I’ve made friends and money

I’ve had nothing but positive experiences using AirBnB. I’ve made over $40,000 since I started and have met exceptional people, many of whom I now count as friends. Sure there are bad stories out there but I have yet to encounter one.

ROBBED! Airbnb posted my exact address online

I have been a happy airbnb user and host for 3 years. A few months ago I saw that the address and map my confirmed guests would see after they booked was slightly incorrect. The FAQ said to click an “edit address” button but there was no such button, it only had a link to “contact customer service”.

I sent a message to airbnb cust service telling them the address and map was incorrect and gave them the correct information. Apparently they also changed the “public address” to reveal the FULL STREET ADDRESS WITH HOUSE NUMBER which obviously I did not request. I typically use airbnb app on my phone which does not show the same information as the full site so I didn’t notice this for some time.

That is, until my house was robbed and ransacked between guests. Upon visiting my listing I was horrified to notice that the full address was visible to everyone in the world. Along with a handy dandy airbnb calendar showing exactly when the place was vacant!

I could not have revealed the street address myself as the option to edit the public address is not available. There is no where that I can change these settings myself. Why a “customer service” representative would do this is beyond my understanding! Perhaps the US based company does not understand European addresses and entered it incorrectly into the “public” system?

Watch your listings carefully or any dummy with an internet connection can easily find out when and where to strike!

Lost Earned Rent to Airbnb

I have been a host on Airbnb for 2.5 years and have 75 great reviews. Now Airbnb seems to think they can just retract my rent and put me in debt to them. Airbnb made a decision that I owe THEM money – like over $2k. They have no reason that I can tell.

Getting back at Airbnb

I recently had a horrible experience with Airbnb customer service, so I’ve decided to get back at them! Long story short, I’ve bee an airbnb host for several months but I just had some super crazy guests that were insanely loud and filthy so I asked them to leave. They refused to leave, and basically made my life a living hell for 3 weeks! I asked Airbnb for help, but they took forever to respond and were not remotely help when they did finally get back to me with a form email! Anyway, I figured out a better way, here it is:

Basically I kept my airbnb listings online, but now EVERY TIME I get a message from a potential guest, I offer them a discounted rate (remember the guests are paying about 15% MORE than you’re getting anyway due to Airbnb fees) if they’ll book privately with me in cash. This is a total win win! The guests are happy to save money, I’m happy to NOT be bound by any crazy airbnb contracts that force me to allow psycho people to stay in my house for fear of a bad review or worse, a 50% refund from airbnb!

I’m not saying this is 100% ethical, but you know what, until airbnb fixes their retarded policies, I think this is an extremely fair solution!

Host Account Hacked and NO Help from Airbnb

I started hosting a few weeks ago with Air BNB. Since then my account has been taken over by hackers, bank account details changed. I can’t login to my own account anymore. I have not received payment for my first guest who left already and I don’t know what to do about the next guest who is due Wednesday. I have called C Service every day for a week but they can’t help, only note my issues. I received one mail saying they would look into it and since then I keep getting emails that my bank account has changed, email etc again.. My account has now been closed and my listing removed from the internet. The communication from AirBNB has been atrocious, ie. leaving me hanging with no answers and not even the decency to reply to my 15 emails. I will be filing a police report and contacting my lawyer on Monday.

