Comments on: Airbnb Experience Different for Older Guests

By: Elaine Marsh

Elaine Marsh — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 20:25:39 +0000

I dislike airbnb’s approach to dealing with issues but $35 per night, what were you expecting? Airbnb is for independent travellers and I would have asked for replacement towels only if there was no washing machine.

I only had problems with 3 guests over 5 years of hosting and all were over 70! I had no complaints about cleanliness or standard but the expectation for hotel type service was the main problem. Phone calls through the night for taxi services, No food provided, not being on call to answer questions on how to operate electric hob (manuals provided) . I would even throw in extra cleaning and gifts such as wine and expensive chocolates to no avail.

Then because of my lack of ‘service’ a terrible review. I had one property and was not a hotel checking in 100s of people a month and so a bad review really has an impact.

Many other good hosts came to the conclusion that this was a ruse to get massive discounts as they all asked for discounts, were all of a similar age and all from the same country.. Guess which one??!!

By: Mm

Mm — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 06:08:24 +0000

Maybe their standards are higher when rented through airbnb where their hospitality is up for review, and they’re having to provide the things advertised. You’ll never know!

By: Larry Myers

Larry Myers — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 01:24:51 +0000

Many Airbnb “homes” are simply places that are rented out night after night to guests, they are not “someone else’s home” as even a cursory google search will reveal. Here is just one example —
https://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/11/03/last-year-bought-apartment-specifically-rent-airbnb-heres/#.tnw_3A5D7Avg

I think Airbnb is a terrible operation and I wouldn’t rent one again on a bet.

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 00:35:45 +0000

I agree with the comment above. Also, maybe instead of asking for fresh towels, which is what you do in a hotel, the proper move was to ask if they had a washer/dryer and where to purchase laundry pods if they weren’t provided and if you couldn’t look up the closest grocery/convenience store? That’s an Airbnb guest behavior.

By: Ethel Cook-Wilson

Ethel Cook-Wilson — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 23:25:06 +0000

Jen, well, the hosts should stop being “pretend” hotel owners/operators. Even in someone’s home the expectation is to have a change of towels during a week stay. Airbnb needs to get its act together or go out if business

By: jen

jen — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 19:14:24 +0000

I’m sorry it was a bad experience, and you are right that different age groups probably have different expectations, what did you expect for $400 a week? the whole point of airbnb is you are in someone else’s home and they are not a hotel, so their standards of cleanliness may be different to yours and you can’t expect hotel standards