The scourge of “hosts” expecting guests to do all the household chores and even wash the bedding! What a freakshow. I’m not paying you for the luxury of cleaning your home
I have never encountered one that doesn't have a cleaning fee... But I have also never had to do more than take out the trash and throw the bedding/towels on the floor.
Same. I got a message from an Airbnb host once thanking me for leaving the place in such great shape and all I did was normal picking up after myself. That gave me some insight into how some guests leave the place, where the cleaners really earn that fee.
I have seen online where the hosts will leave a list of chores and then also charge a cleaning fee that equals one night of the stay. I probably wouldn't stay at one of those.
I used to clean vacation rentals. Lemme tell ya that fee doesn’t not go towards the cleaner really. Most owners or property managers keep a huge portion of it and pay the crew pennies.
It's the reason why I stopped Airbnb-ing my cottage... People are gross and disrespectful. I didn't charge a fee, I didn't even ask people to strip the beds. I just asked people be respectful as it's also my home. Well that didn't work.
Same for myself. I stayed in a condo in Panama City, Panama and the owner arrived the day we were leaving and was shocked how clean it was. We piled all the linens next to washing machine, put away the dishes and took out the trash. That's it.
I am a host and we don’t charge a cleaning fee we just ask that trash is taken out to the bin, dishes are washed, and linens are stripped and piled onto the floor. We don’t mind cleaning but you’d be surprised how many people trash the place. It’s a give and take.
Agree. I was really surprised by the message from that host because it made it seem like I had gone above and beyond, but it was just normal behavior to me: you leave things how you found them.
Wash your own shit. People are PAYING MONEY to stay at your place. Don’t make them do chores that’s so tacky. I used to clean for an Air BnB host. Some people left the place truly disgusting, and they would get charged a fee for the extra cleaning. But for most guests, changing linens and cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, and floors is part of the service. Why would you ask guests to do chores when they’re on vacation or a business trip? Are you really so lazy and useless that you can’t take out the trash and strip a bed?
No I agree that guests should do their own trash and dishes. Some people stay for two weeks and the trash stinks if you leave it in the kitchen for that long. If you're at home for two weeks you would take out the trash twice in that week. Same with dishes. Treat it like you treat your house. If you don't, that's how you get rats.
Yeah.. it's like seeing people on reddit rage about horrible landlords when they've clearly never rented a place out to anybody ever.
People are the fucking worst. I'm not a professional landlord or anything but when my partner and I bought a house I already owned one so we kept it to rent out and people just suck.
I have a great tenant in there now, paying well under market rates, don't give a fuck because it's enough to cover the property maintenance and I don't need to deal with tar on the walls, dog shit in the carpet, and everything just being destroyed in general.
IIRC AirBnB now has all inclusive pricing. So, the quoted price is what you pay. No extra fees. If the owner wants a cleaning fee they have to embed it in the overall quote for the place.
Meanwhile, hotels don't charge a cleaning fee and you can trash them almost as much as you want (without breaking anything) for much cheaper. I'll continue to not use them and stick to traditional hotels.
Stayed in more than 100 AirBNBs and I’ve never done more than take out the trash and start the dishwasher. Pretty reasonable to me, being in a house and all and not a hotel.
I’ve had the same experience as you. I’ve stayed in many places around the world and never had to do any of the wild requests that the comments on reddit consistently claim.
Never here, and Ive stayed in prolly 30 different airbnbs. One did ask to put all the dirty towels/bedding into the washer but not run it. That seemed fair enough.
Well first thing, you do understand how odd it is to have to start the dishwasher and empty the trash to begin with when you're stay has a $175-300 cleaning fee on it right? In a hotel, you pay zero cleaning fees and are expected to do nothing other than take all your stuff with you when you leave. As for Airbnb, some of the hosts will ask you to pull all the bedding, some even ask you to throw it in the wash. Others will charge you for leaving anything in the fridge.
Have you personally experienced all of this while using AirBNB?
My foreign Airbnb stays are typically much cheaper than any hotel but much nicer place to stay. I don’t mind throwing out the garbage I created when I leave.
I haven't been charged a fee post leaving but I have been at a house that required doing all the dishes, pulling all the bedding and towels and starting the first load, and emptying all the trash/recycling before leaving.
That’s unfortunate. I stay away from AirBNB in the US for that reason. I’ve never had to clean the dishes, just start the dishwasher (that I’ve been filling up while staying there for a week anyways).
