Air BnBs

There are 37 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 1,633 times. The latest Post (January 23, 2025 at 12:03 AM) was by Rice.

    Greetings all. I’m in no way an experienced end user of them. In fact I have only ever used them in Argentina.

    You might recall I terminated a stay early some months ago. And to be fair I was dealt with fairly and swiftly both by the host and AirBnB.

    As a man of a single variety I’m not overly fussy I don’t believe. But given previous experiences and my own expectations that to some extent derive from previous experiences, I expect a few simple things.

    Prompt communications would likely be top of my list.

    Precise check in instructions.

    Bedding free from hairs when I turn down the sheets.

    As few hairs as possible everywhere else.

    A clean fridge.

    Hand soap at the bathroom sink.

    Shower gel at the bath/shower.

    Towels free of hair when I first open them up.

    This place fails in all of the above except the hairs issue (so far)

    But I can add to the list a thorough search for the tv remote. And when I found it there are no batteries in it.

    I’m not fussy but at least make me feel like I’m fucking welcome and that you have some self-respect.

    It reminds me of booking hotel rooms in the past. It’s less of a problem these days but years ago when you were a male of the singular variety you’d always get given the shittest room in the hotel.

    So I think this host who has perfect reviews has decided it’s time to be a lazy host because it’s just a single man that won’t give a shit about a bar of soap plus other crap that’s come to light in the last hour or so

    Edited once, last by Bombonera: Merged a post created by Bombonera into this post. (September 23, 2024 at 10:24 PM).

    We stayed at a flat in Madrid through AirBnb for the first two nights of our trip and it was spotless. I didn't expect soap or shower gel, but the previous tenants had left some, as well as coffee and sugar. Naturally, we replenished things from the local shop - a Dia in fact, which was supremely above and beyond what Dia is here, but I digress.

    No complaints about the flat at all, except the logistics which we should have factored in - our flight landed at 0430 and we couldn't get the keys until 1500, but that's not their fault.

    Two things bugged me: the Internet kept going down and on the first day, we had to allow access to a repair man to fix the washing machine. Under pressure, I agreed since a public holiday was coming up, but he left the flat unlocked when we returned and all we got in return was some blah, blah.

    Other than that, the place was superb and the location for Plaza Mayor, ideal.


    I am not on Airbnb at the moment, but I still read Airbnb host FB groups. The one of Argentinian hosts is rather depressing. Provided that people who post on FB are usually seeking help, so they are either in a situation or facing a challenge, it seems that AirBnb rates have fallen so low in Buenos Aires ($10-15/night) that the STR business is no longer viable and some are switching to long term rental.

    When we were renting on AirBnb, we provided toiletries (actually, Rice provided a supply!), 4-pack of toilet paper, new sponges for the kitchens and welcome drinks (still water, mineral water, a juice, a few alfajores).

    Say we spent about 7 USD to replace these items between guests. I did the laundry myself and my husband did the cleaning. I did the laundry because I wanted to inspect the sheets and towels for hair. You can't expect a mom-and-pop laundry shop to provide hotel-like experience, just like not any maid will clean to Airbnb standard.

    It comes to a price point where you can't really offer a clean and equipped place. I believe that $10/15 a night is very low and given my previous experience, I wouldn't be able to offer that rate.

    I think I get spoiled in Olivos and then my expectations are raised for other places.

    My Olivos host leaves a desktop pc, a basket of goodies, soaps shower gels etc and the place is immaculate. He even left 3 bottles of wine the first 2 times I stayed but he’s put a stop to that!

    Quote from serafina

    . I believe that $10/15 a night is very low and given my previous experience, I wouldn't be able to offer that rate.

    If that's the price I was paying I wouldn't expect too much to be honest. A night in a youth hostel probably costs more than that nowadays. ^^

    serafina , I’m shocked that AirBnB rates could be so low! For a long-term rental, maybe there would be a break-even point, but for short stays, I can’t see it. Utilities have skyrocketed so much that it would be possible for thoughtless tenants to use $10-$15 worth of electricity and gas.

    The daily cost is an interesting observation. Because what I do is divide my total cost of stay by the number of days and that’s my daily cost obviously.

    But on the other end of the bargain that is not the average daily receipt for a host.

    Because of fees.

    And now we have instances of resistance to AirBnBs in certain cities, perhaps most famously in Barcelona. I’m not fully across that story but there’s an example of a situation that might spread much further.

    A full square month in Olivos is £615.

    Here it’s £57 for 3 nights all costs included. I’m in the Embassy area so it’s millionaires row for no money. I understand that. But there must be baseline expectations met.

    The cost of the AirBnB is extremely low! Your total stay in Palermo Chico is 3 nights? If staying longer, it could be worth your while to pay a housekeeper to come in and give it a good professional cleaning.

    Quote from serafina

    I am not on Airbnb at the moment, but I still read Airbnb host FB groups. The one of Argentinian hosts is rather depressing. Provided that people who post on FB are usually seeking help, so they are either in a situation or facing a challenge, it seems that AirBnb rates have fallen so low in Buenos Aires ($10-15/night) that the STR business is no longer viable and some are switching to long term rental.

