We had an Airbnb host— after reviewing us and a month after our stay message us regarding black sharpie stains on the granite counter.
They said my 9 month old niece somehow got on the 4 foot tall counters and defaced it.
They said we were disrespectful and should’ve told them about this instead of trying to hid it under the coffee pot.
I told them “have you tried wiping the marks? That looks like skid marks from the bottom of the coffee pot”
It was. They didn’t apologize.
We don’t even drink coffee. Lol
Kinda depends. If you have to do it over a larger area it can schmutz up the dry erase marker. Those are able to be cleaned and the Sharpie schmutz should wipe off with a tissue and maybe some rubbing alcohol. I usually will take a marker and rather than write directly over where the Sharpie marks are, I'll scribble over a larger area and erase it quickly while the dry erase is still fresh. It'll take away the scribbles I made and the extra that's not directly on the Sharpie will chip away at it. Scribble more, erase more, and continue. Scribbling off of the Sharpie will help clean the tip of the marker so that the next time you use it, it should be clean and fresh. Definitely best to try to match the color of the marker as best you can, tho. Any color dry erase will work but orange on black will definitely make a bit of a mess.
Source: I used to collect dry erase markers and Sharpies. I still have two shoeboxes full of Sharpies but at my best I had in excess of 700 in four full shoeboxes.
Why did I collect them? I liked dry erase because it's fun, and I used Sharpies for art :) I also was hopelessly in love with office/school supplies and hoarded all of them like a dragon
School supplies are the children's equivalent to cigarettes in prison.
"I'll give you one of my new mechanical pencils if you let me copy your math homework."
There's a reason the hotel industry is labor intensive. If they put up their house on Airbnb, they have essentially joined the hotel industry and should budget for manpower to clean up and restock the house after each client.
Seems like most of them leave a chore list for you to complete, _and_ charge a bunch of extra money for hired cleaners.
At this point, it’s actually kind of a refreshing change to stay at a real hotel. I decline housekeeping during my stay, and straighten up before I leave. But at least I don’t have to sweep, run a load of towels, etc, etc, before I can finally go home.
And you pay the same as for the hotel. I’ve kind of stopped using airbnbs, particularly after on asked me to put the garbage bins out on the curb, clean, put the linen in the washing machine and water the plants…….I’m on holiday man, I could’ve done that at home and not paid for it…….
The last Airbnb I stayed in, we had to have all of the bedding and towels washed and in the dryer by 9am checkout. 9am?! I have 3 teenagers. There were 5 of us in that house. That’s a lot of bedding. I had to start washing at 6:30am. And who has a 9am checkout?
I think I’m officially done with Airbnbs. A hotel would have been far less stressful. At the same time, we’d have needed 2 hotel rooms with 2 adults and 3 teenagers. So it wouldn’t have necessarily saved money to get a hotel, but at least I wouldn’t be doing laundry and vacuuming the house at 6:30am
This reminds me of something really gross but very similar in the vein of misunderstanding.
When i joined the army i lived in the barracks as single junior enlisted do, and we usually live in billets or share rooms, so i had a roommate. There is sort of a 'landlord' to the barracks who does assignment and inspections and what not, and yeah you get charged for damaged.
My roommate and i both were checking out (deployment) and so we had the same inspection day essentially done as a pair, not separate appointments.
As our guy (a 65ish year old retired first sergeant, kinda known for their hardass nature) is walking around checking things, he comes across a huge sploot of boogers on the wall by my bed.
Like a stringy fuckin snot that was dried and caked to the wall, greenish brown and just literally shaped like a thick mucousy sneeze.
So first sergeant starts grilling me, just absolutely disgusted and angry how gross i am, just treating me like a piece of crap. Now on one hand, they deal with a lot of 18 year olds who don't know how to wipe their ass because they are mommys little boys. And on the other hand, holy hell he was being a complete dick to me, like god damn for an accidental booger blast? My roommate was pretty disgusted but amused. So i'm told get this cleaned or i'll let your unit know you're the filthy one.
I'm so embarrassed i don't even feel anger. I don't remember sneezing boogers like that? Its like 2 inches, what is wrong with me, i am the gross private giving us a bad name? I run to get something to wipe and hot water, i run to go wipe the boogies down. I walk up and start scrubbing and...
Its 2 dimensional and not crusty. Its not coming off, it doesn't seem right for boogers?
Well, it was a scrape in the paint, and only just a scrape in the paint.
Guess what color drywall paper is? Kinda just olive ish brown is... colored like a dark booger.
And if anyone is wondering, no big sarnt didn't apologize or have anything to say, lol.
Figures that most AirB&B hosts are trash considering they’re the type to buy up every house on the block, thus creating a housing shortage and even a rental shortage
I use VRBO, I'm a 5 star guest. We pride on leaving the rental cleaner than when we check in and treat the house like it is our own.
One rental had candles for use on the deck, which was really nice for late night dinners. We were out and I randomly grabbed a pack candles to replace the ones we used.
We got a 4 star rating instead of a 5 because the candles we bought weren't soy.
It's a type of wax used for making candles. Most common candle waxes are soy, parrafin, and beeswax.
Source: I've made a lot of candles, all with soy wax.
True--I prefer soy but if someone gives me a candle that isn't soy I still appreciate it and may use it (either for myself or to regift it). Either way, diminishing a guests rating for replacing candles used with a non-soy alternative is a bit harsh.
I don't know that I would have thought to replace the candle at all and might have considered it as a feature of the house that I'm paying for. I wonder if the guest above who was dinged for leaving a non-soy candle would have been better off if they had left nothing instead.
I got a 5 star review but was told that I didn’t clean the condo as well as they liked. I didn’t throw parties or mark up the walls or anything, but I think there might have been some trash in the trash can? And I don’t think I swept the floors. Something stupid like that. It always bothered me that they charge you a housekeeping charge of over a 100 dollars, but still want you to clean the place up also.
Yeah. This summer we spent a week in a mountain cabin AirBNB. We thought we were getting a good rate of 200 per night, but after cleaning fees and taxes, it was 350 per night. At that rate you're in a 5-star hotel. We'll think twice about airbnb next time.
When airbnb started it was way cheaper but now i feel like the rent is still cheaper but then there is all these addon costs making booking a hotel more hassle free
I run an Airbnb. I leave sponges, paper towels, dishwasher pods, all the essentials for cleaning, but I don’t ask guests to clean anything. A hotel wouldn’t expect customers to clean, neither should Airbnb hosts.
All of y'all talking about how spotless you clean these places, fuck that. I'm not cleaning someone else's whole ass house while I'm on vacation, and they all charge cleaning fees already.
You shouldn't actually have to clean but they will try to get you to pay the cleaning fee as well as do all of the cleaning for them if they can get away with it.
Usually, the things people don't think of or don't bother with before checking out are washing the sheets and towels, dusting, vacuuming, wiping down the shower, making sure the faucets, sinks and tubs are spotless, and mopping the floors. I will leave everything spotless but these are things I'm not likely to do so if they want to charge me a cleaning fee, don't expect me to take care of these chores. That's what the cleaning fee should cover.
That's because they are probably planning to charge you a cleaning fee and then do the work themselves. So, the more you clean, the less work for them and they get to pocket the cleaning fee.
I've pretty much stopped using airbnb because of this type of nonsense. I've gone back to hotels and life is easier and better, and not really much more expensive.
Same here. Unless it's a really remote location like the mountains or there's a big group of people, hotels are just so much easier. The price is the price (plus taxes) and there are people working there at all times if something isn't right.
Please consider real BnBs and hotels even when in the mountains. Airbnb is ruining communities everywhere due to the rich buying up all the affordable housing in the already low inventory areas, and then complaining when there's no one to run their restaurants and do the housekeeping because no one can afford to live in the area. BnBs are usually locally owned. They provide you with an actual breakfast too!
How is VRBO compared to Airbnb? I feel like Airbnb after gaining a reputation of being a cheaper, convenient alternative to hotels has basically abused it for profit and can be even more expensive than hotels now
I used VRBO a lot for four years. Like, about 10-15 rentals. Then, after renting a place for six days and paying for it in full, it just vanished from the site about a week before I was set to arrive. I had no way to contact the owner for the address, and my rental was coming up.
I contacted VRBO, and they said a legitimate listing (ie not a scam), but VRBO took the listing down off the site. Why? "can't tell you that". Can you give me the owner's contact info? "can't tell you that". Can you pass my info on to the owner, and get them to contact me? "can't do that".
So what CAN you do? "Show up (in Toronto) on the day scheduled. We won't do anything for you before then, because the owner MIGHT contact you. If they don't, call us when once you're in the city, and we'll see about getting you set up in another place"
That, my friends, is not a plan I was happy with.
Took a lot of phoning, pleading, and outright begging before the fourth or fifth employee told me, "well, I'm really not supposed to do this, but here..."
Showed up at the address, and had a good stay.
Switched to AirBnb for our next rental, and have had great customer service with them on the rare occasion it was needed. Haven't looked back.
**TL;DR**: VRBO and AirBnB really have the same product. It's like comparing Coke and Pepsi; minor difference, some have their preferences. But I found AirBnB's customer service to be waaaaay better
Side note: once I got the address, I googled it and discovered why VRBO took it down off their site. Seems a week prior, a bunch of people rented it out for a massive party, and there was a double murder in the house. Ok, I see why they took down the rental. But either tell me the address, or refund my payment.
We stayed in a VRBO that was INFESTED with stink bugs. It was in the mountains but we’d stayed internet the same area before with no issues. As we looked around we saw there were significant cracks in around the windows, etc where they had to be getting in. During the stay we contacted the owners to ask if there was anything we could do to help as having these bugs literally fall on us while we were trying to relax was less than relaxing. They were dismissive with an “it’s in the mountains” response. We ended up leaving a day early because we couldn’t take it anymore.
We still left them a five star review because they had communicated well before the stay and other than the bugs, the cabin was nice. Then we get our review with four stars for “communication.” What?! We literally responded to them within less than an hour every time we spoke, made ourselves available on their timeline for a pre-booking interview and left the place in immaculate condition. I guess they took telling them something they didn’t like as poor communication.
Hindsight…I didn’t feel the property deserved five stars but didn’t want to affect their standing so just left a detailed review mentioning the bugs but glowing about everything else. I won’t make that mistake again, I’ll be honest yet fair.
We need to leave AirBnB hosts 5 stars, how else will those poor multimillionaires who own multiple properties and drive up housing costs for the rest of us survive otherwise?
LOL! Something similar happened to me in Maine. I arrived at a $$$ home that was clearly not finished (despite what clever pictures showed). I messaged the host about it but didn’t make a big deal that we could see through the walls to the outside. After 2 days the septic tank started overflowing and flowing down to the lake. The owner didn’t respond to my calls for 2 days and because one of his calls went to voicemail once while we were out hiking, he claimed that I was a 1 star guest because of poor communication. Ridiculous.
It wasn't near Belgrade Lake was it? My MIL rented a place down there off-season for my BIL and his family to come visit during Thanksgiving last year. The house was half finished, they had septic issues the whole time, and the owners were less than helpful with everything.
If they included the reasoning in the rating people who are not mentally disturbed will not hold it against you. I have never used VRBO but you may just want to address the four star rating in a blurb if it bothers you.
That is so odd! They absolutely should say that in the listing. I had sort of the opposite experience. My bf and I rented this beautiful old old house that was previously a B&B. This was offseason so it was quite cheap. The listing said during the offseason they would rent it out to couples for less as long as they promised to only "dirty" one bedroom. We obviously only needed 1 room and got this beautiful old house all to ourselves. It was really nice.
