airbnb, C or D?

I called them step-brothers.

Don't know why I expect more from a single room single night stay in london than a man wearing only shorts opening the door and communicating in little more than grunts that the room is upstairs.

So just a room in someone's house? I don't think I knew that was a thing!

Utter classic, the future of holidaying

― imago, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 16:25 (nine years ago) bookmarkflaglink

innocent days

Really? We occasionally let a room in our old 3 bed flat and maybe there a still a few friendly families out there doing that but this definitely looked like a 'landlord has converted property into short term rentals' deal, perhaps with a couple of long term tenants to do the most perfunctory 'check in'.

xp indeed.

still using it this weekend for a one-night stay in todmorden as there really wasn't much in the way of hotels

but in general, booking hotels is at this point both nicer and cheaper than even an ethical cabin-in-the-garden airbnb

my issue with AirBNBs is snafus that happen that could never happen in a hotel.

one time, it was a multi-room AirBNB that had a self-entry lock on the door, but I couldn't get in because one of the other idiot tenants had locked the door with the second lock that had "DO NOT LOCK" written on it in tape. then he berated me, suggesting I wasn't really a tenant when he answered and I had to get the actual host to message everyone to say do not lock the door that says do not lock.

a second time, I put some stuff in the room to go to a concert, and then when I came back, the code stopped working on the door. the host wouldn't answer the phone so I had to give up and leave. thankfully all I left in there was contact lens solution. I got a refund though by disputing with Paypal lol

My experience has generally been very good. A couple of kind of funny ones--I once rented a "room" in Beverly Hills that was essentially a balcony converted to a very narrow sleeping space--but overall good and interesting experiences.

That said, I did have one situation that freaked me out--it was an entire apartment that I was supposed to have for a few days. I walked in, and it was obvious that someone was already staying there. There was a bag of warm food on the coffee table, the bed was unmade, the toilet (which was not flushing) was full of piss. I noped out of there immediately. On my way out, I noticed for the first time (still not sure why I didn't notice on my way in) that someone had splashed red paint on the front door.

I messaged the landlord and she never responded. I did get my money back.

had you seen the movie Barbarian first, y/n

I still haven't seen it lol

I don't think I've told my horrible air bnb story here.

This was the first Christmas during the pandemic, and the kids were stir crazy and we had to be outside to see the grandparents and everything kind of sucked anyways. We decided to surprise the kids by booking a cabin in the woods not far from my parents. They would be somewhere new, my parents could come by for easy visits, it would be a nice long weekend getaway. The place got good reviews and I booked it.

Christmas eve morning we tell the kids and they're so damn excited. We've already packed their bags, we load up and go. We get there and outside of the house there are a couple of trash bins and they are overflowing with trash. There are some muddy boots by the front door. A couple of dogs from a neighbor's yard run under the fence and start barking at us, but not overly aggressively. Okay, this is fine, this will be fun!

We get in and try to get comfortable. Each of our kids has a bedroom and my wife and I have a separate room. One of the kid's window unit heaters is so noisy that we can't use it. There are holes in the walls that you can see daylight through. There's a weird cabinet thing in the living room that has remnants of dog food in it. As we start getting into the kitchen stuff we're finding mouse droppings *everywhere*. The house is grimy. We find a hypodermic needle in my youngest daughter's closet, on the floor. The oven was disgusting, like somebody cooked a frozen pizza upside down on the rack and it all melted into the bottom. Switch plates are missing on the light switches with wires poking out. No clothes hangers in the closets. muddy dog footprints on the windows. The mattress in our room is the worst thing I have ever laid down upon. STILL, the kids are having fun because they're kids. I message with the owner, SCOOTER, and she is sort of apologetic, although she says that mouse droppings are something that happens with country living. I let her know that I grew up in this area and my home was not covered in mouse feces. She offers a refund, I say no, my kids are having fun, this is a Christmas present, let's try to make it work. She says that a cleaning lady can come over at 11am.

So we wake up, wash everything that we need to make breakfast several times, then move our stuff out so the cleaning lady can come in. We don't want to be in the house with the cleaning lady because of covid. The rough looking cleaning lady shows up at 10:45. We ask her to wait while we get out. We get out at 11:02. I have a message from SCOOTER, from 11:00, saying that the cleaning is complaining that we will not let her in. Because of this, she insists that we get out and she will give us a full refund. For some reason, I'm still trying to make this work but SCOOTER is having none of it. Because we have some sort of standards, she wants us the fuck out of there. By now, my parents have shown up to open presents and everything. I tell SCOOTER that we're going to do that, and we'll leave.

We pack up and leave. While on the way to Houston we find another Airbnb in Galveston that is actually nice and the kids have fun but I'm kind of a shit the rest of the weekend because I want to burn down SCOOTER's shitty cabin. I still want to burn it down.

