Airbnb host gave us a bad review!

[airbbbnb]

This is the first time I have used Airbnb. So perhaps I'm not versed at how to properly use it.

However, we spent up from 3.5 k for a house for a week and I think we had to pay around 200-250 for cleaning.

This was in a southern European country.

We have two young kids and we had a nice time but had to leave early due to a family emergency.

We stripped all the beds and put all towels and sheets in the washroom.

We cleaned the kitchen and sweeped the floors.

Some rubbish was left in the bins outside, because the weekly collection came after we already left.

We apologised for this and they told us not to worry.

We received a bad review - all around the fact that we left all the bedding and towels in the washroom and that they could see children's finger print marks on a lot of surfaces and on windows. They also mentioned that there was some sand on the floor under the beds. Obviously we didn't sweep well enough.

I don't really understand why I need to pay a cleaning fee if I need to clean windows ?

I'm never using Airbnb again.

I’ve given up on AirBnB this year because they added £100 at the end of the booking (Netherlands). I put my budget into the search for a reason, the additional charge took it over. Why not just incorporate the additional fee into the main price rather than plonk it on at the end? Shame, it used to be brilliant.

I'm happy to do the cleaning
I'm happy to pay for a cleaner
Only a complete mug does both

Quite

Call me dense but I honestly don't get why anyone would book somewhere that charges and tells you to clean the place yourself
If they do this it seems pretty clear that the "cleaning fee" is just a ruse to gouge more money, and frankly that would make me wonder what the rest of the experience was going to be like

Dishonest reviews help no-one. I would have done the shit sandwich - praise something, mention the sheets - praise something else. My airbnb reviews are more generous than I'd be about a similar standard hotel but omitting sheets needing washing is lying by omission.

I think the bubble has burst with Airbnb as too many problems and some are expensive. Better off booking a B&B. I've had good experiences but for the price it's easier and cheaper for me travelling on my own to stay in a YHA. Few rules like be quiet during late hours which most are.

airbbbnb reviews cannot be seen by either party until either both have submitted a review or the designated time period for reviewing has expired. In my French example the host reviewed us fairly quickly and as we'd barely touched anything I was expecting a good review, I could have been wrong of course. I reviewed straight after him. We then saw each others reviews and he wasn't happy but nothing he could do except sound off on his own listing which made him look silly.
If I've had a great experience I'd normally review immediately and trust the hosts are happy with us, we've always received lovely comments so no reason to think otherwise, and touch wood that will continue.
If I've paid for cleaning I would not clean but always leave it tidy and no dirty dishes etc. I always check the house rules before booking.
Hope that helps a bit.

Reviews tend to be either glowing 5 stars probably untrue. Or 1 /2 star damaging and bitter and also unture.
You have to read between the lines. Once had some Australians complain that the sixteenth century farmhouse they booked was "a bit too old".
Older than their fucking country.

Tbh I often find airbnb underwhelming. The cleaning fees are outrageous generally. I prefer hotels.

It's in the instructions for some locations. I've stayed in some that have asked for beds to be stripped and, along with the towels, put in the bath.

Have you had any from Dutch people? I’ve heard they are hardest to please for some reason.

as this poster says - appeal to Air bnb as that’s a bonkers review.

Im a host and everyone fears bad guest reviews. But we also won’t know there is an issue unless told. If I arrived somewhere with smelly sheets I’d immediately contact the host so THEY can deal. And also together you can both sniff the sheets.

Do remember that hosts are reliant on cleaners and so on. If you don’t tell them they won’t know the place isn’t clean enough. V annoying to be told either in the review or the private feedback of an issue and not been given a chance to remedy it ar the time.

That said this host sounds nuts!! Some people shouldn’t host if they want their place totally untouched

But as a potential guest of this property in this scenario you wouldn’t see the hosts review of the OP.