Tropical cozy villa was a tropical cozy dump

The only good thing about this villa is its location (provided you like noise and feeling unsafe given it’s located down a dark alley with no security).
I booked Villa Rumah Damai for the month of July, having had a number of emails back and forth with the owner’s wife on the Airbnb website. After the owner assured me that it was an ‘amazing’ villa to take my toddler and confirming that aside from a staircase and stairs to the pool that it was ‘family friendly’, the beautiful photos of the villa had me sold so I stupidly paid the owners directly – as per their suggestion – therefore losing any (non-existent) rights I would’ve had on Airbnb(no doubt a ploy used by the owners to ensure they can keep your money no matter what).
Upon moving into the villa after the villa manager was an hour late collecting us (leaving us waiting in the humidity with no contact or explanation) it was evident just how old the villa was. I was shown around and everything in the website photos that appears ‘white’ – linen, mosquito nets, day bed etc – is actually a dull, dusty grey. The photos are incredibly deceptive, so don’t be fooled! It soon became VERY clear that the owners keep this villa in a state so it’s barely rentable and that’s it. The kitchen tap wasn’t just dripping, it was streaming water. A number of light bulbs were blown. The fridge freezer was frozen over. The lock on the upstairs bedroom broken (and I specifically asked about lockable bedrooms PRIOR to booking the villa of which I was assured that “all bedrooms have lockable doors”). There was no advertised wifi (told by the villa manager to ‘use next door’s’ which involved standing in a corner, holding phones up to the ceiling). The toaster was DOA and the kettle looked circa 1974 given the build up of calcium inside and the foul, floaty white particles in the consequent boiled water. The real kicker occurred after a night of rain when the pool flooded and filled with dirt. This wouldn’t have been a problem if the pool filter was working, but of course, it too was broken. The pool was unusable for 6 days with maintenance people appearing in the backyard at all hours (they had been given a key without my knowledge and appeared one morning, banging around at 07:30!) coming to ‘look’ at the pool. And more often than not, that’s exactly what they did. They would ‘look’ at the pool and then leave. Honestly, this villa was a disaster. I sent ‘nice’ text messages to the villa manager outlining what needed to be fixed (after 4 days of darkness in the upstairs bathroom due to no lightbulbs, I went out and bought lightbulbs myself) then escalated it to emails to the owner’s wife who was – conveniently – traveling. I booked the villa for 28 nights, but after just 12 nights of disruption (maintenance people coming and going, villa manager coming and going, us being asked to be there to let the internet people in, the villa being a filthy, dysfunctional dump etc) disappointment and despair overtook the situation (not to mention having a pool we could not use and no internet) I simply had to move out. Oops, I neglected to mention the giant knife left outside my bedroom door where I was sleeping alone with my 18-month old toddler – of course I freaked out when I found it the next morning given it wasn’t there the night before, but the useless nanny confessed that she left the knife there for the gardener!!! Seriously, what kind of nanny leaves a giant knife where a toddler can get it? Then we discovered the final insult. $320 had been stolen out from under our noses. I personally had IDR 2,200,000 stolen from the safe in the downstairs bedroom and my friend another US$100 from her bag in the upstairs bedroom. Both thefts occurred when we were in the villa and it was being cleaned. We – I had a friend over from Australia visiting us – waited until bank statements and money exchange receipts had been checked before we made such serious accusations, and when we were absolutely sure we’d been robbed, we informed the owner via email. In the email I stated that given the top bedroom had a broken lock, the owners were liable for the theft, to which I received the reply: “I’m afraid the lost [sic] of your money caused by broken lock isn’t relevant either. You mentioned yourself that it happened when the cleaning is being done — meaning the room has to be unlocked, correct? So I don’t see the correlation between two” . This pretty much sums up the attitude of the owners. Out to make a quick buck. I also went to the Balinese police to lodge a report, however, in true Bali style, when everything was said and done, the police were asking more in bribes that we’d actually had stolen!
I had noticed when providing the nanny/cook with money for groceries (she was thrown into the rental deal for free, not that we ever wanted her), that small amounts – $5 here, $2 there – would be unaccounted for in receipts, and I paid the villa manager IDR 60,000 to purchase an Indonesian SIM card for me. When I didn’t return the SIM card with the phone handset she’d lent me – after all, I’d purchased the SIM so it was mine – she slipped up and asked for the SIM, telling me that it was a SIM she’d had for years and lends to all her guests. All these little amounts of money added up and no matter If it’s one dollar or the three-hundred and twenty dollars, it’s NOT their money to take. I have the right to give MY money to whom I choose.
I informed the owner’s wife that I would be leaving the villa 16 nights early based on all the reasons above – stressing the point that the ‘broken’ pool was completely unacceptable given that every time it rained, it became unusable plus reiterating all the other faults and flaws with the dump-of-a-villa – and requested a refund for the nights we did not stay there. The owner’s wife then proceeded to direct me to the cancellation policy of the Airbnb website that I DID NOT book through! So, they kept my money for the nights we did not stay and sent ridiculous emails with ridiculous explanations as to why it was so poorly maintained, going as far as to tell me that my expectations were too high and that I should be grateful for the great monthly rate they gave me ($4,000, originally advertised as $2,500 but they conveniently did a ‘bait-and-switch’ scam on me) So, I ended up having to rent another villa as I had more friends flying out from Australia and this meant I was paying double rent for 16 nights. Not. Happy. About. That.
When I left Indonesia, I sent a pleasant email to Airbnb telling them all that had happened. I admitted that I had been foolish to pay the owners directly, I said that I understood and accept that all my rights in regard to payment/refund were null and void given I had paid the owners directly, I clearly stated that I was not ‘after them’ for a refund, but that I simply wanted them to consider the facts:
– that the villa is an old dump and nothing like the photos they use to advertise it (deception on the host’s part)
– that they are using the Airbnb website to attract business but then taking transactions off of the site (highlighting the fact that Airbnb lose their 18% commission on bookings)
– that they ‘bait-and switch’ by luring renters in with a cheaper rental rate than they actually charge
And all the twit ‘Helen’ on the Airbnb team could focus on was the fact that I (stupidly) took the payment transaction off the Airbnb site:
“Unfortunately the reservation was taken off-site. This is not allowed per our Terms of Service. We can not do anything about payments not made through our secured payment system”
I kept replying and reiterating that I knew they couldn’t do anything about the lost payment and that they should remove the listing given it’s nothing like what is promised on the listing, they (Airbnb) are losing money in commissions/fees via these hosts as they make people pay offline and the hosts are ‘baiting-and-switching’ rental prices. No response from these Airbnb idiots. Oh, but they managed to send through a questionnaire on their ‘service. Ha. What a joke. Just like Airbnb is a joke. Honestly people, DO NOT USE Airbnb. Pay the extra to a property management company/agent who actually has to work for their commission/fees.

