Airbnb money grabbers

[Toetapper]

Airbnb hosts: Would you consider the following grounds for a refund?

The property was situated opposite a very noisy outdoor bar. I recorded 80db at 10pm at night, and I have videos to share. This was just the sound of the revellers - it was much louder with the music. The bedroom window on the top floor didn’t close, and so the noise was exceptionally intrusive. The property had not been adequately maintained. The listing does not reflect how the property looks now. Most indoor plants are dead. The garden was unusable, as it was dirty. We found a hair on the loo seat, a chip in the oven, mould on the window, and old laundry piled up. The windows were very dirty. Walls were scuffed and dirty. Decoration used for staging the property were taken down, leaving bare walls. The property is not adequately provisioned. We could not find the hair dryer. There was no washing up liquid, no bottle opener and just a handful of mugs. We complained as soon as we arrived, please check.

So, we spoke to Airbnb as soon as we got there. They didn’t resolve. The host declined to help. Said it was our fault for booking it as we should have known about the bar?! I disagree, and think that a/ he should have been honest about it, and b/ should have taken steps to mitigate noise for a comfortable stay. Instead not only was our bedroom window a rotting single glazed window, it wouldn’t close!

Offered a £300 ‘refund’ for our £1100 three night stay, but only if we vacated right away… assuming so he could rent it out again and pocket the £800 it would have cost us for the one night.

It’s now with Airbnb for arbitration, but I’m not holding out much hope. Any advice?

^ it would be normal to provide evidence

Sounds like the OP has made up a complaint to get money off (like the kind of person who eats a meal in a restaurant and then complains when there is one bite left).

Notably she didn’t choose to look for alternative accommodation but complained when she got home

I feel for her hosts if this is a spurious complaint and as the thread has gone on it really seems so. Hosts can hardly go in to water plants when guests are there etc

Would you like to go to work, do a full day, and then have 30% of your pay docked? Because this is what the OP is doing if there is no real grounds for the complaint (and her puffed up outrage seems to indicate that)

Re ‘who cares’ - my many repeat guests seem to care and I’m happy with that 😊

😆😆😆😆

I am a host, mostly direct bookings but I list one of mine on Air.
I do think it should be mentioned if a holiday let is in a particularly noisy area, specially given that the exact location is not always provided before a booking is confirmed (in my case anyway)

I thought much the same, @Foxylass
As said I've only used AirB&B once and will never do again, but I'm another who didn't get the address until the booking had been confirmed

Now in fairnesss a city location's obviously going to have more potential for noise, but for those blaming OP for not having researched what was around, how could she have done that when she didn't even know where the place was?

Yes the property does sounds like shit, but the Op won’t post any pictures to back that up…apart form a few building/property books like that’s supposed to prove something 😆

Oh calm down @springintoaction321

The OP talks about the video she wished she could share with us

All I suggested was that instead of the one pic of a few books, maybe show us some of the many photographs the Op took.

Yo don’t think whether or not we think the Op is reasonable or not depends on a picture beyond a row of books?! 😆

Well, you still booked them. 🤷‍♀️

Absolutely not and I answered saying so.

If the place was as OP described she should have immediately sent photos and videos to Airbnb - who are normally very good at ensuring customers needs and expectations are met through what they booked, alongside assisting hosts with guests who are chancing their arm.

Broken window, unusable garden and unclean property are grounds for a full refund. If it is as bad as OP states, I would have been straight onto airbnb with full documentation.

this.

It sounded from the off that the OP resented the whole concept, given the judgement of the bookshelf and the using a co-host as negatives.

Airbnb is not for everyone. It’s an entirely different experience than a hotel. And generally experienced airbnb guests are very nice and are also different expectation wise, to hotel guests and even Booking.com.

Without any photos op other than you posting a weird one of books, I’m going to side with the owner here and presume that you knew your photos were paltry at best and so refrained.

The noise? Can’t be blamed on owner given no other review mentions. It was in the centre of a city, over a weekend, on a very hot weekend….yeah, there’s going to be some revelry!

I think you have a cause for complaint with regard to the dirtiness and poor state of upkeep, but not the bar unless it particularly marketed itself as being in a quiet and peaceful neighbourhood. In a city centre I would expect some noise. Although a non-working window would also be something I would not be happy about. £1,100 for 3 nights certainly isn’t cheap but I imagine it was in a popular tourist city ?

It surprises me that people would make a booking without knowing exactly where the property was.

If you search by map on Airbnb you tell what street the place is in. We stayed in a little village last week and found the property quite easily before we booked.

I always think that. Air BnB just doesn’t appeal to me.

Because different people have different needs, that should be so easy to understand.
Airbnb has lots of rooms and kitchen etc, you dont get that in a hotel.

We confirm the address when a booking is made - you can always message the host to ask the street/postcode before too

Yes I would absolutely message the host to ascertain exact location before booking. My point was wondering why anyone would book without doing this.

The owner offered £300
air BnB has offered £300

and the op thinks that’s “much better”?

OP, we won’t ever see these non existent damning photos will we? And the noise? Well sounds like a complete one off.

Added to which… not one single review mentioned any noise issues. So clearly this was a one off event during a heatwave weekend

Exactly and “People over Profit” is surely a Green flag?

Yes the Op came across as a bit of an odd bod by posting that photo, as though it proved something 😆

I guess it proves they value customers over purely making money 😂