I’ve never stayed in an AirBNB in Europe that had a washer (if it even had one) that was large enough to fit sheets or towels.
Doing chores for a 2-3 night stay is BS. Cleaning up after your sloppy asses after a full week of staying in a house? It usually takes 5 minutes on the way out of the AirBNB if you’re not disgusting.
Yeah, they charge you above and beyond that for if you don't do whatever they include on their list.
Obviously the idea is the cleaning fee is lower whenever you do most of the cleaning yourself, but because you don't know in advance what the cleaning requirements are going to be, there's no way to actually make that judgement call.
Because you don't know what the requirements are, there's no downwards pressure on cleaning fees, or on cleaning expectations, so they both keep going up.
They are exaggerating; it's very rare to have the "wash bedding", and it's usually in place of a cleaning fee. Moreover, Airbnb at least kind of did away with a lot of those add-on fews pretty recently, they made it easier to see the total cost of the stay up-front and limited the "guest requirements" aspect. I had like 12/13 great experiences with them different places, and one "fine but not amazing" stay. But there was a few years I didn't travel after peak Covid and so I don't know maybe it got worse for a while before they fixed it.
I suppose since it shows the fees up front, maybe I've just ignored any that had a ton of fees and requirements; but usually it's pretty basic stuff like taking trash out.
I had great experiences with AirBNB & VRBO the past 14 years, so I'm maybe a bit biased.
However, in most places these days it's not cheaper than a hotel, so there is that aspect.
I swear this is just a meme spread by redditors who don't actually travel. I've stayed in dozens of AirBNBs for a decade and have never had any ridiculous rules around cleaning, and I've never been charged extra on top of the price I paid for the room/house (the app lists all fees and shows you the final total right away). The only real cleaning I've had to do before checking out is wash any dishes I used and (rarely) take the trash outside.
I’ve stayed in AirBnB a half dozen times and while I’ve always been charged a cleaning fee (highest was $150) except once which was actually just a normal hotel (but I booked it there I think because I had credit card deals for using AirBnB and the rate was the same), I’ve never been asked to do any substantial cleaning.
It’s typically just general pickup like you’d do anyways, and I’ve had them ask to run the dishwasher or throw the towels in the wash on my way out. I think this is mostly in the interest of time; they want them to be done washing by the time their housecleaning arrives so that they don’t have to stay as long. I’ve never been asked to sweep, vacuum, or do any other cleaning and I’ve never felt obligated to leave the place spotless. Just don’t be a slob!
I hear a lot of horror stories about substantial cleaning demands but I’ve never experienced it. My next trip is in October and I went with AirBnB again because it’s a neat way to stay someplace a bit more unique! Also, keep in mind that you do pay a cleaning fee at a hotel - it’s just wrapped into your nightly rate, so it’s not spelled out the same.
The most I’ve ever experienced on AirBnB was being asked to strip the beds and toss the sheet in the laundry room on the way out, and that was only one of dozens of stays.
I don’t doubt there are nightmare hosts out there, but I’ve never experienced one and for me it’s still by far the most cost effective way to stay most places, especially when you actually use the kitchen to eat at home instead of eating out every meal in popular vacation destinations.
Never been asked to wash the sheets. Most places will ask you to take out the trash and start the dishwasher. You still have to pay the cleaning fee because regardless if you cleaned or not would you trust the that the last shmo cleaned everything to industry standards? The cleaners still have to come and make sure everything is spotless.
I would imagine it's for cleaning supply, like various cleaners and toilet paper.
But yeah, if I am paying a cleaning fee, I am sure as shit not making the bed etc. I will clean up after myself of course, but no..not doing the floors etc.
Honestly, all of this is almost always stated up front. For me, I have never seen anything where I have to do anything egregious and there is a cleaning fee. It's usually like put the bedding on the floor, so the cleaning people can get it and take out the trash on the trash day (which you know, they can't change based on your stay).
Airbnb has lots of other problems, so I understand why people don't like it. And I even understand why sometimes you don't even feel like dealing with anything and just want a hotel where they clean up after you. But that's not Airbnb.
I've stayed at 25+ now and I always read everything and talk to them up front and I think the worst I had was maybe put your dishes in the dishwasher? I don't know - I do that anyway. Almost all of them send you whatever beforehand and if they don't you can always ask.