 

-Editor’s Note: The story above was written about this airbnb listing www.airbnb.com/rooms/1025330.  Thank you for sharing your experience!

Airbnb guest stole my bag!!

I rented out a room in a large house advertised on AirBNB and there were 3 other guests staying there at the same time, as well as the host.
Everyone seemed like nice enough people and I felt pretty comfortable. I decided to pop down to the shop to grab some groceries and when I came back about an hour later my bag was gone. And I don’t mean a small bag. It was all my belongings I had brought with me. The host informed me that one of the guests had just left but she didn’t notice what bags they had with them.
We both spoke to AirBNB when I called to report it, and both of us got the same generic answer that without proof their hands are tied. What proof could I possibly have? A note from the thieves saying “Sorry, I stole your bag”?
The host was shocked but she was really lovely and helpful with the whole situation. AirBNB on the other hand are the scum of the earth as far as I’m concerned.

Party city

When it comes to AirBNB you can do all the research in the world but you have no way of knowing what the neighbors are going to be like.
My husband and I stayed in an absolutely gorgeous unit and for the first night it was lovely. It was when the second night came around that the problems started. The people that live above the unit we were staying in decided to have a party and at first we weren’t too worried – we aren’t that old, we understand the concept of fun.
It was when it got to the third continuous day and night of partying that I thought I was going to lose my mind. We had two nights left of our stay and I rang AirBNB to see if there was anything they could do to arrange alternate accommodation because the party obviously wasn’t stopping. They wanted me to prove that there had been constant noise.
How silly of me! I should have known to record every second of the last 3 days to “prove” that there was noise. Or perhaps I could have run upstairs with my phone and asked the guys throwing the party to have a quick chat to AirBNB to confirm that they had indeed been partying?
We ended up leaving anyway and staying in a nearby pub just so we could get some sleep for the last 2 nights.
What a bloody joke!

Don’t host on airbnb!!!

I rented out my home for the first (and the last) time through AirBNB earlier this year to a middle aged couple who on paper seemed legitimate.
There were only the two of them staying and they had the choice of 2 double sized bedrooms. Before they arrived a put a lock on my bedroom door because I wasn’t going to be there while they were staying and let’s be honest – I didn’t know them from a bar of soap.
So call me naive, but I assumed that a lock would be a clear indication that I didn’t want them in my room. They had two rooms to choose from, there was no need for them to go into mine.
Obviously the lock made no difference because it’s quite easy to just unscrew the hinges and take the door off! All of my personal belongings got rummaged through, my lingerie was all over the bed and sentimental jewellery items were stolen that can never be replaced.
AirBNB’s response when I reported the situation? “You shouldn’t leave your belongings out if you don’t want them tampered with”
Out? They were in my room behind a locked door! I am so beyond angry – If you’re thinking of renting your home through AirBNB – DON’T!!

Disgusted

After being a host on AirBNB for 3 years with fantastic reviews I’ve got to say I am truly disgusted with the way my complaint about my last guests was handled.

I came home to find all the batteries taken out of my smoke detectors and a huge burn mark in the center of my lounge room – like they had lit a campfire inside the house!
I took multiple photos and emailed them to AirBNB for evidence but since I don’t have receipts for my carpet they won’t do a damn thing.

This company doesn’t give a toss about their loyal hosts – they’ve lost me!