To think Air BnB is a bit shit?

[airbnbargh]

So booked an apartment in NY for December, booked flights separately (so obviously paid in full) and now months later the host has cancelled- no message, no explanation, just been told we can book something else or get a refund. We are now constrained by our flights so can't look at package deals, and the choice on Air BnB is now much more limited. We're a group and everyone raves about it so I thought it was a good option, but now left feeling pissed off, I wish I could at least leave a negative review! (I wouldn't mind so much if we got some kind of apology or explanation, but nothing).

A lot of Air BnBs are illegal in New York so be careful.

I had a couple of really bad experiences with Booking.com a few years ago. Too long to go into on here, but never used them again. Then started using Airbnb, and use all the time now. We use them for city breaks abroad, beach holidays and weekends away in the UK. Have always had brilliant experiences. I think you’ve just been unlucky OP with this one.

The issue in NYC is that people rent directly from management companies, then put apartments into AirBnb (be in Manhattan, Brooklyn, it is no different) to make a few extra dollars while out of town, sleeping at a friends place etc. If the management companies who own the lease find out, and they usually do, as airbnbs tend to irritate neighbours who report them to the company, the renter's lease usually terminates, so the listings are withdrawn. For that reason, I never use Airbnb in New York.

I feel your pain. I had similar when it was that crazy first May half term after covid when people could go away. Host tried to get me to pay more money (after I’d booked and she’d confirmed months earlier), then cancelled, then re advertised the same dates for more money.
air bnb supposedly penalise hosts for this but they did nothing and there was nothing decent left for that week.
thankfully got a last minute booking for glamping via another site (featherdown farms) as they’d had a cancellation and it was much nicer and cheaper in the end. But she should be ashamed of herself and Airbnb were useless

It's a real gamble, yes.

We stay in a lot of holiday let's using local holiday property agents. They clearly advise the owners on what people want and many grade them. Then.you have that on top.of reviews that are left, albeit maybe really poor reviews the agents have some control over not showing? Anyway, we've always been happier than expected.

This year we tried air b and b. Picked what I believe was a lovely property but my daughter, who luckily lives in that area and works in property, saw it suddenly come up for long term rental.including our dates! On contact, yes, she has a cancellation right up to stay just in case she changes her mind and cannot guarantee our dates despite accepting the booking. We had no choice to cancel as we were travelling with elderly folk.

Then we picked another. Hosted by a company who replied quickly but without really answering the question. The house had certainly not been given any thought to holidaymakers. The only cook ware was frying pans, saucepans and one oven pan. No serving dishes. No oven.dishes..no grill pan. No microwave dishes. Awful and impossible to self cater properly. One bedroom had no curtains or blinds! In the sunny days we had a few months ago.it was impossible to sleep at 4.30 in the morning! There were a whole bundle of other issues which paled into insignificance but you can't trust the listing to be accurate which is sad.

So we won't use air b and b again. Sadly.

I use airbnb for every holiday/break and so far touch wood we havent had an issue, thats in the UK and the EU

Im very fussy and I travel around the neighbourhood on streetview to get the best guess (and sometimes I spot the exact property) of exactly where it is, Im normally correct, you can sometimes see the street out of one of the windows in the pictures.

But it takes a long long time of researching and scouring the internet to book each one. I read all of the reviews, I also often contact the hosts prior to booking to double check things.

No holiday booking will be perfect and you cant know everything

They're not cheap either, mind you holiday costs seem to have gone through the roof now

I should add they refused a refund but air b and b upheld my compliant and sent me 10 percent back, which I guess is some positive to say air b and b.

But we've never ever contemplated asking for any sort of refund before. I don't want that I want a nice property that's equipped to stay in comfortably for a few weeks!

I don't understand how you booked in the first place op if it's illegal to do holiday lets in NYC

If you look on Air BnB there are loads of them, complete news to me that it's not allowed, didn't occur to me for a second when I saw loads on there!