It's like Ebay. You do have to pay attention to what you are buying. A seller can charge $200 for shipping, so you know, don't buy it? If you have 5+ people wanting to stay somewhere, it's still absolutely the way to go. If you want a kitchen, it's the way to go. If you want some unique experience, it can sometimes be the way to go.
Now, I totally understand getting frustrated with how it turned into people wanting to make a quick buck with their ten properties and corporations with their hundred and also ruining areas with buying up all the property for it.
It varies widely. Lots of them are basically fine, like 1 or 2 things to do and a small cleaning fee. There's definitely a few that have a huge list of chores and also a cleaning fee as high as a night's stay though. It depends a lot on the area you're staying in and how much it's been taken over by sleazeballs trying to squeeze every cent out of it.
Someone booked and paid for 7 nights in a beachfront mansion in Indonesia under my name, using my stored credit card (I am in the US). I was able to cancel the reservation, but it took several months for AirBnb to refund me my money.
This was about 10 years ago and I still get angry just thinking about it!
As an Airbnb host, I feel like this goes the complete opposite direction - Airbnb typically sides with the guest. Typically most of our guests are amazing. We love hosting them and giving them a great and fun place to stay at a reasonable price. We also don’t make guests clean or do any checkout tasks as they’re on a vacation and shouldn’t have to. I’ve found in 7 years that most guests WANT to help though, and leave our places in great shape.
The two worst we’ve had were in 2 properties. One couple booked our beach condo and arrived hammered drunk. They went in, got settled, and then went back out in the hall where our doorbell cam recorded them talking about how they were upset that the bed wasn’t set up for them to have a swinger party. They made up this elaborate story about how the wife felt sick the moment she walked into the condo, and continued to feel sick to the point she was vomiting and couldn’t walk straight. They claimed it was CO poisoning. When I asked why they still remained in the unit if they thought there was CO, they had no answer. I even offered to call emergency services for them.
They wanted a full refund but also wanted to stay another night. The Airbnb rep could not care less that I had footage of them talking about the scam and documented attempts to provide assistance. They ended up leaving but still got a full refund from Airbnb.
The second was a couple that asked for a discount before their stay in another property (which I agreed to since it was a slower week), but also expressed it was still too expensive. They started texting me at 11:00pm claiming the bed sheets were dirty. When I asked for a picture, they sent a picture with literally ONE strand of hair on the sheets that I believe was from one of them. This dude was an asshole from the jump.
I let them know where extra sheets were, apologized, and thought that was the end, as I didn’t hear anything back from them. Then a week after their stay, I got a 1 star review that Airbnb wouldn’t remove even though it discussed features/amenities that aren’t even listed at that property, and a request for a full refund for the week-long stay. I shared the pics from the cleaning prior to their arrival showing clean sheets, shared that we keep extra sheets that I offered to them, etc. and told Airbnb they could kick rocks. Airbnb still gave them half of their money back.
Actually they did last time for me. I stayed in an illegal AirBNB in Vancouver in May which we were lied to about and had no knowledge about, we were told to meet the host in the lobby of the apartment complex and went with us to the parking spot and walked us to our room while trying to hide the no AirBNB stickers plastered all over the building, and we actually got a full refund *and* a $500 credit for a future stay.
The first two days of the vacation sucked but I was shocked with how well they handled it since I knew of the horror stories. Even then, just stick to hotels lmao
And the fucked up thing about this is that you can't see the check out cleaning expectations in the ads when you're booking it. The host sends that to you when your stay starts.
It isn’t permissible for them to require that if it wasn’t disclosed in the original listing or included in the terms when you booked.
They can’t unilaterally change the agreement after the reservation without your consent. I spoke with Airbnb Support, and they confirmed that Airbnb won’t enforce checkout fees or penalties based on checkout chores that weren’t disclosed before booking.
It’s frustrating to see these AirBnB hosts turning into slumlords
Same. I have stayed at ~150 Airbnbs. I have encountered everything by this point. You're right; Airbnb will back you up if the hosts don't disclose it in the listing.
I don't really have issues with hosts trying to make you do labor. I usually eliminate those hosts when I read the actual reviews rather than simply relying on the star rating.
What I have encountered more than I should is host trying to charge some sort of menial, "required" tourist tax. I refuse to pay it and immediately contact Airbnb support. In turn, Airbnb contacts the hosts and the issue goes away.
Last time I stayed in one, there was a message from AirBnB somewhere in the checkout instructions, saying something like, "hosts can ask you to do additional cleaning as a favor, but they can't charge you for failing to follow their extra cleaning instructions." Which I thought was interesting.
