6 ms·

I recently had the occasion to stay with 4 different Airbnb hosts over the span of under a month, my takeaway was that if I owned any Airbnb stock, I would've s

I recently had the occasion to stay with 4 different Airbnb hosts over the span of under a month, my takeaway was that if I owned any Airbnb stock, I would've sold it immediately. The first two accommodations were huge let downs in terms of cleanliness, despite both advertising Enhanced Clean. The first trip was booked for a month, but we got sick of ants, mice and lack of action after about a week and left early. The second was so incredibly filthy that we left the morning after checking in. While Airbnb corrected the issues by letting us get out early, this was incredibly disruptive to our plans and not representative of what was promised. The worst part came later, after our mutual reviews for that second place became public. My review and scores got removed with no notice, so that host continues to advertise as Superhost with Enhanced Clean and decent enough, if few, reviews. On the other hand, he posted a nasty review of me full of spin, which remains there to this day. My response to it contained a link to a gallery with evidence, and Airbnb removed that as well. My questions to support remain unanswered. This turned into something of a rant, but the main takeaway is that I have entirely lost trust in the review system. Not only does is skew towards high marks, but critical reviews can be removed at a moment's notice with no recourse. That does not reflect well on the company, IMO and there are clearly hosts that have learned to play the system. Too bad.

sephamorr 6y ago
The piece that always bothered my about Airbnb is how it incentivizes hosts to cheat in small (but not insignificant) ways. If my only recourse for not-as-described when I've arrived is to accept the keys, or abandon the booking, that's not a real choice. Most people in an unfamiliar place will just put up with the exaggerated "fully stocked" kitchen, false pictures, etc, and are left with no ability to claw anything back from the host. I think much of this would go away if guests could get partial refunds if they can prove the cheating.
- romanhn 6y ago
  Re: partial refunds - Airbnb was actually good here. In both instances they refunded the nights we didn't stay as well as 50% of the nights we did stay (that was unexpected). Oddly, the second host still attempted to extort us for the full amount through the Airbnb system after the fact, which just added to this bizarre experience.
timwaagh 6y ago
I'm sorry for your experience. I don't think people really deserve a right to review a place if they cancel immediately so i do agree with airbnb on this. Reviews are always a sad affair. recently had the first guest for a particular room who left a bad review. He was an old squatter so used to much better value for money and it (coincidentically) just happened that he checked out late because of an airbnb mistake so i had to tell him to go. i think that reflected in the score. is there anything to be done about this? such things are unfortunately just part of life. And i suppose even a two star review is preferable over 'we-dont-know-whether-this-is-a-trap-or-not'.
- romanhn 6y ago
  While both sides deserve to tell their story, Airbnb should be able to do a basic sanity check based on provided evidence. In our case we provided lots of photos that were clearly were not fraudulent (can be compared to those in the listing) and there was no response from the host, who lied about having cleaners earlier that day. We were met with disgusting sinks, toilets, bathtub, carpet, everything after a 7-hour drive. That's not ok during normal times, but lack of basic sanitization should be a huge red mark during a pandemic. Instead the host continues to do business as usual. So, strong disagree on not deserving to review places like this.
  - timwaagh 6y ago
    its not about the kind of place. you should be allowed to review any place. if you stay there. i just dont think a situation where everyone starts to review their competition (and then cancel) is what airbnb wants to see. once again, i'm sorry you had to go through this.
zebnyc 6y ago
I had very similar experiences (unpleasant/unavailable host, squalid quarters and negative reviews being taken down) on Airbnb. That is the unspoken rule in a two sided marketplace where one party is given preferential treatment (hosts in Airbnb, restaurants in delivery businesses and so on). Like you, I too have lost faith in Airbnb reviews. Previously, I would have recommended staying at Airbnb when traveling with extended family but no longer.
francescopnpn 6y ago
Same. Sometimes I use Airbnb and it's a mixed bag. Same thing happened with me once a year ago: I left a bad review for the host, the host a bad review to me, both have been removed. so much for trust. Why not completely remove reviews and manually inspect each property with some regularity? Might as well do that since they're completely fake. Sure, there'll be less properties but the quality will go up so much which translates into higher retention and $.
OnlyLys 6y ago
While we're on this topic... Late last year I wrote a detail review of a place I stayed at that was poorly maintained. I made the review very detailed, even providing picture evidence of the dirty microwave and clogged air conditioners to prove that the place did not deserve all the 5-stars it was getting. After I posted it, I realised that no one will ever read it, because all the paragraphs I wrote were merged into one huge wall of text. In particular, the numbered list of issues I wrote was merged into a mess. All the links to pictures were also stripped out from my review without warning. If links are not allowed, shouldn't it have brought up an error when I tried to post the review? I don't understand why they would allow my review to go through, but then censor it later. I then got really mad when I tried to rewrite my review into something shorter, but couldn't, because Airbnb does not allow you to edit reviews if the host has already reviewed you. Since all the host had to say was "Great guest", his review was up first, and so my unreadable review was permanent.
- romanhn 6y ago
  Yep, I literally went through all same reactions, until I realized that these decisions were all intentional on Airbnb's part and served to inflate the ratings and reviews on the site. That's when the trust was lost.
  - ryandrake 6y ago
    I'm always shocked that anyone still trusts online ratings and reviews of anything. You've also got fake Amazon reviews, Yelp manipulating reviews based on whether the business pays them, and all kinds of other examples of online reviews being total rubbish, yet somehow people still look at them. It's like the X-files: "I want to believe!"
- totalZero 6y ago
  I would read your review anyway, even if it is a difficult process. I never book an Airbnb without reading every review first. So, at least in my view it's good that you posted that review.

