Disturbing Air BnB Article

[dixonge]

By the end of the year, I will have 15 AirBnB stays under my belt, plus a couple booked under my wife's account and a couple where a friend booked it. It takes awhile to figure out the best way to avoid problem properties or hosts.

One recent stay was interesting. We knew ahead of time that we were going to be in a subdivision off the end of an airport runway, but reviews indicated the plane noise was minimal. This turned out to be true. The only surprise was that the neighborhood was about 100+ apartment buildings. Not an ideal location, but fine for one night.

The apartment itself was immaculate, well-decorated and well-supplied. And cheap as hell.

We have had a few weird scenarios, but most of our stays are in Mexico so weird isn't that unusual haha

[mountainsoft]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut My understanding is that neither AirBnB host or customer sees the other persons review until both have been filed with the parent company. This would seem to make a revenge review unlikely. I have used AirBnb several times and not had what I consider a significant problem.

Same here. We have used AirBnb several times and not had any major issues. But I always read reviews and examine photos thoroughly, and sometimes even do a Google street or satellite view to confirm where a place is located.

We did stay at one place last year that hadn't been cleaned when we arrived. We stayed in a hotel that night, contacted the owner who apologized for the miscommunication with the cleaning crew, and he refunded the cost of our hotel stay (which was more than the cost of his rental). We stayed the rest of our vacation in his rental once it had been cleaned, and really enjoyed it. I described all of this in my review and I just checked to see that it was still posted on his property listing.

Personally, I'm not bothered by dinged up furniture or missing kitchen utensils, as long as the place is clean and safe. Some renters must really abuse the places they rent because owners frequently comment on how nicely we left their home when we check out. I usually leave a note for the owner when we discover issues (safety issues, missing dishes, toilet paper low, etc.), but I'm not sure if they fix anything I mention.

My only gripe with these types of rentals are the cancellation policies. I've only had to cancel a couple times but the loss can be significant, anywhere from one nights expense to the entire trip. This certainly isn't limited to AirBnb, as a big chain hotel refused to refund our reservation earlier this year when we couldn't make it due to mother-in-law's heart attack. Still, hotels usually have better refund policies than AirBnb owners. Some owners are stricter than others, so now I really pay attention to the refund policies when booking a property.

I like that we can stay in some really unique places through AirBnb that we would never find in a hotel. We've stayed on a tugboat, in a fire tower, in a cave, over a cannery above a river, in a tree house, and more...

[OldShooter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainsoft ... My only gripe with these types of rentals are the cancellation policies. ...

Unless something has changed, cancellation policies are set by each host. When we were driving in Norway and a little uncertain about timing and intinerary we looked for 24 hour cancellation policies. That's pretty generous IMO as the host is unlikely to get another booking so quickly. As it turned out we didn't have to cancel anywhere.

If I wanted to stay in a property with a cancellation policy I couldn't live with I would try to negotiate something better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainsoft ... I like that we can stay in some really unique places through AirBnb that we would never find in a hotel. We've stayed on a tugboat, in a fire tower, in a cave, over a cannery above a river, in a tree house, and more...

Agreed. When we have to stay in a sterile and anonymous box in a stack of such boxes we consider it to be a major lodging failure.

In addition to the places, we have enjoyed many of the hosts. Our host in Marrakesh was a freelance software engineer and was glad to guide us for the day we were there. We paid him a normal guide rate, of course, but it was not like having some anonymous stranger for a guide. More like having a nephew in the town. He also was happy to give us a ride to the airport at Oh Dark Thirty. In Bergen the host(ess) made us dinner and also drove us to the airport with us offering and paying normal taxi fare. In many other places we have enjoyed breakfasts with interesting people. Many are in it for the fun of meeting new guests, not just for money.

As I said in at previous post, it is the never-seen, for-profit, multiple-property hosts that are sucking much of the pleasure out of AirBnB. Too bad but hard to prevent.

[brett]

Last month in Greece we stayed in a condo for five days. It came up on booking.com. We looked at the tripadvisor reviews then searched for the owner on line.

We did find it. The place was listed on booking.com and apparently on airbnb.

We did the deal directly with the owner. We paid cash, as agreed, when we arrived. It was close to the end of season. Our cash price was just under 30 percent less than the booking.com price. Big difference was we could see before we committed. Of course, everyone likes cash with no paper record...especially in Greece, Cyprus, and Italy.

[kgtest]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldShooter Oh, please don't do that. Those of us who read and consider the reviews carefully really want to know what you think. As an aside, I think the emergence of "professional" hosts who are really running tiny hotel chains has done a lot to reduce the overall quality of AirBnB lodgings. Not to the point, at least yet, where it will not be our first choice for lodgings but we are more wary than we used to be.

I just feel like it would be petty. Inadequate silver and dinnerware, no available propane tank (I bought my own and later just returned it totally discenctivized to grill after seeing paultry silverware and missing bbq utensils).