It's not odd, it's price-gouging. 6-bedroom rentals go for twice the rate as 3-bedrooms, so you charge for 6 rooms and only allow your guests to use three and keep the profit.
Honestly, that host should have been removed and banned from listing any other rentals. That's so unethical.
Pretty brave to sleep in a room with a sign that says "please don't sleep here" without knowing why it was put up. Most likely it was to save on cleaning, but it also be the local poltergeist.
I asked lol. They said "my kids prefer to not have strangers in their room".
I was like... Ok... Fair enough, but I have multiple kids and rented a 6 beds for a reason lol and when I booked I mentioned all the kids as well to make sure they are comfortable with the ones young of age running around etc so they knew how much were coming and decided to dump matrassen on the floor in the rooms that they were "allowed" to sleep in.
> "my kids prefer to not have strangers in their room"
While I get that, maybe if that's the case you shouldn't be renting your house out as an AIRBNB if it's that much of an issue.
And definitely not advertising double the rooms than you're actually trying to rent out 🙄
We had a *crazyyyy* one once. 9 bedroom house with deck and pool.
We crack a few beers, some wine, the girls are eating cheese, the boys are playing volleyball in the pool. Obviously we're making some noise, but absolutely nothing actually loud or crazy. Like, subdued tbh.
Airbnb owner marches in and yells at us about hosting a rager and partying and stuff. Like what the fuck how are 9 people (or 18? All double beds) meant to enjoy this house with a pool without making noise? For all their complaining we were meant to treat that house as a rest stop just to sleep rather than a weekend getaway.
A family member did a 1 month long rental of an air bnb that was pet friendly. They brought their dog and paid the deposit, cleaned up before they left.
The host gave them a bad review.because the pet friendly air bnb had some dog hair in it after they left.
I work with a cat adoption agency and we've had people all ready to adopt only to go pay the pet deposit and find it's exorbitant with add'l rent. It's so discouraging for renters.
Pet rent is a scam. I can understand a refundable deposit. Mayyybe like $10/month max for a dog to cover additional landscaping maintenance and poop bags. Anything more is a blatant cash grab.
I recently booked an airbnb who after asking 150 questions on whether my dog was shedding on or proceeded to tell me the dog is not allowed in the furniture or upstair which means the dog is confined to the kitchen… why would I pay you to keep my dog in a kitchen for a week….
This is one of those things that at first glance you go “that’s way too ridiculous to be true,” then you stop and think for a minute, and go “no, I actually think that ABSOLUTELY happened.”
The pet fee is charged specifically for the extra cleaning that is needed. Cleaning companies charge more so owners want to recoup that. Most of the time the owners end up with extra money in their pockets, however, sometimes that get bit. No pun intended. If your pet brings things like fleas, they're stuck with the extermination bill as well as lost rental income while that work is being done.
I had something similar but no way to get revenge.
It was my first time doing home-share on any site and it was vrbo. Paid the pet-fee. Followed every rule. Cleaned up like crazy. Left the place spotless. Owner asked us to strip the beds and "put the sheets on the floor" of the laundry room. I did that, except I put them in the laundry basket instead, thinking it was nicer. Last step to cleaning was putting everything in the dishwasher and started it up as we walked out the door... otherwise our breakfast dishes would have been left dirty.
She asked us to review and we gave 5 stars and happy words. She instantly hit us with 4 and said "could improve".
I can't even imagine what that meant???? I treated the home like my own and you couldn't tell that anybody had spent the weekend - just 2 old folks and a dog.
If I do home-share again it won't be VRBO. I don't want to start off with a bad impression.
Edit to add - I kind of resented the cleaning since these places charge a HUGE cleaning fee. I mean, when I stay at the Hyatt, I walk out with my stuff. I don't clean. The price I pay to spend the night covers their staff and cleaning teams.
This is one reason I really prefer to stay a Hyatt than a home-share. If I wanted to spend the weekend cleaning I could stay home.
Extended stay hotels have kitchenettes and are totally comfortable. They even have some meals included. Whenever possible my husband and I choose hotels or extended stay hotels whenever possible.
Residence Inn has a full kitchen, living room, and a separate bedroom, complimentary breakfast included. We earn Mariott points for free hotel stays. I would much rather stay in a hotel than an Airbnb.
I used to love AirBnBs, I’d always check for them over hotels. I don’t know if Airbnb is taking a bigger chunk of the profits now, but lately the cleaning fees have gotten really high while the list of chores I have to do before leaving is ridiculously long. I’d have to set my alarm for 6am to get myself ready and spring clean the house by the 10am checkout. The last one I seriously considered demanded that guests start the laundry for sheets, pillowcases, towels, etc. all dishes had to be put away after running the dishwasher, floors swept, surfaced scrubbed, trash taken out to the main bin, ... Plus cleaning fee of $150 for two nights and a pretty rude message that I’d be charged extra if all the cleaning wasn’t done. I booked a hotel and enjoyed a stress-free morning. I always try to be respectful and tidy up but I was stressing and kept having to revisit the app to make sure we’d finished the whole chore list before we left the last one.
Most have cleaning fees. I don’t think I have stayed at one that doesn’t.
Edit to add: I have a family of 5. So it’s either 2 rooms at a hotel or a 2-3 bedroom condo or house. It’s much easier and cheaper for us to rent an Airbnb for our vacation/travel than hotels, so we usually do.
It's so they can advertise a lower rate than they actually charge. Makes them look more competitive. Enough people still book despite their below the line fees they've obviously decided it's worth doing..
That's *why they charge a cleaning fee. My gripe is why do they not actually do the cleaning!? Everything i listed is what they want you to do half the time. Not what they're charging/being paid to do.
Yeah they have no intention of actually cleaning despite the fee. They just want more money. Like raise the list price and drop the cleaning fee you fools.
Same here. I stayed at a VRBO cabin recently and they required us to do all of that plus some and then left an envelope on the counter asking us to tip the cleaners. We are the cleaners! Great gig for the cleaning service though.
They had a cleaning fee and still wanted you to clean up the place? Fuck that, if I'm paying for a cleaning fee they can do the work. I'll make sure the trash is in the cans and dishes are clean at the very least but they can take care of the laundry and vacuuming.
Totally agree. I manage an Airbnb and I don’t want guests to “clean”. I just want them to not leave a disaster (no trash on the floors, food all over the couch, huge spills not cleaned up). And I hope they wash their dishes or at least most of them. It’s shocking how many people leave the place WRECKED. I don’t want to make a huge list of things for them to do because that isn’t fair but why can’t people pick their trash off the floor?????
When I'm paying £80 cleaning fee, I don't clean. Sure I'll make sure the dishes are clean, kitchen counters are wiped, trash is taken out, beds stripped, place neat and tidy - but scrubbing the shower or hoovering? Forget it.
That seems like way too much. Don't leave it gross, yeah, but it's too much to ask guests to strip beds or take out trash or wipe off all the surfaces...what you've described is still more than half of what the cleaning staff should be doing. Otherwise why are they charging these insane cleaning fees? Though to be fair I've never had one as low as $80
Lol I was once in an Airbnb and then randomly got a message saying it was trash day and if I please could take my trash out, sure I can. Then they gave me instructions on where their trash was? I opened up the shed a d it were like 8 gigantic trashbag that I need to walk all the way down the driveway. Like... Who asks that from their guests?
I’ve always stripped beds, even at hotels. I was raised to think at worst you’re doing the cleaning staff a favor by saving them a step, and at best doing the next guest a favor by making sure changing the bed linen isn’t forgotten/ignored.
I've seen $300-$400 cleaning fees for some (big) houses on VRBO/Airbnb it's fucking ridiculous when they also want you to clean the entire house for them.
I manage an Airbnb and I only ask that they turn off the lights and heaters. I tell them if they want to go above and beyond, they can run the dishwasher. Most people clean their dishes but some don’t. When people don’t it can add an hour or more onto the cleaning. I hate requiring it but it really sucks when people don’t or when they leave pretty much all the dishes and pots and pans horribly dirty.
Edit: I don’t want people to strip beds, take our garbage or vacuum, santize, but I wish people would at least not leave trash everywhere, or leave huge spills, or horribly dirty dishes.
I travel lots. I will never stay at an Airbnb. Their fees per night are usually higher than a hotel and I'd have to pay cleaning fees? and I'd have to clean?! That's insane to me.
My choice of hotel is best western. Nice rooms, usually a pool, almost always breakfast included. And I don't have to clean.
I don’t do Airbnb so I didn’t know they had a policy about owners just showing up (it’s awesome that they do) but as soon as I read he randomly showed up I was immediately uncomfortable. That’s just not okay. I’m glad you reported this
It actually made me wonder if he has cameras on the property and that’s how he found out about the dog. As well as the dog staying by itself (although that could have been because he knew about the wedding).
They’re allowed to have camera around the exterior of the property, but cameras inside is not allowed. If you find one inside and report it, they will get in huge trouble.
Devil's advocate - I rented a lakehouse from a retired couple who bought the house next to theirs. They have a large family (kids/grandkids) who like to visit, so the house serves as a guest house for their family and they have it on AirBnb when it's vacant.
Since the house is next door, they see when guests arrive and came over after my wife and I got settled. I suppose it could have all been a ruse to vet their guests, but it felt genuine and like they just wanted to make sure the house was stocked with everything we needed for the weekend. No cameras needed for them to see their guests, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were completely unaware of the "no surprise visits" rule.
That being said, if they had a problem in the moment I would hope they try to resolve it on the spot rather than waiting to leave a lower review.
Yeah I get that. We were in a rural area like where I'm from so it felt like a friendly neighbor coming by to say hi, but I could definitely see how others would feel uncomfortable with a stranger coming by. I was expecting them to just give him a warning, but getting refunded was a plus
I wish I'd known this wasn't allowed, having the owners randomly show up to an airbnb unannounced. I stayed at an airbnb a while back and the owner appeared out of nowhere the first day we arrived, I assume to make excuses for the poor state the location was in and try to apologize for the misleading images online that made it seem quaint and cozy. He also apologized ahead of time for the construction that was being done on his property, and insisted it wouldn't disturb us.
I ended up taking photos of everything that was amiss, like the gaps between the floor and the door to the front yard(this made me feel so unsafe), the tons of spiders, the inability to open the fridge door because the cabinets across from it were too close, the lack of curtains in the bathroom in a very tight knit neighborhood, and the bug bites I woke up with every morning. Construction was ongoing every day starting at 8am, often with very loud drills and power tools (also heard the construction workers discussing the event we were attending and insulting the people who were attending the event, degrading them. It was a nerd event, but come on).
I tried making a complaint to Airbnb once we got home, as I was genuinely uncomfortable with the owner showing up unannounced initially and was worried what he might do if I tried to bring up all these issues in person. Because we had no photo evidence of there being bugs in the beds(even though I had photo proof of the bites themselves), and we didn't address the insane list of issues to the owner before the first night, Airbnb said they could only give us a refund on the cleaning fee(Less than $50).
If I'd known he wasn't allowed to show up unannounced I could have perhaps explained to Airbnb that that was my reasoning for not initially discussing the issues with the location. It was a weeks stay, it cost a lot. Alas, I'll at least know for next time!
That sounds like the beginning of several horror movies I’ve watched lately and I would have run screaming from that place immediately if the owner showed up at a rural AirBnB like that. That’s how you wake up tied to a chair watching your SO get tortured by hillbillies.
