Tag Archives: airbnb no privacy

French Airbnb Features Fake Seaside View

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I had stayed with a friend outside of La Rochelle for a few days. Not having a car, when this friend went away it seemed wiser to rent a place in the city to be able to get around, take a boat, etc, more easily. I rented an Airbnb for a Sunday and Monday.

After accepting my reservation, and after I had paid, the host never gave me the address. This was a bad sign. The place was in an industrial area, not a residential area. She had probably rented an old boat sales place (looked like a car sales place) and transformed the downstairs kitchen into a catering place where she prepared food she delivered to clients, and the upstairs had a kitchen living area for her, her bedroom, a bathroom and a few small bedrooms.

The outer wall was floor to ceiling windows (since it was a showroom-type place) with a very tiny slit for an opening. Outside in the evening it was a pleasant 65° F: nice for sleeping. However, inside it was about 85°. It was impossible to have darkness as the shades didn’t reach all the way down to the floor, and if one opened the shades, one’s whole bedroom was broadly visible from the street. There was no lock on the bedroom nor bathroom door.

The pictures were ten pictures of the pretty living room with pictures of boats just out the window and the accommodation appeared to be close to the sea – surely we had a seaside view? No, it was an industrial boat repair area, with noisy boat repairs going on all day Sunday.

Though the pictures of the living room and view were promoted, the host said this was for her and she didn’t want me to come into the living room much or to use the kitchen much. She did allow me to put half a cucumber and a piece of cheese in the fridge but didn’t want me to use the kitchen or electric kettle. I had to walk half a mile down to a park every time I wanted to eat as I couldn’t eat in the apartment. There was no restaurant nearby.

The listing said it was quiet, but in fact on a Sunday night at midnight there were many cars passing all night just in front. I recorded this on video and sent it to Airbnb. They said I could be refunded the second night. The lady kept yelling and yelling and pointing to her good reviews. I booked a small room in a very cute hotel for a similar price, thank goodness: ten times better.

By accident I had left my phone charger, personal journal, and a philosophy magazine at the place. The lady read my personal journal and made critical personal comments. She would not fix a time to give me my charger and journal back. I had to spend some hours contacting Airbnb. She told people at Airbnb that she would be there to give me my stuff but didn’t answer the door. I had to go around back to see that she was already there, and call Airbnb so that they would call her and she would finally give me my stuff.

While on the phone with Airbnb, they gave me a 50-euro credit for the bad experience. I wanted to note this on my review, but they said I was not allowed to. I wrote a poor review (just facts) while she wrote a very insulting one, and slightly xenophobic. She got a few more good reviews and then her listing disappeared.

Many of her reviews seemed to be from other hosts and seemed to be arrangements between hosts, to give one another good reviews. There were lots of reviews from people who had only given one review and were hosts and to whom she had also given a review as a guest (very reciprocal reviews).

Good riddance to this lady. Glad to see her place with the “boat views” (AKA boat repair shop views) is off the map. Airbnb should have cancelled her listing immediately and allowed me to post that they had refunded me the second night and given me credit for the first. Thank goodness I found a very cute hotel to have a nice last night.

Jailed for Eight Hours a Day, No Satisfaction from Airbnb

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This is the totally honest review I wrote and the host’s character-besmirching remarks. Airbnb refuses to retract these remarks, by their host Pradeepa, and they remain on the site to this day. Thanks for allowing character assassination and slander on your website Airbnb.

If you want to be imprisoned for eight hours a day, smell incense 24/7 at a strength that would knock over a horse, have moldy coffee grounds in your coffee maker, have the hosts go in your unit and snoop around every day when you are not there for God knows what reason, hear your hosts talking loudly through paper-thin walls, have them start a remodeling project during your vacation time which you will hear and smell, and have your host break down in tears if you let her know something isn’t right, by all means, book this place. I drove 2400 miles round trip to stay here and my vacation was completely ruined. If you stay here, get a device which will secure the door that leads from their side of the house to yours because they will enter as they need to unlock it from their side; it was totally unnerving.

Airbnb takes no responsibility for their clients’ safety as they do not require a hasp or chain lock on the residences they are listing for rental, allowing anyone with a key to just walk in your temporary home when you are there. Even Motel 6 has chain and hasp locks on all their rooms. Airbnb’s lack of vigilance and caring is absolutely disturbing.

This was the response from Pradeepa:

John was apprised of our guest house policies and he agreed to conform to them without exception. He stayed for two weeks and his behavior was socially and morally unacceptable. We therefore requested he check out. His review was beyond insulting. I hope no Airbnb host will ever have to go through what we went through with John.