The shower didn't have a fan, I feel in FL that is a must.

The AC was working OT but it somewhat kept up, poorly insulated older home which I should probably assume and look up beforehand next time.

Dirty Silverware trays and drying racks. There was some other tenant or guest or something who lived or was living in the smaller unit with a dog, which was fine but would have been nice to know it's multiple occupancy shared spaces.

But the price was right, I think it was like less than $70 a night and I sorta chalked this one up to "you get what you pay for".

The one really super big bonus, it was in an impressive location, right off the main drag, and I could literally and did jog to Mar-A-Lago. Close to a pharmacy, wal-mart, and some decent dining within walking distance and close to the A1A! I love S FL!

[kgtest]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett Last month in Greece we stayed in a condo for five days. It came up on booking.com. We looked at the tripadvisor reviews then searched for the owner on line. We did find it. The place was listed on booking.com and apparently on airbnb. We did the deal directly with the owner. We paid cash, as agreed, when we arrived. It was close to the end of season. Our cash price was just under 30 percent less than the booking.com price. Big difference was we could see before we committed. Of course, everyone likes cash with no paper record...especially in Greece, Cyprus, and Italy.

When I travelled to NZ I learned this trick. Quaint little lakeside 2 level motel, lady says if I had just rang her we would have saved 30% off the booking.com rate.

So know I do that first.

[OldShooter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgtest I just feel like it would be petty. Inadequate silver and dinnerware, no available propane tank (I bought my own and later just returned it totally discenctivized to grill after seeing paultry silverware and missing bbq utensils). The shower didn't have a fan, I feel in FL that is a must. The AC was working OT but it somewhat kept up, poorly insulated older home which I should probably assume and look up beforehand next time. Dirty Silverware trays and drying racks. There was some other tenant or guest or something who lived or was living in the smaller unit with a dog, which was fine but would have been nice to know it's multiple occupancy shared spaces. But the price was right, I think it was like less than $70 a night and I sorta chalked this one up to "you get what you pay for". The one really super big bonus, it was in an impressive location, right off the main drag, and I could literally and did jog to Mar-A-Lago. Close to a pharmacy, wal-mart, and some decent dining within walking distance and close to the A1A! I love S FL!

You get to decide, of course, but to me as a potential renter your exact words here would be valuable. If you lead with your last paragraph maybe you would feel that it sounds less petty.

In general, I read the negative reviews first. I'd like to know what made customers unhappy. Many times it is trivial stuff that I don't care about. Other times not so much. OTOH the glowing reviews usually don't give me much additional information and may even be fake. So again, I would love to see a review like you just drafted.

[ransil]

all these AirbnB everyone is staying at are these shared spaces or private houses,condos, guest houses or someone converted garage?


When looking in south Fl all i see is renting a bedroom from the home owner, or renting a bedroom in a house with other airbnb guests sharing common space that seem creepy to living with a stranger for a week.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ransil all these AirbnB everyone is staying at are these shared spaces or private houses,condos, guest houses or someone converted garage? When looking in south Fl all i see is renting a bedroom from the home owner, or renting a bedroom in a house with other airbnb guests sharing common space that seem creepy to living with a stranger for a week.

No, I would never rent anything but an entire apartment or house. You can specify that on AirBnB.

[Teacher Terry]

We have rented either separate apartments attached to a house or a cottage in the backyard. I wouldn’t rent a bedroom in someone’s house.

[OldShooter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ransil all these AirbnB everyone is staying at are these shared spaces or private houses,condos, guest houses or someone converted garage? ...

Yes.

Like @braumeister, though, we look for private quarters with our own bath. We have stayed in basement apartments in our hosts' home, an extremely nice master bedroom/bath suite where our hosts had moved to the smaller bedroom, an apartment in Oslo where the host simply moved to his girlfriend's apartment when he had the place rented, and a beautiful but small mother-in-law house built stand-alone in a Vancouver host's back yard. We were just in Des Moines for a wedding and DW found a whole house that slept 11, pretty much perfect since our whole extended family was there. Couples, kids, etc.

We start by searching for the location, then setting the sort for most expensive first. After passing by the palaces, 8-room houses, etc. we generally get to the type of accommodations we and @braumeister like. If they save us money, fine, but that is not the objective of the exercise. It is the cheaper options on the list that start to be guest bedrooms/shared spaces. The name AirBnB is rooted in a paradigm where the guest sleeps on an air bed in the host's living room. Those days are pretty much gone, I think.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry I wouldn’t rent a bedroom in someone’s house.

We almost always get our own self contained unit, but one time we briefly shared an Airbnb (separate bathrooms) apartment in Barcelona with a young multi-tattooed German couple, (he played bass in a punk rock band).

They came in late at night, and crept in so as not to wake us, and we crept out early in the mornings so as not to wake them.

Before they checked out they cleaned the entire place. Nice kids.