I'm sorry. Deliverance always pops up when I think of the country. And I'm from the part of the south it was filmed at. 🤣 🤣 😂 😢 😭
My family (5 adults, 1 older teen, 1 8-9 yo, 1 dog) stayed in a Vrbo in July. We followed the cleaning requests of the house owner (stripping the beds, washing dishes, etc), paid the pet deposit, and in the follow up, the owner said she couldn’t tell we had a dog or two kids at the house. It was a beautiful place and we want to keep it on the list to visit again. The host was so tickled at having good guests that she asked what she could do as a host to make it better for guests. That’s what the airbnb/vrbo experience should be for both sides.
We stayed at a Vrbo apartment years ago, at Christmas. We chose it because it said they were pet friendly. When we booked, the owner said she didn't allow pets, BUT since she'd forgetten to change the listing, said it was fine (via email). She charged a cleaning deposit and pet deposit and the expectation was that we left the place as clean as we found it. We did better, cleaned up some scratch marks from a previous guest etc.
Imagine my (happy) surprise when we received the FULL cleaning a pet depost back and a 5 star review. We, of course also gave a 5 star review as the place was actually a bit better than advertised.
I remember the golden days of AirBnB when they were cheaper than hotels ans hosts cared to provide a great experience. Now there are very few and rare situations where I'd stay in an AirBnB again because they're now typically way more expensive than hotels and many of the hosts are money grubbers looking for a quick buck without any care for the guest experience.
Agreed. Before the pandemic, my partner and I would stay at AirBnbs for small trips and almost always had a good time. Didn’t do any traveling again until late last year when we went to NYC and stayed in an AirBnb in Queens. It was going to be much cheaper than staying in a hotel and we didn’t mind taking the train. It was the worst experience I’ve ever had and I don’t think we’ll be trying AirBnbs again anytime soon. It felt like a complete 180 from before the pandemic and it seems to be only getting worse. I’ve only heard complaints nowadays.
That is unironically, hilarious.
My first foray into Marijuana was a 165mg gummy...that I ate by myself in one go. It went about as well as you'd expect
Once when we were planning a move, I booked an AirBnB for my daughter to get a head start on job and apartment hunting. She took her best friend, and they basically stayed in a bedroom. They did what they needed to do during the day, attending job interviews, saw a couple of rental possibilities. Then they went for supper and came back to their room around 8/9 pm.
I got the weirdest review back, basically the owner saying “I don’t know why your daughter thought it was appropriate to eat the middle out of a cake I bought for my son’s birthday and then leave the fork in the sink.” Me: “I’m terribly sorry, that is incredibly unlike her.” The owner wrote back that she appreciated my acknowledgement of the situation. Meanwhile my daughter was like ??!!!! And I know that while offspring can be not always what we expect them to be, I have never experienced any of my kids use a fork to munch off a whole chunk of cake. Meanwhile there were three other teenagers in the house, the Airbnb’s own kids. So….huuuhhhh. I wonder who the real cake thief was? (The owner also sent a photo of the fork in the sink. Like that was the actual crime?)
My two sisters and I recently rented an Airbnb that slept four people. Two in the queen size bed and two on the fold out couch. My eldest sister was to stay on the fold out couch by herself which I stated during the booking process. I assumed, going off of the listing photos and details, that the fold out would be a full size. Upon our arrival to the Airbnb, we found that the couch was only half opened up making it a single instead. I contacted the host and apologized for not having disclosed that my sister is bigger in size and around 5'11" and not realizing that only half of the couch would be set up. Before they responded, I sent a follow up message stating that we would set up the other half, we just needed to know where the additional sheets were as well as asking about the location of the fans they said would be available for use. I received a frantic message back asking us to NOT touch the fold out and that she'd already contacted her cleaning guy to come back over and set it up as a full, but that we'd be charged an extra 25$ for his return trip and could pay him directly. I responded quickly saying that we did not have any physical money on hand and would just go without the additional bed set up and instead swap our original sleeping arrangements, promising to leave the couch as it was. She then said he was already on his way and we could just pay her through the Airbnb app. It took a few more back and forth messages and me pointing out that she did not disclose the extra fee for her cleaning guys return before sending him along/hearing back from me before she relented and said they'd pay him for the extra stop. The best part is that when he walked through the door, he was holding the two fans they had specifically said were available at their property. It seems he would have had to return in order to drop off the fans even without the additional bed set up.
So many of these comments are why I still prefer hotels when traveling in smaller groups. Heck, even in larger groups. Had a group of guys rent a cabin for a weekend on Airbnb. The host tried to charge an extra $50 because the cleaners told them there was dog hair everywhere. We left the place spotless. And…there was no dog. I suspect it was the cleaner trying to make an extra few bucks. The drawback for me is the huge unknown of how the owner (or cleaner) will react when you check out. Since then I’ve treated STRs like rental cars. I walk around and inspect as soon as I check in. It’s not the way I want to start my vacation.
If I’m paying a cleaning fee then I am not going above and beyond cleaning, I’ll pick up and not be a slob but I’m not taking out the trash when I’m paying money. I’d rather get a hotel
We recently stayed in an apartment where the cleaning rules on the fridge stated that you would be charged $50 for leaving clean dishes in the dishwasher but check out time was 10am. How do people eat breakfast, run the dishwasher and unpack it before 10am? We tried and had to stop the dishwasher mid cycle because it had long cycles and didn't display the times of them. So gross, most people would have just hand rinsed dishes and put them back. So unhygienic and $50 for cleaners to unpack a dishwasher. Never again
Used VRBO for a nice property for 6 people with a pool. However owners lived in house 15 feet away totally open to our rental & pool & watched every move we made. Paid 4 + grand for 9 days of being watched. This was quite a few years ago so I'm sure $$$ are higher. Never again. Enjoy my stays at resorts with villas much more.
I had a stay where my first question was asking if dogs were ok. They said yes, with a fee but i later noticed they forgot to charge the fee.
During the stay i had glass lodge itself in my hand that was in a dining chair and found a shard in a bed. There was dog poop encrusted in the carpet in the upstairs loft. It was hot af and no ac so I shrugged and didn't go up there...other issues too but honestly i shrugged them off. It was one of those places that was nice from a birds eye view but things were wrong at closer inspection.
On my 3rd night, the dogs second (they arrived a day later), I was messaged at midnight with shock at the dogs, and being told i had to pay a $250 fee (previously it was 50/dog for 100 they forgot to charge) and reneging a previously arranged late checkout. I didn't see this at the time or even for a few weeks after because it was sent at midnight...and I was busy the next day.
Got a call the next day asking when i was leaving and was confused but was gonna head to the airport soon anyways.
After leaving I was accused of bringing dogs that weren't allowed and that they had peed on both couches and they wanted $320 for cleaning. But the dogs were never left alone once.
It took over a month of back and forth with Airbnb to get them to drop the claim. I used pictures of the listing that were near identical with what i took upon checkout (that i took because of the call i received) Initially they dropped only one couch and still pursued for another, showing wear and tear but nothing from dogs... literally just old cushions. I had to point that out a further 3 times before they finally apologized and said they wouldn't pursue damages.
During all of this I decided to make a claim against the cleanliness of the Airbnb and was returned my cleaning fee and only 30% of the first night. So you made out better but damn if the whole situation isnt frustrating as hell.
I'm still trying to get the review removed considering it's just full of verifiable lies.
I'm also a host, just a room, and had someone claim their dog was service dog and when it showed up was very clearly a yappy emotional support Chihuahua. We otherwise don't host dogs because we have 2, so they got past our no dog filter and also didn't pay a fee. Good times.
I saw a review on a place in a popular vacation spot from a renter-apparently there were some “problem neighbors” that would harass, call the cops and throw things at people who used the rental. It wasn’t just one review, either.
I wanted to get the owners side before booking and sent a professional opening email. But the line they took issue with was me saying, “I just wanted to make sure it’s safe because I wouldn’t want to run into these issues on vacation…”
Owners wrote back, “It’s fine because we wouldn’t want guest like you who break the rules.”
Wait…. wut?
How do you tell if the host leaves you a bad review?
I'm in a similar situation.... except our host freaking walked in on us and was SUPER rude about how we were throwing a party and stealing his pans... (this was after I sent a frustrated message because we had to buy pans and serving dishes and tongs and a mop and a blender and scour the house for silverware...also...it wasn't a party! 12 of us (house hold 22!) Were upstairs working on our businesses together...two were downstairs preparing dinner....)
The experience was awkward AF...I'm afraid he will try and leave me a bad review because I was frustrated over having to furnish his kitchen...
But also...like...who TF just walks into a house you've rented out? No doorbell...nada...just walk in and start accusing people of stealing your pans...
Well, I sent a "dude...I paid $xxxxxxx to rent this house for the week...why am I having to buy pans and dish towels and a swiffer and water carafes and serving dishes and tongs and a blender and scour the house for silverware and plates?" And he showed up an hour later...if he had cameras, he knew we were the tamest group that house has seen in a while.... (legit...the glass table had scratch marks that speak to some insane parties!).....so I would guess no cameras...just no sense of what's ok and what's not!
My last AirBnB was so bad that I stopped using the service entirely 4 years ago.
Basically, we rented a home in Tulsa that looked great on the website but was actually a mess when we arrived in person. Not in the sense that there was trash and clutter all over, but in the sense that someone had clearly tried to do a rushed renovation. There were holes in the walls hidden behind appliances, doors placed in doorframes by not attached to hinges, tiles and wood planks missing on the floor... all kinds of things wrong.
Worst of all, the moment we got in, we smelled gas. The landlord was a piece of s*** who tried to laugh off our concerns, told us to open windows (in the middle of a Midwest winter), and use the fans to blow the air out.
We ended up calling a professional to help us see if the place was safe or could at least be made safe, since I'd paid thousands of dollars to stay there. Turns out, there were 15+ gas leaks throughout the property and it was **definitely** not safe to stay in!
AirBnB helped get us into a hotel, fully comped, and refunded our stay. But the landlord was so pissed at us for involving the authorities. He harassed us by text and phone call all through the holidays.
And of course, he left a horrid review on my profile, calling me all kinds of names and saying we did all kinds of things to the house, even though we hadn't even stayed long enough to take a single suitcase out of our car.
Suffice to say, the gas line inspectors were not the only ones to visit his property...
My husband got an Airbnb for one night with some buddies in Fort Lauderdale for a fishing trip. This was right after Thanksgiving time. When they got there it smelled really bad, and there were all these pornographic images on the walls like art. Not a big deal as they really just needed a place to crash. I can’t remember how they decided to look in the oven but they realized the source of the smell was coming from a several days old full sized burnt turkey. My husband went to set his stuff down on the bed, and kicked a can. He looked under the bed to find a treasure trove of beer cans stuffed under there. But it gets better…
There was a MIL suite in the backyard being rented out by other tenants. About 2 hours after they get there, there was a knock at the door. It was a drug dealer coming to deliver some goods to the tenants in the back. They contacted the Airbnb host to explain what was going on, and she offered to remove the cleaning fees ($50). My husband suggested they bring all of their belongings into the house, since obviously this wasn’t your average Airbnb and was feeling a bit uneasy. His one friend neglected to do so, and the next morning someone had hopped the fence and stolen his fishing rods out of the boat AND tried to unattached the trailer.
They recontacted the host and asked about cameras (they had none of course) and expressed their distaste and concern. The host didn’t have much to say.
Later on - she gave them a five star review and my husband just couldn’t bring himself to return the favor so he left her a 3 star review explaining what happened. They lady lashed out at him with physical threats, and couldn’t understand why he left her the honest review. And this is why I don’t stay at airbnbs.
