Hi, I want to share our Airbnb experience to make you all aware of what to do in case the listing is not as expected! We recently bought a new home and due to the supply chain issues the completion date got pushed to April last week. We have a toddler so decided to rent Airbnb until our house is ready instead of staying at a hotel (my spouse and I both are Marriot elite members). In the first week itself, there was water leakage in the property which we took care of by putting paper towels and informing the host. the next day something in the house started stinking. We told the host, and they verified and came back with an air purifier and freshers. On day 3, the smell worsened and they conducted an inspection to see if the smell is due to water collection in another part of the house and were advised to do a Mold inspection as there is a possibility. The main cause of the smell was found and was partially fixed at that time. All this while I kept the Airbnb support team informed of what is going on and the best help they offered was the options my host offered which was to either take a refund or stay at their other property for 1 week until they fix the water leakage issues here. We declined because what we needed was a permanent solution as we have a lot of stuff and cannot move again and again. Today when the mold inspection finally happened, it was confirmed that there indeed is mold in the house. I asked Airbnb to help me find another property and they refused! Their best offer was to refund for the remaining night (as they do not want the host to lose money!) and send us links to new properties in the area which may/may not be more expensive than what we already paid!!! I mean seriously! How can this company be so spineless! The only penalty for the host is that they will get flagged for violation if more such complaints are made against them! In this whole scenario me/the guest is the only one at loss! This is going to be my last stay with them however I do want to share the learnings from this experience: 1) Stay at a hotel! It's cheaper and you earn points! For hotels, you are the sole party they need to take care of unlike Airbnb, which needs to take care of the host as well as the guest. 2) If you end up booking with Airbnb and have an issue, try your best to resolve it with the host. That's your best bet! Airbnb WILL ALWAYS favor hosts over guests! No matter how unfair it is! We luckily got a good host who helped us in this situation. We got a home to stay and they get a good review for helping! if Airbnb doesnt care about doing the right thing then why should I! 3) Do not make another booking until your host and Airbnb are aligned that you will be fully refunded. The ultimate say in conflicts is of the host.
I do like staying in Airbnb but when there are issues, they definitely favor hosts. So it's a bit of a gamble where you hope things don't go wrong.
Your power is review. One such review can almost destroy this host because people won’t be wiling to pay for this one over other 4.5 ratings. Since AirBnb doesn’t have many reviews for each house, people tend to read the reviews. If they find your review, it is a bummer for them. Whatever management company the host is using (or if they are doing themselves), they are making a big mistake (unless all the other airbnb houses nearby sucks - I doubt).
I understand what you mean but here my issue is not with the host because ultimately the host was the one to help me out here with another accommodation for my remaining stay. I won’t be able to give them a bad review but I certainly would let others reading my review know how unreliable Airbnb is. Airbnb’s strategy to side with the income generator/the hosts V/S the income/the guests is short sighted! I know it doesn’t matter now but it will matter later if they do the same with other guests as well! Which from reading other blogs and sites is already happening. And that’s what I want to highlight here - Airbnb may look like an easy choice when you are looking for accommodations but know that it is the least reliable option. Hotels and short term leasing are much reliable options than Airbnb! Airbnb wants to look good on paper by saying we care about the safety of guests and things like molds are taken very seriously but the bottom line is they don’t! They never even reached out to my host despite the fact that I shared the pictures and results from home inspections! So beware when you next time book with them!
Yeah
This is what happens when tech monopolies kill all competition to become industry leaders. Bow down to your new overlords.
Airbnb did offer you refund and stay at their other property right ? And for the days that you have already stayed, even hotel will not be able to refund you for those days. I don’t see the problem why Airbnb is at fault here. They tried their best to refund you the amount for remaining nights and also tried helping you to find the other property. Then why this buzz all about ?
No, Airbnb never offered me another property to stay at. They offered to help me find another property by sending the links which could cost more as I would be looking for a stay starting on the same day. Had they offered me another location without charging extra you wouldn’t be seeing this post. I had been patient with the whole process of repairs and inspection for a week which I wouldn’t have faced if I had gone with staying at a hotel. The least Airbnb could have done was to offer a similar property with no extra charge.
Sure. For such scenario I am sure Airbnb feedback team will be looking at . Thank you so much for reporting this !
U r expecting and demanding a lot. Y r u expecting tenant rights ? The host has no obligation to house u. It's free market. U r supposed to take refund n move on. Instead u r forcing host to repair because u want cheaper accomodation and declining all reasonable options given. Talk Abt having cake n eating it too. Plus living in moldy home damaging health.
This comment is as juvenile as the writing style! Firstly, that's Airbnb’s business model - charge people for short/long term accommodation with hosts who abides by the standards set(including providing a mold-free home) by the firm. Secondly, Airbnb homes are not cheap! I'm paying 3x more than an apt of the same size and 2x more than a hotel room! Lastly, my issue is with Airbnb and not the host. My host actually turned out to be more reliable than Airbnb!
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Lots of buildings have short term leases too if you don’t want to stay at a hotel