Disgusted with Airbnb

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're longtime Airbnb fans and have stayed in Airbnbs all over the US, in the UK and France. We like the extra room, we like to cook, we like staying in residential neighborhoods, and we like having outdoor space. We honestly have never had a bad experience, but we only do superhosts with lots of reviews.

We’ve never had a problem either. The people that complain choose poorly. Or are going to complain no matter what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW I’ve left bad reviews on Airbnb that never publish. Sometimes you get a fab spot and others are beyond disgusting yet have great reviews- the space I rated low smelled like cat urine and damp.

It used to be a great way to travel. Less expensive and more homey.

I feel old writing this.

This - I don't risk it with AirBNB no matter the rating because of all the stories about how it was locked after their stay and they couldn't add/change a rating. I feel like people give better ratings than reality because they want good ratings as guests.

This. I've had two bad experiences and didn't even bother with a review. One was at a Virginia ski resort and the host was constantly trying to come in the house when we were there. We are a quiet family with 2 kids who are very neat. He was weird and annoying and had perfect reviews. Every appliance had problems and there were notes all over the place that we couldn't use this or that. The place was dirty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW I’ve left bad reviews on Airbnb that never publish. Sometimes you get a fab spot and others are beyond disgusting yet have great reviews- the space I rated low smelled like cat urine and damp.

It used to be a great way to travel. Less expensive and more homey.

I feel old writing this.

This - I don't risk it with AirBNB no matter the rating because of all the stories about how it was locked after their stay and they couldn't add/change a rating. I feel like people give better ratings than reality because they want good ratings as guests.

This. I've had two bad experiences and didn't even bother with a review. One was at a Virginia ski resort and the host was constantly trying to come in the house when we were there. We are a quiet family with 2 kids who are very neat. He was weird and annoying and had perfect reviews. Every appliance had problems and there were notes all over the place that we couldn't use this or that. The place was dirty.

Why didn’t you write a review then?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW I’ve left bad reviews on Airbnb that never publish. Sometimes you get a fab spot and others are beyond disgusting yet have great reviews- the space I rated low smelled like cat urine and damp.

It used to be a great way to travel. Less expensive and more homey.

I feel old writing this.

This - I don't risk it with AirBNB no matter the rating because of all the stories about how it was locked after their stay and they couldn't add/change a rating. I feel like people give better ratings than reality because they want good ratings as guests.

This. I've had two bad experiences and didn't even bother with a review. One was at a Virginia ski resort and the host was constantly trying to come in the house when we were there. We are a quiet family with 2 kids who are very neat. He was weird and annoying and had perfect reviews. Every appliance had problems and there were notes all over the place that we couldn't use this or that. The place was dirty.

Why didn’t you write a review then?!

because it was obvious the review process is crap. He had nothing but glowing reviews with false claims. People praised features that didn't exist. He had cameras inside the house including one bedroom that we covered up. It was clear many if not most of the reviews were fake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're longtime Airbnb fans and have stayed in Airbnbs all over the US, in the UK and France. We like the extra room, we like to cook, we like staying in residential neighborhoods, and we like having outdoor space. We honestly have never had a bad experience, but we only do superhosts with lots of reviews.

We’ve never had a problem either. The people that complain choose poorly. Or are going to complain no matter what.

I don’t leave bad reviews for anything, there is no benefit to me, and you run the risk of badgering, doxing, or stalking or worse from the host or provider. This is their livelihood, and you have no idea if your bad review will trigger a threshold like losing a star or whatever and now they can’t work. Just no upside for us as users, we just know to not use that service again.

[Anonymous]

I gave up both Airbnb and vrbo several years ago after similar experiences.

Just look at the other thread today where a host had the old AC break on some people in summer and doesn’t want to refund any money, just give a credit for a couple nights at their crappy place during the off season when nobody would want to visit anyway.

Never again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're longtime Airbnb fans and have stayed in Airbnbs all over the US, in the UK and France. We like the extra room, we like to cook, we like staying in residential neighborhoods, and we like having outdoor space. We honestly have never had a bad experience, but we only do superhosts with lots of reviews.

We’ve never had a problem either. The people that complain choose poorly. Or are going to complain no matter what.

I’d have thought the same until I experienced an issue. Really liked the host, their space was dirty and had multiple safety issues. It changed my Airbnb experience greatly. Had no problem for YEARS prior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're longtime Airbnb fans and have stayed in Airbnbs all over the US, in the UK and France. We like the extra room, we like to cook, we like staying in residential neighborhoods, and we like having outdoor space. We honestly have never had a bad experience, but we only do superhosts with lots of reviews.

We’ve never had a problem either. The people that complain choose poorly. Or are going to complain no matter what.

I don’t leave bad reviews for anything, there is no benefit to me, and you run the risk of badgering, doxing, or stalking or worse from the host or provider. This is their livelihood, and you have no idea if your bad review will trigger a threshold like losing a star or whatever and now they can’t work. Just no upside for us as users, we just know to not use that service again.

I had an absolutely shocking experience on vrbo where the host (with tons of all 5 star reviews!) literally stole a thousand dollars from us (it’s a long story but there was absolutely no question about it). I didn’t leave a review because of the reasons you said. Some people are really unstable and if we’re not getting the money back anyway then there’s no upside for me. And even to get the money back might not be worth the risk. They aren’t random store owners, they know a ton of stuff about us like our full names and address and kids names and whatever else we told them during conversation like where we work. And we already know they aren’t good people. It’s just not worth it.

[Anonymous]

I absolutely love AirBNBs and use them often. We just got back from using 5 separate ones on a driving vacation in Europe.

You have to look at the pictures extremely carefully. Ask for more pics if needed. I don’t like surprises. But if you do your homework you can have a lovely experience.

[Anonymous]

We only stay at hotels with kitchens. Everything is always clean and works.

[Anonymous]

We no longer use Air BnB or VRBO. There is little protection from this sort of thing. We’ve had some great experiences but also some poor ones. Not worth the risk and hassle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're longtime Airbnb fans and have stayed in Airbnbs all over the US, in the UK and France. We like the extra room, we like to cook, we like staying in residential neighborhoods, and we like having outdoor space. We honestly have never had a bad experience, but we only do superhosts with lots of reviews.

We’ve never had a problem either. The people that complain choose poorly. Or are going to complain no matter what.

I’d have thought the same until I experienced an issue. Really liked the host, their space was dirty and had multiple safety issues. It changed my Airbnb experience greatly. Had no problem for YEARS prior.

+1

Had no issues for years, then had a bad experience that made me see just how little leverage I have, or resolution there is, if there IS a problem. We stick to hotels now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a really bad experience also and so now we stick with hotels.

Yep, me too. Hotels and traditional rental homes.

What does this mean? Like VRBO or something else?

[Anonymous]

Why would you want to stay at somebody else's house for vacation? Cheap guest and cheap host.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The protected hosts and screwed guests at the beginning of Covid. Haven’t used them since.

Us too.