Tag Archives: airbnb cleaning

Athens Airbnb Host Harassed Me Two Times

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My Airbnb host accused me of bad behavior, being crazy, and other stuff but left perfect feedback. I’m tired of hosts abusing me in all ways possible and then leaving me perfect feedback. The last one I got was my first negative feedback from a host but even that was not truthful. I asked Airbnb to look into it and provided ample photos too.

My main concern is my former host from a previous booking. He left perfect feedback on my profile since I paid through Airbnb for new linens and a mattress. All of these were ‘spotted with blood’ according to the host (a minor pinkish spot that what I remember) after I personally spent hours cleaning before check out. But okay: he has the right to get 70 euros for new linen and stuff. I paid him.

I bought a brand new expensive electric blanket as the listing’s heating didn’t work although I had it on all day (and was paying extra for electricity). I left that in the listing, I also left a brand new radio-clock that I bought during my stay. I bought utensils for the kitchen as the others were old. I stayed for more than two months so I treated the place as my home.

The host said I never informed him and that I’m a ‘mad person.’ He initially got 50 euros for cleaning fees cause he provided proof to Airbnb I did not leave the premises spotless. Indeed I didn’t, so I paid. But I did clean as I usually do. Then, and only after I got my first negative feedback by the host claiming I was very dirty and not a communicative person, he asked for 70 euros for broken or dirty items (linens with blood stains and a foam mattress that I had to clean at the last minute and dress up which took hours). I don’t even want to add here that I had medical issues that are not going to kill me soon but make me suffer, like high hypertension.

I paid again but I don’t get that if he saw the blood — it was a month ago when I left the listing — why didn’t he ask for money for the blood stain back then as opposed to now (it’s one tiny pinkish area that I actually washed a lot before checking out)? This was on a blanket that actually it slides into a duvet and I did not soil his duvets. I thought I would get away with it since he can slide the washed up blanket into a duvet but nope, I have to pay 25 euro for 1 tiny pinky and washed in washing machine blood stain.

I could involve Airbnb as mediator but I’m afraid of him. He seemed from day one an extremely aggressive person and has some sort of issue against me which I cannot explain. I’m not responsible for the misogyny of Airbnb hosts. If they want to harass a woman, claiming she is a horrible dirty woman, I think I’ll paid what they ask, but I have lots of complaints too. Nothing worked in that apartment. I was freezing: the boiler for the shower didn’t work, the heater didn’t work, and I had to fork out 80 euros just for a heated blanket to survive the snowy days. I left that in the listing plus a brand new 30-euro alarm clock. All that did not make the host relax a little about his hate towards me, which I don’t get.

Nightmare Experience in Portugal Involving Creepy Host

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I’m going to preface this by saying I have stayed in countless Airbnbs in three different continents and have had nothing but positive experiences until I stayed at this place. My roommate and I faced one absurdity after another. Conveniently my review (and all other negative reviews) have been removed by Airbnb.

The apartment itself was borderline uninhabitable. To be frank, it seemed to be a storage locker that the host was trying to pass off as an apartment. There was no ventilation and just two windows the size of a laptop. Both had broken glass with a makeshift net covering them, allowing roaches to freely roam inside the apartment; the place was infested with them. In addition to the ventilation problem, the shower pressure was so low it only had a drizzle of water pressure that would not allow for anyone’s definition of a proper shower.

The highlight of this stay was our second night when a leak under the bathroom sink caused the entire apartment to flood. Instead of a proper response to the situation, like securing a pump, the host and his mother came over with brooms and mops, handed them to us, which resulted in us (the guests) sweeping water out of the apartment for several hours in the middle of the night. We then also helped sweep water out of his apartment next door.

Following this, the house was never properly cleaned which resulted in a sickening odor throughout the house for the remainder of our stay (my flatmate and I felt physically ill throughout our entire stay). She kept getting migraines following this and I was congested and sick. After this we had to ask for a change of sheets. What we were provided with was the consistency of sandpaper and was meant to last us for an entire month.

