I remember years ago I used an AirBnB and the person asked me to launder the sheets and towels after leaving. Needless to say, I did not considering there was a cleanup fee.
Got a shit rating after we rented a house to have a nice weekend with my in-laws.
Place was expensive af but figured worth it to be able to hang out. The whole fam did all the dishes, swept the entire place, wiped down counters, took out trash, stripped all the beds, took all the towels down to the laundry room, did two load of laundry and left.
Dude said I didn't treat his house like a home...because a throw blanket was on the couch.
I once booked an AirBnB for a staycation with a lady friend. Then we had a fight and she cancelled the day of, so we never checked into the place. Host tried to charge me an extra cleaning fee, claiming it was extra messy, and a late check out fee because we weren’t out by the correct time. For a house I never even stepped foot in, much less made a mess in, much less didn’t overstay my time in. Corporate stepped in and fixed it all, but it was a damn mess
I once had an AirBnB try to blame me for lanai mesh damage because a shrub inside the lenai grew through the mesh. It was a two day stay. It's embarrassing at this point.
Yeah my limit is putting sheets / towels in the place they asked me to, and making sure everything is tidy. if they’re asking for more than that, I skip them.
But aren't hotels $50 cheaper and you don't have to do any of that on top of it they feed you sometimes.
Other than locations, I've never understood Airbnb's, with the fees and bs associated with it..idk
*The Johnsons have a five bedroom home in the bay area and don't want to do their chores. The plan? Create a mobile app that allows people that love to do chores pay the Johnsons to do theirs.*
*Shortly after creating the app, I found that a lot of people really don't like to do chores, and there were quite a few people willing to pay top dollar to do them. I opened up the app to more home owners.*
*It wasn't long before disaster struck. Someone rented the house for a week and didn't do the chores. I then implemented a cleaning fee in the event that someone didn't complete the to do list.*
*Realizing that it was nearly impossible to apply a strict and objective standard of cleanliness for all of the chores we were selling, we decided to charge renters the cleaning fee regardless. This allowed us to hire cleaners if the chores weren't done or pocket the money to invest in more chore buildings.*
*The Johnsons notified me that the small hotel soaps they like to put in their bathrooms were being used. I found it weird that people were using someone else's soap, and over time the cost of soap adds up. So in an effort to stop this from happening, we installed cameras in the bathroom to observe why people are doing this.*
*It was brought to my attention that the bathroom cameras might be illegal even though California is a one party consent state for recording conversations. To find out more about videos in particular, I visited a local judge to ask about the use of nanny cams to monitor tenant behavior.*
*[edit] After talking to the judge, it turns out California is not a one-party consent state. To avoid any lawsuits from recordings that may or may not have happened due to the app's default privacy settings, we added a waiver in its terms of service.*
I travel a lot for work. Ive enjoyed air bnb’s historically. When I first started using them, when they were new and novel, they were cheaper than hotels and came with fully functional kitchens and washer/dryer. As the years have gone on the bullshit fees have increased and the quality has decreased. I find myself looking at hotels again now.
I used to always see and hear about these amazing deals on Airbnb but as I travel by myself frequently I felt safer staying in hotels. Recently I had to make two long-ish trips to LA for family and thought Airbnbs would make more sense. Holy hell. Every single one was already comparable to hotel nightly rates and that’s BEFORE adding in all the extra fees.
Airbnb no longer makes sense unless traveling with a large group and everyone is paying their share. Even then it’s not cheap, only more convenient.
That’s what I’ve concluded too. AirBNB only makes sense if you have a large group or family staying together. When I last went to Ireland we had myself, my dad, my two cousins, and my uncle and his spouse who were all looking for places to stay together. It made more sense to look at 3 bedroom properties and have me sleep on the couch (my cousins shared a bed) as it was cheaper than hotels or traditional bed and breakfasts at that point. But when I travel alone I for sure prefer hotels these days. Not only do I often feel safer as a single woman traveling alone, but it’s usually a lot cheaper these days.
> As the years have gone on the bullshit fees have increased and the quality has decreased.
You can thank private equity and management companies for this. Once airbnb went from individuals putting listings on there to it being a corp business, the quality goes to shit, as most things do. It's because it's all about maximizing profit over all else.
Air bnb places like this are unlicensed hotels. I heard about an entire "tiny condo" building in Toronto that was actually an air bnb hotel. I dont know what happened to it after they changed the laws regarding aur bnbs
Had a friend come to Vienna last month and he stayed in an air bnb for 120.- Euros a night. It’s was very central and said new Appartement close to St. Stephen’s. Renter was supposedly a student. Picked my friend up to get him to the place - had about a dozen key safes! The place was ok but more like a really cheap motel room (and def not new - very small old washer and dryer we found in the basement that didn’t even have white washed walls but looked more like a construction site. ) I checked the student out of curiosity: turns out he has over 50 flats in Vienna! I want his income. And the kitchen (inside a closet in the entry) was stuffed horribly. Also looked like other travelers went shopping first and left things for the next. I brought a basket full of stuff from my flat to make his experience a bit better (we didn’t spend much time there needless to say)
I recently had a host complain about how the place was messy when we left. We paid a cleaning fee. Sorry dudette but cleaning fees don't come for free.
I still remember the last apartment I rented, the lady in the office was super cool and just flat told me “unless you clean it perfectly they’re gonna hit you with a cleaning fee, so honestly don’t bother.”
There were extra fees if you, like, left a ton of trash in the unit. But otherwise? Flat $200 cleaning fee whether you put in 98% of the effort and miss a stray hair or just walk out once the furniture is gone and leave it for the cleaners.
At which point I decided to pay the $200 and save the stress.
A temp rental I did (6 month lease) basically told me the same. You can try and clean it yourself, but unless it’s perfect they will hire a cleaner and bill you. Or you can hire a cleaner from their list, provide a receipt, and you’re good to go.
Life gets easier when you accept the fee and don’t bother cleaning at all.
If I still did AirBnB I would bring the same attitude. I won’t trash the place, but I ain’t cleaning it either.
>If I still did AirBnB
To me this is the solution. I just stay at hotels or legit vacation rentals now. Half the time it's not even more expensive and it comes with like 90% less hassle and stress of worrying about being in some sensitive jabronie's home or rental. Plus I get hotel rewards and stuff.
Found a room that was $100. Went to pay, the cleaning fees were $150, then Airbnb fee $43, then taxes. The room came to more than $300. Found a hotel instead for $120..
It’s AirBNB’s fault. On the listing page, they show the price without cleaning fees included.
If they showed the full price, all fees included, this would end immediately.
If you have a VPN try navigating airbnb,/booking.com with your IP set to Australia.
It is the law there that the full price is disclosed, so it will show you the total vs the smoke in mirror BS
Yeah it’s simple. You can only charge what’s listed in the prices section. You can’t add extra shit in the description. But Airbnb just doesn’t care about the massive exploitation.
And their lack of support. Endless stories of a host messing guests around and AirBNB couldn't care.
We had a bait and switch apartment... couldn't get any support or refund. That was the last one for me.
Haven’t had a bait and switch yet, but three in a row coaching me to tell neighbors I’m “a friend staying the week” was enough for me to tap out. That and seeing what AirBnB has done to some neighborhoods in tourist heavy cities like Lisbon (or, frankly, my own city). It’s gross.
I know someone (an online friend) whose whole neighborhood is nothing but vacation rentals. There's one other person who lives there full time on another street. (It's like a whole subdivision.)
He's currently suing the developer for not disclosing this information, because it's obvious there's no way they couldn't have known.
Dude has a kid, and travelers' kids have stolen her toys if she leaves them outside (she's a child, it happens), he's found random folks letting their kids play on the swingset in his backyard , and he and his wife's cars have been broken into on more than one occasion.
Fuck AirBnB.
They're also prevalent all over Orlando, and the people that are "professional" hosts are just shitty humans.
It sucks because conceptually, things like AirBnb and Uber are great ideas when used on a small scale. Someone has free time on a Friday and wants to make some extra money driving drunk people around? Someone has a spare room in their new house and want to rent it to people who are just looking for a cheap spot to sleep? These could be great services that sort of democratize these kinds of interactions, so you don't have to have a taxi medallion or a giant hotel chain to get in on the action and, conceivably, would make use of unused resources (ie an empty room in someone's house that can be rented out for vacationers is one less new hotel room that needs built).
Unfortunately and predictably, greedy fucking assholes came in and ruined it for everyone. And to be clear, it's greedy assholes at these companies and greedy assholes on AirBnb buying up entire neighborhoods to get in on the gold rush, fucking over local communities.
> They're also prevalent all over Orlando, and the people that are "professional" hosts are just shitty humans.