The only person who would see that is a host of property she might wan to book in the future.

it’s not the scenario you sometimes see where a guest posts a poor review. Host responds defensively saying you did X Y Z - which I agree is v off putting & unprofessional

The airbnb review system just seems ridiculous now it has moved on from a host offering a bed in their own home to another rental site. The fees are extortionate and I rarely find it cheaper than using a site such as booking.com or hotels.com (who also have lots of apartments and homes listed- without the crazy rules around cleaning and then rating their guests). If there is a cleaning fee, I expect not to have to bloody clean beyond basic tidying at the end and being courteous re bins etc. I have also stayed in Eurocamp places through European companies who are transparent about having to clean the accommodation or pay a fee.

Perhaps they were unhappy that you had stripped the beds and put the sheets in the washroom because they didn't intend washing them .... hence the stinky sheets 🤢

Perhaps every renter encountered smelly sheets but didn't like to leave a bad review !

Please tell us where it was OP in case anyone here is planning a holiday in that country .

I will never use air bnb again either! The hosts are really unreasonable I find and money grabby.

Agree I love booking.com

@willstarttomorrow using booking.com is how I came to stay in an Air B&B place without knowing it. The experience was fine, and no silly fees of course, but I hadn't realised it was on Air B&B as well

I also found booking.com very good when returning to a small hotel, only to find the new owners had trashed the place but were still using the previous owners' listing

They deleted the listing, and though this was pre-covid they've not been readmitted to the site

Booking.com is even worse! We booked a “whole luxury apartment”, and when we got there it was actually shared and it was like a crack house! We took a load of photos then turned round and walked out and booked a hotel immediately. We complained to booking.com repeatedly, and never got a response (or a refund!). I’ll only stay in hotels now, or use sites like Sykes Cottages.

I gave up on Airbnb a few years ago after we rented a villa in Tuscany for a fortnight. I had to spend the last day of the holiday scrubbing it from top to bottom. The sheets had to be washed and dried before we left at 7am, and there was a €600 cleaning charge!

Some might be but, obviously, not all of them are. As I said, we use them a lot and have never had any problems.

Last year we stayed in 10 different Airbnb's and were very happy with all of them. Over the years we must have stayed in around 60 and never had any problems at all

I hate to say it, @Menomeno, but it was Sykes Cottages who ended up in the hands of the watchdog over Covid refunds

And sorry, but as said this charge to clean and then being expected do it yourself is just ridiculous - though presumably that was in the T&Cs?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/07/sykes-cottages-reverses-coroanvirus-refund-policy-after-regulato/

This is like saying if you have one bad experience at a hotel, that you’ll never stay in a hotel again. There are many Airbnb hosts out there. Some great, some not so great. Just like some hotels are great, and others awful. I’ve stayed in loads of airbnbs and never had a bad experience. Maybe I’ve just been lucky.

Smelly, sticky sheets?!!!
Please not ''bodily fluids''...

Many years ago my parents when I was a kid stayed in a cheap French hotel , in Dieppe, before catching a ferry home.... and they said the sheets were dirty - even I as a child could see they weren't clean. Mum said ''This hotel likely hires out the room by the hour''- as a child I remembered thinking ''that's not very long to sleep?'' but of course it was not for sleeping.

Nasty!

I've cleaned the occasional air bnb and was meant to report anything major (like breakages) but never would in a million years moan about the stuff you've mentioned, I just did my job and cleaned it!

Why did you clean and strip the beds if you paid a cleaning fee? I'd leave the owner a bad review. I think Air b&b is a bit rubbish. That's why I never use.it.

Also had similar in more recent times, we cleaned everything and stripped the beds put rubbish out etc, and the host complained that we left the house looking ‘lived in’ it was so odd, the house was full of tacky ornaments that the kids might have move and we put back a milimeter out of place but that was it, really pissed me off!!

My bugbear is staying at continental camp sites and having to thoroughly clean your static caravan. This requires you to buy cleaning materials for bathroom, kitchen, glass etc. Never again.

Had the same happen to me OP. Have always had glowing reviews but last year stayed in a hotel in France and received a scathing review saying I had left the sheets 'filthy'! I was sleeping in the bed with a friend so no funny business had gone on and I wear pyjamas so I guess I had just committed the crime of... sleeping in the sheets?!