To add more discomfort to the situation, the host managed to find me and repeatedly liked me on different dating apps where I found some of his prompts about impregnating people truly disturbing. Knowing that this person not only shared a wall with us, but also had keys to our apartment made me incredibly uncomfortable and had us looking for new places while there. He would almost daily ask to enter the apartment for “supplies” or to “take care” of the multitude of issues the apartment had to deal with. We understand that hosts may need access from time to time but the frequency made it feel gratuitous and like we had no privacy.

Once I left my review, the host had the gall to ask for $2,000 of “cleaning” fees and had taken photos of our belongings without our consent. I repeatedly reported this to Airbnb. They even had the nerve to remove my review of the host but I am now stuck with a derogatory review on my account. To say that Airbnb only protects the interests of the hosts would be a gross understatement. I am so disgusted by their handling of this situation.

Airbnb Host Expected Me to Clean the Toilet After Fees

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I paid over $1,300 for a three-night stay at an Airbnb in Michigan City, Indiana. It had a pool. At first, all was well. We had a great time, but the night we got home, I got over 25 messages from the host, claiming she was disappointed in the way I left her house.

My crime? I didn’t vacuum or sweep the kitchen (I actually did sweep… must have missed a spot). I didn’t put her cushions back correctly in the garage (I tried; I just didn’t do it correctly). I put too many sheets in her washing machine (there wasn’t even a checkout manual — I had just stripped the beds and washed the sheets out of courtesy). I didn’t clean the stove (I don’t pay $1,300 to clean a stove). I didn’t wipe off the bathroom counter (again, just soap grime… no biggie). I entered her “clearly marked private space” (this was a cabinet with a post-it note where I found the laundry detergent).

She found dozens of other flagrant violations, all this from a person who didn’t leave a checkout manual. All this from a person I actually attempted to help by washing sheets and towels. All this from a person who included a $200 cleaning fee. All this from a person I actually left $20 for a cleaning crew (actually, there likely isn’t one). I did forget to empty the kitchen garbage into the outside garbage, but if someone strips your beds, attempts laundry, and doesn’t leave a dirty dish, you’d think this grave sin would be overlooked.

Instead, she left me a very, very mean review. I’ve flagged her conduct — which bordered on harassment — to Airbnb. Here’s hoping they care. I’ve attached some of the photos she sent me, that allegedly show what a “pig” I am. I’ve examined the photos carefully and for the life of me, I can’t spot what the problems are.

Exposed Jagged Glass, Bloodstained Sheets, Delusional Host

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It took weeks to resolve our bad stay with Airbnb and, since it’s not actually resolved in my eyes, I have a tale for the sore-eyed.

My husband and I reserved a stay in a Catskills Airbnb with a hot tub, described as “clean” and “well-kept.” Suffice it to say it was neither: mildewed pillowcases, pillows yellow with the drool of years past, and I found lots of similarly stained sheets in the closet when I tried to change out the dirties (none were clean but all backup bedding had stains, and a lot of blood). The duvet cover had never been washed. My mistake was thinking that the host’s cranky answers to any negative reviews might have had some merit, and there were 180 reviews before my scathing one. Another mistake: not reviewing all of them.

Airbnb immediately refunded the cleaning fee after I send photos of the gross situation. Getting any further with support after that first level is like pulling teeth. I requested a refund of the service fee as well because in my humble opinion the listing should not be active. I researched their hygiene and cleanliness standards; feel free to send your photos in if you have a dirty experience like we did.

We did stay for the three days because the Catskills rental market is hot this year, and not a lot of rentals were available. We also have a dog — how many other rentals were likely to allow pets? Was Airbnb really going to pay for a stay at a swell, canine-accepting place like the Emerson Spa? I didn’t want anyone to crash right into our three-day stay, which we do annually after dropping the kids off at camp. What was the owner going to do, even if I did spend half the time on the phone with Airbnb support, send his crappy cleaning person in to do another bad job, and FedEx us new pillows?

We were worn out from waiting for a response from Airbnb about the host’s responsibility to provide a safe place. I accepted their inadequate offer of a $100 coupon instead of refunding the service fee. At this point it really wasn’t about the money; we didn’t want someone’s innocent six-year old gashing their chubby little finger on the exposed glass as host advertised as “fine for children six and over.”

At one point I had to rethink what other people consider “clean” and “hygienic,” but that morphed into wondering why anyone would think we’d want to shell out $300 a night to sleep on bloodstained sheets? I got my answer when I saw his “review” of us which wasn’t even posted as a review. The host simply responded to my honest review. He sounded positively unhinged.