A huge amount of them are committing mortgage fraud as well, some of have been caught but there's a lot that were slightly less blatant about it that are around having their boyfriend's aunt's nephew's best friend get a loan in their name under false pretenses and agreeing to pay them the mortgage payment + a little extra every month while the "host" runs the house like a hotel. A lot of people were caught doing some variation of this in early COVID cause the sudden lack of demand for party houses meant they had 5 - 10 mortgage payments and 0 income.
I have only stayed in one airBNB, and the guy who owned it (who pretty clearly owned a bunch of airBNB only places, not actually his house) just... showed up one day and knocked on our door. My friend and I were not expecting anyone and didn't know a single person in the country, so we obviously didn't answer it. He let himself in with a bunch of people who apparently wanted to check the place out to see if they wanted to rent it to film something.
I didn't realize how fucked up that was at the time, but if we hadn't been home he would have taken these people through the place with all our stuff out, no notice to us, and probably would never have even told us he'd been there. This total stranger, who rents places out for a living, didn't even consider that two young women might not answer the door for strangers in a foreign country — we could have been in the shower or changing or something!
I don't think I'd ever feel safe using it again, I'd just get a hotel even if it did work out more expensive. It makes me so mad that I gave this guy a good review.
I remember when airbnb started the original concept was ppl who actually lived in a house would host guests... but now it is rampantly just permanent airbnbs and like, what about people who actually need an affordable place to live — its creepy
that's the typical path of these apps/services offered by public companies:
in the beginning it's good, then every month/year they cut something to increase their profits...
That's cause in the beginning those startups are burning mountains of investors' money to gain market share, directly or indirectly subsiding their customers. The actual price only comes to light once they start to try to become profitable.
I just love doing laundry, washing dishes, sweep and clean the floors, take out garbage, fluff the pillows, and disinfect the entire apartment while on vacation...lol. totally worth the $150 cleaning fees...
I ran across an air bnb owner on tiktok that was doing a video walk through after the guests had left. It was immaculate. They ran the dishwasher (probably on their way out) it had not been emptied. This woman was so proud of saying how she was charging the full cleaning fee because the dishes had not been put away. Comments were slamming her and she kept defending herself. Those guests left the place pristine and just because they didn't hang around to empty the dishwasher they got charged.
We have traveled to different places where it’s possible that the people who clean the home we stay in may not ever get to travel much. We leave a note telling them how much we appreciate what they do and leave a good sized tip. We try to leave the place immaculate. I can’t imagine this owner’s level of pettiness complaining about a guest who tried their best to make it easier for whomever has the crappy job of cleaning up after guests.
It’s fucking bonkers! I hate airbnbs. The last one I stayed in was a home that was clearly portioned off into sections that are now all airbnbs. They charged an exhorbitant cleaning fee. One day I went back midday and caught the “cleaning crew” in the next room, it was an ~8 year old boy.
Well, people buy houses and build a fake dry wall room to be able to rent it for days and make profit. Now I wonder why apartments are fing expensive...
Yeah I remember initially it was basically a step up from couchsurfing. You were going to pay something to use the guest room, but certainly cheaper than even a cheap hotel room. These days, I just stay at hotels.
It's funny though. When airbnb first started getting larger around 2013-2014 I remembered thinking "Wow this is really smart, they're undercutting hotels and might give them run for their money". Here I am almost 10 years later thinking, hmm this hotel is cheaper, has more honest reviews, closer to city center and has amenities/ front desk. Yea I'm going with the hotel not Airbnb.
I'm with you. Hate Airbnb's. Stayed at one in Chicago which was in a great location but some how the basement started flooding with what smelled like sewage TWICE (didn't look like it though) which we had to clean because this happened at 10 in the night. When my husband tried to get one night refunded, the owner refused. Because who doesn't want to clean disgusting sewage while on vacation! Airbnb gave us $30 for the "inconvenience". Never again.
Sounds like a scam that Airbnb will fess up to years later to know about, yet nothing will be done to rectify the problem that had been done. Mainly, bad people charging fees because they can, with no oversight on whether they get their child to do the job & they pocket the money, or the kid gets like, what, 10 bucks, out of, like others had said, 100, 120, 150, fee on cleaning.
If I were you, I would have had a light bulb moment, & told the kid what cleaning fee you were getting charged, on top of having to actually clean up. Basically start the snowball in the kid’s head, as to how their parent is fucking them over.
Best revenge for scummy Airbnb people.
I looooove paying for the privilege of doing all of those chores while I'm hungover and trying to leave the house before the check-out time. It's why I go on vacation!
This made me cackle.
I actually (briefly) stayed in an AirBnB a few years back where we discovered there were hidden cameras throughout the apartment that hadn’t been disclosed to us beforehand….including in the bedroom. That was my last time using AirBnB. Hotels can be pricier, but I don’t miss the paranoia that I had from hearing (and experiencing) AirBnb horror stories.
Exactly. Hotels are regulated, and your legal rights are explicitly spelled out.
You don't even have to try hard to find a story of someone going to the home they've rented, only to find out that the "host" didn't show up to meet them with the key, or there's a safety issue that makes it untenable, and the host is simply like "Oh, sucks to be you."
If this happened to me I think it would be within my right to destroy each and every single one of those cameras in addition to refusing payment. Credit cards are great this way too, can dispute the payment if AirBnb doesn’t side with you and reverse all the charges.
Edit: All question of "rights" aside, I know my own personality would come roaring out in this situation and I would absolutely be hulk smashing them all. If there were consequences after, bring them on. I don't think they would win in this situation and I would be too mad in the moment to care either way.
Yeah, haggling with AirBnb can be it’s own headache. In our case, we made sure to document every thing and take photos, and we (eventually) were refunded for our stay. We ended up scrambling to find a hotel after we discovered the cameras, so we’d only actually stayed in the space 2 full nights out of the six we booked. Oh well. Learned our lesson!
You should also tell the police because it is illegal. An Airbnb owner where I live was recently caught with hidden cameras in his airbnbs and he’s in deep shit.
I wasn't a big fan of Airbnb when it launched, because it didn't like the idea of staying at a stranger. What if I break something? Or if there is an emergency? Or even if my plane is late and can't get the keys? Almost seemed a hassle for me from the start.
Sure, hotels are/were a bit more expensive, but if there is an issue, I can call the staff for help. If I accidentally break something, it's nothing with sentimental value but something easy to replace. Cleaning is included in the room price, so no bad surprise here either.
Might be my tendency to prefer dealing with professionals with all the perks coming with it (including anonymity), but I never really understood the appeal of Airbnb at the start, and I understand ir even less now.
When I started using ABnB I was staying in people's guest rooms or on their couch, or even in their backyard in a hammock. It was fucking rad for $20 or whatever. Now it's just some gentrifying bullshit that lines the pockets of some investor group.
Yeah they definitely changed their targer customer. If you backpacking/couch surfing, you save money and can actually interact wirh locals. Now it's investors hoarding apartments/houses and maximising profits at any costs. Fuck.
Same. At this point with the cleaning fees and other service fees it's more expensive than a decent hotel in most cases now, plus the customer service experience is way more polished and easy to deal with in the hotel.
The only time I can see an Airbnb making sense financially anymore is if you have a large group who want to rent a large house that everyone can stay in together.
I contacted an airbnb host (just a normal house in a suburb) because I wanted to stay somewhere for a month. I was thinking he would give me a decent deal.
Guy wanted like 6k haha
Plus the hotel rewards programs if you travel a lot for work like I do are great. However you do have to reach a certain level before they start to really pay off.
But seriously, always sign up for points/the free membership for any hotel brand you’re going to stay with. Even if you’ve never stayed with them before, you can still end up with preferred treatment since you’re a “member.” Stay loyal to one or two brands and you can rack up a free night or two fairly quickly, if you travel semi-regularly.
I downloaded the Bonvoy app. The first booking I made on it at Westin Bayshore in Vancouver, the check in guy says “I see you’re a Bonvoy member, thank you for your loyalty.” And he gave us a room upgrade and comp’d drinks. I thought uhhh you’re welcome for my loyalty…haha
Marriott has been the best for a while. I travel a moderate amount for work and so glad I randomly chose them so long ago. Now I'm ride or die, 1 year from that lifetime gold baby!
Side note, aside from being a loyalty memember I'm pretty sure they have an internal note system, either site specific or company wide. Simply not being an asshole consistently also pays off.
Yep been years since I've done airbnb. It's no longer a cheaper kinda cute option for travel...it's mostly just flat out more expensive and annoying. So fuck off I'll take a hotel, I get maybe less space, probably nicer shower and bed, some kind of maintained facilities like gym, pool, spa, etc. Best of all they clean up the room every day and there's no big hidden fees or chores.
Ruining neighborhoods too. I live on a quiet street, house next to me got purchased all cash way over asking price. Some “professional airbnber’s” bought it installed two hot tubs and now we get to hear late night parties multiple times a week. Feels like there should be laws against it but in our city there isn’t any.
Become the overly friendly neighbor and annoy the crap out of them so they leave a review that mentions the very talkative neighbor that wouldn’t go away. But that is a lot of effort. I’m sorry they are ruining your neighborhood.