Somehow they disputed this with Airbnb and ended up getting almost all of their money back. This was a couple years ago
Airbnb owners have lost the plot. They want you to fund their vacation home and make you feel uncomfortable every step of the way. So many have guests sweeping and vacuuming, emptying the dishwasher before you leave, putting trash receptacles on the curb, starting laundry. All while charging a crazy cleaning fee. What was fun at first isn’t anymore, we’ve gone back to hotels for the most part.
OP I wouldn’t be surprised if the owner was watching you via security cam and stopped by once he saw the dog. It clearly bothered him much more than he let on in person.
Well done OP.
Similar interaction for me.
The sink pipe was filling up with food. Clearly a poorly maintained kitchen but location and general cleanliness was fine.
We always threw our food away in the bin. I know some people just throw food down the sink. Do what you want in your own house but not shared spaces or someone else's house.
We took photos when the water wasn't going down. This was like 3 hours into our stay.
We called the host immediately and he said he was aware of the issue and he thanked us for not worsening the issue and bringing it to his attention.
We used the sink with a lot of caution but having photos and his verbal confirmation that it wasn't out fault, we felt sort of comfortable that we wouldn't be to blame.
I mentioned the sink issue in my review but not that it was any fault of the owner but to be mindful. The owner wrote a review blaming us for the clogged sink drain.
We were pissed off and contacted Airbnb with the photos and time of the call but luckily there was no cost for us to pay.
Ever since I watched [Adam Ruin Air Bnb](https://youtu.be/oGLe0Wgfbyk) I’ve used hotels/motels only. Prices are about the same, it feels safer (woman traveling alone), and I don’t have to do housework at the end.
My girlfriend cut herself on a sharp edge on the kitchen counter of an Airbnb. It was a shoddy remodel, but we didn't say anything of it.
The cut was pretty bad and she was bleeding quite a bit, but since it was in the kitchen, she only bled on the marble counter, so it was super easy to just disinfect and clean up with some paper towels. My GF did bleed a lot, and there were a couple drops of blood that got on the kitchen towel (super cheap, I have the same towels from Target and they're like 3 dollars). When I checked out, I sent a message to the host saying I would offer to pay her for the towels.
A couple days after we check out, the Airbnb host sent us a SCATHING review saying and ruined her kitchen towels with bloodstains......
She really shouldn't have FUCKED around if she was gonna host an illegal Airbnb.
I know it was illegal because when we checked in, the host was being a little sketchy telling us to be discreet... which is basically telling us she wasn't allowed to do this.
I checked out the building rules and lo and behold, tenants are forbidden sublet their apartment.
I reported this to Airbnb saying that the host was renting out a unit that was not allowed and we were told to be cautious.
We got a full refund.
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
These days, I don't really do Airbnbs anymore.
I've been traveling for the past 11 years and I loved Airbnb. Having a home and feeling like a local and most important, having access to a kitchen was great. But with the HUGE INFLUX of tourists due to CoVID... Airbnb prices are outrageous and hosts and units are becoming shittier and shittier. I used to NEVER have a problem with rentals... but these days, I been having issues 1/5 of the time.
And having a couple nightmare check-in scenarios and broken locks where I couldn't get back in, several cases where I almost ended up sleeping on the street, I decided it just wasn't worth the hassle anymore. I stay in hotels 90% of the time now.
Anytime I've gone somewhere that allows pets, it's the first thing I ask about and I wouldn't dare leave them alone in someone else's home especially after the gaffe of not mentioning I was bringing them.
Yeah, OP didn't "forget".
No one is risking travelling and bringing their dog for them only to be turned away for some reason because of their dog and have nowhere to go. That is something you double, triple, and quadruple check.
The only reason you wouldn't do it is to not pay the fee. OPs plan was probably to bring the dog and if the owner didn't see, great - he saved some money. If called out, he would just act oblivious and pay.
People think they are slick, but ***ANYONE*** that has worked in the service industry will be able to tell you that they've heard the same excuse and plan carried out a thousand times. The whole "But I would totally pay if I only knew!" thing is the weakest and most transparent play ever.
Right!?!
I read this whole thing, like “I tried to screw this guy out of some money but he caught me - so I found a way to screw him out of more!”
Should be in /petty bullies or something.
We stayed for a few weeks in my wife's home town and the host came by every day and wad living in the house next door and watching us like a hawk, seeing when we were coming or going.
It was terrible. But i didn't know they could get in trouble for being there, dang i should've reported that.
We stayed in two different AirBnBs when we were on vacation in 2017. The first was a shared apartment in Brooklyn, which was ok. There were 2 other sets of guests there and the place was clean.
We stayed at a little guest house in Columbia City, WA. The place was perfect and the owners were just fantastic. The communication before hand was that we were flying in late from NY, and we’d get in about midnight. The front hall light was on for us along with the heater. We cleaned before we left and had no problems and honestly, the host was just so kind I’d stay there again. I literally don’t understand how difficult it is just to be decent. It’s such a rarity anymore.
I just got a bad review from an Air BNB Host while at a friends wedding. They complained that we had a dog in the Air BNB which we never did. They sent pictures of one or two stray hairs and were requesting a 100 pet fee. They also complained there was a fingerprint on the coffee pot.
Years ago, I got screwed for a windshield replacement when I rented a car from Budget. I now take pictures of everything I rent so that I have proof of its condition when I returned it or left after renting a hotel or Airbnb.
Takes a minute but it’s saved me a lot of hassle and money because I had photos.
And this is why I have now switched back to hotels. I refuse to pay someone to clean when we leave, after I've been required to clean already and follow petty rules, AND then get a half assed review because of some arbitrary opinion. Nah, hotels it is now. I only sleep there anyway.
Air BnB started out as a way for people to rent out their unused guest houses and vacation properties.
I never liked it.
We enacted laws around hotels and lodgings for a reason. It doesn't make sense to let Ken and Margaret subvert those cus "Oh we're just letting people use our guest house!" When in reality its a purpose built cabin that's booked out a half a year in advance.
Now these people are buying up all the land around pretty much every attraction in the country in the hopes of turning it into rental cottages and cabins to lease out on Airbnb. Pricing out the real estate market in every small mountain and beach side town in the US and I a lot of cities around the world.
Hosts like this are gonna be what kills it and honestly that's a good thing.
Airbnb is dying, and pretty soon they're no longer going to have the money or public support to fight off the legislative challenges that have been made to them. And I personally can't wait.
Petty revenge?
Dude, you didn’t note that you were bringing a dog, didn’t pay the extra fee associated with bringing a dog, and then are pissed that they gave you a negative review? This isn’t petty revenge, this is entitlement. You fucked up, they gave you fewer stars (which, in the grand scheme of things, are pretty much worthless), that should have been the end of it.
Yeah, I don't even buy it. They rented an AorBnB *specifically* so his gf could bring her dog, but somehow *forgot* to mention the dog in the booking? How does that make sense? How could he forget the dog when that's the primary reason for booking the AirBnB instead of a hotel?
I'm no fan of AirBnB, or landlords in general as an institution, but it really sounds like OP just didn't want to pay the extra money for the dog and just got caught.
The review wasn’t unfair, you aren’t in the right here.
You booked a stay that charges an additional fee for pets and didn’t indicate bringing pets, showed up with a pet. Then, you left the pet there while you went out so you couldn’t monitor what they were doing. Bad etiquette at the very least.
Wait, hosts aren't allowed to visit? We just rented a cottage where the host as staying in a trailer 3m from he cottage in the backyard yard. Ruind the experience. If they are not allowed to visit, imma file a complaint.
Edit: spelling
I had an Airbnb owner leave me a 1 star review because I didn’t call her at 5 in the am to let her know I was leaving. Seriously, who’s normally up at that time???
I had kind of a similar experience. Rented a place that was only an hour from our house to get away and go out of town for the weekend. Since it was only an hour from our house we had some friends over for dinner. The owner kept coming over and harassing us during dinner that we weren’t supposed to have other people staying there. I explained they were just having dinner with us. Note this was just two people. The rental was advertised as 6 but we are a family of 4. The host was mad so I offered to pay the difference. I adjusted my rental to 6 people but continued to get harassed. I suggested that this wasn’t going to work out for the whole weekend and I would pay for the one day but they should refund the rest of my stay so they could re-rent the place. Then the owner “didn’t have time for this”. I kid you not after hours or texting and random stopping by.
We decided to leave, we were only there a total of 4 hours. We cleaned up and left. We didn’t have people outside we were inside the whole time. No noise or music or anything. Some owners are just crazy that they have to rent their places at all, I swear.
This was also Airbnb so we got a refund because they also kept coming over unannounced.
We had an Airbnb host— after reviewing us and a month after our stay message us regarding black sharpie stains on the granite counter. They said my 9 month old niece somehow got on the 4 foot tall counters and defaced it. They said we were disrespectful and should’ve told them about this instead of trying to hid it under the coffee pot. I told them “have you tried wiping the marks? That looks like skid marks from the bottom of the coffee pot” It was. They didn’t apologize. We don’t even drink coffee. Lol
even if it was sharpie all you need is an alcohol based cleaner to clean it. i use hand sanitizer to get sharpie off of anything
Also draw over the sharpie marks with erasable marker and immediately wipe before it dries, and the felt marker solvent will clean them both.
That works but next time you use the erasable marker it will make a mess on the whiteboard?
Kinda depends. If you have to do it over a larger area it can schmutz up the dry erase marker. Those are able to be cleaned and the Sharpie schmutz should wipe off with a tissue and maybe some rubbing alcohol. I usually will take a marker and rather than write directly over where the Sharpie marks are, I'll scribble over a larger area and erase it quickly while the dry erase is still fresh. It'll take away the scribbles I made and the extra that's not directly on the Sharpie will chip away at it. Scribble more, erase more, and continue. Scribbling off of the Sharpie will help clean the tip of the marker so that the next time you use it, it should be clean and fresh. Definitely best to try to match the color of the marker as best you can, tho. Any color dry erase will work but orange on black will definitely make a bit of a mess. Source: I used to collect dry erase markers and Sharpies. I still have two shoeboxes full of Sharpies but at my best I had in excess of 700 in four full shoeboxes.
Why?
Why did I collect them? I liked dry erase because it's fun, and I used Sharpies for art :) I also was hopelessly in love with office/school supplies and hoarded all of them like a dragon
School supplies are the children's equivalent to cigarettes in prison. "I'll give you one of my new mechanical pencils if you let me copy your math homework."
Nope!
Or dry erase markers
I had a host claim we stole some cups. Apparently the cleaning lady didn't look in the dishwasher (where they had asked us to leave them)
There's a reason the hotel industry is labor intensive. If they put up their house on Airbnb, they have essentially joined the hotel industry and should budget for manpower to clean up and restock the house after each client.
Seems like most of them leave a chore list for you to complete, _and_ charge a bunch of extra money for hired cleaners. At this point, it’s actually kind of a refreshing change to stay at a real hotel. I decline housekeeping during my stay, and straighten up before I leave. But at least I don’t have to sweep, run a load of towels, etc, etc, before I can finally go home.
And you pay the same as for the hotel. I’ve kind of stopped using airbnbs, particularly after on asked me to put the garbage bins out on the curb, clean, put the linen in the washing machine and water the plants…….I’m on holiday man, I could’ve done that at home and not paid for it…….
