apartment...but the reality is different.

Does the host actually live here?
Where does the host go when I stay?

Anyone had similar experiences? AIBU to not want this?

Isn't that how Airbnb started and what it was meant to be? It's now just morphed into any other house booking site.

They were in the loft watching you 😂.

No, seriously, I assume they're sleeping on a friend's couch and need the income to pay their mortgage.

I wouldn’t like that either. Could you ask in advance if it’s a holiday home or family home?

I thought that might be the case...except it was a four bedroom house, that I had all to myself... no one else there... No reason the host couldn't have stayed at the same time. Any ideas as to what's going on?

That's the point of air b n b until greedy people decided to start basically Renting out their second homes on there. Loads of student digs in city centres rent out their rooms when they go home for the holidays. The point was affordable homes to rent that aren't hotels and hostels etc. Someone even rents their kids tree house on their.

Perhaps they only make it available when they intend to be away?

I had this when I booked somewhere in Derbyshire for an event with friends.
It's was mega creepy though as the guy was still in part of the house and the downstairs was split in 2 and only lock for partitian door was on his side. We ended up moving some cabinets in front of the door and all camped in one room. Never used Airbnb again.

you get what you pay for.

hotel?

I've stayed in a few where they've gone on holiday and rented it out via airbnb. Good especially when you've got young children as they have all the kit and leave toys out. I knew it was their home though before I booked.

Does literally no one remember that this is what air bnb started out as?

It’s only morphed into being predominantly holiday lets due to second home owners wanting to rake in money.

Isn't that what you would expect with AirBnB though? It's not self-catering apartments, it's people renting out spare rooms. (Yes, I know it's morphed into people buying second homes to let out and inflating property prices in the process, but renting out a spare room is how it started).

That's why I generally don't stay in them as I don't like the idea of staying in someone's home.

I stayed in one recently and the owners kitchen window overlooked the ‘garden’ that was for our use. Horrible. No mention of lack of privacy on website. Hate ones that are basically part of their house.

I don't use AirBnB, but I've stayed in places via (for example) booking.com where it's a person renting out their flat and typically they've removed all of their valuables, but there's still personal stuff like pictures, books, knicknacks, blankets, clothing, etc. Even toiletries. It doesn't bother me unless it's so much there's no room for my things.

Also, I stayed in a flat in a high-rise in Warsaw last summer where I know the owner has never lived there and rents it out commercially, and there was a load of food including opened pasta, salad dressing, flour, etc. I asked about it out of curiosity (the owner is a friend of a friend) and it turned out that he'd told the cleaners to leave anything previous guests had left, just in case someone wants it. If no one does, the cleaner eventually throws it out before it goes bad.

In places like Devon quite a few families will camp for the summer and let out their homes

Are you absolutely sure it wasn’t mentioned in the description?
I stayed in a place like this where it was the top floor of a massive house, the owners travelled most weekends. They were clear in their description that this was the case - it was a home where they may or may not be present.

air bnb is a mix of all types of properties, the key is the description and the reviews. If it’s not anywhere near accurate then you could report I guess, or be clear if your review so that other potential guests are aware.

Even though it started as a spare room app, you wouldn’t expect the advert to be wrong so they’ve either not been clear or you’ve misread.

One of the nicest airbnbs we stayed in was the owners house. They were both doctors, lived in a fabulously restored midcentury architect designed 4 bed house in north Oxford. Spotlessly clean and DS loved playing with their kids toys. They only rent it out at half term.

FIL does it because he works away for a large portion of the year leaving his house empty, it’s in a popular town on the coast so just makes sense for him to do it. We’ve stayed before when he’s been away (free of charge!) and he’s definitely left food in the fridge that we’ve had to throw away for him because it had gone bad. He has family photos on the walls too for sure, I don’t think he made any effort to make it look more like a hotel/bnb but I sort of thought that was the whole point or air bnb really?

Yes absolutely. It was great (& there are properties still like that on there) when it was just peoples spare rooms or empty houses while they were away.

My favourite one that I stayed in was in Birmingham. I stayed with a lovely woman and her toddler. We had breakfast together in the morning and I read him a story and we did some colouring.

I think it's such a shame it's turned into just another holiday rental site.

YABU, unless the booking led you to believe otherwise. As PP have said that's the whole point of AirBnb!
One of my best memories was staying in Munich. The spare room of a lovely mixed race couple (one of from Eastern Europe, the other from the Middle East). They were both really into poetry and we had a lovely breakfast conversation about dreams.

Were you renting a room or entire place, it's in one of the filter's? If it's just a room it's far more likely to be something someone lives in permanently. Our Airbnb is furnished obviously with towels, usual hotel type toiletries plus welcome kitchen pack. Tend to have things like herbs & spices in the cupboard - cling film etc but just stuff people don't really want to have to buy when staying for a short period. Cupboard with books/games/arts & crafts people are welcome to use, nothing that I would consider to be personal belongings - more than a hotel but not someone stepping into a full time family home.

Fuck that shit! Premier Inn every time. Booked WELL ahead is pretty cheap.

We stayed in one where the owner had decamped to a caravan in the garden, and kept pipping in to re-charge his phone. 🤣 But all the rest have been fine.

We rented a four bedroom Georgian farm house in Devon.

The owners were 'camping' in their adjoining field in a portacabin for the summer!

We had complete privacy and they had de cluttered to the point that it almost passed as a rental. We enjoyed our stay and would do it again.
They were making £2000 a week for the full 8 weeks holidays as they were fully booked.

To be honest I'd do this every year for that extra boost in income. An easy 16k for 8 house cleans, and the cleaning charge was extra if I recall.

This is pretty normal for AirBnB but your host should definitely have cleared out the fridge and washing machine for you!

But that's what AirBnb is..?

We stayed in several alongside the owner/resident and had some lovely experiences. Got shown around Kuala Lumpur by a native. And in some more which were the owner's temporarily vacant home. So what? It's nice, nicer than an anonymous, wipe-clean rental. Respect people's personal stuff and all is good. Or book a hotel.