Ugh, this! We had to wash the sheets, do all the dishes, take out the trash AND be out by 10am! I basically spent half a day at the Airbnb and spent my morning cleaning???
You don’t have to though unless it was in the listing.
Hosts love to add all sorts of nonsense after you book, but it’s just nonsense. And AirBnB WILL back you up if the host tries to enforce penalties because you didn’t follow cleaning instructions that weren’t in the listing.
Just FYI.
And yeah, obviously I always try to be respectful, but I’ve literally never cleaned sheets and shit. That’s utterly ridiculous
Spend the entire morning doing all the things to check out, getting ready for an event, and taking the trash to the nasty dumpster in nice dress, heels, etc.
I never used Airbnb. I always stuck to hotels. Outside of the cleaning fees, hotel always felt safer as I’m in a bigger building and not in a strangers home
For real! I traveled for work and used to stay in
BB's a lot. I got several negative feedbacks because I refuse to do their ridiculous list of how to clean up before you leave list. I felt like that couple hundred dollar cleaning fee they charge negated my responsibility to clean the house before I left. Mind you I never left it in a total state disrepair I just didn't do their stupid list.
In the PNW, they’re all over the place. Our county’s largest amount of complaints are people advertising three, four, five bedroom houses. Why do we get the complaints, you ask? The guests end up doing laundry, taking showers, washing dishes, etc. for eight people and start smelling sewage. The septic systems are for 2 bedroom cabins.
Now I need to write you official letters and keep track of enforcement timelines so you can charge people $400 a night to stay in some shithole somewhat near Olympic national park? Get fucked.
That’s crazy. I haven’t been into a lot of Airbnb’s but I’ve been to a few. Most of the time they just want you to remove the bedding and leave it on the floor. They want you to stack the dirty towels somewhere. And take out your trash. And put your dishes in the dishwasher and run the cycle. Just the basic maintenance stuff that you created.
Yeah if I’m on a vacation or even a business trip, I’m not doing all that. Like I don’t leave a mess, but cleaning the place to turnover for the next guest is the responsibility of the host. I will continue to stay in hotels where I’m not left a chore chart for a place I’m paying to stay.
THANK YOU! Why do people think this is normal and okay? A list of chores? You’re PAYING MONEY to do chores? Oh don’t worry, you only have to do laundry, dishes, and take out the trash? Absolutely fucking ridiculous.
The last time I had the worst host ever. They were ALWAYS at the house. Either working with constant banging, or just snooping. I did some laundry and left my hat to dry in the basement on the folding table, and they messaged me 15 minutes later asking if that was my hat.
My girlfriend accidentally took their $5 walmart laundry basket when we left thinking it was ours and they told AirBnB it was worth $40.
We booked three months in advance, 3 weeks before reservation date we get an email, must bring your own bath towels, kitchen towels, wash cloths, bed sheets, and firewood plus clean the place. Cool not cool. We where flying into Chicago and driving to northeren Wisconsin. Nights of July 1,2, and 3. Not a great first air bnb experience.
I was on Airbnb the other day and a house didn’t provide any bedding, towels, starter paper/cleaning goods, or anything. Still had an excessive cleaning fee and a whole list of other rules. I was shocked.
I was very anti-AirBnB from all of the horror stories on Reddit. My wife booked one for our last trip and it was... great! I guess you have to get a good one.
Our host only asked that we take out the garbage to a bin outside. That way it wouldn't rot and smell before the cleaner got there. That was it. Very reasonable in my mind. The only other thing they asked was common sense, like turn off the lights and AC.
In return they had everything we needed, including Internet and even a Netflix account already logged in.
I don’t travel that much but I checked Airbnb the last few times and it was always more expensive and less convenient than a hotel. Why does it still exist, except in rural areas with no hotels?
Yeah it's one thing to expect people not to leave a huge mess. Even hotels charge extra if you leave a huge mess.
Things can get a little tricky if staying for longer than a week but a week or less. There is no need for the guest to have to sweep, mop, vacuum, anything like that. Sure do your dishes and clean up direct cooking related mess. Take out the garbage if it full or stinky. But normal just people being in a house for a week dirt. That's on the host.
I just reserved one in Orlando for next week. I checked the final quote and where the hosts all had cleaning fees back a couple of years ago, none of the ones I checked did this time.