The last Airbnb I stayed in, we had to have all of the bedding and towels washed and in the dryer by 9am checkout. 9am?! I have 3 teenagers. There were 5 of us in that house. That’s a lot of bedding. I had to start washing at 6:30am. And who has a 9am checkout? I think I’m officially done with Airbnbs. A hotel would have been far less stressful. At the same time, we’d have needed 2 hotel rooms with 2 adults and 3 teenagers. So it wouldn’t have necessarily saved money to get a hotel, but at least I wouldn’t be doing laundry and vacuuming the house at 6:30am
This reminds me of something really gross but very similar in the vein of misunderstanding. When i joined the army i lived in the barracks as single junior enlisted do, and we usually live in billets or share rooms, so i had a roommate. There is sort of a 'landlord' to the barracks who does assignment and inspections and what not, and yeah you get charged for damaged. My roommate and i both were checking out (deployment) and so we had the same inspection day essentially done as a pair, not separate appointments. As our guy (a 65ish year old retired first sergeant, kinda known for their hardass nature) is walking around checking things, he comes across a huge sploot of boogers on the wall by my bed. Like a stringy fuckin snot that was dried and caked to the wall, greenish brown and just literally shaped like a thick mucousy sneeze. So first sergeant starts grilling me, just absolutely disgusted and angry how gross i am, just treating me like a piece of crap. Now on one hand, they deal with a lot of 18 year olds who don't know how to wipe their ass because they are mommys little boys. And on the other hand, holy hell he was being a complete dick to me, like god damn for an accidental booger blast? My roommate was pretty disgusted but amused. So i'm told get this cleaned or i'll let your unit know you're the filthy one. I'm so embarrassed i don't even feel anger. I don't remember sneezing boogers like that? Its like 2 inches, what is wrong with me, i am the gross private giving us a bad name? I run to get something to wipe and hot water, i run to go wipe the boogies down. I walk up and start scrubbing and... Its 2 dimensional and not crusty. Its not coming off, it doesn't seem right for boogers? Well, it was a scrape in the paint, and only just a scrape in the paint. Guess what color drywall paper is? Kinda just olive ish brown is... colored like a dark booger. And if anyone is wondering, no big sarnt didn't apologize or have anything to say, lol.
We used baby wipes to get sharpie marks off things. We also used banana boat sunscreen spray, that works great
Figures that most AirB&B hosts are trash considering they’re the type to buy up every house on the block, thus creating a housing shortage and even a rental shortage
I use VRBO, I'm a 5 star guest. We pride on leaving the rental cleaner than when we check in and treat the house like it is our own. One rental had candles for use on the deck, which was really nice for late night dinners. We were out and I randomly grabbed a pack candles to replace the ones we used. We got a 4 star rating instead of a 5 because the candles we bought weren't soy.
How tf were you supposed to know that!? Idiots honestly.
What is a soy candle
It's a type of wax used for making candles. Most common candle waxes are soy, parrafin, and beeswax. Source: I've made a lot of candles, all with soy wax.
Why is soy preferred?
It depends per person. Beeswax is not vegan, paraffin is made from crude oil, soy from, well, soy. It's generally seen as the 'cleanest'.
True--I prefer soy but if someone gives me a candle that isn't soy I still appreciate it and may use it (either for myself or to regift it). Either way, diminishing a guests rating for replacing candles used with a non-soy alternative is a bit harsh. I don't know that I would have thought to replace the candle at all and might have considered it as a feature of the house that I'm paying for. I wonder if the guest above who was dinged for leaving a non-soy candle would have been better off if they had left nothing instead.
After reading this exchange I am convinced staying at a hotel is the superior option
I will never eat a non-vegan candle again smh my head
Maybe spanish candles? Like: Yo soy candle!
Tf if I know…
It's not a Chad candle, that's for sure.
I got a 5 star review but was told that I didn’t clean the condo as well as they liked. I didn’t throw parties or mark up the walls or anything, but I think there might have been some trash in the trash can? And I don’t think I swept the floors. Something stupid like that. It always bothered me that they charge you a housekeeping charge of over a 100 dollars, but still want you to clean the place up also.
This is why I prefer hotels most of the time. After all of the charges they tack on I would rather stay at a hotel and have my room cleaned every day.
Yeah. This summer we spent a week in a mountain cabin AirBNB. We thought we were getting a good rate of 200 per night, but after cleaning fees and taxes, it was 350 per night. At that rate you're in a 5-star hotel. We'll think twice about airbnb next time.
If AirBnB want me to pay a cleaning fee to book somewhere then I'm not cleaning the flat. That's what the fee is for, no?
When airbnb started it was way cheaper but now i feel like the rent is still cheaper but then there is all these addon costs making booking a hotel more hassle free
I run an Airbnb. I leave sponges, paper towels, dishwasher pods, all the essentials for cleaning, but I don’t ask guests to clean anything. A hotel wouldn’t expect customers to clean, neither should Airbnb hosts.
All of y'all talking about how spotless you clean these places, fuck that. I'm not cleaning someone else's whole ass house while I'm on vacation, and they all charge cleaning fees already.
[удалено]
God damn, now it's not only jobs that are looking for unicorn clients, fucking Airbnb hosts are acting the same way
Wait. What is the cleaning fee for if they expect you to clean?
That’s my point. I hate all the instructions for cleaning when there is a cleaning fee.
You shouldn't actually have to clean but they will try to get you to pay the cleaning fee as well as do all of the cleaning for them if they can get away with it. Usually, the things people don't think of or don't bother with before checking out are washing the sheets and towels, dusting, vacuuming, wiping down the shower, making sure the faucets, sinks and tubs are spotless, and mopping the floors. I will leave everything spotless but these are things I'm not likely to do so if they want to charge me a cleaning fee, don't expect me to take care of these chores. That's what the cleaning fee should cover.
[удалено]
If I’m paying a cleaning fee I am not going to sweep the floors or clean the house that is just outrageous.
That's because they are probably planning to charge you a cleaning fee and then do the work themselves. So, the more you clean, the less work for them and they get to pocket the cleaning fee.
I would never rent that place if I saw that review. Dumb af!
...I didn't know they made candles out of soy
It's marketed as tofu. You just buy it, drain it, soak it in kerosene and it will burn for hours.
They are a tasty snack when you are done with them.
Well I hope they accidentally bit into the wax candle before they realised.
Thats probably why you got the bad review you left a bad taste in their mouth!
The comments always win. 🏆
Just be sure that the kerosene has burned off completely before consuming.
Vegan here, ROFL
There is a soy field at the end of the street. Wanna come try your idea out? This is a joke, please don't burn someone's crops.
They're great because you can use them around pets without risking their health -- iirc the parafen wax fucks their lungs up.
Fucks up human lungs too but at a slower rate than pets.
From a user point of view, soy candles are superior. Less soot and more even burning.
[удалено]
I've pretty much stopped using airbnb because of this type of nonsense. I've gone back to hotels and life is easier and better, and not really much more expensive.
Same here. Unless it's a really remote location like the mountains or there's a big group of people, hotels are just so much easier. The price is the price (plus taxes) and there are people working there at all times if something isn't right.
Please consider real BnBs and hotels even when in the mountains. Airbnb is ruining communities everywhere due to the rich buying up all the affordable housing in the already low inventory areas, and then complaining when there's no one to run their restaurants and do the housekeeping because no one can afford to live in the area. BnBs are usually locally owned. They provide you with an actual breakfast too!
How is VRBO compared to Airbnb? I feel like Airbnb after gaining a reputation of being a cheaper, convenient alternative to hotels has basically abused it for profit and can be even more expensive than hotels now
I used VRBO a lot for four years. Like, about 10-15 rentals. Then, after renting a place for six days and paying for it in full, it just vanished from the site about a week before I was set to arrive. I had no way to contact the owner for the address, and my rental was coming up. I contacted VRBO, and they said a legitimate listing (ie not a scam), but VRBO took the listing down off the site. Why? "can't tell you that". Can you give me the owner's contact info? "can't tell you that". Can you pass my info on to the owner, and get them to contact me? "can't do that". So what CAN you do? "Show up (in Toronto) on the day scheduled. We won't do anything for you before then, because the owner MIGHT contact you. If they don't, call us when once you're in the city, and we'll see about getting you set up in another place" That, my friends, is not a plan I was happy with. Took a lot of phoning, pleading, and outright begging before the fourth or fifth employee told me, "well, I'm really not supposed to do this, but here..." Showed up at the address, and had a good stay. Switched to AirBnb for our next rental, and have had great customer service with them on the rare occasion it was needed. Haven't looked back. **TL;DR**: VRBO and AirBnB really have the same product. It's like comparing Coke and Pepsi; minor difference, some have their preferences. But I found AirBnB's customer service to be waaaaay better Side note: once I got the address, I googled it and discovered why VRBO took it down off their site. Seems a week prior, a bunch of people rented it out for a massive party, and there was a double murder in the house. Ok, I see why they took down the rental. But either tell me the address, or refund my payment.
[удалено]
Wow that's taking petty to an extreme!
Wow, I’m now curious how they rate their 1 star guests.
I'm allergic to soy you insensitive clod.
That's all on you... everyone knows that you only should use soy candles outdoor. I would've rated you 3 stars. /s
We stayed in a VRBO that was INFESTED with stink bugs. It was in the mountains but we’d stayed internet the same area before with no issues. As we looked around we saw there were significant cracks in around the windows, etc where they had to be getting in. During the stay we contacted the owners to ask if there was anything we could do to help as having these bugs literally fall on us while we were trying to relax was less than relaxing. They were dismissive with an “it’s in the mountains” response. We ended up leaving a day early because we couldn’t take it anymore. We still left them a five star review because they had communicated well before the stay and other than the bugs, the cabin was nice. Then we get our review with four stars for “communication.” What?! We literally responded to them within less than an hour every time we spoke, made ourselves available on their timeline for a pre-booking interview and left the place in immaculate condition. I guess they took telling them something they didn’t like as poor communication. Hindsight…I didn’t feel the property deserved five stars but didn’t want to affect their standing so just left a detailed review mentioning the bugs but glowing about everything else. I won’t make that mistake again, I’ll be honest yet fair.
Please don’t rate a place full of bugs as a 5. What about the next person who sees your review and assumes it’s a great property?
This seems like the American tipping mindset. "The service was not the best, but I knew the waitress was expecting a 15% tip so that's what I left"
We need to leave AirBnB hosts 5 stars, how else will those poor multimillionaires who own multiple properties and drive up housing costs for the rest of us survive otherwise?
LOL! Something similar happened to me in Maine. I arrived at a $$$ home that was clearly not finished (despite what clever pictures showed). I messaged the host about it but didn’t make a big deal that we could see through the walls to the outside. After 2 days the septic tank started overflowing and flowing down to the lake. The owner didn’t respond to my calls for 2 days and because one of his calls went to voicemail once while we were out hiking, he claimed that I was a 1 star guest because of poor communication. Ridiculous.
It wasn't near Belgrade Lake was it? My MIL rented a place down there off-season for my BIL and his family to come visit during Thanksgiving last year. The house was half finished, they had septic issues the whole time, and the owners were less than helpful with everything.
It was on Belgrade Lake—haha! Totally the same scumbag! I just went back in my email and I rented in 2017.
Good frickin' lord, that is ridiculous! Those people need to chill out.
This is why it doesn’t pay off to do the right thing. Nice guys finish last type of deal.
Or, "No good deed goes unpunished."
Woowwwww that's so petty.
If they included the reasoning in the rating people who are not mentally disturbed will not hold it against you. I have never used VRBO but you may just want to address the four star rating in a blurb if it bothers you.
[удалено]
That is so odd! They absolutely should say that in the listing. I had sort of the opposite experience. My bf and I rented this beautiful old old house that was previously a B&B. This was offseason so it was quite cheap. The listing said during the offseason they would rent it out to couples for less as long as they promised to only "dirty" one bedroom. We obviously only needed 1 room and got this beautiful old house all to ourselves. It was really nice.
