To ask if I’m being overly picky, or if you’d mention these things in an Airbnb review?

[raisemyheartrate]

I’m currently staying in an Airbnb, solo, and thinking about the review I’ll write.

There are two main sticking points for me:

1. The listing did not mention, anywhere, that key pick up for the flat is located about half a mile down the road. I didn’t get check in instructions until the day of check in. I had to drag my bags to the flat, at 1 in the morning. It’s just an annoyance that to be honest, I would have avoided if I’d known about it.
2. The courtyard is really not as described. It was pictured to look huge, with a sea view and sun all day. In reality you can’t see the sea unless you’re in the flat, and the sun is gone by about 8:30 in the morning.

AIBU to mention these? It was an expensive apartment so I think I’m being slightly more critical than I’d usually be

Hey?

im on public transport on the way to a day trip 😂 just not getting my kindle out because im off at the next stop 😂

It doesn't matter if you're an Olympic gold medal winning walker. It is ridiculous to have to pick a key up from anywhere other than the property in modern day. Key boxes were invented for this, the vast majority of holiday rentals use them.

You're paying a lot of money for a service. Expecting a paying customer to go to find a key is awful service.

It must be!!

Yes I think you should mention these. The key safe sounds really inconvenient and finding that out on the day of travel is really short notice. Dragging luggage, kids etc. to another location would be so annoying. I also think you should mention the courtyard, including the sun - even though this changes throughout the year if it was advertised as being sunny then that’s what you’d expect. I stayed in a place last year that was advertised as being on a beautiful lake, but in reality it was an overgrown swamp. None of the reviews mentioned this even though it must’ve been like it for years and I wouldn’t have booked it if I’d known

I can't see why else they'd have such a vested interest which would lead to her contributing about a third of the responses on what is a pretty short thread.

I would mention both. The key thing could be a real problem for someone with mobility problems, or a single person with kids in tow etc.

I've stayed in quite a few AirBnbs and also through booking.com and I've never had to walk half a mile for the key.

I've had a host meet me at the property. Would they have done that if you weren't arriving so late I wonder?

Walking half a mile with luggage in a strange place in the middle of the night is not acceptable in my opinion and I would mention it. The terrace I wouldn't bother with unless they said specifically there were sea views from there.

But in the middle of the night, perhaps after a long journey, lugging your bags???? A mile's walk is not nothing in this case.

No the only option was the key safe

I've stayed at an AirBnB where the key was located at a corner shop (KeyNest) - it wasn't a problem as the owner gave clear directions to it in the communications.

Keynes. Courtyard if advertised as sunny either by photos or verbal description.

If those things bother you then it's fair enough to mention them. But be reasonable about the good points of the rental too. DS is currently in Athens staying in one of the cheapest apartments he could find - a small studio with a bed on a mezzanine level and a tiny wet room. He figured it would be fine as he's on his own and planned to be out all day. The listing mentions a balcony and one review said this was useful for drying washing. Several reviews focussed on the inconvenience of a wet room, with water going everywhere. What NOONE - not a single reviewer - mentioned is that the balcony is in fact a terrace across the entire roof of the building for his sole use, many times bigger than the studio, with a 360 degree view of Athens. A very pleasant surprise for DS, but quite incredible that other visitors were so focussed on minor niggles they forgot to mention this.

We had similar with a ‘sea view’. Property on both booking.com and ABNB. Just before flying out was reading some reviews on other site which said instead of sea view they were facing a road. Once we arrived we had same issue ( set of apartments some with genuine sea view and 1 without). Prior to phoning to complain looked for similar negative reviews on ABNB and they were gone, totally disappeared. (Did get ‘upgraded’ to a sea view apartment after complaining as pointed out sea view specifically mentioned in description). Still don’t know how they managed to get rid of negative reviews, to make sure our review didn’t disappear gave it a high score and included info in written review.

I'm intrigued to understand how a photo can show somewhere has 'sun all day'.

I agree it would be good to say something about all day shade though as it would help future bookers (I wouldn't book somewhere in summer that said this so, as a reader, I'd be grateful).

Keysafe is clearly going to be an issue to most people, I'd certainly want to know about that before booking. You could mention the courtyard too but I'd probably do it in a way that makes it clear you know some people would like that.

I would mention the key pick up, and I would also mention the courtyard. The sun and view from the courtyard would be one of the reasons I booked, so as a potential guest I would like to know. It won't matter to some, that's fine, they will still book anyway.

We had to recently collect a key a 7 minute drive away from the actual accommodation as owner was away. This wasn’t ideal but we were in a car so could get taxi to wait. I think both things you describe can go politely in a review as per suggestions posted and the lucky poster must be a former holiday let owner !

In answer to why people don’t mention the negatives or couch them in very nuanced terms: The air bnb host reviews you after they see your review which impacts your future bookings on popular properties. A lot of people ( including me tbh) take the view that where you’ve been is a sunk cost if it was bad - you just won’t go back- and you don’t want a shitty review from them. That said I would mention the key safe and just write something like “ key safe is at x so stop off on the way in the taxi to save yourself a walk” or something.

The key thing is annoying and has happened to me too - my friend and I were on foot and had to get the key from the back of a shop about 10 mins walk away - again didn’t get this info until the day before so I’d def mention that.

Definitely mention the key. Yes, you might possibly have got the information about the inconvenience of pick up in time to cancel the accommodation - but who wants to try to find substitute accommodation in a very specific place at the busiest time of year with only 24 hours warning? Also, if you are travelling, it's possible to miss the communication regarding where and when of key pick up until you arrive.

The courtyard? I'd do as others suggest and mention it within the body of your review as a 'space that gets the sun for your morning coffee and then in the shade' type of neutral comment.

No they don't!
Neither party sees the review until either both have been left or the review window has expired. Maybe people think this and that affects their review but Airbnb is quite clear that this isn't the case when it prompts you to review.

Negative reviews aren't deleted but Airbnb promotes the best reviews to you so unless you filter by 'lowest rated' you won't see them

Yes, I would mention both issues in the review.

No need to mention them to the owner as it’s clearly @Premierinnsleep! No other explanation why a random poster would be so hell bent on proving you wrong, OP 😂

It's possible the key safe is either new or has been moved because of some issues around it being at or close to the flat. Or perhaps despite the instructions, someone has met people arriving at other times.

I would be pissed off if I chose an expensive place because I thought I could sit in the courtyard looking at the sea, only to get there and find it's not possible and sneaky photography has been used to give a false impression.

And a sea view is very much the sort of thing that would sway me towards going for one place over another. So yes I would say.