Getting Fed Up With AirBnB...

[user1490969170]

I used to love Airbnb but over the last few years, I am enjoying less & less.

This year we have stayed in 4 AirBnB properties and seem to encouter issues or bizarre behaviours each time. We always have relativly premium listings and always the whole house. For example:

• Listing said no towels. Not a problem - we bought our own. However, they literally meant no towels at all. No hand towels, no kitchen towels.
• One weird male host to turned up every day to do various jobs outside the house/garden unannounced.
• A host who was constantly monitoring our electric usuage and would text me when the electric went over a certain threshold (we were just cooking dinner, so oven on)
• When vacating the property being asked to wipe down all surfaces that we had touched during our stay including all light switches and kitchen appliances & bathrooms. Obviouisly you have to also pay a cleaning fee. Btw we would always hoover and wipe kitchen surfaces before leaving.
• When we arrived at our most recent house (Tenby) we had to remove all rubbish from the house. Couldn't use the bins provided. The rubbish had to be bagged up by us and taken home (4 hours away) or disposed of in public bins. This was not stated up front, but in the guide book on arrival.
• Final rant - a property which advertised have car parking (big bonus in this area), that you couldn't physically get a large car to. Again, not stated on the listing, although if I had read every review other guests had picked up on this.

Any one else noticed this, or maybe we have just had bad luck?

I suppose it is just the lack on consistency with the listings. You get never know what you are actually going to get.

That’s the problem with parasites, they just keep in going.

I’ve never had a good experience with Air bnb.
done 4, two cancelled at late notice and we only booked the recent one as we ended up not being able to fly at short notice.

Our last one was the same with the rubbish and the cleaning.
As I didn’t have the time or inclination to take rubbish away with me - I just told the owner that that was an unreasonable request and I wasn’t doing it and if they wanted me to clean they’d need to return the cleaning fee.

I think this is what happens when every tom dick and harry decides to join the holiday letting game with no previous experience or business acumen.... They just want to make a quick buck and have no interest in creating a business a model based on repeat custom and good service. I hope they are shut down. Think Wales is on the way to regulating a lot of this type of thing? The rubbish thing will be because they are trying to get away with not paying commercial rubbish waste removal for non residential properties.... (think this is a Welsh thing as found the same in a holiday let in Wales, might be wrong though).

It's a shame because it gives good AirBnB owers and reputable holiday lets who use it a bad name as well....

Reminds me of the Mike Gibbons song "AirBNB"

If you need a cheap hotel
Then book AirBNB
You’ll get an insight into what it’s like
To be a refugee
A wafer thin pillow to lay your head
When he said "garden room" he meant "garden shed"

I read the reviews scrupulously.

Our latest booking had a very small parking space, but this was not a surprise as mentioned in the reviews and we were able to use on road parking.

After a few bad experiences in France ( non Airbnb) where we were expected to do a full clean despite having paid for it, I'm always very specific in understanding what we are expected to do on departure and won't stay anywhere if it's anything beyond stripping beds and putting rubbish in an available bin.

Airbnb is on my naughty list along with Deliveroo and Uber. Rapacious organisations that add nothing and subtract everything, and run by cynical turbo capitalist graspers who want all of the profit and none of the responsibility for providing a service.

I have just booked our first Air B&B for next August in Wales. I’m feeling a bit nervous now reading these.

We use Airbnb 2 or 3 times a year, UK and abroad and have never had any problems at all.
Maybe we have been lucky?

@Georgieporgie29 honestly don't worry as long as you've checked the reviews it's the same as any other booking platform.

Absolutely agree!
Not usually cheaper
You still have to clean
Stay in a motel/hotel now.
Much better

We’ve either been lucky or you’ve been unlucky op. I’m not sure which it is!

We’ve used several Airbnb’s as we travel with one of dc’s hobbies quite a lot and have never come across any of the examples that you’ve given. Several have been in Wales too.

I do make sure that I read any existing reviews and contact the owner directly before booking if there is anything that is particularly important to us that’s not clearly stated in the listing.

@Georgieporgie29 I’ve never had any issues staying in Airbnb, we’ve had some lovely properties.