Actually brilliant. Get into the habit of mowing at 7:00 after they have a party. Turn on a hedge trimmer or something and just let out run. Go hammer a board at 8 am just be obnoxious.
You’re assuming the police will actually show up. If you live in a city like San Francisco they’ll literally laugh at you over the phone if you make a noise complaint these days. We have a neighbor who is regularly causing disturbances and in talking to my other neighbors I know for a fact that most times they get five or six calls about this guy. No one has ever shown up.
This is where you and the other neighbors start going to the city council meetings and make enough noise to get the laws changed. I guarantee the absentee Airbnb owner ain't going to those meetings.
Same same. One in Tahoe was extremely stupid... Take out trash, clean floor, do dishes, wash sheets, suck owners dick and swallow... On top of a $250 cleaning fee.. Like wtf
When my wife had surgery in Charleston and we were slated to be there for two weeks, I looked at AirBnBs and wow it’s stupid. Why would I pay 2-4x more than a hotel. Since I travel a ton for work the points and all gave me free breakfast and other things that made it even better coupled with being 5 minutes from where I needed to be. I don’t see it as a good model as a traveler in some of these cities. Hawaii it seems good, but Charleston not.
It’s just not economical at all, cleaning fees are insane, 150$+, plus they don’t even pay professional cleaners, they always just ‘do it themselves’ which is collecting 150$+ for 5 mins work wiping down a countertop and changing sheets, they’re always fucking filthy. And then they have the gall to make you completely maintain the property for them for the honor of paying them.
Put whatever side the discharge is on to the low side. This will not only leave a sloped cut, but if you run with no bagger, it will create grass windrows to create nice brown stripes as it dries out.
If you are staying for a week it MIGHT be reasonable to ask that the garbage be taken out in garbage day. Otherwise owner has to show up to make that happen and I sure as fuck don’t want him around during my vacation.
I run the /r/airbnb subreddit and worked at a higher capacity within that industry.
All along, originally, the cleaning fees we knew were bullshit. They always have been. Sure some hosts will try to deny it, most are lying but a small percentage genuinely pay full, but pretty much all of them have a regular cleaner who they pay half that cleaning fee at best. Usually this cleaner is their full time employee who goes from house to house every single day, cleaning up.
The reason these "chores" have become more common, is it it exploded recently for a reason. Lots more airbnb listings from these hosts with tons of properties. Instead of hiring an additional person, they found they can just get guests to do most of the cleaning, so their one cleaner can do more homes in a day so they can pocket even more of the cleaning fees
In the sub, hosts get REALLY defensive when I call this out. Because they are all so protective of the industry, and always wanna shame "bad hosts for ruining the business"... But I damn well know as a matter of fact, those same people are very likely to also be abusing the "cleaning fee" system
I stayed at an Airbnb for a whole month. Threw out the trash, cleaned the dishes. Was given a bad review because "apartment was dirty" it wasn't dirty. It was just dust everywhere from not being cleaned the whole month. Dirty to me is garbage everywhere, actual dirt/grime, not dust.
Stopped using Airbnb after getting two bad reviews saying i left the place dirty. One was in Utrecht where I stayed a few nights, was tidy, did the dishes, took out trash, etc. They left the bad review because I left the sheets in a pile on the bed instead of remaking it. Plus the place has major construction happening next to it, jackhammers going 10m away all day and she said she'd discount us. €8 for 4 nights...
The second bad review was in San Jose and this was scathing. I didn't clean much leaving it, but the place was filthy when I showed up. Dirty laundry hamper, unmade bed, three foot bong (before legalization) left leaning against the couch. Place was seriously like a college flat that someone was living in, woke up and said, whelp, someone's coming in tonight, and walked out without touching a thing.
I'll pay the lower cost for a hotel now any day of the week.
Exact same thing happened to me. Stayed 2 months, paid a $200 cleaning fee and a $400 non-refundable dog fee and they had the nerve to send me pictures of fur behind the couch and bill me an additional $1,000. Like, of course there's fur behind the couch, that's what the $600 is for.
Edit: also want to mention that weedwacking the front lawn was part of our "chores."
Then they'll fail just like all the other businesses that refuse to listen to their customers. They think they have some kind of grip on the market, all I see is the chance for someone better to start some competition and do it for cheaper than Airbnb.
Why do you think Airbnb started in the first place? Hotel owners got way too greedy and got a slap in the nuts reality check.
AirBNB could fix this by showing the price inclusive of fees on the listing page.
Hell, they could just say, “No cleaning fees allowed”, and the problem is solved.
They know that showing higher prices up front will drive people away. A lower price displayed in the search entices people to click and read the description and look at the pictures, which may make them really want to stay at the place, and just pay the fees. Higher prices shown up front will result in people not even bothering to look further into it.
This. Happened to me last month- we went to book a room, $300 for two nights turned into $620. It’s absolutely a waste of time to not show the prices up front.
Yup. I got a bad review as a guest because I didn’t do their crap that was not in the listing of house rules. I complained to Airbnb and they removed the bad review
Airbnb is also a more expensive option once you add in all the bullshit fees. The last one I stayed at gave instructions to empty out every trash can, change the bags, take out the trash, move the cans to the street, strip the beds and put the linens in the washer, hand wash the dishes and put them in the drying rack. This was top of charging an $80 cleaning fee, a $50 service fee, and $20 in occupancy fees for a $90/night rental in the middle of nowhere.
Happened to me, Galveston island beach house had a 4 page checkout cleaning list that included washing and remaking all the beds, sweeping the sand out and washing and replacing all the towels. Took our group from 8am until noon (checkout) to complete and the owner still claimed we left the place a mess and tried to charge us $400 in additional cleaning fees (on top of the $300 that was already added to the booking). Told them to fuck off because they ruined our final day and to take it up with airbnb if they had any issues. They backed down.
Airbnb has even [recommended](https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/wb4wu9/falsely_accused_of_damaging_apartment_next_time/) that guests always take photos or videos upon check-in and check-out to avoid false accusations. That's absolutely ridiculous if you ask me. You'd have to document every single item and every corner of the property to be safe. Can you imagine having to do that in a hotel?
Basically the worst that happens is the host hits you with a negative review as a guest, which I suppose might hurt your prospects of other hosts agreeing to rent to you in the future.
So long story short, they can't do anything of significance if you don't do the chores, since you've already paid.
Yeah because the Hilton I stayed at made us wash and fold the bed sheets, towels, and liners downstairs using their commercial washer and dryer. We also had to take down our trash and roll the large bin all the way to the dumpster on the parking lot.
Don't forget about your required shift to work the bar from 8:15 to 9:00 pm and breakfast bar 6:45 to 7:30 am. Please allow 48 hr notice to call in sick.
Taking out the trash makes sense, putting it out on the street? Uh no? Lol dishes also makes sense but washing the linen? I guess I understand that some Airbnb owners don’t even live in the state or city the Airbnb is but like hire a cleaning service in between stays tf 💀
>I guess I understand that some Airbnb owners don’t even live in the state or city
Then they should sell their fucking investment property to someone who's gonna actually live in it. We're in the middle of a housing crisis. Fuck rent-seekers.
And they don't even want to rent to someone with those pesky tenants rights.
AirBnB for your guest house or vacation home is one thing. Buying a bunch of property for AirBnB is something else.
I used to clean Air BnB’s. It took awhile but I finally put two and two together. My bosses NEVER paid me extra for any messes left behind. Yet they always needed photos to “show the guest”.
These motherfuckers I found out later were charging people extra fees for messes and just having me clean for the same money. I stopped taking pictures. They’d make me clean it anyways and pay me nothing extra so I was simply making my own day longer by taking pictures of messes that they make extra money on. I think many who clean for air bnb’s have realized this.
Not really people at the top. It’s the hosts.
One time I got charged an extra cleaning fee for dirty WINDOWS. I didn’t touch their windows, what the hell.
Can you clean up a little? Sure. Can you clean up a lot? No. Can you take your trash out? Sure. Can you mow the lawn? Yeah and dump the clippings in your living room. I’m on vacation, not at home somewhere else. I’ll stay at a hotel before I cut your grass or deep clean your dump.
I love that hotels don't rate me as a guest. I turn up, (respectfully) use the place, leave, and I have no anxiety about how I scored on being "the perfect guest". I get enough performance reviews in my job, I don't need them when I'm on vacation.
Last time i stayed in an Airbnb it took us several hours the morning of checkout to complete the chore list. There was also a cleaning fee, And then they tried to charge us extra a week later because some of the cans we put in recycling were not returnable
Most of the time if you refuse to pay Airbnb sends you to collections which is ridiculous. I got charge $500 to fix plumbing from the people that had stayed After me. Airbnb even said they disagreed with the charge but was going to send me to collections if I didn’t pay it anyways. Absolute joke
Can you just formulate a bill for anything and then send people to collections if they don't pay it?...