Socially and morally unacceptable? If this is not character assassination and slander I don’t know what is. She makes it sound as if I was a pervert and attacked her. I was respectful but told her of the issues involved and was met with tears… with her husband standing there. Unbelievable. I failed to mention the uncomfortable furniture with a dining table so small it barely held my laptop. There was no other place to set my computer. No security hasp or chain so they could and did walk in anytime they felt like snooping around. They locked the courtyard gate at 7:30 PM and didn’t open it until 7:30 AM (even though the gate was chain locked, for which they also gave me a key), leaving me with no way to get out without pounding on the door or ringing the doorbell. I am certain this is against Phoenix Fire Department regulations. I was never apprised of all their extra rules until the day after I checked in after driving 1200 miles. Had it been posted on the host’s original Airbnb listing that I would be locked in my leased unit eight to ten hours per day I would have never leased this unit from the hosts from hell.

I have complained to Airbnb before about not making their hosts have chain or hasp locks on the rental units to no avail. My only conclusion is, at this point, they are making so much money that they don’t care. Thanks also to Airbnb for having their call center in the Philippines, so between the horrible crosstalk and interference of the connection there is also a language barrier. Unbelievable…..

Abusive Hosts: Forced out of Home, Police Involved

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I’m posting this because the hosts removed the original room listing, and created a new account with a new title. This house is located in Geneva, Switzerland. I think it’s important for anyone renting this place to know what the hosts are really like, and reviews on Airbnb are the cornerstone of the website. Here is my review that was approved by Airbnb on the original listing:

I am a quiet and clean person, and have a professional career. I liked that this place had a good location, with an eight-minute walk from the house to a main tram (tram 12). The grocery store was also across the street from the tram stop. However, if you don’t mind that there are many “house rules” imposed on you suddenly and without prior agreement such as:

  • You do not get a private bathroom as indicated in the posting. You will share the bathroom with two people, the host couple. If their 25-year-old son returns to the house with his girlfriend, they will also share the bathroom. And sometimes the mother of the host will live in the house and also share the bathroom with you.
  • Your room is part of their storage room. The entire closet wall, three of the four drawers of the cabinet, and one of the two drawers in the table are used by the host family
  • As part of their “house rules”, you cannot take a shower after 10:00 PM
  • You will not be allowed to use the washroom when they have a party on Saturday. However, the only day they allow you to do your laundry is on Saturday.
  • The host family refuses to give you your room key, while the remaining family members of the house have door keys on each of their rooms. They can also freely enter your room without your permission.
  • You need to be prepared that the washroom lock can be opened anytime at the discretion of the host.

My original rental agreement was from October 2016 to March 2017. However, the host family gave me a short one-day notice to terminate the Airbnb rental agreement for not following their “house rules”, which were imposed suddenly. I even had to call the police for help, in order to stop the host family from abusing my right to close my bedroom door for the remainder of the night. When the police came, I was forced to move all my belongings to a basement room, that is dark, damp, and dusty, and which was currently occupied by one of their sons. The host only gave me half an hour to remove all my belongings from the house the next day. I was forced to live in a hostel for the next two nights, until I was able to find my next accommodation. I was so frustrated that I paid such a large amount of money, but was unable to receive the amenities that I was told I would be given. If you don’t mind these minor examples listed, out of many more examples, this is a good place for you to stay.

Total Dump on Airbnb Leaves Guests with no Privacy

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I booked accommodation in Johannesburg for me, my husband and my son. I asked if it was self catering and they confirmed; nowhere on the listing did it say that I would have to share a kitchen with other guests. When we arrived there, some of the staff and guests were smoking marijuana on the patio. The whole house was filled with smoke. The lady took us to our room through the kitchen, which was filthy, with burned pap on the stove. The room was not ready. There were two mattresses on the floor – no actual bed – with no linen. There were also three other mattresses in the room against the wall. The room was extremely dirty. Our bathroom was dirty. I asked where our kitchen was and the lady said we had to use the big kitchen. In the kitchen there was a lady who had just finished using the shared shower and walked through the kitchen with only her bottom covered; her top was exposed. I immediately phoned the owner and she said she would be there in ten minutes. After 45 minutes, I phoned, and I spoke to her husband. He said I must go and look for other accommodation – he would refund us. We travel every weekend and this was the worst accommodation I have ever seen in my life. I am not happy at all with the way they are sending me messages now and I feel like I want to send the police to that establishment, as I feel that they are taking us for a ride. The pictures on the website are not at all how that establishment looks like and I believe they just want to take people’s money. They refuse to refund us, even though they said they would provide one in full.