Dear Tara. The bathroom was a 4×4 room with no towel rack. If you weren’t aware- people use towels as shower mats and in some hotels they ask you to leave dirty towels on the floor and ones that might be used, but you can use again on the rack. There was no towel rack. Plus, if the floor was clean to THEIR standards, why such outrage about the towels being on the floor? I did give them the opportunity to reclean it. The cohost who came in was very apologetic but only used a dust pan to sweep up the hair. She didn’t touch the sink or shower. There was visible mold and mildew in the sink and shower. Perhaps you are okay with exposing yourself to unsanitary conditions, but not everyone else is.

When a host earns the title of superhost for providing a clean and easy environment- that is what people expect. Just like Yelp, we trust positive reviews, but we sometimes fail to consider the standards of others. Like, you are good with other people’s filth, I’m not. You might see me as an uptight POS, I see you as someone with lower standards.

How do you think whistleblowing works? So, you think it’s not worth the time to report things so that guests AND hosts do not find themselves in these situations? My friend is a host. Airbnb is insured to cover hosts for damages, but he’s had to jump through hoops to get anything done. Despite the positive reviews of one of his guests, she had a party and trashed the place. It’s a risk. But I’d say a lot of hosts would not be willing to take it if they knew what a hassle it would be to get things resolved.

So Tara, if the host posted photos of the bathroom showing hair on the floor and the sink with gunk and mildewed shower would you book it? And you are saying it’s unacceptable for a guest to leave towels on the floor, possibly to stand on since the floor was dirty, but you find no issue with the guest being inconvenienced, and feel that someone who is not comfortable showering in mildew and using a sink with grime in it is an uptight POS? Wow. I suspect you might not feel too good about your own hygiene.

Rick on the other hand seems to think by investigating and reporting that one has too much time on their hands? How does he think corrupt corporations get busted? It’s good that people report this stuff. And ironically, Rick had enough time to read this article and post a comment!

From the looks of the host’s review he seems a bit angry and sensitive to criticism. From the looks of the photos the place was not clean.

So to both of you, if he host posted photos of the room showing the shower like that and mildew in the sink- would you still book it? Probably not. So, swallow that humble dose of reality.