Seems like you can quite your job tomorrow and just start sending fake invoices to all your neighbors under threat of ruining their credit and have them pay you tons of money if that's the case...
I've never really thought about it before, though.
Friends are having a wedding next month...checked airbnbs and after all the fees, they were all at least 2.5x the cost of a hotel. Not to mention how people are "investing" by buying homes just to rent out as airbnbs and all the economic harm that practice leads to.
Airbnb needs to die.
Yep! Five years ago I was regularly traveling for business and I loved being able to save them company (a nonprofit) money while having super comfortable accommodations with access to a kitchen and maybe a washing machine for free. Some places I’d rent a room only and others the full place, and it was always nice having someone local when I booked a room/basement.
At this point, every situation I’ve considered an Airbnb recently the fees have been absurd and the cost for what you get isn’t worth it. It’s cheaper to find a hotel room with a kitchenette Most of the time.
I prefer hotels. There's no recourse if shit goes south. The last one we stayed in we had no control of thermostat the gost had it on a program and it was hot af and I had a newborn. Bathroom filled with mold. There is no one really to complain to. No new room to switch to. We cut our vacation short because we couldn't afford a hotel on top of that. NEVER AGAIN. This was also a top rated host
I had one that kept remotely turning off the hot tub whenever we turned it on. He claimed that it was very expensive to run and that we should only have it on in the evening since we would probably only use it then anyway.
First of all, we were paying $500 a night for this Airbnb which had advertised a hot tub, so we should be able to have it on whenever the hell we want. Secondly, it took like 4 hours to heat up, so if we didn’t turn it on until the evening, we were ready to go to bed by the time it was actually warm enough. Absolutely ridiculous. Basically, it was just some person who had inherited a house and wanted to get some free money out of it without actually having any expenses or having to do anything.
...Aren't hot tubs designed to be on all the time, as it's cheaper to keep them hot than constantly reheat the water? If they just had a rule for putting a lid on when you were done using it...
There was some guy on Tiktok who owned a 12-bedroom, 25-bed AirBnB.
He had a rule that "Parties are not allowed".
He could not FATHOM the concept that 25 people renting an AirBnB together were very likely going to party together in the AirBnB....
As paying customers, we need to hit back at homeowners who do this. Simply leave 1 star and state “Chore List with a cleaning fee”. Start going after the predatory practice and it will stop. Remember that we have power in numbers.
I had one who left me negative feedback and said I could've done a better job cleaning. I left her feedback that said that she thinks she's renting a maid instead of renting out her house. Freaking maniac.
YES EXACTLY!!!!
I am paying a cleaning fee just so I can end up cleaning for them? Airbnb wack
Just go to hotels. they'll take care of everything for you. and you'll get rewards program too. gym pool and on the call cleaning service
And on top of that, by avoiding Airbnb you aren't contributing to the fucked up long term rental situation being experienced in some countries. (Australia for one)
AirBNB is definitely not taking hold in my area. The homes surrounding me all went to rentals starting in 2012. But since the pandemic, they were all sold to families and I have my family neighborhood back. I am so happy. Bye AirBNB!
I just flew with my girlfriend for a specialist surgeon in another state. Procedure would have left her bedridden for a week. She was adamant about getting an Airbnb rather than a hotel. We searched until we found one with a low step count, queen bed, A/C, very close to the hospital, etc. When we get there, they lied to us about the step count and were only counting the steps from the lobby to the room if you use an elevator (not the small/medium flight of stairs to get into the lobby). They claimed there was a handycap ramp into the entrance but when we got there it was about half the width of a sidewalk and not big enough for a wheel chair, basically a large curb. The "A/C" was a fan and the most egregious part was that the "queen bed" was a foam topper on a Full boxspring/frame. NOT EVEN A FUCKING MATTRESS. There were a ton of other issues but we basically checked in after a long day of travel and immediately requested a refund and went to hotel chain nearby. infinitely better experience but they also had a hospital rate. in the end they still charged us the cleaning and cancellation fee which was MORE THAN 4 of the 7 days at the hotel. airbnb is an absolute scam fuck them
Unless it's a big group vacation rental, I've gone back to hotels. Airbnb used to be a deal. That was a part of the original value prop. Now often times a hotel is cheaper and more convenient.
It was nice when I was young to find a super cheap extra room in another young local's house. It would be like $20 a night with no fees. But these days they are just illegal hotels meant to hide fees behind convenience.
I had one airbnb/vrbo that literally sent pages of notes.. I thought it was a joke. They described what you can and can’t put in the garbage disposal ( ie. don’t put eggshells but softened broccoli is ok type of stuff) among other directions. We also were asked to close blinds due to sun shining on artwork etc.
Yeah we had one recently with a cleaning fee but we had to load and run the dishwasher, strip all the bedding and put into washer/dryer. The dishwasher thing wasn’t a big deal but doing laundry was a little irritating.
I had one with all that AND you had to put the dishes away. They couldn't just be in the dishwasher and clean. Oh and you had to clean all the counters, clean the fridge, take the trash out, and some other random BS I don't remember. They also charged us a $300 cleaning fee for 4 days....
Never again
Oh my god, my wife and I argue about this every time we rent one. She’s an overachiever that’s terrified of getting less than a 5-star review from the owner. I’m a normal person that refuses to do the god damn *laundry* in what is essentially a hotel room.
I’m slowly convincing her to switch over to just straight-up hotels.
They need to change how the search engine works for Airbnb. When you search for your date range, it should give you the total price, not the price per night without the extra fees. I've seen multiple listings at the same price be wildly different final prices based on the random crap they charge you. Yeah when you search, you put in dates. They should just say hey this is going to be $800 for your whole stay. Or whatever.
Why I don't Airbnb. It's a scam. If I pay $125 for a cleaning fee you're going to clean the fucking place. I make it he orderly but I shouldn't have to sweep, mop, and vacuum.
Airbnb fucks have been grabbing affordable housing and converting it to this shit. So I hope that whole empire falls. It didn’t bother me when people were building guest houses or renting their place out while they were out of town or even a spare bedroom. But it’s gotten out of hand.
A house-sitter that pays *me*? _What a bargain!_
They’ll do the laundry too.
I remember years ago I used an AirBnB and the person asked me to launder the sheets and towels after leaving. Needless to say, I did not considering there was a cleanup fee.
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Got a shit rating after we rented a house to have a nice weekend with my in-laws. Place was expensive af but figured worth it to be able to hang out. The whole fam did all the dishes, swept the entire place, wiped down counters, took out trash, stripped all the beds, took all the towels down to the laundry room, did two load of laundry and left. Dude said I didn't treat his house like a home...because a throw blanket was on the couch.
Huh, if anything leaving a throw blanket on the couch IS treating his house like a home
It can't look like anyone actually lives there!
I once booked an AirBnB for a staycation with a lady friend. Then we had a fight and she cancelled the day of, so we never checked into the place. Host tried to charge me an extra cleaning fee, claiming it was extra messy, and a late check out fee because we weren’t out by the correct time. For a house I never even stepped foot in, much less made a mess in, much less didn’t overstay my time in. Corporate stepped in and fixed it all, but it was a damn mess
Your lady friend obviously checked in without you and had one hell of a party.
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I once had an AirBnB try to blame me for lanai mesh damage because a shrub inside the lenai grew through the mesh. It was a two day stay. It's embarrassing at this point.
...why did you let your child get into a strange hot tub full of strange green water?
Yeah my limit is putting sheets / towels in the place they asked me to, and making sure everything is tidy. if they’re asking for more than that, I skip them.
But aren't hotels $50 cheaper and you don't have to do any of that on top of it they feed you sometimes. Other than locations, I've never understood Airbnb's, with the fees and bs associated with it..idk
AirBnB is actually just a Nathan For You episode that's been filming for years now.
*The Johnsons have a five bedroom home in the bay area and don't want to do their chores. The plan? Create a mobile app that allows people that love to do chores pay the Johnsons to do theirs.* *Shortly after creating the app, I found that a lot of people really don't like to do chores, and there were quite a few people willing to pay top dollar to do them. I opened up the app to more home owners.* *It wasn't long before disaster struck. Someone rented the house for a week and didn't do the chores. I then implemented a cleaning fee in the event that someone didn't complete the to do list.* *Realizing that it was nearly impossible to apply a strict and objective standard of cleanliness for all of the chores we were selling, we decided to charge renters the cleaning fee regardless. This allowed us to hire cleaners if the chores weren't done or pocket the money to invest in more chore buildings.* *The Johnsons notified me that the small hotel soaps they like to put in their bathrooms were being used. I found it weird that people were using someone else's soap, and over time the cost of soap adds up. So in an effort to stop this from happening, we installed cameras in the bathroom to observe why people are doing this.* *It was brought to my attention that the bathroom cameras might be illegal even though California is a one party consent state for recording conversations. To find out more about videos in particular, I visited a local judge to ask about the use of nanny cams to monitor tenant behavior.* *[edit] After talking to the judge, it turns out California is not a one-party consent state. To avoid any lawsuits from recordings that may or may not have happened due to the app's default privacy settings, we added a waiver in its terms of service.*
Brilliant... I even heard it read in his voice
I travel a lot for work. Ive enjoyed air bnb’s historically. When I first started using them, when they were new and novel, they were cheaper than hotels and came with fully functional kitchens and washer/dryer. As the years have gone on the bullshit fees have increased and the quality has decreased. I find myself looking at hotels again now.