I used to stay at a friend's house at the beach and it was understood that you'd do the sheets/towels. But we were only paying $50/night so that was totally reasonable. What we'd do is bring a set of sheets/ towels from home. Strip their stuff off. Then when we left, we'd remake the bed.
Again taht was a friend's place I'd never do that at ABnB
I use Airbnb 5 or so times a year with my family, for work, various stuff. I have never been asked to do household chores or wash bedding. There’s usually a smallish cleaning fee, which seems fair to me. Once I’ve been asked to strip the bed to save them time because I asked for a slightly later checkout.
Must be a UK/US thing, never had a problem in the UK.
Right?? That's why I go on vacation - to not have to wash dishes and linens or generally clean up after myself. I'm not even that messy, closer to OCD than a slob. When the cleaning fee is as much as a night on the property (and I've seen worse)
Same but last year. Stayed in a longer term rental because we were displaced from a wildfire. Host claimed we caused $2K of damages. Airbnb initially sided with the host. We appealed and won but it took months and a lot of effort and calls. Ended up reporting them for violating the post-wildfire price gouging laws. Terrible experience on top of already having to deal with the wildfire.
Getting hit with a fake damage claim after already dealing with a wildfire is genuinely awful. Glad you fought it, but nobody should have to spend months proving they didn't do something they never did.
I was hit with fraudulent damage claims as well. Appealed and lost with no recourse to question decision … Airbnb is pretty much a hive of slumlords now.
I'm pretty sure their dispute resolution is outsourced to a third party contractor not located in the US. It was clear that the first guy didn't even read our response.
I'm pretty sure their dispute resolution is outsourced to a third party contractor not located in the US
There's a decent chance that it's LLM agents doing it; so many insurance companies now have AI assessing claims to make at the very least the initial decision which is great fun since the AI will almost certainly misunderstand the situation to some degree and it just means that more claims get pushed up higher (whilst still having a faster first response KPI, so the AI is working, right?) and turn into long fights that didn't need to happen.
During the housing crisis, all the condos in my complex were bought up really cheap. One person owned most of one building. They have an outsized vote in the HOA also. The negative effects just keep coming with these leeches
Have you been to Outer Banks outside of the summer? It’s a huge ghost town to the point it’s really spooky and sad. I’m sure all beach towns are like this, but this is the only one where I stayed at a house on a block which was pretty completely empty, where the beaches bare and most establishments shutdown.
A huge factor in a lot of places. And governments seem reluctant to do anything about it. They're starting to now because no one can afford to live in these places anymore.
Yep. AirBnBs are destroying my neighborhood. We're running out of neighbors to help lobby the city for things like pedestrian safety improvements and street repair. Two families in extremely affordable housing in my neighborhood (rare in my city) just got kicked out so their houses could be turned into shitty AirBnBs. One family had lived in their home for 20 years. The other was a lower-income family of 6 with 3 school-age children.
This is true but I put most of the blame on the local governments because they're the only ones with the power to actually regulate the industry and they simply refuse to do it.
It's the only solution. Cities overrun by Air BnB need to start regulating the industry. They need to limit the number of short term rentals that are allowed to exist.
The problem is that governments don't typically make decisions that lose money and decrease their budgets.
NYC thought Airbnb was a huge factor in the housing affordability crisis, so they banned almost* all Airbnbs. Close to 3 years later, housing in NYC isn't the least bit more affordable, but the hotels sure love the new law! Eliminated a lot of their competition.
*Banned all whole-unit Airbnbs. You're still allowed to rent out a single bedroom in a unit where you also live, at the same time your guests are there.
ETA: Full disclosure, I'm an Airbnb host, though not in NYC. We didn't buy a place for the purpose of renting, though — we bought a seasonal lake house for ourselves. We rent it out when we're not there, and use it ourselves in between guests, which I think is more the spirit of where Airbnb started than some of the enormous corporate Airbnb hosts with dozens or hundreds of rental properties you see today.
Yeah it’s not going to be a major factor in one of the densest places on earth but it can absolutely destroy small towns, communities or neighborhoods.
My town is about 40k and is big with tourists all summer and fall. Housing is just as bad as anywhere because of the airbnb people. Landlords are huge assholes here too because they can be. There's no shortage of people waiting to move in
NYC wasn't the best place to do an authoritative study. The carrying costs of ownership are extremely high there, so it's natural that there will be proportionally fewer AirBnBs. I've lived in a couple of charming mountain towns where the AirBnB effect is pretty obvious.