I leave a review that details everything I wrote above, with photos, in a professional tone. In a prior, review, someone mentioned the dogs that came over and they knew the names of the dogs and it was implied that the dogs belonged to SCOOTER. So, in my review I mentioned SCOOTER's dogs. I received a notice that my review was being removed because it contained information that was not true. I called them up and said what the fuck. They said that those dogs did not belong to SCOOTER, and because I had information that was not true, the entire review was deleted. I could not edit the review or write a new review. I said what the fuck. They said tough shit.

So, fuck SCOOTER, and fuck Airbnb, I hope they both burn in hell. I just checked out her listing and all of the reviews are uniformly positive. I do not understand.

still using it this weekend for a one-night stay in todmorden as there really wasn't much in the way of hotels

Oh, I stayed in a really nice holiday apartment in Todmorden for Torfest last year - I think it's on airbnb but it looked like you could also rent directly from them. Just in case you need one again.

I've only ever used airbnb a few times and never had a terrible experience, but they do seem awful tbh. My feeling is that 'gig economy' stuff works okay on a v small scale, but once it spreads and becomes a normalised way of working, it's exploitative and shit. I guess the selling point when uber and deliveroo and airbnb first came into existence was that they were supposed to be 'side hustle' jobs, and they literally had no plan for becoming primary jobs (except to fuck over everybody and run away with a load of money).

xpost jesus christ. maybe she is getting ALL of the bad reviews taken down on 'misinformation'.

I am imagining Cow_Art's story being about HP Baxxter from Scooter, it's a bit more fun that way.

My feeling is that 'gig economy' stuff works okay on a v small scale, but once it spreads and becomes a normalised way of working, it's exploitative and shit

otm

SCOOTER: Those are rat droppings not mouse droppings. Please remove this review as it contains untrue information.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/46087930?source_impression_id=p3_1702480399_ceES%2BIjmOdGM90VI

Here's the place. Pretty sure those are the same photos from three years ago. It looks nice from the listing! Even the tetherball was gone when we were there. Just a rope dangling from a pole.

there was one time I stayed at a place as I was going to a Judas Priest show, and I was only at the place very shortly before the show. so I came back drunk, and the house was pitch black, and I was stumbling along with my phone flashlight (since I couldn't find the light switches), got to what I thought was my room, opened the door, to find another female guest lying in bed asleep. was fairly surprised because the listing had mentioned nothing of this being a shared space with other roommates, I had thought I had the place to myself.

I quickly backed out and shut the door, startled, then found my room. the next day, the Host asked me about it, as the guest had mentioned it to them (understandably!). I apologized for scaring the guest and said it was dark and thought it was my room but I'd accidentally opened the wrong door. He responded "Or maybe you were looking for some action?".

I said "you didn't even fucking indicate in the listing or in your email to me there'd be other guests, how could I have done it on purpose? I completely understand why the other guest was startled, I would be too if a complete stranger walked into my room. But you didn't tell either of us there would be other guests staying!"

he was apologetic.

xpost oh no re: tetherball!

One of my favorites was the carriage house in Sacramento that was completely decorated in a log cabin, Twin Peaks theme.

omg. would want to stay there. themed places can be great.

apparently lots of people rent via AirBNB that shouldn't/aren't allowed to? I stayed one place that was built like a hostel in Miami, and the owner wrote many times on the front page "don't ask about or mention Airbnb or ask neighbors where the Airbnb is, or I will put you off the proprety", and I didn't get why he'd be saying that, but then it seemed like maybe he lived somewhere where it was a violation to do Airbnb and he was afraid of getting shut down. but why write it so prominently on your listing? easy way to get caught, more discreet way of ensuring nobody asks about your Airbnb is making your home and parking instructions easy to follow.

"I'll do my best to make you feel very good here..if you want we'll go out together to events, etc.😊,"

The place only has one review, though it is a positive (and real-seeming) one

I get nervous about first time or relatively new hosts, but one of the best AirBnb experiences I had was renting a small apartment room smack in the middle of Times Square for like $90 a night. I showed up and the hosts handed me a glass of Shiraz and said "let's do a toast" on arrival

Cos I was their first ever guest

Wish I could find the old Spy Magazine article where the author stays at an under-the-table New York B & B where the host is doing naked yoga (this is long before Air B & B).

This place now has a second review, positive but uninformative.. Then I checked his review of the guest

"i enjoyed my time with Victor.. i showed him the place around and we were together in canyon, he loved it and he appreciated so much that i spent my day with him.."

I also enjoy being in canyon with my air b& b host

I canceled this as my work plans changed.

But separately we've just had a host cancel on us, or try to - she's asking us to cancel (so theres no penalty for her) due to something unforeseen happening with the apartment (and used the phrase force majeure), though its not for another 3 months

Despite the supposed unavailability of it he calendar both sides of our booking is still free to book and the price is now 2.5x what we paid. Pulling a fast one to free up the calendar to get bookings at 2.5x what we paid? But there are no bookings in the 6 weeks prior to ours, and no bookings at all afterwards, so no one is paying for it at that rate

Is there some event at the destination that would now allow for a 2.5x rate?