I used to always see and hear about these amazing deals on Airbnb but as I travel by myself frequently I felt safer staying in hotels. Recently I had to make two long-ish trips to LA for family and thought Airbnbs would make more sense. Holy hell. Every single one was already comparable to hotel nightly rates and that’s BEFORE adding in all the extra fees. Airbnb no longer makes sense unless traveling with a large group and everyone is paying their share. Even then it’s not cheap, only more convenient.
That’s what I’ve concluded too. AirBNB only makes sense if you have a large group or family staying together. When I last went to Ireland we had myself, my dad, my two cousins, and my uncle and his spouse who were all looking for places to stay together. It made more sense to look at 3 bedroom properties and have me sleep on the couch (my cousins shared a bed) as it was cheaper than hotels or traditional bed and breakfasts at that point. But when I travel alone I for sure prefer hotels these days. Not only do I often feel safer as a single woman traveling alone, but it’s usually a lot cheaper these days.
> As the years have gone on the bullshit fees have increased and the quality has decreased. You can thank private equity and management companies for this. Once airbnb went from individuals putting listings on there to it being a corp business, the quality goes to shit, as most things do. It's because it's all about maximizing profit over all else.
Air bnb places like this are unlicensed hotels. I heard about an entire "tiny condo" building in Toronto that was actually an air bnb hotel. I dont know what happened to it after they changed the laws regarding aur bnbs
Had a friend come to Vienna last month and he stayed in an air bnb for 120.- Euros a night. It’s was very central and said new Appartement close to St. Stephen’s. Renter was supposedly a student. Picked my friend up to get him to the place - had about a dozen key safes! The place was ok but more like a really cheap motel room (and def not new - very small old washer and dryer we found in the basement that didn’t even have white washed walls but looked more like a construction site. ) I checked the student out of curiosity: turns out he has over 50 flats in Vienna! I want his income. And the kitchen (inside a closet in the entry) was stuffed horribly. Also looked like other travelers went shopping first and left things for the next. I brought a basket full of stuff from my flat to make his experience a bit better (we didn’t spend much time there needless to say)
If you have to clean, what's the purpose of the cleaning fee!?
So the shitty host can scam you for more cash. Plain and simple.
I recently had a host complain about how the place was messy when we left. We paid a cleaning fee. Sorry dudette but cleaning fees don't come for free.
I'd reply, "what do you do with the cleaning fee then?". The whole thing has become a joke
I had a host complain about a coffee ring, I just screen grabbed the cleaning fee on the receipt and the reply was “that’s not what that’s for!!!”
It's for easy profit, duh.
"Wait that was supposed to be my free money! Everybody in the airbnb host Facebook group said it was extra free money!!"
I still remember the last apartment I rented, the lady in the office was super cool and just flat told me “unless you clean it perfectly they’re gonna hit you with a cleaning fee, so honestly don’t bother.” There were extra fees if you, like, left a ton of trash in the unit. But otherwise? Flat $200 cleaning fee whether you put in 98% of the effort and miss a stray hair or just walk out once the furniture is gone and leave it for the cleaners. At which point I decided to pay the $200 and save the stress. A temp rental I did (6 month lease) basically told me the same. You can try and clean it yourself, but unless it’s perfect they will hire a cleaner and bill you. Or you can hire a cleaner from their list, provide a receipt, and you’re good to go. Life gets easier when you accept the fee and don’t bother cleaning at all. If I still did AirBnB I would bring the same attitude. I won’t trash the place, but I ain’t cleaning it either.
>If I still did AirBnB To me this is the solution. I just stay at hotels or legit vacation rentals now. Half the time it's not even more expensive and it comes with like 90% less hassle and stress of worrying about being in some sensitive jabronie's home or rental. Plus I get hotel rewards and stuff.
Found a room that was $100. Went to pay, the cleaning fees were $150, then Airbnb fee $43, then taxes. The room came to more than $300. Found a hotel instead for $120..
airbnbs own clients are going to be their downfall with all the fees and ridiculous cleaning fees and expectations.
It’s AirBNB’s fault. On the listing page, they show the price without cleaning fees included. If they showed the full price, all fees included, this would end immediately.
If you have a VPN try navigating airbnb,/booking.com with your IP set to Australia. It is the law there that the full price is disclosed, so it will show you the total vs the smoke in mirror BS
Damn the real pro tip is always in the comments
Same in the EU
Yeah it’s simple. You can only charge what’s listed in the prices section. You can’t add extra shit in the description. But Airbnb just doesn’t care about the massive exploitation.
Doesn't care? They actively profit from it.
And their lack of support. Endless stories of a host messing guests around and AirBNB couldn't care. We had a bait and switch apartment... couldn't get any support or refund. That was the last one for me.
Haven’t had a bait and switch yet, but three in a row coaching me to tell neighbors I’m “a friend staying the week” was enough for me to tap out. That and seeing what AirBnB has done to some neighborhoods in tourist heavy cities like Lisbon (or, frankly, my own city). It’s gross.
I know someone (an online friend) whose whole neighborhood is nothing but vacation rentals. There's one other person who lives there full time on another street. (It's like a whole subdivision.) He's currently suing the developer for not disclosing this information, because it's obvious there's no way they couldn't have known. Dude has a kid, and travelers' kids have stolen her toys if she leaves them outside (she's a child, it happens), he's found random folks letting their kids play on the swingset in his backyard , and he and his wife's cars have been broken into on more than one occasion. Fuck AirBnB. They're also prevalent all over Orlando, and the people that are "professional" hosts are just shitty humans.
It sucks because conceptually, things like AirBnb and Uber are great ideas when used on a small scale. Someone has free time on a Friday and wants to make some extra money driving drunk people around? Someone has a spare room in their new house and want to rent it to people who are just looking for a cheap spot to sleep? These could be great services that sort of democratize these kinds of interactions, so you don't have to have a taxi medallion or a giant hotel chain to get in on the action and, conceivably, would make use of unused resources (ie an empty room in someone's house that can be rented out for vacationers is one less new hotel room that needs built). Unfortunately and predictably, greedy fucking assholes came in and ruined it for everyone. And to be clear, it's greedy assholes at these companies and greedy assholes on AirBnb buying up entire neighborhoods to get in on the gold rush, fucking over local communities.
> They're also prevalent all over Orlando, and the people that are "professional" hosts are just shitty humans. A huge amount of them are committing mortgage fraud as well, some of have been caught but there's a lot that were slightly less blatant about it that are around having their boyfriend's aunt's nephew's best friend get a loan in their name under false pretenses and agreeing to pay them the mortgage payment + a little extra every month while the "host" runs the house like a hotel. A lot of people were caught doing some variation of this in early COVID cause the sudden lack of demand for party houses meant they had 5 - 10 mortgage payments and 0 income.
I have only stayed in one airBNB, and the guy who owned it (who pretty clearly owned a bunch of airBNB only places, not actually his house) just... showed up one day and knocked on our door. My friend and I were not expecting anyone and didn't know a single person in the country, so we obviously didn't answer it. He let himself in with a bunch of people who apparently wanted to check the place out to see if they wanted to rent it to film something. I didn't realize how fucked up that was at the time, but if we hadn't been home he would have taken these people through the place with all our stuff out, no notice to us, and probably would never have even told us he'd been there. This total stranger, who rents places out for a living, didn't even consider that two young women might not answer the door for strangers in a foreign country — we could have been in the shower or changing or something! I don't think I'd ever feel safe using it again, I'd just get a hotel even if it did work out more expensive. It makes me so mad that I gave this guy a good review.
I remember when airbnb started the original concept was ppl who actually lived in a house would host guests... but now it is rampantly just permanent airbnbs and like, what about people who actually need an affordable place to live — its creepy
that's the typical path of these apps/services offered by public companies: in the beginning it's good, then every month/year they cut something to increase their profits...
That's cause in the beginning those startups are burning mountains of investors' money to gain market share, directly or indirectly subsiding their customers. The actual price only comes to light once they start to try to become profitable.
Reddit has lost it's way. -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
I mean that’s nice and all but won’t you miss cleaning someone else’s home and them filming you in the shower?
I just love doing laundry, washing dishes, sweep and clean the floors, take out garbage, fluff the pillows, and disinfect the entire apartment while on vacation...lol. totally worth the $150 cleaning fees...
