Airbnb is not a walk in the park, nor is it easy money; anyone who wants to host should not expect this. My wife and I have been running an Airbnb – private room in our house, sharing the kitchen, bathroom, amenities – since May 2015. Although the income isn’t that significant we have the advantage of meeting people from all corners of the globe and have hosted at least one guest from each continent. However, most have come from our home country of Australia or East Asia. For the purposes of this web page though I will give our best and worst stories as a host. I have also changed the names. Despite their picture on Airbnb, Dianne and her friend Angela were not fragile young ladies but a couple of girls from North America who could hold their own. They arrived in early 2016 (a relatively hot time with smoke from nearby fires) staying for five nights, spending the day touring around the local attractions and the night sleeping. One evening we all went to see the local fairy penguin parade. In terms of enjoyment of company these two were great to have around. The worst was a gentleman from France (one of their small Pacific island colonies). He was ‘bad’ but his lack of organization skills cost us a little. He arrived by taxi and was surprised that he could not easily hire a car (in the height of summer and the tourist season). It meant we had to give him lifts to various places and for him changing his plans. It wasn’t a disaster but we were glad to see him go.
Tag Archives: airbnb stories
Threatening emails – Airbnb clientele declining
I’ve been hosting on airbnb for about a year now. I’ve had mostly good experiences, but recently the clientele has been going downhill. My first bad experience was with an alleged social worker from San Diego – Rosie. She shattered a glass table top and never told me. We discovered it when the cleaners went in to clean after she departed. How do you shatter a table? And, why would you not tell anyone? Needless to say she has never responded to me or Airbnb and I am out the money to fix the table. My second strange experience was from a gentleman who wanted to pay “after” his stay in case he didn’t like the place. Really. And, my experience last night is making me question if I want to continue using this site. After declining a potential guest because they were too wishy washy and it didn’t feel like a good fit I received horrible messages. I’m guessing they did not realize that all correspondence between the two parties is kept by airbnb.
Terrible Airbnb Experience
I think www.airbnb.com is full of property owners who try to make money without paying tax, it is all a scam, or else plenty are breaking rules to sublet their properties. My experience with ww.airbnb.com in Lima was awful.
The first time I stayed at a, Airbnb property in LA, it was wonderful. The host was nice, the property was first class. So, I thought I will do it again when I visited Lima. I actually stayed in the new Lima Hilton Miraflores for the first 2 nights, after travelling through different places in Peru, my other half booked a property in Miraflores, thinking the best way to learn about a country is by living like the local.
Boy did we make a mistake? The property was not big, but it has 3 bedrooms, one double room facing the main street and two twin-bedded room at the back. There are only two of us. The rate was US$110 each night. We walked in, it looked fine. Barely 5 minutes later, the owner’s estate friend rang the doorbell. I only noticed later on that there is a CCTV looking gaget next to the door, though I am not sure it is for show or it is used to monitor house guests. This person does not speak English or French, only Spanish. I noticed that it was quite cool and damp in the place, so I asked for a heater. That is when the trouble starts. The owner was contacted, first she said it is a health and safety concern, then she said she will ask her friend to look for one, but then no one ever come back with one. One has to understand, even though it says 18 degree C, which is 64 F, it could still be chilly, because of the humidities in this country. While we are back and forth by email trying to resolve this issue. The owner sent an email to the www.airbnb.com’s customer service, and sent us a reply saying that heating was not one of the amenities. I was shocked, hot water and bedding are not listed as amenities, but do vacation rental provide them? Because it is such simple run of the mill things travellers expected. So we ended up sleeping in long sleeve T shirts, 5 layers of blankets, because her place does not have any thick blankets.
Then there was not enough hot water to run for a hot bath, there is enough hot water only to run for a luke warm bath. I notified the owner, but nothing was done.
www.airbnb.com’s customer service is despicable, there was no more reply.
A House Manual was only emailed to the house guests after one booked the place, i.e. after you have paid for your accommodation. This particular owner is on the unreasonable side, there are so many rules, and she emphasizes that they have to be followed — Am I living in a boarding school?? Then another ridiculas one is that one person can only do 1 laundry each week!!
Our of the 3 bedrooms, the one with the double bed next to the balcony at the front is very noisy, you can hear all the cars honking and nearby hostels and restaurants’ people coming out late at night…….
I will NEVER USE www.airbnb.com again!
Beware, since all guests are pre-paid, it is unlikely you can back out once you paid. Plus www.airbnb.com was not helpful in resolving issue.