[Sunset]

We only have rented 2 times.

The first was cheap, and safe, but parking & bathroom was not as described. Plus it turned out the person kicked the kids out of the bedroom so we could have it. Making the kids sleep in the livingroom while she rented out 2 of the 3 bedrooms.
Basically in my view forcing us to contribute to endangering her children (bit extreme but certainly unpleasant for kids to sleep on the couch).

I would have written an honest review pointing out these type of things, but found out you have to review within 2 weeks. So couldn't review.

That listing disappeared 6 months later.

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I have used Airbnb in Europe more than 20 times, and never had something as egregious and outright fraudulent as the article describes. Could it be worse in the US than elsewhere? When shopping, I tried to look for a place with more reviews. It may not be fair to a newer listing though, and a new host has to set a low price to lure people and to build a reputation.

I don't think your takeaway should be that you're bound to get screwed in the US, or that you're safe in Europe. I've probably used it a dozen times in the US and never had something like this either. Most or all of the stories in the article were due to a single set of scammers, wasn't it? Your tip of trying to use places with lots of reviews is good but I've also stayed at one that had just one review and it was fine.

[JoeWras]

AirBnB, Uber, Lyft, VRBO. It is like a weird back to the future. Innkeepers and taxi drivers had all the regulations to follow to protect the consumer. (And for the state/municipality to collect taxes.)

Not with this new gig economy.

[ncbill]

No problems with weekend stays, but last AirBnB experience was for a week, booked a year in advance for an event where location was critical...needed to be able to walk to the event from the home.

Good reviews, but what I missed was there were not recent reviews when I booked.

Only after our party of 6 arrived after 8 hours on the road we learned the landlord had fallen for some sob story and had been letting a tenant live there essentially for free for the previous year.

Said tenant was a major hoarder, and so despite some last minute cleanup by the landlord (still taking place as we arrived) we also had to haul a lot of trash/recycling to the curb, but even then the place was left ridiculously cluttered.

Gave them a "3".

[kcowan]

We have had good luck with airbnb. We had a place in Lucca where the handheld shower head had the mount on the wall pulled off and they would not respond to fix it.

In other places, some kitchen utensils were lacking buy they were easily replaced (we stay of a minimum one week). I always make my improvement suggestions directly to the owner and not in the ratings. Once was for BBQ utensils and cleaning procedures.

Superhosts have always been "super". We have discovered fraudulent listings but airbnb has been helpful getting them removed.

[SunBlueSky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry I wouldn’t rent a bedroom in someone’s house.

The bedroom suite I rented in outskirts of London was in the upstairs (3rd floor) of a very nice home with a family. Being single, I felt comfortable based on the photo of the hostess and her description of her family (1 high school age girl at home). Reviews included homey and nice family feel, so I took a chance and was very happy.

It was my first and only AirBnB, and it wasn't my first choice: my first choice lodgings (friend of friend) had a last minute emergency and could not accommodate me (I found out as I turned on my phone in UK...)

[dirtbiker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover I’m a big fan of AirBnB, but found this article rather unsettling. It seems that some well oiled scams have been set up to take advantage of AirBnB’s lax vetting and complaint follow up. Ironically, the fact that hosts rate guests keeps people from leaving a bad review even when they have been duped. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4...scam-on-airbnb

Update today on this article:

"Update 11/1/19: The morning after this article was published, the FBI contacted VICE about the claims made above."

I started using airbnb solely as a cheaper alternative to hotels, but have found that I much prefer renting an actual apartment with kitchen, bedrooms, etc. to a boring hotel room. Though having a front desk, pool, etc. in a hotel is nice, granted. Since using airbnb for the first time a couple of years ago, I've stopped using hotels entirely. I prefer renting an apartment. I also like 'living like the locals do' when in a foreign country.

I always try to book with a superhost first, if I can find a reasonable price in a good part of a city. If not, I'll only book with someone with several good reviews. I ALWAYS read through the reviews, good, and, especially, bad, before booking. I'm willing to pay a bit more for a place from a superhost, as we've only had overwhelmingly positive experiences with them.

I also only pay with my credit card, so I have an extra avenue to seek reimbursement if things go south.

The only 'bad' experience I've had was one I booked last week. This weekend I'm going to Gdansk, Poland. I booked the place for tomorrow night, and this morning I got an email that my reservation was canceled, with no explanation as to why, and then I had to scramble to find a new one. However, airbnb issued me a credit equal to 10% of the cost of the initial booking for my trouble. I easily found another airbnb apartment in a similar location that was actually a bit cheaper, plus I had the credit to put towards it. So, not a big deal, fortunately. I'll just have to make sure to keep a close eye on my credit card statement this month to make sure that I don't get double charged.

In the end, I know that there are certain risks to using airbnb, but I'm willing to accept these risks. I've also had bad experiences with hotels before; nothing is risk-free.

[SunBlueSky]

Meant to include that this was a Super Host.