Airbnb Host taking the piss

[crikeymikey123]

I’m staying in an Airbnb and working from my laptop. The Wi-Fi in my room was unreliable, and I had an important meeting, so I moved into the kitchen. The host suggested I use the spare bedroom instead for more privacy, and I’ve been working in there ever since. Some of her laundry was drying in the room.
After work, she walked in without knocking to collect a few items while I was in the middle of an important video interview. She also asked me to remove my own drying laundry from the room. Separately, I’ve asked her each night to turn the heating on, but she hasn’t.
Am I being unreasonable to expect her to knock before entering?

I think you’re taking the piss not the host. Were you promised high speed WiFi suitable for video conferencing (mine is patchy in my own home)? If not then she is being very accommodating - you need to find a co-working space. I suspect she offered you the spare room once to do a specific call and is now resentful you seem to have taken it over. Renting a room in a home share doesn’t entitle you to throw your weight around - it’s her home and she is allowed some boundaries.

On the contrary, this was the way AirBnB started. Perfectly normal.

Although the host needs to put a WiFi booster in so that the room she rents out has good connectivity.

It is available. Unless advertised as fibre or high speed, she has got exactly what was offered. Renting a room in a shared Airbnb is about as cheap as you can go, so why anyone thinks they are getting high quality and access to multiple rooms is beyond me.

I think what OP is doing is highly unusual. Most people don't rent a room in an AirBnB in London for 3 weeks with the intention of spending most of it working remotely. So the AirBnB host don't expect people to need high quality WiFi continuously. I suspect what's available is perfectly fine for social media and doom scrolling.

I suggest the host offered the spare room because she didn't want OP taking over the kitchen, probably thinking it was for the odd hour or so. She didn't offer for OP to take over the whole room and use it how she wanted.

She lives there; it's her house.

It was very kind of the host to let you use her drying/spare room for your meetings, Op.

You were cheeky to dry your laundry there.
You are also cheeky if you spend all day in the spare room and not just use it when you need to have better coverage.
Is there not a nice pub or internet cafe nearby?
Can you work mostly from the room you have hired?

Next time make sure you only rent a room with excellent internet.
Will work pay for accommodation in a large hotel?

It seems it is you who is taking the piss in this scenario.

This is a deeply odd arrangement.

I would love to hear the host’s side of this story. I think you’re being extremely presumptuous OP, asking for heating on in a room you haven’t paid for and drying your clothes in there!

If I were your host I’d willingly give you your money back for the remaining part of your stay and ask you to leave.

I used to Airbnb my spare room and would have people staying for work, 2/3/4 weeks at a time, but they were always working physically in one of the businesses in the area! It's deeply odd to stay somewhere for the whole week when you only need to be in for 2 days.

Exactly. So you had an important meeting, the host kindly offered the spare room for it and… “I’ve been working in there ever since”

you paid for a room with adequate WiFi, not a remote office. This is actually kind of outrageous and I pity the host (maybe a reverse?) I suspect she is deliberately trying to make you realise she doesn’t want this situation to continue by not knocking. What you’re doing is the kind of stunt my autistic husband would pull - not reading the room- and I would be mortified 😆😆

If not a reverse I really hope you take these comments on board.

The wifi shouldn't be patchy in your room, it should work flawless if the place was advertise as "has wifi", many people working while travelling so a patchy internet would be a deal breaker for plenty. Aibnbn will do nothing about it so I would leave a bad review with what you wrote here.

Omg find somewhere else asap, she sounds like a nightmare brewing.
I’ve stayed in some CRAZY bnbs and air bnbs in my time, some people are just not cut out for working with the public, esp in their own homes where boundaries are so important

OP simply needed to ask 2 questions: 1. How good is the wifi - good enough to Zoom call from? 2. Would you mind if I work from home in your room for 3 weeks?

OP should not be leaving a bad review, her host has been exceptionally accommodating.

So as well as the ONE room you are paying for, your host has been good enough to say you can use wifi in another room without charging you extra so I dont think that you can complain that she is also using it.
Its nit the host being unreasonable here.

i think of Air b n B as holiday type lets this sounds more like a HMO?

I don't think she's taking the piss, she said you could work in there, not that you could have it as a free extra room for your exclusive use.

Agree!

Airbnb is all kinds of lets. It started as exactly this before holiday home landlords and even traditional landlords started using it

No, one of the AirBnB options is a room in someone else's place.

If you've been allowed use of an extra room for work but using it after work hours you are overstepping and intruding on personal space.

Using the spare room for your laundry is really overstepping. You've paid for one room only.

Your room has WiFi. It doesn't have to be super fast. Alot of houses have slow or patchy WiFi. As do hotels. It's still WiFi.

You shouldn't be renting a shared house to work from. I'd be really annoyed if I were her. The fact you actually went to her KITCHEN to do meetings from is so insanely rude. And now you're objecting to her using a room you are not paying for, that she has let you use when she absolutely didn't have to. And not only are you working in there. You're now using her airer to dry your clothes in there.

Fucking liberties pal.

Have you actually read the post properly and understood the situation??

Shes not?
The OP has rented one room, the host is apparently letting her use another free.

No it's like saying it has a TV but it only gets standard channels. It's not broken, it's just not fast enough to video call from when at least 2 other people are also using it.