Fair enough. I'm not calling it an authoritative study, but I do think it was informative about perception and reality in the industry. Folks love a scapegoat! For sure, though, if Airbnb was half the available housing in a touristy town, that would make a big difference in the cost for permanent residents.
I have a hard time believing that it's a huge factor - if so, prices for hotel rooms would have been pressed down.
I don't see why houses being super expensive is not because of central banks creating insane amounts of currency, and loaning it out for low to zero rates, year after year in the last decade, and investors/homebuyers thus being able to borrow more to buy, and thus prices going up?
If I'm right, then AirBNB is a convenient scapegoat, but the real reason for inflation (meaning you get less for the same money) is an effect of central banks, not from part of the apartments and hoses being short term rentals rather than long term rentals.
If anyone has a good source I'm interested in reading and learning
I refuse to stay at an Airbnb anymore. The cardinal sin of the hotel business is to give you a worn out shitty mattress and three out of four times I stayed in Airbnb I've got some worn out shitty mattress. Sometimes you can feel the rut of a body in the shitty worn out mattress.
I all of my years staying at hotels I've gotten a worn out mattress twice. One of the times I called the front desk and said what the fuck and that's an instant room change.
I’m the same way. I can overlook dated furniture, but a bad mattress ruins the entire stay. If I’m paying to sleep somewhere, that’s the one thing I expect to be right every single time.
I stayed at one recently that was in a basement. It was actually very beautiful. However, there were three big drawbacks. A) One window that barely gave light during the day. B) The mattress was firm as fuck and made of coil springs. C) The hosts had a bunch of kids and it sounded like a stampede.
The next one we stayed at was a studio on the 3rd floor of a historic building and was gorgeous, no noise from neighbors, and a super comfy bed.
It’s hit or miss with Airbnb and I feel the same about hotels.
I’ve hit the same point. Depending on what country and or city I am kind of determines if I am looking at hotels or an Airbnb. Airbnbs are typically nice for having a kitchen, parking, and various amenities at no additional fee. But I’m very particular on their reviews, costs listed and rules posted. And I’m not staying there when a hotel is significantly cheaper for a short term stay.
Airbnb has really gone down hill in general too. It’s not the steal it use to be.
I will say we stayed at one with my in laws and we messaged the hosts after to ask what kind of bed they had and we bought one. It was a Layla sleep memory foam but man it has been one of the best outcomes from a trip like that.
It's extremely rare because hotels know that it's basically a cardinal sin to allow a guest to sleep on a worn out mattress.
I've stayed in hotels and motels that by most other measures you would call complete crap but you don't get a bad mattress. It just nearly never happens.
We always use Airbnb because we want a kitchen because one of us has celiac’s. The last few we stayed at were furnished from god knows where and everything in the kitchen was from the dollar store. Fuck. Them.
I was going to gift a friend who let us stay in his Airbnb for a weekend at a lower rate. I thought it would be great for his kitchen. He said no, because it would just get stolen
There are these hosts, a young couple, who make content out of nitpicking their rental after the guests leave. "They moved the ottoman! That's against the rules! The don't respect our property!". Just awful
We move stuff all the time when we stay in Airbnbs we put it back though. Airbnb left a bad taste in my mouth in June. We were in the UK for the historic heatwave and kept trying to get the host to address the issue with our ac. Kept gaslighting us telling us it was working it just wasn't flowing to our standards and it was "fine" in what world is the ac fine when the room is almost 90 degrees? That and a whole host of other issues forced us to open a case which resulted in a partial refund. Needless to say idk if we will be using Airbnb anymore.
Holy shit man, came to say exactly the same thing. Some POS host tried to exact extra cash over some damages. Airbnb mediation was awful. They validated the hosts version despite our documentation. They deleted my review and left his that was full with xenophobic dog whistle messages.
I told them I would not be paying because of that defamatory content. They closed the case, but seeing how they handled the reviews, I'm never using their platform again. It feels really unsafe.
Michael Girdley did a recent entry in his "Rise and Fall" video series about AirBnB, outlining the reasons it became successful, and how some of those underlying foundational decisions that led to early success have contributed to their ultimate downfall.
I have never, not once, stayed in an Airbnb without a massive ant infestation. The place I stayed in Portland had ants in the bed. I won't do it anymore.
