Comments on: Bait and Switch Scheme by Airbnb Host

By: Pissed off neighbours living next to the holiday home from hell.

Pissed off neighbours living next to the holiday home from hell. — Sat, 19 Oct 2019 08:28:15 +0000

My so-called Super-host in the UK does this …. and our Advertising Standards Council took this so-called Super-host to task and changed her advertising twice now. Not that Airbnb was the least bit interested with we complained on their Complaints site .. but then they make them profits.

Our advice is simple … cancel the booking with Airbnb immediately. Search for a hotel or B&B in the area which is regulated (Airbnb in the UK is not and quite a few countries).. and don’t use them again.

In short – as John Fox stated in his post – take control back for yourself… if the conference is nearing – why would you rely on the utterly unreliant Airbnb Company ???

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 18:50:11 +0000

Very strange indeed. I have always been smack dab in the area I was shown. Which allows me to do my research before booking.

By: John Fox

John Fox — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 18:00:35 +0000

Next time, let me tell you what I do after a lifetime in the hospitality business. They have this thing called Google. Let’s say I am going to Seattle and I like bed and breakfasts. I look them up on Google paying attention to the location I need to be. I can then look at the reviews on many different sites. (we all know that Airbnb reviews are sanitized for THEIR protection) I then pick up the phone and call the property DIRECTLY or use THEIR online booking function. Not only do I know the exact location of the property ahead of time but I don’t have to pay an ADDITIONAL 15 percent to a third party that is all up in my banking details and could ruin my trip due to last minute cancellation or a horrible property/location. The fact that Airbnb controls MY money is a deal killer for me.

Same works for hotels or hostels.

I personally find the Airbnb site to be horrible to use. As an example Seattle has 121 hotels but has in excess of 7,500 units (mainly apartments owned by corporate investors) on Airbnb alone. Yes you can narrow down the search a bit, but even then listings show up that are NOT in the general neighborhood you want. I find it incredibly confusing actually not to mention time consuming to wade through thousands of listings.

Perhaps as a 54 year old man I am not tech savvy enough to use the Airbnb site but I feel the only way to be in TOTAL control of my travels is to just do it myself. So far so good. And it’s really quite easy! And of course your hosts will love you for dealing with them directly.