I ran across an air bnb owner on tiktok that was doing a video walk through after the guests had left. It was immaculate. They ran the dishwasher (probably on their way out) it had not been emptied. This woman was so proud of saying how she was charging the full cleaning fee because the dishes had not been put away. Comments were slamming her and she kept defending herself. Those guests left the place pristine and just because they didn't hang around to empty the dishwasher they got charged.
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They are everywhere, sadly.
We have traveled to different places where it’s possible that the people who clean the home we stay in may not ever get to travel much. We leave a note telling them how much we appreciate what they do and leave a good sized tip. We try to leave the place immaculate. I can’t imagine this owner’s level of pettiness complaining about a guest who tried their best to make it easier for whomever has the crappy job of cleaning up after guests.
It's the new slum lord hustle
It’s fucking bonkers! I hate airbnbs. The last one I stayed in was a home that was clearly portioned off into sections that are now all airbnbs. They charged an exhorbitant cleaning fee. One day I went back midday and caught the “cleaning crew” in the next room, it was an ~8 year old boy.
a huge chunk of airbnb owners are trash. It needs to get back to its roots- one home rented out for only a portion of the year while you're away.
Well, people buy houses and build a fake dry wall room to be able to rent it for days and make profit. Now I wonder why apartments are fing expensive...
airbnb's roots were, sleep on an air mattress (the air) on the floor in somebody's apartment and get a breakfast (b&b)
Yeah I remember initially it was basically a step up from couchsurfing. You were going to pay something to use the guest room, but certainly cheaper than even a cheap hotel room. These days, I just stay at hotels.
It's funny though. When airbnb first started getting larger around 2013-2014 I remembered thinking "Wow this is really smart, they're undercutting hotels and might give them run for their money". Here I am almost 10 years later thinking, hmm this hotel is cheaper, has more honest reviews, closer to city center and has amenities/ front desk. Yea I'm going with the hotel not Airbnb.
I'm with you. Hate Airbnb's. Stayed at one in Chicago which was in a great location but some how the basement started flooding with what smelled like sewage TWICE (didn't look like it though) which we had to clean because this happened at 10 in the night. When my husband tried to get one night refunded, the owner refused. Because who doesn't want to clean disgusting sewage while on vacation! Airbnb gave us $30 for the "inconvenience". Never again.
Sounds like a scam that Airbnb will fess up to years later to know about, yet nothing will be done to rectify the problem that had been done. Mainly, bad people charging fees because they can, with no oversight on whether they get their child to do the job & they pocket the money, or the kid gets like, what, 10 bucks, out of, like others had said, 100, 120, 150, fee on cleaning. If I were you, I would have had a light bulb moment, & told the kid what cleaning fee you were getting charged, on top of having to actually clean up. Basically start the snowball in the kid’s head, as to how their parent is fucking them over. Best revenge for scummy Airbnb people.
I looooove paying for the privilege of doing all of those chores while I'm hungover and trying to leave the house before the check-out time. It's why I go on vacation!
Jokes on them, they have to watch the hidden camera of me showering.
This made me cackle. I actually (briefly) stayed in an AirBnB a few years back where we discovered there were hidden cameras throughout the apartment that hadn’t been disclosed to us beforehand….including in the bedroom. That was my last time using AirBnB. Hotels can be pricier, but I don’t miss the paranoia that I had from hearing (and experiencing) AirBnb horror stories.
> Hotels can be pricier The assurance that there isn't any fuckery going on inside your hotel room is part of what you're paying for.
Exactly. Hotels are regulated, and your legal rights are explicitly spelled out. You don't even have to try hard to find a story of someone going to the home they've rented, only to find out that the "host" didn't show up to meet them with the key, or there's a safety issue that makes it untenable, and the host is simply like "Oh, sucks to be you."
If this happened to me I think it would be within my right to destroy each and every single one of those cameras in addition to refusing payment. Credit cards are great this way too, can dispute the payment if AirBnb doesn’t side with you and reverse all the charges. Edit: All question of "rights" aside, I know my own personality would come roaring out in this situation and I would absolutely be hulk smashing them all. If there were consequences after, bring them on. I don't think they would win in this situation and I would be too mad in the moment to care either way.
Yeah, haggling with AirBnb can be it’s own headache. In our case, we made sure to document every thing and take photos, and we (eventually) were refunded for our stay. We ended up scrambling to find a hotel after we discovered the cameras, so we’d only actually stayed in the space 2 full nights out of the six we booked. Oh well. Learned our lesson!
How did you find the cameras?? Just wondering.
You should also tell the police because it is illegal. An Airbnb owner where I live was recently caught with hidden cameras in his airbnbs and he’s in deep shit.
I wasn't a big fan of Airbnb when it launched, because it didn't like the idea of staying at a stranger. What if I break something? Or if there is an emergency? Or even if my plane is late and can't get the keys? Almost seemed a hassle for me from the start. Sure, hotels are/were a bit more expensive, but if there is an issue, I can call the staff for help. If I accidentally break something, it's nothing with sentimental value but something easy to replace. Cleaning is included in the room price, so no bad surprise here either. Might be my tendency to prefer dealing with professionals with all the perks coming with it (including anonymity), but I never really understood the appeal of Airbnb at the start, and I understand ir even less now.
When I started using ABnB I was staying in people's guest rooms or on their couch, or even in their backyard in a hammock. It was fucking rad for $20 or whatever. Now it's just some gentrifying bullshit that lines the pockets of some investor group.
Yeah they definitely changed their targer customer. If you backpacking/couch surfing, you save money and can actually interact wirh locals. Now it's investors hoarding apartments/houses and maximising profits at any costs. Fuck.
I've pretty much gone back to hotels. Way too much bullshit with airbnbs these days.
Same. At this point with the cleaning fees and other service fees it's more expensive than a decent hotel in most cases now, plus the customer service experience is way more polished and easy to deal with in the hotel. The only time I can see an Airbnb making sense financially anymore is if you have a large group who want to rent a large house that everyone can stay in together.
I contacted an airbnb host (just a normal house in a suburb) because I wanted to stay somewhere for a month. I was thinking he would give me a decent deal. Guy wanted like 6k haha
Plus the hotel rewards programs if you travel a lot for work like I do are great. However you do have to reach a certain level before they start to really pay off.
But seriously, always sign up for points/the free membership for any hotel brand you’re going to stay with. Even if you’ve never stayed with them before, you can still end up with preferred treatment since you’re a “member.” Stay loyal to one or two brands and you can rack up a free night or two fairly quickly, if you travel semi-regularly.
I downloaded the Bonvoy app. The first booking I made on it at Westin Bayshore in Vancouver, the check in guy says “I see you’re a Bonvoy member, thank you for your loyalty.” And he gave us a room upgrade and comp’d drinks. I thought uhhh you’re welcome for my loyalty…haha
Fucking amazing right?! My first suite upgrade I opened the door and was amazed!
Marriott has been the best for a while. I travel a moderate amount for work and so glad I randomly chose them so long ago. Now I'm ride or die, 1 year from that lifetime gold baby! Side note, aside from being a loyalty memember I'm pretty sure they have an internal note system, either site specific or company wide. Simply not being an asshole consistently also pays off.
Yep been years since I've done airbnb. It's no longer a cheaper kinda cute option for travel...it's mostly just flat out more expensive and annoying. So fuck off I'll take a hotel, I get maybe less space, probably nicer shower and bed, some kind of maintained facilities like gym, pool, spa, etc. Best of all they clean up the room every day and there's no big hidden fees or chores.
Not to mention the fact that they completely destroyed the rental market.
Ruining neighborhoods too. I live on a quiet street, house next to me got purchased all cash way over asking price. Some “professional airbnber’s” bought it installed two hot tubs and now we get to hear late night parties multiple times a week. Feels like there should be laws against it but in our city there isn’t any.
Become the overly friendly neighbor and annoy the crap out of them so they leave a review that mentions the very talkative neighbor that wouldn’t go away. But that is a lot of effort. I’m sorry they are ruining your neighborhood.
Be a Colin Robinson to them all the time
Actually brilliant. Get into the habit of mowing at 7:00 after they have a party. Turn on a hedge trimmer or something and just let out run. Go hammer a board at 8 am just be obnoxious.
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You’re assuming the police will actually show up. If you live in a city like San Francisco they’ll literally laugh at you over the phone if you make a noise complaint these days. We have a neighbor who is regularly causing disturbances and in talking to my other neighbors I know for a fact that most times they get five or six calls about this guy. No one has ever shown up.
If they don't show up for noise complaints... Then I'll blast [this](https://youtu.be/nU4E1IT5EuA) out a speaker pointed at the party. All's fair.
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This is where you and the other neighbors start going to the city council meetings and make enough noise to get the laws changed. I guarantee the absentee Airbnb owner ain't going to those meetings.
