To feel so miserable about this air b and b? Or are my expectations too high?

[Hiaa]

It’s supposed to have 4.75 rating on air b and b.

it’s £130 a night but in the north so not the most expensive area and this seemed like an ok amount to spend to get something decent.

the shower is like someone is dripping luke warm water out of a plastic cone. The towels are crispy and hard. It’s very dark. No central heating (we should have check this to be fair) so there’s lots of heaters to turn on and off and it takes ages to heat up. There’s weird notices around the property warning visitors not to touch this or not to move that… never known anything like it!

The living room is dark and sofa uncomfortable. Despite all this it has some great reviews. It does have a nice garden and things like a bbq and it’s reasonably big. But I can’t actually believe anyone would think this is a decent stay, especially for this cost? I wish we had just spent an extra 30 a night and been somewhere nice.

Feeling miserable and DP thinks I’m being ungrateful.

I go through Sykes Cottages and go for 4* + for accommodation

Yes, I'm on booking. com and VRBO too so people can check me out on all/any of them

Apart from the shower it doesn't sound that bad as they can't do much about dark or the fact you don't like their sofa. I've only ever had lovely air b and bs. Have had some awful hotel stays though with broken beds, noise from bar and boiling hot as can't open the windows.

@Istgisforreal - do you do the 2nd B - the breakfast?

It really annoys me when the place doesnt even offer a box of cereal, yet is under the "Bed and Breakfast" banner. And owners look at you like you've asked them to fly to the moon when you ask about breakfast!

How many people does it sleep? £130 a night if it's a two or three bed for example feels on the cheaper side, even up north, although it is a while since I've booked a holiday cottage so I may be completely wrong on that!

Is the weather having a big impact? It's grey, dreary and cooler where I am, and everything feels a bit gloomy. And if it's sunny and warm you could make full use of the nice garden and BBQ so it might feel better value.

We stayed in a cottage near Dumfries once - got lucky with the weather, glorious days, warm and sunny, sat out in the garden til late...lovely. Went back once and never again - it smelt damp when it rained, was a bugger to heat and felt less 'charming' and more 'dated and depressing'.

But yes, the notes everywhere would piss me off too. It makes it feel much less comfortable and breaks me out of my fantasy that I actually live there

Do you have anything nice planned to do, or was it more of a relax and recuperate break?

4.75 seems low. I wouldn’t stay somewhere like that unless it had very few reviews and the one dragging the score down was clearly ridiculous. But even then I might not risk it. I usually only look for properties rated 4.9 or higher.

thats a low rating in the scheme of things

My granmer was terrible. I was agreeing she should complain. I wouldn't be happy either.

You lost me at 'it's in the north so not an expensive area'.

The north is actually quite large and has many varied areas!

The north isn’t just one big housing estate! You might have booked a 12 bedroom Manor House in the Lake District…. Or a 1 bed bedsit in Pontefract, the prices and expectations would be very different.

Airbnb doesn't mean bed and breakfast and never has. Surely you've worked that out by now! I have an Airbnb (annexe to my house, not taking housing stock out of the market) and I've got an average of 4.9 and almost everyone absolutely loves it (lost my 5* due to one very odd person who didn't know what they had booked)
I provide real coffee, tea, herbal tea and a pint of milk but I'm not faffing about with breakfast items people will probably not like or eat. My prices are very reasonable given the level of comfort I provide, much better than a hotel (consistently receive that feedback) so I'm not wasting a tenner on food too.

Yes it did! The founders started out renting their spare room out in San Francisco and providing breakfast.

They may have started with their own apartment but as soon as it became a platform for other people to list their space it became something else and never meant that breakfast had to be included or would be.

I can find places with breakfast?

Next time stay in a hotel. Air bnb cause misery to homeowners who live in the area and the constant transient population causes so many issues is residential areas.

if you say in a hotel you can read reviews beforehand and you’ll have consumer protection if it is unsatisfactory. Unlike air bnb.

The ones i sayed in when air bnB first strted you used to get beakfasr. Sometimes it was just toast but people did use to provide it.

I've stayed in lots of Airbnbs (never in popular tourist areas though) and they have all been great, some exceptionally so. I take care to read the reviews and study the photographs carefully and check all the facilities offered. It does sound as though you've got a bum deal and I would write an honest review about the place.

Can we get a link? 🙈

4.75 is not good rating for Airbnb. I always look for over 4.8, preferably higher.

We have had a handful of "meh" stays but most have been very good and some have been really fabulous. As other have said, scrutinise the photos and the worst reviews.

I do like the convenience of being able to book whatever dates you want, rather than being confined to full weeks or a certain start day as you are with an agency. It also save us money as we can easily have meals at home and make packed lunches.

Me too hate Airbnb. Prefer to stay in hotels.

I hate being somewhere worse than your actual home, that sounds very miserable.

Never had a good experience in an air b and b. I’d rather rent through an agency or stay in a hotel.

That’s exactly it. Why would I pay to stay somewhere worse than my
own home. That’s not a break.

Stick to premier inns, thats what we try and do x

I have an air b and b listing , I have also used them myself, I only stay in 5 star rated
and there needs to be lots of them tbh
super hosts are the ones to go for ,
we only charge 120 a night for the most beautiful 2 bed property it’s spotless and furnished to a really high standard,
after all the expenses heating laundry etc
cleaning etc etc we don’t make much money at all,
I really love hosting people ,and work really bloody hard to keep my property top notch h and always get such nice messages from them ,
what really pisses me off is when I get enquiry’s from people saying we want to book but it’s to expensive,
can we have a discount,
the caravan parks on the coast cost 3 times as much ffs
local to us is a boutique pub with rooms £ 280 a night , sticky bar grubby carpet rooms not very
clean etc
some of us do take our guests comfort seriously,
spent my whole weekend planting a flower cutting garden, for our let’s flower arrangements .
please don’t lump all air b and b owners in the same boat