To think this is a huge flaw with Airbnb ?

[Mangotango39]

Found an Airbnb and booked for 4 nights . Glowing reviews. Spotless. Great staff. Fab location etc etc . overall 4.5 rating out of 5. It was definitely not the cheapest place in the area.

We arrived and were taken to our room (it was the type with multiple rooms and a few staff) and were hit with a smell of mould and bleach mixed. it was overpowering.

spoke to staff who said yes they can smell it but nothing they can do. Asked for another room but they said there was none available. No attempts to help were really made. Explained I was pregnant so really big issue if there was mould but they just couldn't really care less and said speak to air bnb.

pulled the rotten sheets off the bed/pillows (they looked like something from a teen bedroom and no protectors) and found one source of the mould (pics attached) it was shocking and we checked out immediately and luckily found alternative accommodation last minute. Thank god or we would have been really stuck (in another country)

problem is..... we have now left a review and it said it will only go public if the host leaves us a review which they obviously have not (one week later) as they must know this loophole. So now more unfortunate guests will likely experience the same!!! This review system is ridiculous surely??! There doesn't seem a way round it??

I agree, but I don’t think it’s just Airbnb. I left an honest review for a product, which they refused to publish and one for another company that never saw the light of day. They just want positive reviews, or at least, very minor issues. What’s the point of a review if you can’t be honest about it.

Those photos are appalling and I wouldn’t have stayed there.

Host has certain time to leave you review, it's to prevent tit for tat. After that time they can see yours, as can everyone else, but can't leave you a review. Hope it makes sense.

That’s not how it works - it will go public after a week or when you’ve both done reviews, whichever is sooner.

Your review will go public whether the host decides to review you or not. You just have to wait until the mutual review time period is up and then yours will go live. they wont try and suppress this.

Ah we got an email and it said it was only going to go on when/if host responded and it's been a week :/

booked on DP account and he also can't even see their listing anymore as in too book or their reviews when signed in.

hopefully it does go on!!

Can you complain directly to air b n b

Yes I just don't trust reviews on anything anymore. Not trustworthy at all!!!

We literally ran for the hills haha!

Your review will definitely be published.

I've heard so many horror stories about Air B&B that it's put me off ever using them. Those pics are appalling - did you get a full refund?

Your review will be made public after 2 weeks or when the host leaves one for you whichever is sooner.

You need to contact Air BnB about the issues, especially as you didn't stay because it was so bad.

I am on a few hosts forums and Air BnB DO refund guests for this type of issue. They also suspend hosts accounts for very bad reviews. Your host will already be 'on a warning' for the 4.5 average as Air BnB see this as a poor score.

@CalistoNoSolo luckily we did get a refund but we had paid in birthday vouchers and got voucher back but it was sorted till the next day as air bnb were slow to respond.

and we had to pay for the new hotel out of pocket so we had to spend money we weren't expecting 😫not sure when we will get to use the vouchers again with baby on way but hopefully a treat away on Mat leave!

Find them on google and give them review on google. Places with more rooms and staff are often there as well

Your review will 100 percent be published even if the host doesn’t leave one . You
cam get crappy accommodation anywhere. We run a very small Airbnb and I always clean and prepare it exactly how I’d like it to be as a guest . We’ve stayed in some crappy hotels (expensive also) where they extra blankets and pillows are clearly not washed , under the bed not hoovered and no proper smart tv, instant coffee exactly how much we are staying so 2instant coffees, two tiny milks. We have a smart tv , proper coffee machine, I leave loads of pods , extra milk etc etc , I don’t charge a cleaning fee. I basically looked at stuff I wanted in a hotel room but never get ;Hotels generally have crappy Wi-Fi , old tvs with just channels, no herbal teas, bad coffee etc so we did the opposite.
My point is there is crap accommodation everywhere. I actually think the review system on Airbnb is very harsh on hosts , anything less than 5 stars is a problem but most guests don’t know this.
In your case this is totally unacceptable and good you left a review, it will be published regardless of whether they write one. However loads of Airbnbs are fab and my experience has actually been better than hotels where (I’m in Ireland) they have become obscenely expensive.

You’re wrong OP so I’ve voted YABU even though of course YANBU to be furious about that disgusting place.

If you write a review it’s always published, regardless of whether the hosts write one for you. I’ve just checked back to one I stayed at last month, and my review is there, even though they never wrote one for me.

So be as honest and negative as you like OP, and it will be there for all to see.

@ClairDeLaLune phew! Glad it will go on then! The email we received seemed to say it wouldn't ..... I wasn't sure if it was due to it technically being marked 'cancelled'

we posted it about a week ago so will keep an eye!

I really don’t understand AirBnB. It used to be “rent a spare room out” kind of gig. Now it’s an unregulated alternative to hotels and private rentals. I never intend to use it again.

@EatYourVegetables I think we will be trying to avoid going forward after we use the last of the voucher. This isn't our first disappointing experience but definitely the worse.

it was really difficult to get the refund when we initially reported the overwhelming smell.

thankfully found the evidence under the sheets and was able to provide the pictures as obviously can't picture a smell lol!!!

It’s quite simple: Airbnb and VRBO/Homeaway started out as direct owner to guest rentals without paying agency fees.

They became so successful globally that they ditched the original concept in favour of massive service charges and universal policies applied to all properties - in order to make Airbnb/VRBO rich.

All holiday lets are 'unregulated '. Any rules that doapply to holiday lets, eg the new fire rules, apply equally to Air BnB/ VRBO.These are just booking agents.

They’re not agents, they’re listing sites. Some Airbnb/VRBO properties are managed by agents and some done by the owner.