Thankfully no issue with getting a refund so I have no issues with Air BnB itself, just kicking myself how naive I was with booking flights, I didn't give myself much room for error!

Ive read on here on airbnb threads that such and such place doesnt allow them or they're illegal yet you go and look in that area and theres tons to rent!

I think a recent one mentioned Sicily or somewhere like that and there were tons to rent despite apparently being illegal

It's important to always check the rules before you book if it's a short term let as lots of places have restrictions and/or people illegally sublet and you could easily be the one who ends up with nowhere to stay for the night and/or losing money or having a lot of stress. A quick Google usually throws up problems at a city level. For example, cities have specific rules requiring a licence so you'll see genuine AirBNBs displaying their licence number. Cities like London don't allow properties to be AirBNBs for more than 90 days per year so AirBNB actually blocks bookings once a property hits 90 days. Obviously some landlords break the law and that's harder to police.

I use AirBNB a lot but always book with SuperHosts (they lose their status very easily if they get a bad review).

I got put off when our account was hacked and several bookings made on our account/card, presumably to non existent properties. They also somehow cancelled an existing booking for our main holiday and I couldn't rebook as our account was locked.

We did get our money back but it was very stressful. Make sure you activate the double authentication thingy!

It totally varies based on where you are in the world, how considerate the host is. But basically they are completely unregulated so it is a platform based on trust - similar to Uber etc. I got put off Airbnb when a host walked into my room in the middle of the night - it was an honest mistake rather than anything nefarious but it made me incredibly uncomfortable and vowed not to use again.

Thanks all, I really appreciate the experiences and empathy (and information!), I wanted to vent and had my hard hat on knowing how AIBU goes so I really appreciate the responses.

I loathe Air BnB. I'd rather stay home.

I'm fed up with them, we always go for super hosts and even then there's issues with them. The reviews mean nothing either so it's pot luck if you get a good place.

This happened to us in Seattle with only a few weeks to go and before they'd brought in the new arrangements for last minute cancellations.
It cost us a fortune to find a hotel at such short notice.
Think the owner gets a warning and maybe blacklisting.
It was so infuriating.
We do use Airbnb a lot though and have had very good experiences.

Happend to me too, but fortunately it was in London.

Booked an apartment for 8 months ahead. 2 weeks later an event was announced at a nearby venue. Suddenly it wasn't available for those dates anymore and it was cancelled.
Imagine my surprise when it reappeared a month later at over twice the price, presumably aimed at the event goers. I checked it as I arrived in London and I could have booked it for that night. Greed didn't pay off in that case.

Never used them again because I simply didn't trust them.

This

I agree with using booking.com. Had a lovely
apartment vis them with no problems.
Booked with airbnb and asked the host if it was in a specific location. He lied and we ended up in a shit hole. Airbnb are trying to wash their hands and have me a nominal ‘goodwill’ payment even though I’d refused it in favour of complaining. They made me deal with the abusive host before I could take it further.
I am about to lose my shit on Twitter and will never ever book through them again.

I've booked repeatedly with Airbnb and never had any problems.

Another problem with air b and b is you don't know where the place is until you book and you can't put the place name in a review, so you can be caught out that way.

In our case we knew exactly where they were by luck as our daughter works in the town in property, but that sort of access to knowledge is extremely rare.

I wouldn't trust the platform again.

I’ve booked and stayed in AirBnBs in the past but now I just book a reputable hotel. I also don’t like the way some areas are becoming dominated by short-term lets.

This is why I would never use AirBnB

I've always thought it was unethical. I spent my 20's litigating personal injury cases and we had a whole dept for claims from cheap foreign accommodation with no safety rails / kids falling off balconies or carbon monoxide poisoning. There is a reason hotels and B&B's are inspected and have to have gas safety certificates, fire escapes etc which of course makes them more expensive than people renting out their homes. Plus now theres all the reports of the hidden cameras in bathrooms etc.