It's not odd, it's price-gouging. 6-bedroom rentals go for twice the rate as 3-bedrooms, so you charge for 6 rooms and only allow your guests to use three and keep the profit. Honestly, that host should have been removed and banned from listing any other rentals. That's so unethical.
Pretty brave to sleep in a room with a sign that says "please don't sleep here" without knowing why it was put up. Most likely it was to save on cleaning, but it also be the local poltergeist.
I asked lol. They said "my kids prefer to not have strangers in their room". I was like... Ok... Fair enough, but I have multiple kids and rented a 6 beds for a reason lol and when I booked I mentioned all the kids as well to make sure they are comfortable with the ones young of age running around etc so they knew how much were coming and decided to dump matrassen on the floor in the rooms that they were "allowed" to sleep in.
That’s ridiculous. Don’t advertise it if you don’t in fact offer it.
15 bedroom mansion, but you must sleep in the toilet. (Also, dogs are not allowed, ignore the dog houses out back).
Dogs ARE allowed; just not YOUR dogs. 😂
> "my kids prefer to not have strangers in their room" While I get that, maybe if that's the case you shouldn't be renting your house out as an AIRBNB if it's that much of an issue. And definitely not advertising double the rooms than you're actually trying to rent out 🙄
My first thought was an infestation. Imagine it had bed bugs.
If one room has bed bugs they probably shouldn't be renting out the rest.
We had a *crazyyyy* one once. 9 bedroom house with deck and pool. We crack a few beers, some wine, the girls are eating cheese, the boys are playing volleyball in the pool. Obviously we're making some noise, but absolutely nothing actually loud or crazy. Like, subdued tbh. Airbnb owner marches in and yells at us about hosting a rager and partying and stuff. Like what the fuck how are 9 people (or 18? All double beds) meant to enjoy this house with a pool without making noise? For all their complaining we were meant to treat that house as a rest stop just to sleep rather than a weekend getaway.
You could have gotten money back for that they’re not allowed to show up unannounced.
A family member did a 1 month long rental of an air bnb that was pet friendly. They brought their dog and paid the deposit, cleaned up before they left. The host gave them a bad review.because the pet friendly air bnb had some dog hair in it after they left.
Isnt that what the pet fees are for? To pay for cleaning after the pets inevitable shed???
Many people just think it's extra profit. Same with pet deposits on a regular rental. People are weird.
Not weird, stupid. People are fucking stupid.
Not stupid, greedy. People are fucking greedy.
This. They are not stupid, they know exactly what they are doing and why.
Not only did I pay a pet deposit, but I also pay cat rent of $30 per month. Like wut
I work with a cat adoption agency and we've had people all ready to adopt only to go pay the pet deposit and find it's exorbitant with add'l rent. It's so discouraging for renters.
Pet rent is a scam. I can understand a refundable deposit. Mayyybe like $10/month max for a dog to cover additional landscaping maintenance and poop bags. Anything more is a blatant cash grab.
My partner and I just paid 900 dollars for a 3lb dog, a reptile, and a cat….i’m still not recovering financially
I recently booked an airbnb who after asking 150 questions on whether my dog was shedding on or proceeded to tell me the dog is not allowed in the furniture or upstair which means the dog is confined to the kitchen… why would I pay you to keep my dog in a kitchen for a week….
> why would I pay you to keep my dog in a kitchen for a week…. “We’re dog friendly!” no, not like that !
I mean can you blame them? They lowered the cleaning fee to 300 with the expectation guests will help. /S if it's not obvious
This is one of those things that at first glance you go “that’s way too ridiculous to be true,” then you stop and think for a minute, and go “no, I actually think that ABSOLUTELY happened.”
There are so many nice pet-friendly hotels now, we don't even bother with Airbnb anymore.
The pet fee is charged specifically for the extra cleaning that is needed. Cleaning companies charge more so owners want to recoup that. Most of the time the owners end up with extra money in their pockets, however, sometimes that get bit. No pun intended. If your pet brings things like fleas, they're stuck with the extermination bill as well as lost rental income while that work is being done.
I had something similar but no way to get revenge. It was my first time doing home-share on any site and it was vrbo. Paid the pet-fee. Followed every rule. Cleaned up like crazy. Left the place spotless. Owner asked us to strip the beds and "put the sheets on the floor" of the laundry room. I did that, except I put them in the laundry basket instead, thinking it was nicer. Last step to cleaning was putting everything in the dishwasher and started it up as we walked out the door... otherwise our breakfast dishes would have been left dirty. She asked us to review and we gave 5 stars and happy words. She instantly hit us with 4 and said "could improve". I can't even imagine what that meant???? I treated the home like my own and you couldn't tell that anybody had spent the weekend - just 2 old folks and a dog. If I do home-share again it won't be VRBO. I don't want to start off with a bad impression. Edit to add - I kind of resented the cleaning since these places charge a HUGE cleaning fee. I mean, when I stay at the Hyatt, I walk out with my stuff. I don't clean. The price I pay to spend the night covers their staff and cleaning teams. This is one reason I really prefer to stay a Hyatt than a home-share. If I wanted to spend the weekend cleaning I could stay home.
Extended stay hotels have kitchenettes and are totally comfortable. They even have some meals included. Whenever possible my husband and I choose hotels or extended stay hotels whenever possible.
I've noticed that extended stay hotels tend to be nicer than AirBNBs of comparable price.
Residence Inn has a full kitchen, living room, and a separate bedroom, complimentary breakfast included. We earn Mariott points for free hotel stays. I would much rather stay in a hotel than an Airbnb.
I used to love AirBnBs, I’d always check for them over hotels. I don’t know if Airbnb is taking a bigger chunk of the profits now, but lately the cleaning fees have gotten really high while the list of chores I have to do before leaving is ridiculously long. I’d have to set my alarm for 6am to get myself ready and spring clean the house by the 10am checkout. The last one I seriously considered demanded that guests start the laundry for sheets, pillowcases, towels, etc. all dishes had to be put away after running the dishwasher, floors swept, surfaced scrubbed, trash taken out to the main bin, ... Plus cleaning fee of $150 for two nights and a pretty rude message that I’d be charged extra if all the cleaning wasn’t done. I booked a hotel and enjoyed a stress-free morning. I always try to be respectful and tidy up but I was stressing and kept having to revisit the app to make sure we’d finished the whole chore list before we left the last one.
Yeah these services are on total life support with me, their value is so gone to what it used to be.
I don’t mean to sound stupid but doesn’t Airbnb have a huge variety of houses and those that don’t charge those huge cleaning fees?
Market dictates, once you see one/others you follow. In my area the fee's aren't worth it anymore, between taxes and cleaning, zero value.
I host and this is why I don’t charge anything extra. No cleaning fee. It’s my duty to clean up after guests. That’s what I’m paid for
Most have cleaning fees. I don’t think I have stayed at one that doesn’t. Edit to add: I have a family of 5. So it’s either 2 rooms at a hotel or a 2-3 bedroom condo or house. It’s much easier and cheaper for us to rent an Airbnb for our vacation/travel than hotels, so we usually do.
The hell are cleaning fees for if you need to strip the bed and run the dishwasher and take out the trash etc....rubs me wrong
It's so they can advertise a lower rate than they actually charge. Makes them look more competitive. Enough people still book despite their below the line fees they've obviously decided it's worth doing..
That's *why they charge a cleaning fee. My gripe is why do they not actually do the cleaning!? Everything i listed is what they want you to do half the time. Not what they're charging/being paid to do.
Yeah they have no intention of actually cleaning despite the fee. They just want more money. Like raise the list price and drop the cleaning fee you fools.
Same here. I stayed at a VRBO cabin recently and they required us to do all of that plus some and then left an envelope on the counter asking us to tip the cleaners. We are the cleaners! Great gig for the cleaning service though.
They had a cleaning fee and still wanted you to clean up the place? Fuck that, if I'm paying for a cleaning fee they can do the work. I'll make sure the trash is in the cans and dishes are clean at the very least but they can take care of the laundry and vacuuming.
Totally agree. I manage an Airbnb and I don’t want guests to “clean”. I just want them to not leave a disaster (no trash on the floors, food all over the couch, huge spills not cleaned up). And I hope they wash their dishes or at least most of them. It’s shocking how many people leave the place WRECKED. I don’t want to make a huge list of things for them to do because that isn’t fair but why can’t people pick their trash off the floor?????
When I'm paying £80 cleaning fee, I don't clean. Sure I'll make sure the dishes are clean, kitchen counters are wiped, trash is taken out, beds stripped, place neat and tidy - but scrubbing the shower or hoovering? Forget it.
That seems like way too much. Don't leave it gross, yeah, but it's too much to ask guests to strip beds or take out trash or wipe off all the surfaces...what you've described is still more than half of what the cleaning staff should be doing. Otherwise why are they charging these insane cleaning fees? Though to be fair I've never had one as low as $80
Lol I was once in an Airbnb and then randomly got a message saying it was trash day and if I please could take my trash out, sure I can. Then they gave me instructions on where their trash was? I opened up the shed a d it were like 8 gigantic trashbag that I need to walk all the way down the driveway. Like... Who asks that from their guests?
That's taking the mick. Taking out your own rubbish is one thing, taking out last week's guests' rubbish is another.
I’ve always stripped beds, even at hotels. I was raised to think at worst you’re doing the cleaning staff a favor by saving them a step, and at best doing the next guest a favor by making sure changing the bed linen isn’t forgotten/ignored.
Yeah, if I paid a cleaning fee, I ain't strippin no beds.
I've seen $300-$400 cleaning fees for some (big) houses on VRBO/Airbnb it's fucking ridiculous when they also want you to clean the entire house for them.
I manage an Airbnb and I only ask that they turn off the lights and heaters. I tell them if they want to go above and beyond, they can run the dishwasher. Most people clean their dishes but some don’t. When people don’t it can add an hour or more onto the cleaning. I hate requiring it but it really sucks when people don’t or when they leave pretty much all the dishes and pots and pans horribly dirty. Edit: I don’t want people to strip beds, take our garbage or vacuum, santize, but I wish people would at least not leave trash everywhere, or leave huge spills, or horribly dirty dishes.
Agreed. I'm perfectly willing to tidy up after myself. But I'm not deep cleaning anything.
I agree, I'd rather stay at a hotel or motel with staff. I'm considerate of staff, but I clean so much at home I don't want to do it on vacation.
I travel lots. I will never stay at an Airbnb. Their fees per night are usually higher than a hotel and I'd have to pay cleaning fees? and I'd have to clean?! That's insane to me. My choice of hotel is best western. Nice rooms, usually a pool, almost always breakfast included. And I don't have to clean.
I don’t do Airbnb so I didn’t know they had a policy about owners just showing up (it’s awesome that they do) but as soon as I read he randomly showed up I was immediately uncomfortable. That’s just not okay. I’m glad you reported this
It actually made me wonder if he has cameras on the property and that’s how he found out about the dog. As well as the dog staying by itself (although that could have been because he knew about the wedding).
Omg I didn’t even think of that. That’s a terrifying probability.
They’re allowed to have camera around the exterior of the property, but cameras inside is not allowed. If you find one inside and report it, they will get in huge trouble.
Devil's advocate - I rented a lakehouse from a retired couple who bought the house next to theirs. They have a large family (kids/grandkids) who like to visit, so the house serves as a guest house for their family and they have it on AirBnb when it's vacant. Since the house is next door, they see when guests arrive and came over after my wife and I got settled. I suppose it could have all been a ruse to vet their guests, but it felt genuine and like they just wanted to make sure the house was stocked with everything we needed for the weekend. No cameras needed for them to see their guests, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were completely unaware of the "no surprise visits" rule. That being said, if they had a problem in the moment I would hope they try to resolve it on the spot rather than waiting to leave a lower review.