Highly unlikely, also it was for 36 days! Its a lot to lose/gain

I guess we have to cancel because otherwise get there and she's telling the truth and it really is unusable and then what. 3 months notice at least!

Don't cancel or acquiesce to the host. Air BNB has penalties for hosts who cancel on their guests, force them to go through that process. Also reach out to them and report the host. This host is slimy and the company is actually doing a lot to push back on them for exactly this kind of situation. It hurts their brand. A good friend of mine works for them, I see and hear a bunch of terrible shit hosts do and a lot people who work there are tired of it.

otm, they are doing the thing that incurs the penalty, so the penalty applies, and it's because the cancellation is a huge pain in the ass for you that AirBnB don't want it to happen

if it's force majeure or whatever, let her argue that with AirBnB

I definitely get it, and understand why she is asking me to do the canceling rather than doing it herself. But on the flipside, what actually happens if we get there and the reason really is "major renovations due to damage"? We're booked for over a month. Her calendar for weeks either side is bookable but she has no other bookings so if she's chasing a dollar she's chasing one that isn't there

Why would it be bookable on either side if it's going to be undergoing major renovations? Why are major renovations scheduled months in advance for exactly the time you booked? Make her cancel.

This conversation triggered memories of my last attempt to book airbnb which was a condo in Honolulu in 2016.

As soon as I booked the owner (who lived in AZ) replied back to me that she could get me an even better rate if I cancel and rebooked ASAP.

Me, a sucker, decided to follow her instructions and sure enough when I looked at the new rate it increased ~40% compared to my initial booking.

I immediately replied to her showing screenshots of the rate variance and the owner said it looked cheaper "on her side" and that she couldn't help me anymore.

I reported her to airbnb and then told the story to someone we knew at airbnb marketing at the time and we got vouchers for our trouble but yeah, that was the last straw. Hotel loyalty programs have their pros/cons but they are so much more stable and worthwhile in the long run.

and yes, I'm still mad!

Why would it be bookable on either side if it's going to be undergoing major renovations? Why are major renovations scheduled months in advance for exactly the time you booked? Make her cancel.

Its not a good look that its bookable, though thats theoretical as its not bookable without her accepting - and as there are no bookings either side I can't tell if she's turning down all other bookings or just no one is interested (also just noticed the dates after our stay are 2.5x more but the dates before are about 15% more)

I had a weird one I tried to book last year and the guy said we're not currently taking bookings and rejected it, I looked afterwards and the calendar remained competely open but also completely empty. The most recent review was from 2016

yeah like I've said above, AirBNBs can be (or at least, used to be) more affordable than hotels and be preferable in other ways (like not having to share a space with 500 other people), but some of the logistical nightmares that come up are very unique to AirBNB only and it's put me off of ever using it.

we used one in January where my friend booked it and he was told he'd get instructions on parking, as this was a crowded area, and those instructions never arrived (to be fair, my friend should have asked earlier in the day when he noticed this, but he forgot). he tried texting the guy late in the evening, but as expected, didn't get a response.

when we got into the house, the house had a sign that said you could park anywhere that said Guest parking or didn't have a number, so he moved his car to an unmarked spot. the next day, we saw the neighbor passive aggressively double parked him in, and he knocked on their door and they yelled at him for 'taking their space', even though it was an open space per the instruction given on the sign in the house.

the host gave my friend a semi-negative review for sending him messages late at night demanding him to answer (even though he texted, not called, and wasn't 'demanding' anything), never mind the fact that he never provided the instructions via AirBNB and the sign had bad instructions on it.

it feels like the whole platform is "advantage: hosts"

I don't think its necessarily that way, guests can cancel way more easily without penalty (ironically we were considering canceling this one anyway as plans might be changing), hosts have to jump through this hoop of asking us to do it (and what happens if we don't I'm not sure - we definitely wouldn't be doing if we were inside the no cancellation window of a month)

We've almost always had great Airbnb experiences, generally better than hotels, tbh. Though I know lots of places and communities are now pushing back against Airbnb, which makes us feel guilty for using them.

i mean the circumstances are kinda different though? as a guest, you're going to a strange city out of town and you need a place to stay, and nothing is scarier than getting into town and finding your lodging cancelled. it's easier for a host to fill a vacancy than for people who just got into town and suddenly have no lodging. esp if they're not permanently living in the house and have helpers doing the things like bedsheets/etc.

one of the reasons i quit using airbnb is that i much prefer the hard distinction btw customer & service provider at hotels. hotels arent perfect but they dont have this weird artificial social dynamic where youre paying them a lot of money but also sort of made to feel like theyre doing you a favor, never had a hotel manager message me like "hey can you do us a solid, it would save us an unnecessary fee if you did such-and-such". not my job as a customer to make it easier for anyone to make more money on their real estate investment.

Lol yea the chores are the real bullshit. I'll do chores if my stay is free

Like throwing shit away, ok, even in a hotel I do that, I don't expect people to clean up after me. But I ain't doing laundry

It's not called passive income for nothing!