AIBU to mention misleading advice from airb&b host in review?

[BlackFluffy]

Booked airb&b in remote town in the mountains. Host was meeting us there so to keep her updated I told her I was popping to supermarket on the way. She told me “no need! There is a shop on the village!”

I told her we needed essentials as we had nothing, she told me I could buy everything in this shop. I was hesitant but she really pushed for me to use local shop now I knew I was taking a leap of faith as there was a 45 minute drive to get to the nearest supermarket once we hit the village but she seemed so confident I trusted that she knew her stuff.

We got there after a rather sketchy drive through the mountains and this “shop” turned out to be nothing more than a pantry at the back of the village bar. All she had was some veggies she’d grown herself and some cheese she had made! I needed milk, eggs, break … chocolate!! She saw the look on my face and asked what I was looking for so I told her bread and milk was pretty essential as we had nothing with us. She translates this to the elderly shopkeeper who then runs off to get us bread from her house!! Obviously it was very kind of this woman but the bread wasn’t the kind of bread you could toast for breakfast!!

so our first night was spent with no food, no milk for a coffee and no breakfast. We had to drive out first thing 45 mins down the mountain on empty stomachs for groceries.

Later it became apparent that the host had pursuaded locals that tourists would be good for their businesses in order to get them onside.

They were all lovely and more than generous and I think it was a cultural misunderstanding as to what counts as “essential” but WIBU to mention this in the review? I feel guilty but it really did ruin our first night there.

You couldn't eat the bread untoasted for breakfast? Knock your socks off with the review. Then people who are looking for "just like home but with views" will know to avoid it and it will attract the sort of people who actually like mountain villages away from it all.

Bare bread with no butter or anything? 😂 I mean, yeah we could have done but …

I was thinking with the cheese

Yeah supposed we could have done but it was a speciality local cheese, like a big ball mozzarella type thing

I’d just do as others have suggested and make sure to mention the necessity to go to the supermarket first for essentials. Say there’s a lovely village store for vegetables and cheese but little else.

I wouldn't give a negative review, just explain how it is - lots of folks will go there because they are looking for exactly that.

Yeah, I'd have insisted. Or just left cash on the bar. I wouldn't have allowed them to give it out for free! It's a shop. You don't need to speak the language to show cash and just leave it on the desk.

This. ‘Bring whatever food items you’re going to need for the first day or two. Don’t rely on the village shop.’

Personally, when going S/C, I always take bread, milk, tea, coffee, butter, maybe eggs etc. - and loo rolls! - having once arrived at a holiday let with 2 loos and NO paper, when I was bursting!

Don't say she misled you (although she did a bit). Just say the nearest supermarket is 45 minutes away and to stock up on essentials on the way because the local shop in the bar has a very small range of products limited to home-grown vegetables and speciality cheese.

I think the mistake was going back and forth with the owner. If you wanted to stop you should have stopped.

I would give a 5 star review but mention in the review that it's best to stock up on the way. That is just factual.

You wouldn't believe the amount of people who arrive at my holiday let with literally nothing and are then surprised that a.) the village shop closes at 5pm and b.) the closest supermarket is 30 minutes drive away, despite me giving this information to them. They have literally driven past a huge Waitrose on the way as well as loads of service stations with M and S food.

I'm really curious now about which country this was. Slovenia is the only place I've been to in recent years which occasionally felt (in the mountains) so much like stepping back a century or two to a pre-industrial era. It seems comparatively rare - but presumably not unknown - in Italy these days.

Yeah you're a total weirdo for wanting milk and breakfast OP, real travellers would just gnaw on a hunk of dry bread and tear off some cheese!

I don't think it's odd. I do home exchange and will often mention to hosts, especially if they're meeting me on arrival, that I'm going to be shopping in certain supermarket on my way there - it gives them a rough idea of how long I'll take. And I've had similar messages from guests.

I also want to know where you were! It sounds wonderful.

I think the mistake was going back and forth with the owner. If you wanted to stop you should have stopped

I agree with this. I would have stopped at the supermarket on the way anyway. Experience and common sense would tell me that shops in small mountain villages don't have a full range of products and can be very expensive. You can use them for a top-up shop or to buy local specialities and support the locals that way.

Just say something like 'You can buy great homegrown produce in the village like vegetables and homemade cheese, but if you want to buy things like coffee, milk, butter and bread you'll need to go to the nearest supermarket 45 minutes away so best to stock up en route'. Don't go on about the host 'misleading' you.

Exactly this. I think you would need to be quite easily led to ignore your own instincts to do a shop at a supermarket.

Sometimes you just have to play it by ear in another culture. I used to visit friends in Morocco long before it became a mass tourist destination. My friends were out working in the day and the local shop was very limited. They understood a bit of French (in which fortunately I am fluent) and I knew a but of Arabic. We managed.

Maybe there was a miscommunication between the host and the shop. So she thinks the shop has everything, but it doesn't.

Equally, the host should be eager to make sure you have everything you need, otherwise your visit will not be 5 star.

As others have said, I would mention the need to go to the supermarket for milk etc but also, there is a space on air bnb to give private feedback to the host, so you might just make them aware that the shop does not, in fact, stock many items.

There are many European countries where "mountain villages away from it all" happen to have supermarkets, even if it's just the equivalent of a Tesco express.
Even locals need supplies!

you could just say main supermarket is 45 mins away but some home made items are available in the village
when we go away I always take basics such as some of those coffee sachets bread butter and some biscuits then at least we can have a hot drink and toast or biscuits. Then we know the lie of the land as regards the availability of food. Even going in big places like holiday parks the shops are usually pretty bare and not to mention expensive

I believe in honest reviews, whatever that means for you (including deducting stars when you feel it's appropriate). I really dislike this attitude so many have today that anything less than 5 stars is harsh and below a 3-star rating unthinkable unless someone has actively tried to harm you.

If you were otherwise happy, I might not deduct a star, but I'd be honest that there is nowhere to buy basic groceries beyond the fresh vegetables and cheese (or whatever was available in the village).

Unfortunately Air BnB see a 4 star review as a service failure. You are delisted if you fall below 4.3. Every time you get a four star review they tell you you need to improve.

It's a ridiculous system, totally meaningless, but basically 5 is a pass and 4 and below are levels of failure. It's Air BnB who decide what a 4 means, it's not hosts opinions.

Booked airb&b in remote town in the mountains. and you expected the village shop to have the same essentials as your local Asda?

Airbnb guests usually bring their own essentials and use the local shop only if they have to.

Obviously not but I expected the basics such as milk and bread. Especially when the host told me the shop has all the essentials