    When we were renting on AirBnb, we provided toiletries (actually, Rice provided a supply!), 4-pack of toilet paper, new sponges for the kitchens and welcome drinks (still water, mineral water, a juice, a few alfajores).

    Say we spent about 7 USD to replace these items between guests. I did the laundry myself and my husband did the cleaning. I did the laundry because I wanted to inspect the sheets and towels for hair. You can't expect a mom-and-pop laundry shop to provide hotel-like experience, just like not any maid will clean to Airbnb standard.

    It comes to a price point where you can't really offer a clean and equipped place. I believe that $10/15 a night is very low and given my previous experience, I wouldn't be able to offer that rate.

    I think one of your problems serafina is that you are too honest, too insistent on giving good service and responsive to customers needs to succeed on the "new" AirBnb. It seems to be geared up for shysters and tricksters on both sides of the pillow and people who adhere to the values of the old and original AirBnb are bound, in my opinion, to struggle.

    I won't use AirBnb. Why should I condone sharp and sometimes illegal practices by putting my money into something dubious? No, you are not dubious, serafina but it ought to be AirBnb's job to weed out the bad, not the customer's job to suffer the bad and report it.

    Let's talk about illegality.

    If you have recently stayed in an AirBnb in London, was it a room in somebody's main residence, was it only available for a limited number of days per year? Well it should have been because London rules for short term lettings restrict owners - owners, mind: not sub-lets - to a room in their main residence available for not more than 90 days per year. Everything else is illegal.

    Have you stayed recently in an AirBnb in Vancouver? Because of the housing and homelessness problem the city tightly restricts short term lets and a very limited number of city licences have been issued. Far fewer than the thousands of short term rentals displaying fake certificates. If you stayed in an AirBnb in Vancouver, odds-on it was illegal.

    Did you stay in an AirBnb in Berlin? That was illegal. The city bans all short term rentals.

    That's just three cities. It really is not my job to police the rental situation in any city I might want to stay - it's AirBnb's job to offer safe, legal, decent and honest arrangements and since they don't, I won't use them at all.

    Quote from bebopalula

    It seems to be geared up for shysters and tricksters on both sides of the pillow and people who adhere to the values of the old and original AirBnb are bound, in my opinion, to struggle.

    I hear you. I was recently spending an evening with Rice and her husband, and one thing I mentioned, based on my reading of Airbnb host groups in the US, is that it seems that Airbnb is attracting the wrong crowd of guests. I.e. those that do not meet the criteria for a long term rental, the party-throwers, the ones that are running away from the law and needs to switch frequently their location, the free riders who have figured out how to win the Airbnb algorithm using the right excuses so that they get to stay for as long as they want and the day they checkout they are able to file a claim with Airbnb to get a full refund.

    I don’t believe this is yet a reason to worry in Argentina, given the large distances and that you need a credit card to book on Airbnb, but I have read of a few of scams going on here, besides the false-pretense refund claims (noise that can’t be proven, uneasy feeling/safety concern form the guests, but also bugs that the guest can place themself).

    One is to look for a place to rent outside of Airbnb, arrange a visit, and rob the apartment. The other one is getting into the apartment through booking.com (which doesn’t have a default insurance cover, unlike Airbnb Cover) and steal everything (and I mean everything, including pots and pans) during their stay. According to booking.com’s policy, if the host let someone into their property, it is not a robbery as no one broke in.

    The third one is apparently perpetrated by Chilean/other Latin Americans. They seem to be regular guests and everything goes smoothly, until they claim that someone broke into your/their apartment and stole their valuables (apple computers, Louis Vuitton purses, Rolex’s etc.) and ask you to be accountable for that (they will refuse to file a report with the police, though 👮🏻).

    Even if you can file a report, I am not exactly eager to be under a criminal's radar seeking revenge/retaliation, given that they know my property’s address and what is in there.

    I will try and navigate my way through the points raised so far as a guest. But there may be points raised I know nothing of.

    As a guest I have broken 2 wine glasses and a corkscrew in 2 different properties. (There’s a theme there isn’t there? 🤣)

    I notified the hosts immediately and replaced them.

    I just see it like eBay that I also used a lot. The platform relies on mutual trust. If there isn’t mutual trust then it’s a broken system. So I respect it and do the right thing.

    But now Im in another AirBnB with more fucking hairs here there and everywhere than even the last place. And this time I haven’t even bothered to complain.

    Instead I’m considering whether I have a future as a guest with AirBnBs.

    For me, I see poor care by a host as 2 things.

    A lack of self-respect

    A lack of respect for me as a guest.

    If I can pick up hairs why can’t they before I arrive?

    At the AirBnb in Madrid, although it was immaculate, we had to allow access to a technician to fix the washing machine. Clearly we couldn't stay in all day and we had to leave all our kit there, but he left the front door unlocked afterwards, so I sent a note to the owner through the app, for which we received an apology. Also, the Wi-Fi was crap and all I got were excuses.

    However, these were not enough to give them a bad review.