Airbnb Guest: The Closet is Not a Bathroom

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I’m going to share with you our very worst Airbnb experience. We have a suite in our house. It was Valentine’s Day and this couple rented our place.

They showed up and everything was fine. The next morning they messaged, “Can we have a late checkout?” and we said, “Yea, sure. You can check out at 12:00 PM.” because our checkout is normally 11:00 AM and we had more guests coming.

We do all the cleaning ourselves and so we had to get it ready for the next guests. Luckily I was gone to lunch with my sister-in-law and so my husband went in at 12:00 PM.

I received this message from him: “I don’t know what went on!” He sent me a picture of poop on the floor in our Airbnb in the closet. How bizarre — this has never happened.

I was like, “Ok, I can come home… I’ll try and come home.” We have three kids. It’s hard to clean when you have three kids and we were trying to get it ready for the next guests.

I got home and the story got worse. My husband started cleaning more and he found that our guests had pooped in our hamper in the closet. There was a lot of blood and we ended up having to throw away bedding, sheets, our hamper, pillows and towels. It was disgusting and we were shocked.

We messaged our guests. We had taken pictures of everything and she acted shocked too.

She said, “I had no idea that happened. I am so sorry.”

We still said, “We need to charge you.”

We got it all cleaned up, but definitely, hands-down, worst Airbnb experience we had. I don’t think it can get much worse than that. Our guess is that they were super drunk or or using drugs or something and thought, in the middle of the night, that our closet that’s in the bedroom was the bathroom and the hamper was the toilet.

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Host Lied About Cleaning Filthy Airbnb During Pandemic

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I have used Airbnb for years but never again. My pictures will show that this new host had no concept of what was clean and had not cleaned let alone touched high contact areas. It appears a long-term renter had been there as we were unfortunately the first guests in what they say was a newly refurbished property. They had painted bedrooms but left the kitchen and washing machine cupboard untouched: door handles were sticky, light switches filthy, dirt built up deep and when you opened the fridge door you could see the dirt build up.

The kitchen stank so badly of cat spraying and wee, it also smelt like something dead like a mouse. I told them and sent pictures. They blamed a cleaner but wouldn’t tell me who that was so I could raise a complaint and they said they would clean the next day, a day into our trip. We stayed out all day in the hole so they could do a deep clean. We couldn’t find anywhere else to stay.

We got there late the first night with our son who has Crohn’s and is a higher risk. We couldn’t get anywhere else as everything was booked and we were complying with Airbnb and giving them and the host a right to respond. Airbnb said not to cancel — it had to be done by the host. Anyway, we got back and found that only superficial cleaning had been done: no hoovering the dirt in cupboards, no cleaning next to the washing machine or the machine.

I had such a bad night with my severe cat allergy and knew something was really bad in the kitchen so I tried to find the issue. The photos of the fridge, floors, washing machine, and cupboard are after they had the chance to clean. I was fuming and told the host I sent photos to Airbnb. The host said they would refund me but are now refusing and changing their story because I left an honest review. I am still waiting for Airbnb and I will be taking legal action. The host has now posted defamatory statements about me in their reply to my feedback.

I am at a loss how people can be like this and rip people off and lie so blatantly. I have photos, I have their emails admitting they didn’t clean, admitting it’s wrong, admitting they would refund me and now because I didn’t play the game and lie on my feedback they are refusing. Had I lied I think they would have still refused, and they would have said my feedback showed I’m happy. The biggest issue for me is Airbnb and this is not fit for an enhanced cleaning program. A host gets a badge and is shown to be COVID safe when they are not even doing basic cleaning. I would love to do a class action on Airbnb to look at this and the facts.

Cheap Airbnb Host Charges Extra for Everything

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I was looking to stay at a place for ten weeks and found a good deal. The minute I expressed interest the host basically harassed me until I signed and kept saying that “if I didn’t agree he had others lined up.” He actually cancelled on me until I went back and said yes (this was within 24 hours).