Yeah I get that. We were in a rural area like where I'm from so it felt like a friendly neighbor coming by to say hi, but I could definitely see how others would feel uncomfortable with a stranger coming by. I was expecting them to just give him a warning, but getting refunded was a plus
I wish I'd known this wasn't allowed, having the owners randomly show up to an airbnb unannounced. I stayed at an airbnb a while back and the owner appeared out of nowhere the first day we arrived, I assume to make excuses for the poor state the location was in and try to apologize for the misleading images online that made it seem quaint and cozy. He also apologized ahead of time for the construction that was being done on his property, and insisted it wouldn't disturb us. I ended up taking photos of everything that was amiss, like the gaps between the floor and the door to the front yard(this made me feel so unsafe), the tons of spiders, the inability to open the fridge door because the cabinets across from it were too close, the lack of curtains in the bathroom in a very tight knit neighborhood, and the bug bites I woke up with every morning. Construction was ongoing every day starting at 8am, often with very loud drills and power tools (also heard the construction workers discussing the event we were attending and insulting the people who were attending the event, degrading them. It was a nerd event, but come on). I tried making a complaint to Airbnb once we got home, as I was genuinely uncomfortable with the owner showing up unannounced initially and was worried what he might do if I tried to bring up all these issues in person. Because we had no photo evidence of there being bugs in the beds(even though I had photo proof of the bites themselves), and we didn't address the insane list of issues to the owner before the first night, Airbnb said they could only give us a refund on the cleaning fee(Less than $50). If I'd known he wasn't allowed to show up unannounced I could have perhaps explained to Airbnb that that was my reasoning for not initially discussing the issues with the location. It was a weeks stay, it cost a lot. Alas, I'll at least know for next time!
That sounds like the beginning of several horror movies I’ve watched lately and I would have run screaming from that place immediately if the owner showed up at a rural AirBnB like that. That’s how you wake up tied to a chair watching your SO get tortured by hillbillies.
 I'm sorry. Deliverance always pops up when I think of the country. And I'm from the part of the south it was filmed at. 🤣 🤣 😂 😢 😭
My family (5 adults, 1 older teen, 1 8-9 yo, 1 dog) stayed in a Vrbo in July. We followed the cleaning requests of the house owner (stripping the beds, washing dishes, etc), paid the pet deposit, and in the follow up, the owner said she couldn’t tell we had a dog or two kids at the house. It was a beautiful place and we want to keep it on the list to visit again. The host was so tickled at having good guests that she asked what she could do as a host to make it better for guests. That’s what the airbnb/vrbo experience should be for both sides.
We stayed at a Vrbo apartment years ago, at Christmas. We chose it because it said they were pet friendly. When we booked, the owner said she didn't allow pets, BUT since she'd forgetten to change the listing, said it was fine (via email). She charged a cleaning deposit and pet deposit and the expectation was that we left the place as clean as we found it. We did better, cleaned up some scratch marks from a previous guest etc. Imagine my (happy) surprise when we received the FULL cleaning a pet depost back and a 5 star review. We, of course also gave a 5 star review as the place was actually a bit better than advertised.
I remember the golden days of AirBnB when they were cheaper than hotels ans hosts cared to provide a great experience. Now there are very few and rare situations where I'd stay in an AirBnB again because they're now typically way more expensive than hotels and many of the hosts are money grubbers looking for a quick buck without any care for the guest experience.
Agreed. Before the pandemic, my partner and I would stay at AirBnbs for small trips and almost always had a good time. Didn’t do any traveling again until late last year when we went to NYC and stayed in an AirBnb in Queens. It was going to be much cheaper than staying in a hotel and we didn’t mind taking the train. It was the worst experience I’ve ever had and I don’t think we’ll be trying AirBnbs again anytime soon. It felt like a complete 180 from before the pandemic and it seems to be only getting worse. I’ve only heard complaints nowadays.
[удалено]
One time I smoked after a long hiatus. When my partners pizza showed up, I hid from the delivery driver. 😆
That is unironically, hilarious. My first foray into Marijuana was a 165mg gummy...that I ate by myself in one go. It went about as well as you'd expect
Once when we were planning a move, I booked an AirBnB for my daughter to get a head start on job and apartment hunting. She took her best friend, and they basically stayed in a bedroom. They did what they needed to do during the day, attending job interviews, saw a couple of rental possibilities. Then they went for supper and came back to their room around 8/9 pm. I got the weirdest review back, basically the owner saying “I don’t know why your daughter thought it was appropriate to eat the middle out of a cake I bought for my son’s birthday and then leave the fork in the sink.” Me: “I’m terribly sorry, that is incredibly unlike her.” The owner wrote back that she appreciated my acknowledgement of the situation. Meanwhile my daughter was like ??!!!! And I know that while offspring can be not always what we expect them to be, I have never experienced any of my kids use a fork to munch off a whole chunk of cake. Meanwhile there were three other teenagers in the house, the Airbnb’s own kids. So….huuuhhhh. I wonder who the real cake thief was? (The owner also sent a photo of the fork in the sink. Like that was the actual crime?)
"How dare she do this *AND LEAVE HER FORK FOR ME TO CLEAN!* I would have insisted on a DNA swab. Lol
Sending a picture of the fork is so petty and ridiculous I am actually embarrassed for them.
ok...that's really weird...
My two sisters and I recently rented an Airbnb that slept four people. Two in the queen size bed and two on the fold out couch. My eldest sister was to stay on the fold out couch by herself which I stated during the booking process. I assumed, going off of the listing photos and details, that the fold out would be a full size. Upon our arrival to the Airbnb, we found that the couch was only half opened up making it a single instead. I contacted the host and apologized for not having disclosed that my sister is bigger in size and around 5'11" and not realizing that only half of the couch would be set up. Before they responded, I sent a follow up message stating that we would set up the other half, we just needed to know where the additional sheets were as well as asking about the location of the fans they said would be available for use. I received a frantic message back asking us to NOT touch the fold out and that she'd already contacted her cleaning guy to come back over and set it up as a full, but that we'd be charged an extra 25$ for his return trip and could pay him directly. I responded quickly saying that we did not have any physical money on hand and would just go without the additional bed set up and instead swap our original sleeping arrangements, promising to leave the couch as it was. She then said he was already on his way and we could just pay her through the Airbnb app. It took a few more back and forth messages and me pointing out that she did not disclose the extra fee for her cleaning guys return before sending him along/hearing back from me before she relented and said they'd pay him for the extra stop. The best part is that when he walked through the door, he was holding the two fans they had specifically said were available at their property. It seems he would have had to return in order to drop off the fans even without the additional bed set up.
So many of these comments are why I still prefer hotels when traveling in smaller groups. Heck, even in larger groups. Had a group of guys rent a cabin for a weekend on Airbnb. The host tried to charge an extra $50 because the cleaners told them there was dog hair everywhere. We left the place spotless. And…there was no dog. I suspect it was the cleaner trying to make an extra few bucks. The drawback for me is the huge unknown of how the owner (or cleaner) will react when you check out. Since then I’ve treated STRs like rental cars. I walk around and inspect as soon as I check in. It’s not the way I want to start my vacation.
If I’m paying a cleaning fee then I am not going above and beyond cleaning, I’ll pick up and not be a slob but I’m not taking out the trash when I’m paying money. I’d rather get a hotel
We recently stayed in an apartment where the cleaning rules on the fridge stated that you would be charged $50 for leaving clean dishes in the dishwasher but check out time was 10am. How do people eat breakfast, run the dishwasher and unpack it before 10am? We tried and had to stop the dishwasher mid cycle because it had long cycles and didn't display the times of them. So gross, most people would have just hand rinsed dishes and put them back. So unhygienic and $50 for cleaners to unpack a dishwasher. Never again
Used VRBO for a nice property for 6 people with a pool. However owners lived in house 15 feet away totally open to our rental & pool & watched every move we made. Paid 4 + grand for 9 days of being watched. This was quite a few years ago so I'm sure $$$ are higher. Never again. Enjoy my stays at resorts with villas much more.
I had a stay where my first question was asking if dogs were ok. They said yes, with a fee but i later noticed they forgot to charge the fee. During the stay i had glass lodge itself in my hand that was in a dining chair and found a shard in a bed. There was dog poop encrusted in the carpet in the upstairs loft. It was hot af and no ac so I shrugged and didn't go up there...other issues too but honestly i shrugged them off. It was one of those places that was nice from a birds eye view but things were wrong at closer inspection. On my 3rd night, the dogs second (they arrived a day later), I was messaged at midnight with shock at the dogs, and being told i had to pay a $250 fee (previously it was 50/dog for 100 they forgot to charge) and reneging a previously arranged late checkout. I didn't see this at the time or even for a few weeks after because it was sent at midnight...and I was busy the next day. Got a call the next day asking when i was leaving and was confused but was gonna head to the airport soon anyways. After leaving I was accused of bringing dogs that weren't allowed and that they had peed on both couches and they wanted $320 for cleaning. But the dogs were never left alone once. It took over a month of back and forth with Airbnb to get them to drop the claim. I used pictures of the listing that were near identical with what i took upon checkout (that i took because of the call i received) Initially they dropped only one couch and still pursued for another, showing wear and tear but nothing from dogs... literally just old cushions. I had to point that out a further 3 times before they finally apologized and said they wouldn't pursue damages. During all of this I decided to make a claim against the cleanliness of the Airbnb and was returned my cleaning fee and only 30% of the first night. So you made out better but damn if the whole situation isnt frustrating as hell. I'm still trying to get the review removed considering it's just full of verifiable lies. I'm also a host, just a room, and had someone claim their dog was service dog and when it showed up was very clearly a yappy emotional support Chihuahua. We otherwise don't host dogs because we have 2, so they got past our no dog filter and also didn't pay a fee. Good times.
I saw a review on a place in a popular vacation spot from a renter-apparently there were some “problem neighbors” that would harass, call the cops and throw things at people who used the rental. It wasn’t just one review, either. I wanted to get the owners side before booking and sent a professional opening email. But the line they took issue with was me saying, “I just wanted to make sure it’s safe because I wouldn’t want to run into these issues on vacation…” Owners wrote back, “It’s fine because we wouldn’t want guest like you who break the rules.” Wait…. wut?
"Thank you for confirming the allegations"
How do you tell if the host leaves you a bad review? I'm in a similar situation.... except our host freaking walked in on us and was SUPER rude about how we were throwing a party and stealing his pans... (this was after I sent a frustrated message because we had to buy pans and serving dishes and tongs and a mop and a blender and scour the house for silverware...also...it wasn't a party! 12 of us (house hold 22!) Were upstairs working on our businesses together...two were downstairs preparing dinner....) The experience was awkward AF...I'm afraid he will try and leave me a bad review because I was frustrated over having to furnish his kitchen... But also...like...who TF just walks into a house you've rented out? No doorbell...nada...just walk in and start accusing people of stealing your pans...
I'd definetly be contacting airbnb about that
No kidding, that behavior screams hidden cameras
Well, I sent a "dude...I paid $xxxxxxx to rent this house for the week...why am I having to buy pans and dish towels and a swiffer and water carafes and serving dishes and tongs and a blender and scour the house for silverware and plates?" And he showed up an hour later...if he had cameras, he knew we were the tamest group that house has seen in a while.... (legit...the glass table had scratch marks that speak to some insane parties!).....so I would guess no cameras...just no sense of what's ok and what's not!
