To think this AirBnB review was unfair?

[QuiteDisgruntled]

Recently stayed in a studio apartment with kitchenette (fridge, sink, hob, small worktop). Washing up liquid, paper towel and sponge provided but no other cleaning equipment.

Before leaving we washed breakfast things and left on drainer. Wiped surfaces and table, stacked placemats and scooped up some crumbs from the floor with my hands.

I’ve just read the host’s review which says “OK, but kitchen left messy”. I’ve checked other reviews from the host which are all in the style of “great guest, recommended!” so it’s not as though they’re generally leaving picky or negative reviews.

Honestly I’m baffled - I think how we left the place was perfectly acceptable. Am I missing something?

This

We gave up on Airbnb before Covid amazed people still bothered with it especially as the rates are now on par with hotels with none of the service

I had a recent similar experience in Bordeaux. We got a review left saying that we had left it dirty… all dishes washed and put away. Surfaces cleaned. No dustpan/ hoover so yes there would have been crumbs on floor, but I picked up what I could. All towels in shower, rubbish in main bins, food removed etc. We were travelling with a toddler. The cot provided was broken and there was an extra charge for bedding for second bed, despite it being advertised as 2 bedroom. Review also stated that we complained about cot, but this was normal French style cot (it had a huge dip in middle with wooden slat sticking up). Also property was dusty and fusty when we arrived, but I mentioned neither in my review as I recognise that this is someone’s business and everyone has different standards. We had used Air BnB before multiple times, but will stick to hotels in future as the cleaning expectations are becoming unrealistic .

I also message people throughout the stay if I have queries about how Im meant to clean up/tidy up at the end

Honestly that sounds like the worst kind of break. When I'm away I don't want to be worrying about all that stuff and having to message people about cleaning and tidying.
We stay in hotels, apartments, cottages etc but I would never book via Airbnb as the thought of getting a negative rating for leaving dishes to dry seems ridiculous. Obviously we leave places fine and put towels in the bath,empty bins etc but I'd would hate anything so prescriptive.

Holiday lets in general are an issue. We’re currently staying in caravan in the popular village that I’m from. The number of houses with letting agency signs on is so sad.

I admit that I’m considering using Airbnb to come back walking by myself here, but it’s a converted outbuilding attached to a family home.

I could waffle on at length about this, but to be brief(ish)

The issue is short term letting as a whole, of which AirBnB is a part. No use boycotting AirBnB if you then book similar through cottages.com or whatever.

One of the problems with AirBnB (low barriers to entry) is also one of it strengths in that it increases/diversifies the extent to which local people can benefit from the tourist industry (particularly at the ‘traditional’ end of the AirBnB market - e.g. renting a spare room)

I think the best approach is local regulation which has happened in various places internationally. In popular areas of the UK where second home ownership can be as big a problem (if not more so) increasing council tax on non-primary residence is something I agree with.

I support “ethical” use of AirBnB - ask yourself whether the place you’re renting would likely be someone’s home if it wasn’t on AirBnB. The place I’m talking about here wasn’t in the UK, it was a small annex to a family home in a country with a fairly recent tourism market - in my view that means a local family is benefiting from the growth in tourism in a way that it wouldn’t if it we’d stayed in an international chain hotel.

We dont have a shortage of housing in this country, we have a shortage of affordable accommodation, particularly for those who cant raise deposits, are on benefits, cant get a mortgage, have pets and have children

The airbnb hate is lazy and illinformed.

Same! We've had people stain carpets and break furniture and still haven't left a bad review. A few crumbs in the kitchen wouldn't bother me a jot, that's what I pay a cleaner for. The most confusing situation though was when one family left the house in such a pristine condition that the cleaner couldn't work out if they'd slept in the beds, they must have taken hours doing the laundry themselves!

Yes, I would much rather stay in a hotel, and it costs about the same now.

have you written to the host via the AirBnB messaging platform to ask them specifically what they were unhappy with? Depending on their response you can then reply to the review.

Airbnb is simply a platform, it's not a homogeneous thing. Every single host is different as is every single guest.

Airbnb do declare hosts income to HMRC.

The same thing happened to us recently. My husband had booked it on his Airbnb. It was a lodge on a site with facilities. When we were leaving we made sure everything was clean, all towels were where they’d asked (I’d even been to the on-site laundrette and paid for a lot of them to be cleaned and dried already) and we took the bins away.