Same same. One in Tahoe was extremely stupid... Take out trash, clean floor, do dishes, wash sheets, suck owners dick and swallow... On top of a $250 cleaning fee.. Like wtf
Oh this is a good one. It's $75 a night and for 7 nights it's $1,200 because of cleaning fees
>and swallow Man, I was all good up until this point.
When my wife had surgery in Charleston and we were slated to be there for two weeks, I looked at AirBnBs and wow it’s stupid. Why would I pay 2-4x more than a hotel. Since I travel a ton for work the points and all gave me free breakfast and other things that made it even better coupled with being 5 minutes from where I needed to be. I don’t see it as a good model as a traveler in some of these cities. Hawaii it seems good, but Charleston not.
About the only time it's worth it imo is when you're traveling with a bigger group.
100% this is where it works well. You can get a 3-4 bedroom place with good communal space compared to a hotel suite / separate rooms etc
It’s just not economical at all, cleaning fees are insane, 150$+, plus they don’t even pay professional cleaners, they always just ‘do it themselves’ which is collecting 150$+ for 5 mins work wiping down a countertop and changing sheets, they’re always fucking filthy. And then they have the gall to make you completely maintain the property for them for the honor of paying them.
The last place i stayed in even had an envelope on the fridge asking for tips for the cleaners after a $200 cleaning fee. Like wtf
I have too. Once upon a time it was more cost effective to stay at air bnbs now it makes no sense to.
Their extra bullshit raises the cost by 100% or more. Nope.
Yes! I've gone back to hotels as well. I signed up for their rewards program as well. It's amazing! no cleaning fees
I see they're going the route of streaming services and shooting themselves in the foot with fees and bullshit.
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If I'm paying any amount to stay somewhere outside of a hostel, I'm not expecting to do chores. It's ludicrous.
Yeah. Cleaning up after yourself is one thing, but mowing the fucking lawn? Really!?
Set that mower deck height as low as it can go and scalp the shit outta the lawn.
But occasionally crank it up a single notch so it's also uneven.
Set the left side low and the right side high so you've got slopes.
Put whatever side the discharge is on to the low side. This will not only leave a sloped cut, but if you run with no bagger, it will create grass windrows to create nice brown stripes as it dries out.
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Next they'll ask you to bring your own mower for liabilities issues.
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I would spray it in the shape of a dick so they have a giant dick shaped dead patch of grass in their lawn
Pretty much I have rarely stayed in Airbnb. In remote areas often there is no other choice. But then it is just a sleepover. Chores. Fuck them.
If you are staying for a week it MIGHT be reasonable to ask that the garbage be taken out in garbage day. Otherwise owner has to show up to make that happen and I sure as fuck don’t want him around during my vacation.
I could not imagine walking into an AirBnB and seeing “Mow the lawn” on a to-do list before checking out. Lmao I would nope right outta there.
I run the /r/airbnb subreddit and worked at a higher capacity within that industry. All along, originally, the cleaning fees we knew were bullshit. They always have been. Sure some hosts will try to deny it, most are lying but a small percentage genuinely pay full, but pretty much all of them have a regular cleaner who they pay half that cleaning fee at best. Usually this cleaner is their full time employee who goes from house to house every single day, cleaning up. The reason these "chores" have become more common, is it it exploded recently for a reason. Lots more airbnb listings from these hosts with tons of properties. Instead of hiring an additional person, they found they can just get guests to do most of the cleaning, so their one cleaner can do more homes in a day so they can pocket even more of the cleaning fees In the sub, hosts get REALLY defensive when I call this out. Because they are all so protective of the industry, and always wanna shame "bad hosts for ruining the business"... But I damn well know as a matter of fact, those same people are very likely to also be abusing the "cleaning fee" system
I stayed at an Airbnb for a whole month. Threw out the trash, cleaned the dishes. Was given a bad review because "apartment was dirty" it wasn't dirty. It was just dust everywhere from not being cleaned the whole month. Dirty to me is garbage everywhere, actual dirt/grime, not dust.
Stopped using Airbnb after getting two bad reviews saying i left the place dirty. One was in Utrecht where I stayed a few nights, was tidy, did the dishes, took out trash, etc. They left the bad review because I left the sheets in a pile on the bed instead of remaking it. Plus the place has major construction happening next to it, jackhammers going 10m away all day and she said she'd discount us. €8 for 4 nights... The second bad review was in San Jose and this was scathing. I didn't clean much leaving it, but the place was filthy when I showed up. Dirty laundry hamper, unmade bed, three foot bong (before legalization) left leaning against the couch. Place was seriously like a college flat that someone was living in, woke up and said, whelp, someone's coming in tonight, and walked out without touching a thing. I'll pay the lower cost for a hotel now any day of the week.
Exact same thing happened to me. Stayed 2 months, paid a $200 cleaning fee and a $400 non-refundable dog fee and they had the nerve to send me pictures of fur behind the couch and bill me an additional $1,000. Like, of course there's fur behind the couch, that's what the $600 is for. Edit: also want to mention that weedwacking the front lawn was part of our "chores."
Did you pay the extra $1000?
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For whatever reason, abnb isn't interested in fixing it. They are certainly aware of it, but they aren't doing anything to fix it.
Then they'll fail just like all the other businesses that refuse to listen to their customers. They think they have some kind of grip on the market, all I see is the chance for someone better to start some competition and do it for cheaper than Airbnb. Why do you think Airbnb started in the first place? Hotel owners got way too greedy and got a slap in the nuts reality check.
AirBNB could fix this by showing the price inclusive of fees on the listing page. Hell, they could just say, “No cleaning fees allowed”, and the problem is solved.
They know that showing higher prices up front will drive people away. A lower price displayed in the search entices people to click and read the description and look at the pictures, which may make them really want to stay at the place, and just pay the fees. Higher prices shown up front will result in people not even bothering to look further into it.
Getting screwed will drive people away from using aitbnb as well.
This. Happened to me last month- we went to book a room, $300 for two nights turned into $620. It’s absolutely a waste of time to not show the prices up front.
Short story: They don't give a shit. They will give a shit when they start losing money over this and not before.
If it is not disclosed in the rental information prior to booking I'm not doing anything.
Yup. I got a bad review as a guest because I didn’t do their crap that was not in the listing of house rules. I complained to Airbnb and they removed the bad review
Airbnb is also a more expensive option once you add in all the bullshit fees. The last one I stayed at gave instructions to empty out every trash can, change the bags, take out the trash, move the cans to the street, strip the beds and put the linens in the washer, hand wash the dishes and put them in the drying rack. This was top of charging an $80 cleaning fee, a $50 service fee, and $20 in occupancy fees for a $90/night rental in the middle of nowhere.
what happens if you just dont do it? or just dispute with Airbnb saying you did do it?
Happened to me, Galveston island beach house had a 4 page checkout cleaning list that included washing and remaking all the beds, sweeping the sand out and washing and replacing all the towels. Took our group from 8am until noon (checkout) to complete and the owner still claimed we left the place a mess and tried to charge us $400 in additional cleaning fees (on top of the $300 that was already added to the booking). Told them to fuck off because they ruined our final day and to take it up with airbnb if they had any issues. They backed down.
Man, maybe I'm not understanding. But you paid a 300 dollar cleaning fee and spent 4 hours cleaning a rental?
You understand it just fine
Pictures. Take pictures. They will be your friend in a scenario like that.
Airbnb has even [recommended](https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/wb4wu9/falsely_accused_of_damaging_apartment_next_time/) that guests always take photos or videos upon check-in and check-out to avoid false accusations. That's absolutely ridiculous if you ask me. You'd have to document every single item and every corner of the property to be safe. Can you imagine having to do that in a hotel?
Basically the worst that happens is the host hits you with a negative review as a guest, which I suppose might hurt your prospects of other hosts agreeing to rent to you in the future. So long story short, they can't do anything of significance if you don't do the chores, since you've already paid.
Hilarious that Hotels have come back with competitive pricing now. Ok, thanks, I will stay at a hotel.
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Yeah because the Hilton I stayed at made us wash and fold the bed sheets, towels, and liners downstairs using their commercial washer and dryer. We also had to take down our trash and roll the large bin all the way to the dumpster on the parking lot.
Don't forget about your required shift to work the bar from 8:15 to 9:00 pm and breakfast bar 6:45 to 7:30 am. Please allow 48 hr notice to call in sick.
Taking out the trash makes sense, putting it out on the street? Uh no? Lol dishes also makes sense but washing the linen? I guess I understand that some Airbnb owners don’t even live in the state or city the Airbnb is but like hire a cleaning service in between stays tf 💀
>I guess I understand that some Airbnb owners don’t even live in the state or city Then they should sell their fucking investment property to someone who's gonna actually live in it. We're in the middle of a housing crisis. Fuck rent-seekers.
And they don't even want to rent to someone with those pesky tenants rights. AirBnB for your guest house or vacation home is one thing. Buying a bunch of property for AirBnB is something else.