Anyways, his post had pictures of a pool table and a large couch with projectors. He also told me that he and his girlfriend traveled quite a bit and that I would have the whole townhome to myself. When I arrived, however, I found out that I basically got one bedroom and was told that downstairs was off limits. He then said that I could have one shelf in the fridge. I was in a room with no central air and the bathroom was absolutely disgusting. The sink took a while to drain but I was fine with that.

At first it was okay and I never used the kitchen. However, one time he and his girlfriend left and I began to spread out more into the upstairs living room areas. One day, I left for my rotation day quite early and was planning on cleaning up that evening. My host got back a little after I left and sent me image after image saying how disgusting it was to come back to a dirty house. He then kept sending me images and pictures saying that I was irresponsible and that I needed to clean up. He kept harassing me until I paid him $50 apologizing after which he basically didn’t say anything. The irony was he and his girlfriend moved a bunch of their stuff back and piled it all over the kitchen.

I was pretty much just left in my room all the time because it was too awkward to go use the house. He disabled the heat and the cable while he was gone so there was a span of five days where I was living in a 50-degree house. After I checked out, he messaged me saying that one of his towels was missing and that the drain was clogged. After three weeks, he sent a message requesting $45 to repair the drain. When I mentioned the $50 I had already paid him previously as an extra/coverage for such fees, he said that that didn’t count and that I paid him without him asking — this time, he was requesting the $45.

It was awful. I was confined to a room for ten weeks and basically never really got to use the house. He got angry when I tried to clean up the kitchen with cleaning supplies I bought (he didn’t leave any cleaning supplies). He said that he only preferred to clean with his own supplies but he kept them hidden away and would charge $30 every time something needed to be extensively cleaned, which he found to be quite often. Furthermore, there were amenities on his listing (pool table, a projector lounge, large TV) that were inaccessible to me. Basically, he harassed me to sign up and then I stayed in one room. Horrible.

Airbnb No Longer Reimbursing Hosts for Material Damages

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Two guests booked two days for our 35-foot motorhome during a local Renaissance fair. We’ve been hosting 3.5 years. I should have been suspicious when three guests showed up. The guests were drunk when in residence — a bit loud, but tolerable because the motorhome is remote.

Then we went to clean for the next guests. What a mess. They had been cutting and sewing costumes for the fair, both inside and outside the coach. Strings and pins/needles were everywhere in the carpet. They ruined one set of sheets and towels with black goop that my wife couldn’t get out, so we had to order new ones for $65. They spilled coffee with creamer on the fabric couch and dribbled it on floor.

Normally takes about 2.5 hours to clean the unit. My wife spent five hours cleaning and I spent three extra hours spotting the carpet and steam cleaning the couch. I had to crawl around on my hands and knees to remove all the tiny threads, and pins/needles so the next guests would not injure themselves. I’m an an old guy but we got it cleaned.

The three guests left just after a noon check out, and new guests arrived at 4:30 PM and had to wait until we were finished. This was the first time this has happened in 3.5 years.

Here is the clincher. When we contacted Airbnb for reimbursement for the sheets and towels (not for our extra five hours of cleaning) we were denied because we didn’t meet their “complaint before next guest arrives” time frame. The next guests arrived before we had finished cleaning. Did I mention the extra time Airbnb demands to meet their COVID-19 cleaning requirements?

What have we learned from this lesson? Airbnb does not cover hosts’ damages even through they require a damage deposit from guests. Do not allow new guests to check in until you have made any claims, even if it means cancelling the new guests. We are rural and must drive to town to upload pictures due to our slow internet. We have no cell signal here. We increased our price 25% to cover any material losses because Airbnb will not charge guests for them.

When our “weird-s–t-O-meter” goes up for new guests…. we go with it and deny them access to the property. Don’t get me wrong: we have had good results with listings from Airbnb. Their fees are more expensive than most other platforms and our guests in the past have been top notch. I find that it is Airbnb, not the poor guests, that are the problem. Airbnb has always paid us the $50 per night on time and correctly.

If you cannot “personally” manage your rental check in and after rental inspection then I would not recommend them, as I do not believe you will be reimbursed for any property damage. Talking to a large number of Airbnb guests has convinced me that “hosts” are not cleaning to the Airbnb standards on the website as we do. But I must admit when we have traveled using Airbnb we have gotten very clean and tidy places to stay.