We were moving on elsewhere so still on ‘holiday’. 24 hours later we got this most horrible review. Saying she didn’t know how a family could not respect her property. What example does it show our children etc 🤔 You’d think someone had been in and trashed her house, that was how it sounded. We were so confused when it was exactly as she had left it but it actually ruined the rest of the holiday for me. I started to wonder if we had actually done something wrong but left the second house and the lady gave us the loveliest review. I came to the conclusion that the woman was just horrible and was desperate for us to engage in an argument with her. We ignored both the review and message (saying the same thing) and won’t use my husband’s account again 🙄 I really wanted to reply but could tell she was one of these people with how personal she’d been on her review! Seems a very weird way to run any kind of business

We once had a stroppy review from the host about “not respecting” their property. It was advertised as child friendly - had a cot, high chair, etc - but when we arrived also had lots of very breakable ornaments at child level, so I moved them all on to higher shelves. Attempted to put them all back in the right place but probably got some mixed up.

The attitude of many Airbnb hosts is really affecting the service. I know a lot of people who’ve stopped using it. You either expect people to clean or you charge a cleaning fee, both is just pocketing extra money!

I do see a lot of adverts for them at the moment, I wonder if bookings are down.

I would never stay in a hotel as I like a whole property to myself, even if its a studio, plus hotel rooms are very expensive, we like self catering. Im always respectful of where I stay so if theres no hoover or something isnt right for me to clean up after myself (not just for the end of the stay, I also dont want to be walking around with crumbs on the floor)

However yet again Im really puzzled by this separation of airbnb to any other hosting site of accommodation

They are just properties for rent, in the same way you mention that you stay in cottages, its just the same thing! Its self catering.

Years before airbnb became a thing we always booked through sallyscottages or sykescottages. Its no different at all, they're still going as businesses who host cottages and many of those properties are also on airbnb, as are the same properties on booking.com as they are often also on their own independent websites. Airbnb is a hosting site, you get hotel rooms on there as well

I dont see swathes of people slagging off sykes or sallys cottages or booking.com yet they are just the same.

Most charge a cleaning fee too so it's CF to expect you to do it all yourself, or else what are you paying for?

Washed dishes are usually expected to be dried and put away, not left on the drainer.

Your response was good so I would not give it further thought. The things that come to mind are:

1. there were cleaning things somewhere but you didn’t find them.
2. there is something that needed cleaning that you genuinely overlooked.
3. racism, possibly this one is a stretch if they’ve had plenty of other international guests

As for use of AirBnb, I agree with you that it can sometimes be an ethical choice. Short lets on these platforms have grown popular because a hotel or B&B stay means bearing the additional expense of eating out twice per day, and the layouts are more flexible / cheaper for families and larger groups. In the UK, I reckon we could reduce need for short let’s by granting permission for more hotel rooms with kitchenettes. But it isn’t your problem to solve!

🥱

Not really. Every house that is air bnb in a holiday area, for example, means one less home available for a local. Plus although the guests may contribute to the local economy, it is rarely as much as a householder would contribute as they are there 24/7.

That aside, if I'm paying £150 a night for a small apartment I am not cleaning it myself, stripping beds, or taking rubbish out.

This. We stayed in a villa in Italy where we were expected to wash and dry all the linen before our 10am checkout. 6 bedrooms worth of bed linen and towels, and that was with a €600 cleaning fee!

I stopped using Air BnB after being told they take 30% fees off very booking.

However yet again Im really puzzled by this separation of airbnb to any other hosting site of accommodation

I'd never use a company, Airbnb or any other, that includes ratings for me as a guest, I don't need that type of pressure

This happened to us recently too. Won't be using air b&b again. It's hardly a holiday if you have to clean the place from top to bottom before you leave. Kitchen was wiped down, dishes washed in dish washer. Bins emptied. Sweeped the floor there, gave the bathroom a quick clean etc. Did they expect us to hoover the lounge and bedrooms too? and god knows what else?. Noone has given me a bad review before. Maybe they shouldn't let it out to families with children if they are that fussy.

As an airbnb host we pay 3% as a fee to airbnb, then most of the fees come from the guest, so it varies but typically our guests pay 12%, this is built into the price so it doesn’t reduce the income a host receives.

Why do threads about Airbnb always feature people saying this is why they use hotels as Airbnb isn't even cheap now?? I don't want to stay in a hotel - I want the option to eat in and for me and my teens to all have space from each other when needed. A hotel would give us a completely different type of holiday from what we want.

I have found cleaning requirements peaked in the covid era (understandably) and have now calmed down. The most recent places I've stayed have just asked for rubbish to be sorted and removed to outside bins and towels to all be in the bathroom. I always do a quick wipe of surfaces sweep the floor as well.

I'd be annoyed to get that review but also wouldn't leave stuff on the draining board. It's harsh and inaccurate to call it a mess though.