I've totally done the wrong thing ...

[appleaday12]

DH and I recently went away for a weekend, DD stayed with grandparents.

A long awaited trip just the two of us, been so looking forward to it etc.,

The place we booked was an Airbnb hosted by a rental holiday company not directly by a host.

Anyway! It was expensive boutique style home...all very lovely except the first day when we opened the door...you could smell damp!!!!
One of the blinds had visible damp...there was water damage to the flooring close to one of the back doors.
Anyway!!
We let the property managers know but their office was closed over the weekend etc..
We stayed for the weekend but the smell just wrecked it!!
Annoyed I left a bad review on the Airbnb site...I'd rung their office Monday and got a short swift answer by one of the property managers that she "didn't smell anything damp at all...I was there only two days before your visit"
I thought she must have had covid and couldn't smell it!!

Anyway they are raging over the review and I'm now feeling terrible.
Apparently EVERYONE who has stayed in the past has said it was like incredible and I'm an annoying twat.
There is a damp issue at this property!!

I'd add another review, adding the fact you couldn't contact anyone over the weekend and when you did speak to someone, they called you an annoying twat and that you felt threatened to take it down. I'd be bloody furious!

I suspect this happens a lot, people bullied into removing poor reviews. It gives others a very skewed view of places.

I recently booked a B&B through booking.com. It had overwhelmingly great reviews. It was genuinely awful: smelly, unsafe and bodged DIY everywhere. I left an honest review. The owner responded with the expected "nobody else has a problem blah blah". So what? I had a problem and I think others should be aware.

I think you should reinstate your review and learn to be more assertive.

This! Very unfair. It's one of the reasons I don't use air bnb because properties are often shit and its not mentioned in carefully curated reviews. Much better a nice boutique hotel. Prices aren't much better.

I daresay every review will be positive if the owners intimidate anyone who says otherwise the way they have you. There’s no way I would have removed it.

You did the right thing.

Yep. That’s one reason why I have never used AirBnB and never will. Another is the fact most of the properties are let by amateurs and so you have no assurance that where you are staying meets basic health and safety regulations applying to hotels and professional BnBs.

If you aren’t going to use air BnB again ( and I wouldn’t, they are bullshit rip off merchants) then why take down the review? Don’t be bullied by a load of money grabbing arseholes that we’re happy to label you a liar.

Yes you have done totally the wrong thing by getting your totally factual review removed. Of course they know there’s a damp problem and rather than fix it and have to miss out of revenue, their tactic is clearly to intimidate anyone who has anything negative to say which is why all the reviews are all positive. And then along comes the next poor sod who sees only positive reviews… and thus it continues.

Agreed you smelt damp you complained it wasn’t good enough so you gave a honest review. Tough shit if they didn’t like it .!!

You left an honest review. Why did you remove it??! The next guests will book this “great” place and also be conned.

Have the courage of your convictions.

What rating did the host give you? Have they tanked your guest rating? If so, it may scupper your own booking in future!

I think the title of this thread should be "I've totally done the wrong thing by removing an accurate and useful review of a property".

Honestly - do you usually just roll over when anyone disagrees with you? You should feel terrible that you've let someone else have their stay ruined too.

Why take it down? Put an updated version back up with the truth.

Have you never had to rent? Nearly all the rented properties I’ve been in over the last 20 years (no inheritances here, so no choice) have been damp. All the landlords lie about it. They paint over the mould, tell you it’s condensation, they all make out that you’re making a fuss about nothing. It is so that they continue to fleece tenants, or in this case, holidaymakers. At the very least do not believe for one instant that you have to be nice back to such a bunch of cutthroat scum.

We stayed at an Airbnb place this year. The owner on leaving day kept pointing out tiny minor pieces of damage and saying we had done it but he won't blame us if we leave a good review. Felt v manipulative and aggressive. He then contacted me to ask why no review a week later. I left no review as I felt bullied but wish I had done an honest one to warn future guests. I'll never use air BnB again.

And that is the problem with Airbnb, you just cannot trust the reviews because this type of intimidation is endemic with their site.

If I were you I would complain to Airbnb, that the host intimidated you to the point that you felt you had to remove your honest review. They won't do anything but at least you have pointed it out to them.

I won't ever use Airbnb again either, used them one time for a property that had only 5 stars positive reviews, there were loads of things wrong with it.