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Airbnb Host Repeatedly Lied About Cleanliness

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I booked an Airbnb apartment for the weekend of Oct. 23-25 for me and my daughter. When I initially made the reservation, I listed one guest not thinking that it mattered that I was bringing my 15-year-old daughter with me, since it was a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment.

Upon arrival, the host met us and gave us the key with a list of rules while staying. My daughter and I then left to run errands before we got settled in. When we returned, we had our shoes on as we ran back and forth to the truck to gather our belongings. Then put our own socks on while in the apartment. One of the rules was there were to be no shoes while in the apartment and she supplied socks for guests. Being that COVID does exist, we chose to wear our own socks.

We then toured the apartment and began to wipe everything down. When I went into the guest bathroom, I noticed that it had not been cleaned. There were old bars of soap in the tub area, splatters in the toilet as if someone just had diarrhea, toothpaste on the mirror and hair on the floor. The floors had not been vacuumed and there was food in the refrigerator.

I texted the host through the app with my concerns of the cleanliness. She came and cleaned the toilet and that was it. When I asked her if someone was living in the unit full time, she said yes. So I asked her about the other issues such as the leftover food in the refrigerator, she said it must have been from the prior guests. That was the first lie.

I grabbed bleach and bleach wipes and began to clean the unit myself because we didn’t have anywhere to go on such short notice. When I wiped down the kitchen counter tops, my Clorox wipes were brown. While wiping down the remote in the living room, I noticed that there was a camera on. I immediately unplugged it and called Airbnb customer service.

In the apartment listing it states that there is an active recording camera at the “door way,” but this camera was actually in the living room recording our every move. I told the representative that we wanted to check out because we were no longer staying there. My daughter had undressed in the living room area and was now paranoid. The representative sent me a policy stating that the host can have a recording device in the common area and it must state that in the listing. Well, that didn’t happen. That was the second lie.

They reached out to the host with all of my concerns and she said that there was nothing she was going to do. Although the policy states that I have the right to check out when I arrive and receive a refund for the nights not stayed, she still refused to refund me my money. The next morning I texted the host myself with my issues, saying that we were uncomfortable and that we were leaving at 10:00 AM.

She then called me on the phone with an attitude saying that Airbnb contacted her with my concerns and still refused to refund me for the next night even though I gave her notice. She also said that she noticed that I had a guest with me when the rules said that would be grounds of cancellation. Keep in mind, the “guest” was my 15-year-old daughter.

She then said that she noticed that we had shoes on while in the apartment. Again, we were going from the apartment to the truck to get settled. She claimed she cleaned the apartment herself and it’s not her fault that I had expectations. Well, I am a clean person and if I’m renting anyone’s place using my own money then I do have expectations for cleanliness.

She began to yell over the phone so I hung up on her. My daughter and I ended up leaving and checking into the Marriott, which was another expense for me. A case worker contacted me over the course of the weekend, but as of today, there has been no resolution.

I find it disappointing that Airbnb would be okay for a host to have an active recording camera in the living room, violating one’s privacy, and the fact that they find it okay with a host having a listing that nasty. I have never had a bad experience from a host and the lack of concern from Airbnb is very troublesome.

Every time I rented, the host always left a good review about me. When I went to leave my review, they said that I missed the cut off time to do so. I was told that I only had a few hours after my check out time, but again this was no concern of theirs. I did get pictures of the apartment and will attach them to my post.

My biggest mistake was over overlooking the fact that the host only had one review at that time. Save your money and the headache and rent from a host that not only cares about the money, but their guest’s peace of mind.

Villa Offered as Quarantine for COVID-19 Virus

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The neighborhood monitors the Airbnb which is ruining our neighborhood. The host of this Airbnb has offered it as a quarantine location.

First, there are not 14 available sequential days, the designated virus quarantine period. Second, and most importantly, what will they use to completely sanitize an 8000 square foot house with a 1000 square foot pool house when the quarantined quest leaves?

We’ve all watched the cleaners in between guests. They do the laundry and are in and out in about 2-3 hours. I don’t know what the CDC procedures are for cleaning a public house or room following someone who has had the COVID-19 virus, but for a public place like an Airbnb, I seriously doubt it can be done by just a simple cleaning crew.