Air bnb always used to be a brilliant, cheap way to hop about as long as you were realistic with your expectations and I’ve stayed in some lovely places.
My most recent experience was odd, booked a large house at over £1k a night for family and were told (on arrival) the cleaners only came to do the bedding and we had to clean it ready for the next guests?!?
A grand a night and you won’t pay for a couple of hours cleaner? Ranted in the review a bit there…:

Those things you.list are awful. I think there are people who have jumped on the bandwagon and really don't know what they are doing and so are getting it badly wrong! They give people like me a bad name and it makes me so angry.

I have 2 cottages in my garden that I let out. I fall over myself to give people a good experience. I actually think the majority of other hosts do too. I have stayed in more than 20 Air BnB properties and have never had a problem.

The rubbish thing is shocking. They are avoiding paying for commercial waste which is a legal requirement.

@Georgieporgie29 don't worry about it. We have lots of good experiences too. We have just noticed a decline over the last few years.

I think, as others have mentioned too, it isn't any cheaper that a hotel, and often more expensive so you have certain expectations. We have 2 young children so renting a house suits us better compared to a hotel currently.

It's so far removed from what it was originally set up for it's now unrecognisable - it's just become another holiday lettings company.

Like @underneaththeash I've just said no can do, we are a tidy family, will of course put things back in the right place but I will concentrate on getting out by the agreed time and leave the tip runs and making beds to you guys you can in exchange for the cleaning fee (smiley face).

I've not had a problem - I think it's a try on and they'd actually rather we were out by 1000 anyway.

Prefer hotels and professional let's anyway really, too much faff with keys and folders of rules with air bnb.

I wouldn't touch them after multiple friends were left scrambling for alternative accommodation having been cancelled last minute after a booking had been made months in advance.

Completely unreliable.

Conversely I have found booking.com very reliable over the years.

We've used it and had mixed experiences - and we do read the reviews. You have my sympathy on Tenby; we have a large car and while DH is very good at getting into awkward spaces (we have rented properties with those!), it was clear that it ruled out a fair few options in Tenby. But it should be stated up front. Also, we don't have particularly high standards for cleanliness, but some places have, erm, surprised us.....

They expect so much of you
I have really given up
We did thirty in like the first 18 months
I'm sick of it and the review system doesn't work at all because if you hate it or have a dispute your review isn't posted so it's not honest

We got a bad review as apparently we left a kids toy and sock under a bed
Were repeatedly asked where a towel had gone and accused of taking it with us

Again smoke smelling corridors etc and noisy neighbours or resentful neighbours
Ditto the parking and rubbish

Get there and there is no salt etc have to buy salt

It's just an arse ache and I prefer to use like holiday cottages etc

It makes me cross because we are talking like £300 a night places

I manage a few Airbnb lets.
Flip side...
Complaints include :.
Coffee table too small.
Pants left from previous guests - clearly staged to get their stay free ..
Outside noise too loud (sea front house literally 6 foot from water as advertised)
No signage on taps and could have been scalded..

Are all these places in the uk OP?
I have had great Air b n b expierences in Portugal, Spain, Ukrainian and Romania. Absolutely wonderful places and was related so well.

I have been to around 20 Air BnBs including whole properties, rooms and more traditional B and B and all have been good tbf.

I do recognise and have issues with Air B and B causing housing issues in various locations.

But this cleaning thing is batshit! As others have said how the fuck can they charge for cleaning and expect you to do everything and get rid of rubbish!

I always always leave the place tidy, wash up and put away crockery, fold the used towels in a pile for collection, but to be honest even stripping beds feels like a stretch.

Yes!!! Well said.

Airbnb is simply a portal which is used by millions of different hosts the world over. Every accommodation and every host is different so it really isn't possible to make a sweeping generalisation about the brand. We let out an annexe in our garden and would never expect anyone to clean or take rubbish out. We give guests complete privacy but are available should they need to ask anything. I would recommend reading the reviews carefully and also contacting the host in advance if there is anything specific you need to know. At the stage of booking it is also possible to see if there is a cleaning fee. If so then just avoid these ones. Also worth noting that booking.com is just another portal really and many owners use both platforms (and more). On booking.com it is possible for owners to bump up their rating by paying a bit more so it's not particularly accurate either.