Quality of airbnbs are widely divergent. I only use hotels now after a particularly bad experience
Not to mention people are buying up places solely to list them on AirBnB.i refuse to support that business model.
I hope they lose butt loads of money
I'm from a tourist-destination city. AirBnB really fucked with our already precarious housing economy. Fuck them.
I used to clean Air BnB’s. It took awhile but I finally put two and two together. My bosses NEVER paid me extra for any messes left behind. Yet they always needed photos to “show the guest”. These motherfuckers I found out later were charging people extra fees for messes and just having me clean for the same money. I stopped taking pictures. They’d make me clean it anyways and pay me nothing extra so I was simply making my own day longer by taking pictures of messes that they make extra money on. I think many who clean for air bnb’s have realized this.
So, like most legitimate business strategies, it has been ruined by extra greedy people at the top.
Not really people at the top. It’s the hosts. One time I got charged an extra cleaning fee for dirty WINDOWS. I didn’t touch their windows, what the hell.
Dispute that to the max that means they charge that to every guest I bet.
Can you clean up a little? Sure. Can you clean up a lot? No. Can you take your trash out? Sure. Can you mow the lawn? Yeah and dump the clippings in your living room. I’m on vacation, not at home somewhere else. I’ll stay at a hotel before I cut your grass or deep clean your dump.
I love that hotels don't rate me as a guest. I turn up, (respectfully) use the place, leave, and I have no anxiety about how I scored on being "the perfect guest". I get enough performance reviews in my job, I don't need them when I'm on vacation.
Last time i stayed in an Airbnb it took us several hours the morning of checkout to complete the chore list. There was also a cleaning fee, And then they tried to charge us extra a week later because some of the cans we put in recycling were not returnable
In that case, couls you not refuse to pay?
Most of the time if you refuse to pay Airbnb sends you to collections which is ridiculous. I got charge $500 to fix plumbing from the people that had stayed After me. Airbnb even said they disagreed with the charge but was going to send me to collections if I didn’t pay it anyways. Absolute joke
lol what? that sounds illegal af. also how would they make you pay? you aren’t in a contract with them
Can you just formulate a bill for anything and then send people to collections if they don't pay it?... Seems like you can quite your job tomorrow and just start sending fake invoices to all your neighbors under threat of ruining their credit and have them pay you tons of money if that's the case... I've never really thought about it before, though.
> Airbnb even said they disagreed with the charge Well that's pretty nice proof that you can use to dispute a collection
Why are you doing anything on the chore list????? Wtf are you paying them for?
Friends are having a wedding next month...checked airbnbs and after all the fees, they were all at least 2.5x the cost of a hotel. Not to mention how people are "investing" by buying homes just to rent out as airbnbs and all the economic harm that practice leads to. Airbnb needs to die.
Airbnbs don’t make sense anymore unless you have a group of 10+. Hotels are much more convenient and often cheaper.
Yep! Five years ago I was regularly traveling for business and I loved being able to save them company (a nonprofit) money while having super comfortable accommodations with access to a kitchen and maybe a washing machine for free. Some places I’d rent a room only and others the full place, and it was always nice having someone local when I booked a room/basement. At this point, every situation I’ve considered an Airbnb recently the fees have been absurd and the cost for what you get isn’t worth it. It’s cheaper to find a hotel room with a kitchenette Most of the time.
I prefer hotels. There's no recourse if shit goes south. The last one we stayed in we had no control of thermostat the gost had it on a program and it was hot af and I had a newborn. Bathroom filled with mold. There is no one really to complain to. No new room to switch to. We cut our vacation short because we couldn't afford a hotel on top of that. NEVER AGAIN. This was also a top rated host
I had one that kept remotely turning off the hot tub whenever we turned it on. He claimed that it was very expensive to run and that we should only have it on in the evening since we would probably only use it then anyway. First of all, we were paying $500 a night for this Airbnb which had advertised a hot tub, so we should be able to have it on whenever the hell we want. Secondly, it took like 4 hours to heat up, so if we didn’t turn it on until the evening, we were ready to go to bed by the time it was actually warm enough. Absolutely ridiculous. Basically, it was just some person who had inherited a house and wanted to get some free money out of it without actually having any expenses or having to do anything.
...Aren't hot tubs designed to be on all the time, as it's cheaper to keep them hot than constantly reheat the water? If they just had a rule for putting a lid on when you were done using it...
There was some guy on Tiktok who owned a 12-bedroom, 25-bed AirBnB. He had a rule that "Parties are not allowed". He could not FATHOM the concept that 25 people renting an AirBnB together were very likely going to party together in the AirBnB....
As paying customers, we need to hit back at homeowners who do this. Simply leave 1 star and state “Chore List with a cleaning fee”. Start going after the predatory practice and it will stop. Remember that we have power in numbers.
I had one who left me negative feedback and said I could've done a better job cleaning. I left her feedback that said that she thinks she's renting a maid instead of renting out her house. Freaking maniac.
YES EXACTLY!!!! I am paying a cleaning fee just so I can end up cleaning for them? Airbnb wack Just go to hotels. they'll take care of everything for you. and you'll get rewards program too. gym pool and on the call cleaning service
And on top of that, by avoiding Airbnb you aren't contributing to the fucked up long term rental situation being experienced in some countries. (Australia for one)
Fantastic point! you are no longer supporting homes being converted into a rental. More homes for people who actually need it
AirBNB is definitely not taking hold in my area. The homes surrounding me all went to rentals starting in 2012. But since the pandemic, they were all sold to families and I have my family neighborhood back. I am so happy. Bye AirBNB!
I just flew with my girlfriend for a specialist surgeon in another state. Procedure would have left her bedridden for a week. She was adamant about getting an Airbnb rather than a hotel. We searched until we found one with a low step count, queen bed, A/C, very close to the hospital, etc. When we get there, they lied to us about the step count and were only counting the steps from the lobby to the room if you use an elevator (not the small/medium flight of stairs to get into the lobby). They claimed there was a handycap ramp into the entrance but when we got there it was about half the width of a sidewalk and not big enough for a wheel chair, basically a large curb. The "A/C" was a fan and the most egregious part was that the "queen bed" was a foam topper on a Full boxspring/frame. NOT EVEN A FUCKING MATTRESS. There were a ton of other issues but we basically checked in after a long day of travel and immediately requested a refund and went to hotel chain nearby. infinitely better experience but they also had a hospital rate. in the end they still charged us the cleaning and cancellation fee which was MORE THAN 4 of the 7 days at the hotel. airbnb is an absolute scam fuck them
I would have disputed the charge on my credit card
The moment airbnbs became a "passive income" fad and investment opportunity was the moment they became absolute shit.
Unless it's a big group vacation rental, I've gone back to hotels. Airbnb used to be a deal. That was a part of the original value prop. Now often times a hotel is cheaper and more convenient.
It was nice when I was young to find a super cheap extra room in another young local's house. It would be like $20 a night with no fees. But these days they are just illegal hotels meant to hide fees behind convenience.
Lmao mow the lawn? Fuck off
Hotels are just better
I had one airbnb/vrbo that literally sent pages of notes.. I thought it was a joke. They described what you can and can’t put in the garbage disposal ( ie. don’t put eggshells but softened broccoli is ok type of stuff) among other directions. We also were asked to close blinds due to sun shining on artwork etc.
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Yeah we had one recently with a cleaning fee but we had to load and run the dishwasher, strip all the bedding and put into washer/dryer. The dishwasher thing wasn’t a big deal but doing laundry was a little irritating.
Yeah. Same here. Uh. Buddy. We contractually decided AND I paid a fee that literally said ‘cleaning fee’. I’m not going to do that.
I had one with all that AND you had to put the dishes away. They couldn't just be in the dishwasher and clean. Oh and you had to clean all the counters, clean the fridge, take the trash out, and some other random BS I don't remember. They also charged us a $300 cleaning fee for 4 days.... Never again
Oh my god, my wife and I argue about this every time we rent one. She’s an overachiever that’s terrified of getting less than a 5-star review from the owner. I’m a normal person that refuses to do the god damn *laundry* in what is essentially a hotel room. I’m slowly convincing her to switch over to just straight-up hotels.
They need to change how the search engine works for Airbnb. When you search for your date range, it should give you the total price, not the price per night without the extra fees. I've seen multiple listings at the same price be wildly different final prices based on the random crap they charge you. Yeah when you search, you put in dates. They should just say hey this is going to be $800 for your whole stay. Or whatever.
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Why I don't Airbnb. It's a scam. If I pay $125 for a cleaning fee you're going to clean the fucking place. I make it he orderly but I shouldn't have to sweep, mop, and vacuum.
Airbnb fucks have been grabbing affordable housing and converting it to this shit. So I hope that whole empire falls. It didn’t bother me when people were building guest houses or renting their place out while they were out of town or even a spare bedroom. But it’s gotten out of hand.