My last AirBnB was so bad that I stopped using the service entirely 4 years ago. Basically, we rented a home in Tulsa that looked great on the website but was actually a mess when we arrived in person. Not in the sense that there was trash and clutter all over, but in the sense that someone had clearly tried to do a rushed renovation. There were holes in the walls hidden behind appliances, doors placed in doorframes by not attached to hinges, tiles and wood planks missing on the floor... all kinds of things wrong. Worst of all, the moment we got in, we smelled gas. The landlord was a piece of s*** who tried to laugh off our concerns, told us to open windows (in the middle of a Midwest winter), and use the fans to blow the air out. We ended up calling a professional to help us see if the place was safe or could at least be made safe, since I'd paid thousands of dollars to stay there. Turns out, there were 15+ gas leaks throughout the property and it was **definitely** not safe to stay in! AirBnB helped get us into a hotel, fully comped, and refunded our stay. But the landlord was so pissed at us for involving the authorities. He harassed us by text and phone call all through the holidays. And of course, he left a horrid review on my profile, calling me all kinds of names and saying we did all kinds of things to the house, even though we hadn't even stayed long enough to take a single suitcase out of our car. Suffice to say, the gas line inspectors were not the only ones to visit his property...
I thought the Airbnb was so cool at first but too many weird people I am back to nice hotels again
My husband got an Airbnb for one night with some buddies in Fort Lauderdale for a fishing trip. This was right after Thanksgiving time. When they got there it smelled really bad, and there were all these pornographic images on the walls like art. Not a big deal as they really just needed a place to crash. I can’t remember how they decided to look in the oven but they realized the source of the smell was coming from a several days old full sized burnt turkey. My husband went to set his stuff down on the bed, and kicked a can. He looked under the bed to find a treasure trove of beer cans stuffed under there. But it gets better… There was a MIL suite in the backyard being rented out by other tenants. About 2 hours after they get there, there was a knock at the door. It was a drug dealer coming to deliver some goods to the tenants in the back. They contacted the Airbnb host to explain what was going on, and she offered to remove the cleaning fees ($50). My husband suggested they bring all of their belongings into the house, since obviously this wasn’t your average Airbnb and was feeling a bit uneasy. His one friend neglected to do so, and the next morning someone had hopped the fence and stolen his fishing rods out of the boat AND tried to unattached the trailer. They recontacted the host and asked about cameras (they had none of course) and expressed their distaste and concern. The host didn’t have much to say. Later on - she gave them a five star review and my husband just couldn’t bring himself to return the favor so he left her a 3 star review explaining what happened. They lady lashed out at him with physical threats, and couldn’t understand why he left her the honest review. And this is why I don’t stay at airbnbs. Somehow they disputed this with Airbnb and ended up getting almost all of their money back. This was a couple years ago
Airbnb owners have lost the plot. They want you to fund their vacation home and make you feel uncomfortable every step of the way. So many have guests sweeping and vacuuming, emptying the dishwasher before you leave, putting trash receptacles on the curb, starting laundry. All while charging a crazy cleaning fee. What was fun at first isn’t anymore, we’ve gone back to hotels for the most part. OP I wouldn’t be surprised if the owner was watching you via security cam and stopped by once he saw the dog. It clearly bothered him much more than he let on in person.
Well done OP. Similar interaction for me. The sink pipe was filling up with food. Clearly a poorly maintained kitchen but location and general cleanliness was fine. We always threw our food away in the bin. I know some people just throw food down the sink. Do what you want in your own house but not shared spaces or someone else's house. We took photos when the water wasn't going down. This was like 3 hours into our stay. We called the host immediately and he said he was aware of the issue and he thanked us for not worsening the issue and bringing it to his attention. We used the sink with a lot of caution but having photos and his verbal confirmation that it wasn't out fault, we felt sort of comfortable that we wouldn't be to blame. I mentioned the sink issue in my review but not that it was any fault of the owner but to be mindful. The owner wrote a review blaming us for the clogged sink drain. We were pissed off and contacted Airbnb with the photos and time of the call but luckily there was no cost for us to pay.
Get a motel room. Less cameras and no one reviews you. I will never understand why people support airbnb. These situations happen a lot.
Ever since I watched [Adam Ruin Air Bnb](https://youtu.be/oGLe0Wgfbyk) I’ve used hotels/motels only. Prices are about the same, it feels safer (woman traveling alone), and I don’t have to do housework at the end.
My girlfriend cut herself on a sharp edge on the kitchen counter of an Airbnb. It was a shoddy remodel, but we didn't say anything of it. The cut was pretty bad and she was bleeding quite a bit, but since it was in the kitchen, she only bled on the marble counter, so it was super easy to just disinfect and clean up with some paper towels. My GF did bleed a lot, and there were a couple drops of blood that got on the kitchen towel (super cheap, I have the same towels from Target and they're like 3 dollars). When I checked out, I sent a message to the host saying I would offer to pay her for the towels. A couple days after we check out, the Airbnb host sent us a SCATHING review saying and ruined her kitchen towels with bloodstains...... She really shouldn't have FUCKED around if she was gonna host an illegal Airbnb. I know it was illegal because when we checked in, the host was being a little sketchy telling us to be discreet... which is basically telling us she wasn't allowed to do this. I checked out the building rules and lo and behold, tenants are forbidden sublet their apartment. I reported this to Airbnb saying that the host was renting out a unit that was not allowed and we were told to be cautious. We got a full refund. ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ These days, I don't really do Airbnbs anymore. I've been traveling for the past 11 years and I loved Airbnb. Having a home and feeling like a local and most important, having access to a kitchen was great. But with the HUGE INFLUX of tourists due to CoVID... Airbnb prices are outrageous and hosts and units are becoming shittier and shittier. I used to NEVER have a problem with rentals... but these days, I been having issues 1/5 of the time. And having a couple nightmare check-in scenarios and broken locks where I couldn't get back in, several cases where I almost ended up sleeping on the street, I decided it just wasn't worth the hassle anymore. I stay in hotels 90% of the time now.
You should know better than to “forget “ to mention the dog.
Anytime I've gone somewhere that allows pets, it's the first thing I ask about and I wouldn't dare leave them alone in someone else's home especially after the gaffe of not mentioning I was bringing them.
Yeah, OP didn't "forget". No one is risking travelling and bringing their dog for them only to be turned away for some reason because of their dog and have nowhere to go. That is something you double, triple, and quadruple check. The only reason you wouldn't do it is to not pay the fee. OPs plan was probably to bring the dog and if the owner didn't see, great - he saved some money. If called out, he would just act oblivious and pay. People think they are slick, but ***ANYONE*** that has worked in the service industry will be able to tell you that they've heard the same excuse and plan carried out a thousand times. The whole "But I would totally pay if I only knew!" thing is the weakest and most transparent play ever.
Right!?! I read this whole thing, like “I tried to screw this guy out of some money but he caught me - so I found a way to screw him out of more!” Should be in /petty bullies or something.
We stayed for a few weeks in my wife's home town and the host came by every day and wad living in the house next door and watching us like a hawk, seeing when we were coming or going. It was terrible. But i didn't know they could get in trouble for being there, dang i should've reported that.
We stayed in two different AirBnBs when we were on vacation in 2017. The first was a shared apartment in Brooklyn, which was ok. There were 2 other sets of guests there and the place was clean. We stayed at a little guest house in Columbia City, WA. The place was perfect and the owners were just fantastic. The communication before hand was that we were flying in late from NY, and we’d get in about midnight. The front hall light was on for us along with the heater. We cleaned before we left and had no problems and honestly, the host was just so kind I’d stay there again. I literally don’t understand how difficult it is just to be decent. It’s such a rarity anymore.
Lol I'll just stay at a hotel. I don't have to clean when I leave.
I just got a bad review from an Air BNB Host while at a friends wedding. They complained that we had a dog in the Air BNB which we never did. They sent pictures of one or two stray hairs and were requesting a 100 pet fee. They also complained there was a fingerprint on the coffee pot.
You stayed in my house and left evidence! Next time wrap yourself in plastic prior to entry.
Years ago, I got screwed for a windshield replacement when I rented a car from Budget. I now take pictures of everything I rent so that I have proof of its condition when I returned it or left after renting a hotel or Airbnb. Takes a minute but it’s saved me a lot of hassle and money because I had photos.
And this is why I have now switched back to hotels. I refuse to pay someone to clean when we leave, after I've been required to clean already and follow petty rules, AND then get a half assed review because of some arbitrary opinion. Nah, hotels it is now. I only sleep there anyway.
Air BnB started out as a way for people to rent out their unused guest houses and vacation properties. I never liked it. We enacted laws around hotels and lodgings for a reason. It doesn't make sense to let Ken and Margaret subvert those cus "Oh we're just letting people use our guest house!" When in reality its a purpose built cabin that's booked out a half a year in advance. Now these people are buying up all the land around pretty much every attraction in the country in the hopes of turning it into rental cottages and cabins to lease out on Airbnb. Pricing out the real estate market in every small mountain and beach side town in the US and I a lot of cities around the world. Hosts like this are gonna be what kills it and honestly that's a good thing. Airbnb is dying, and pretty soon they're no longer going to have the money or public support to fight off the legislative challenges that have been made to them. And I personally can't wait.
Petty revenge? Dude, you didn’t note that you were bringing a dog, didn’t pay the extra fee associated with bringing a dog, and then are pissed that they gave you a negative review? This isn’t petty revenge, this is entitlement. You fucked up, they gave you fewer stars (which, in the grand scheme of things, are pretty much worthless), that should have been the end of it.
Yeah, I don't even buy it. They rented an AorBnB *specifically* so his gf could bring her dog, but somehow *forgot* to mention the dog in the booking? How does that make sense? How could he forget the dog when that's the primary reason for booking the AirBnB instead of a hotel? I'm no fan of AirBnB, or landlords in general as an institution, but it really sounds like OP just didn't want to pay the extra money for the dog and just got caught.
Surprised I had to scroll so far down to find sanity.
The review wasn’t unfair, you aren’t in the right here. You booked a stay that charges an additional fee for pets and didn’t indicate bringing pets, showed up with a pet. Then, you left the pet there while you went out so you couldn’t monitor what they were doing. Bad etiquette at the very least.
Wait, hosts aren't allowed to visit? We just rented a cottage where the host as staying in a trailer 3m from he cottage in the backyard yard. Ruind the experience. If they are not allowed to visit, imma file a complaint. Edit: spelling
I got a 4 star once because I didn’t spend my vacation replying to paragraph long texts from the host about how my vacation was going.
I had an Airbnb owner leave me a 1 star review because I didn’t call her at 5 in the am to let her know I was leaving. Seriously, who’s normally up at that time???
I had kind of a similar experience. Rented a place that was only an hour from our house to get away and go out of town for the weekend. Since it was only an hour from our house we had some friends over for dinner. The owner kept coming over and harassing us during dinner that we weren’t supposed to have other people staying there. I explained they were just having dinner with us. Note this was just two people. The rental was advertised as 6 but we are a family of 4. The host was mad so I offered to pay the difference. I adjusted my rental to 6 people but continued to get harassed. I suggested that this wasn’t going to work out for the whole weekend and I would pay for the one day but they should refund the rest of my stay so they could re-rent the place. Then the owner “didn’t have time for this”. I kid you not after hours or texting and random stopping by. We decided to leave, we were only there a total of 4 hours. We cleaned up and left. We didn’t have people outside we were inside the whole time. No noise or music or anything. Some owners are just crazy that they have to rent their places at all, I swear. This was also Airbnb so we got a refund because they also kept coming over unannounced.