AIBU to raise concerns about an Airbnb after kind hosts helped us?

[Bunnyfuller1]

So..we booked an AirBnB near Nimes. Our wonderful Ryanair flight was delayed 2 hours, which was then a domino effect to getting out of the airport to where we were collecting our car. The hire place closed 5 minutes before we got there, despite me pleading with them and updating them all the time.

i had been in contact with the AirBnB owner since before the holiday and he had asked me to keep him updates to our arrival time. When I had updated him with our situation he immediately offered to collect us from the railway station, and offered us dinner. An absolute gem, we are so grateful. We sorted our car out the next day, so all good there.

The problem is the AirBnB itself - it’s a small gite attached to the owner’s house. The grounds are very neglected with stuff everywhere. The advertised aircon is actually one portable air conditioner with a pipe taped to the door to vent. The owner has given us a couple of fans which make it possible to sleep Everything is very tired r unfinished or needs repairing. Bedside tables are plastic chairs.

Theres a pool which is very cloudy, and again everything around it is unkempt. The cherries on the cake are their 2 labradors which they mostly keep control of, but they take into the pool twice a day.

We are really torn - owners are so welcoming and nice (a bit too chatty sometimes) but we’ve never stayed in an Airbnb like this before and as much as I like dogs, I’m not overly keen on swimming in water that two huge labs go in.

What to do - if the hosts were any different we would immediately speak to them and Airbnb and hopefully get moved to something better, but (I know, grow a pair) I’m really feeling bad and ungrateful over speaking to them. DH is fully for raising our issues, it’s me feeling awful.

what to do, dear MN, and if we were to raise it, how….

Please try and leave an honest review.
The rest of us rely on them.

1. Just don’t review.
2. ”Owners were incredibly friendly and helpful, even picking us up when our car hire fell through and offering dinner when we arrived late in the evening - we were so grateful. Accommodation is a traditional, rustic gite on owner’s land, access to owners pool included, we were sometimes kept entertained by their friendly labradors joining in for a cool-down! You will feel like part of the household, Marc and Fleur are friendly and chatty. Property does not have air con although owners kindly supplied fans.”

Totally agree. Some air b&bs get money for old rope. My wife and I stayed in one in Bath which was in a very sorry state of repair . Not cheap either. Owners excuse was that it was grade 2 listed hence he had to leave it how it was ...not realising my last job was looking after a grade 2 listed building for 13 years. Poor excuse from the owner for not being bothered ! Review with the facts.

Nobody sees the other person's review until they have both left one, or the review window has expired.

What a daft thing to say. I'm working class and I don't know anyone else working class, who wouldn't know what a gite is.

Love this.

I never shaft people who have done me a favour. It stops the favours of the world going round!
leave a nice review. Do they know the dogs go in the pool?!

Of course Ryanair is the only airline whose flights are ever delayed....

I do think you should leave an honest review like others have suggested that also recognises their kindness. I rely on reviews when booking and never book if there are only a few reviews or they are not recent, so not leaving a review would also be quite telling.

I've stayed in loads of Airbnbs and have never been disappointed and often been thrilled. I can't imagine moaning about little quibbles in a review and anyway I think you should always give the host a chance to resolve those, not wait until doing the review to have a moan. I read a really funny one for an apartment I stayed in in which a guest complained there was only one bedroom instead of the two advertised. The host replied explaining how they had come to the property to ''find' the second bedroom for the guest (it was automatic check-in). I stayed there and of course there were two very easy to find bedrooms! People are odd.

I can't imagine typing out a glowing review if the place was a shithole - do people really do that to be 'nice'? Did this place have lots of up to date glowing reviews? Because that is odd - who types out lies that will potentially spoil or even ruin someone's holiday?

“For those with pet allergies, just be mindful that the owner’s two lovely big dogs will be using the pool.”

🤢

That’s a dilemmas if they’ve been so kind. What are the beds like, can you use the kitchen, is use if the pool something you were banking on? I’ve stayed in some rough places (not Airbnb) over the years and still had a good holiday.

ive not always left an Airbnb review - although my friend once left a bad review at a place we stayed for one night! I didn’t think it was that bad (but she’s very fussy). Thankfully it was on her account.

I only ever pick Superhosts or if that’s not possible I scour the reviews and read between the lines.

It would depend how much longer I was booked for, and whether I had been anticipating spending lots of time at the Gite/in the pool or not.

(In addition to your points about the kindness of the hosts)

Enjoy your holiday OP!

The favour is separate to the accommodation. They paid good money for the accommodation, and it's not good enough