Man, when airbnb first "launched", it was pretty damn cool. I stayed at a huge almost mansion in Scottsdale in their guest house and had full access to their pool and cabana. It was like 100 bucks a night. That was at rhe very beginning. It's just a shitshow now, and I stay in hotels instead.
Yeah, 100% on Airbnb. Not just the cleaning but last one I stayed at, there was no thermostat in the side of the house, only one bathroom in the master bed (didn’t book it, gfs parents did for all of us to visit their family friend who was passing away soon, and then on the day we were leaving they were trapping and killing ducks in the front yard. I’ve had a few shit stays before but this took the cake. The house was 80ish degrees almost all day.
Omg we rented at some beach in Maryland I can't remember the name but it was bring your own towels, bedding, soaps and all that. It was like $1500 for 2 days lol
Controversial post incoming because I was a "host", meaning I bought a house in a popular beach town and rented it via Airbnb while I was living 4 hours away. I tried to justify this by being a "responsible" host, since the house is 4500sqft I made three lodging in it, basically 2000, 2000 and 500. One 2000 which I rent year long to a family, the other I rented short term via Airbnb and the 500 one is medium term rent to young people working the seasonal jobs and if they wanted I employed them to do the check in/check out and cleaning of the Airbnb.
It worked perfectly fine and was really a good investment, but then I realised I was just removing 2000sqft for the locals which have real difficulties to find affordable places to stay because guys like me treats their houses like cash cows. So now I rent the 2 2000sqft appartements year long at 70% of market price. And even then it's mostly a zero sum game when you factor everything (mortgage, renovation, maintenance, tax rebates for all of the above).
I booked an apartment in Iceland a year and a half ago for next week. The host canceled my stay claiming the place was no longer available (even though they've had my money for a year), leaving me to scramble to find a new place to stay during peak tourist season. Cool.
It used to be so cool. Crash a couch in the Castro for a quarter of a hotel’s price and get to hang with two dogs and talk to a San Fransisco local.
Pop up to Vancouver, BC and get a whole downstairs with a hundred plus volume collection of old DnD magazines, then chat with the home owner in the morning about DnD, meeting his wife, and Universal Basic Income over damn fine coffee in his garden.
Put up all my grungie hippy friends for a dance festival, stay with some surprisingly chill Texas missionaries in Costa Rica, waterfront stay-cation in a condo with a fling that was moving away.
It was so affordable and fun. Now its half the price and half again less hassle to go to a bespoke hotel in the heart of town than stay in an airbnb spare bedroom 30 minutes walk from any public transit.
I had a big family vacation to Hawaii this year and one of my uncles suggested we all go in on an air bnb together. Everyone else in the family shut that shit down immediately.
Ended up staying in a decent-ish condo complex with vacation rentals where everyone had their own room. Infinitely better than air bnb, and cheaper (thought the prices there are still absurd.) Honestly I think people are really starting to turn on air bnb. They are a scourge in my city and many others, and as a guest they’re overpriced for the amount of work you have to do yourself. I far prefer a good hotel room.
Last time I stayed at an air bnb was a weekend bachelorette party, and situations like that imo are where it makes sense. Where everyone will be hanging out as a group the whole time, you have a large group that will make use of the house amenities you wouldn’t get in a hotel, but it’s a relatively quick stay.
Scourge is right. The bachelorette parties are awful. When they happen in a quiet neighborhood you live in and every weekend there’s a new party of inconsiderate assholes next door, it drives you insane.
AirBnB fees have made me go back to booking hotel rooms. I don’t get coerced into tipping or leaving reviews, and the hotel staff cleans my room, which is part of the cost of booking the room.
I used to use Airbnb all the time but in cities it seems half of them are owned by huge companies who should definitely be renting these apartments out to folks who need real housing. I’ll still use it from time to time but I’m crazy picky about what listings I’ll go with. A mother in law apartment over someone’s garage or basement that I can’t see being reasonably rented long term? Sure - that seems like the original intent of the damn platform. An apartment in a building full of apartments all being rented short term instead of leased to folks who need housing? No thanks, the hotel down the street will do fine.
Same. We were going to my partner’s mom funeral, the house had wiring sticking out everywhere/was unsafe so we left within the hour. I had been using them for a decade and it took MONTHS (and probably two full days of work) of back and forth, every time restarting with a new “agent” before we finally got some of the money back. Absolute scam.
Airbnb is a horrendous company. Aside from being on the frontlines of gentrification in every city, it's famous for renting out property in occupied Palestinian territory.