I left a public review that wasn't too scathing, but mentioned the sofa and a few other things, but the review that only the host and airbnb can see laid out all the problems, the host went ballistic, wrote back calling me a nasty bitch, said I had psychological problems, it was really abusive, claimed she was going to stop renting her house because of my review. I really regret not complaining to airbnb about her response, even though they would likely do nothing.

It's clear all the Airbnb reviews are not an honest review, they are all sanitised, so I won't use them again.

This is why I will never stay in an Airbnb - unless you fall over in gratitude for being allowed to stay and unless your clean it to the highest standards when you leave hosts will never be happy.

it’s okay to leave an honest review!!

You stayed there because it had only good reviews. Now other people will do the same and waste their money on the same shit experience that you did, for the same reason. Do you not see the issue here?

I’ve stopped leaving or reading reviews because too many people are easily manipulated into leaving positive reviews when the reality is the opposite.

How many times have you complained to then be offered a bribe to not leave a poor review? Amazon sellers often try to send you a small freebie to keep you sweet. It’s ridiculous and makes a mockery of the whole system.

OP, you need to toughen up and learn to have the courage of your convictions rather than cow tow to the bullies. Confident people don’t care if someone irrelevant to them, doesn’t like them. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Be strong!

You should not have removed your review. Also, completely agree with pp above that it is unacceptable that the rental company cannot be contacted at weekends. If they are letting property during weekends, they need to be contactable to deal with issues. I would have put that in the review also.

This.

why on earth would you do that?

What did Airbnb say when you contacted them to complain about the owner? You did contact them didn't you? Rather than writing off an entire booking site because of one poor experience.

I use air bnb a lot. I’ve only had one problem with a stay, where the property was not as described. I took lots of photos and sent to the host and air Bnb.

air bnb offered to find me somewhere else ( which I declined because it was for only two nights and the location in a small town mattered to us ) and they got the host to refund 75% of the money .

I also complained about one “ experience “ ( not a stay ) and they refunded 100% of my money.

So I’ve found their complaints team to be very responsive.

I get what you’re saying op. We are staying in an Airbnb. It’s in France and the reviews are really positive. A couple make reference to it needing to be refreshed or the downstairs is rather rustic etc. More French review than Brits.

We knew the place wouldn’t be modern and locked tired from the pictures. Typical Normandy house but we didn’t expect it to be so bad. We could rent it for a few more weeks and film a French version of Rising Damp! The 100ish year old tiles downstairs are in disrepair, the walls haven’t been painted in over a decade, the paint is cracked and wallpaper peeling / shows signs of repair and so forth. This we can live with along with old bathrooms etc as there was almost nothing left by the time we booked btw!

Modernised it would be 1k more for a week and it’s far too big for our needs so we would have ideally wanted a place a little smaller but modernised. The main issues are to do with basic respect. Ie the chimney is overdue for sweeping and there is soot in the open fireplace creating an over powering smell in the living room. The kitchen (not photographed) is something out of the 1950s - ie not fitted with a sink unit and cupboards underneath, a free standing cooker and free standing kitchen cupboards, one from the 50s and a smaller one probably from the 80s. The only prep space is a formica topped table against the wall from about the 70s. The fridge is rusty on the outside. I could go on…

However, the most worrying for me is the electrics. As a landlady, I know the circuit board would not be up to standard in the U.K. It looks like it’s from around the 80s! A couple of the scarce amount of sockets don’t work and neither does a light in a hallway.

I’ve only stayed in one other Airbnb, which was the complete opposite. So idk exactly what I’m going to write. It will be a little less scathing than the above with the positives that the floor and sanitary ware were clean, comfortable beds made up etc.

In your case, I would put something back up.

Why have you been such a wet wipe over this? Grow a spine!

I had something similar last year. Myself and my DD stayed in a private lodge in the grounds of a manor house. When we got there the shower had black mould around the door, the blinds and other items in the bathroom had black mould and the place itself was very shabby. I complained to them and heard nothing, I then left a bad review and they got in touch instantly saying why hadnt I rang them during my stay (I tried) and that their cleaner leaves everything immaculate etc. and the mould must have just happened as it wasnt there the day before (lies as mould doesnt just appear). They then messaged to say they had found a piece of jewellery and if I could tell them what it was they would send it back to me as they wernt sure if it was mine or the previous customer, yet stood by their cleaner been amazing! It was my daughters ring and they then refused to post it back to me unless I changed my review. I bought my daughter a new ring.