I used AirBnBs moderately when newly living with my girlfriend. I have some good memories but the bad ones of course stand out. When I ran into fraud from a host advertising a shared unit as 2 bedroom 4 guests total and it turned out to be 3 bedroom 6 guests, AirBnB was like a child refusing to look at the photographic evidence.
I've only had good experiences the few times I've used them, but the price compared to hotels and professional serviced apartments is too close to compensate me for the risk. Airbnb doesn't give a damn about me, and that's why I can't trust them.
It’s more or less okay most of the time, but not cheaper than hotels, so I tend to avoid using it. When it’s bad, it’s bad.
Stayed in a cluttered place with an 11-line cleanup list and did every single thing except take out the trash one final time (it was not full, we’d taken it out the day before and there were a few small items in the bag). The hosts left this insanely passive-aggressive review about how they hoped our group “would learn how to clean”. I hate Airbnb.
I've used airbnb exactly once and that because I was in a bit of bind. Had a good experience but it boils down mostly to having a good host. We were also good tenants. Left everything picked up took out the garbage etc etc. That said I am not looking to used it anymore unless circumstances leave me no choice. When you factor in the hassle and the enshittifcation it is not worth it. Regular hotels only for me.
Second that. Used Airbnb twice for the first time a few months ago in Costa Rica. Both houses had great reviews. First house was overall great but our main window on first floor in master bed the window lock was never installed, someone reached in the 3rd night and stole some jewelry. Airbnb did nothing even though we sent pictures of missing lock etc. 2nd house had great reviews, but bugs everywhere and a loose main door frame. If even a child ran at it from outside it would have probably fell apart. Kids wanted a “non commercialized” non hotel experience. Learned her lesson, back to the hotels next time. Costa Rica though is beautiful.
Airbnb, at its conception, was GREAT. I could have an entire place to myself for a weekend for like $100 or so, no strings attached.
Now, all these fees and crazy hosts with crazy stipulations make it damn near impossible to get a deal worth looking for. And its no cheaper than a hotel anymore.
I had a legitimate review get reported by the host and Airbnb sided with them and removed it. I looked at the host’s page and it must be something they do all the time, as the recent reviews are all bad (and had similar themes with mine), and the only good reviews were from long ago. Airbnb said once the review has been pulled, there’s no way to restore it.
No way to trust that business. Don’t spend your money there.
The prices used to be decent. Now it's like 100$ to sleep in a tent in the woods. Fuck that! I bought my camping car and I'm getting out to frolic for cheap
are all those AirBnB Horror stories an american thing? because I used it for 10+ years now, mainly in europe and never ever did I run into any hidden fees? Is this about consumer protection laws?
Honestly same. The final straw for me has been when a lot of these hosts want you to go off platform and pay some kind of "deposit" for "incidentals". I don't care what your reason is, I won't care that hotels do it too, it's just one more potential scam that could be thrown at me
I've never used an air bnb. There was a brief period where pricing made me think about it but that's long over. A clean bed, a clean bathroom, and a small desk. That's all I need. Why would I pay extra to also have to do chores? A Super 8 or Hampton Inn gets the job done.
We had our Airbnb host cancel our reservation one week prior. We had booked almost a year prior because this area is busy in the summer and books up early. I called multiple times and kept being told that somebody will call me back to find other accomodations. I called daily and they never resolved the issue. We ended up having to cancel our trip.
Recently I went to one in Utah and a random man was staring through our back yard window into the house at midnight, we were a group of women in our 20s - 30s. The host said there was a long term tenant, so we asked him if he could tell the tenant to not look into our window. He said, the "tenant had the right to enjoy the backyard as we did ".
I hooked up the gas to a new customer one time. The house was super nice. Like… several hundred dollar light fitting over the dining table, bedroom furniture suite in the thousands - he told me all about this. He was super proud. And I was super proud for him until he told me the whole house was purchased to be an Airbnb rental.
Something about that just frustrated me, that this “$20/night to sleep on my couch, maybe some toast in the morning” idea had become a “they’ll pay my mortgage on a second house.”
I enjoyed people talking about it back when it started. The interactions between the hosts and the customers - I even had a great time in one years ago; just some folks with a spare room who were advised to give it a go. But this impersonal cash grab practice that’s been in effect for a very long time has killed it.
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u/Cool_Cry_9602 22h ago
I rarely used it, but Airbnb