sephamorr 6y ago

The piece that always bothered my about Airbnb is how it incentivizes hosts to cheat in small (but not insignificant) ways. If my only recourse for not-as-described when I've arrived is to accept the keys, or abandon the booking, that's not a real choice. Most people in an unfamiliar place will just put up with the exaggerated "fully stocked" kitchen, false pictures, etc, and are left with no ability to claw anything back from the host. I think much of this would go away if guests could get partial refunds if they can prove the cheating.

romanhn 6y ago
Re: partial refunds - Airbnb was actually good here. In both instances they refunded the nights we didn't stay as well as 50% of the nights we did stay (that was unexpected). Oddly, the second host still attempted to extort us for the full amount through the Airbnb system after the fact, which just added to this bizarre experience.

timwaagh 6y ago

I'm sorry for your experience. I don't think people really deserve a right to review a place if they cancel immediately so i do agree with airbnb on this. Reviews are always a sad affair. recently had the first guest for a particular room who left a bad review. He was an old squatter so used to much better value for money and it (coincidentically) just happened that he checked out late because of an airbnb mistake so i had to tell him to go. i think that reflected in the score. is there anything to be done about this? such things are unfortunately just part of life. And i suppose even a two star review is preferable over 'we-dont-know-whether-this-is-a-trap-or-not'.

romanhn 6y ago
While both sides deserve to tell their story, Airbnb should be able to do a basic sanity check based on provided evidence. In our case we provided lots of photos that were clearly were not fraudulent (can be compared to those in the listing) and there was no response from the host, who lied about having cleaners earlier that day. We were met with disgusting sinks, toilets, bathtub, carpet, everything after a 7-hour drive. That's not ok during normal times, but lack of basic sanitization should be a huge red mark during a pandemic. Instead the host continues to do business as usual. So, strong disagree on not deserving to review places like this.
- timwaagh 6y ago
  its not about the kind of place. you should be allowed to review any place. if you stay there. i just dont think a situation where everyone starts to review their competition (and then cancel) is what airbnb wants to see. once again, i'm sorry you had to go through this.

zebnyc 6y ago

I had very similar experiences (unpleasant/unavailable host, squalid quarters and negative reviews being taken down) on Airbnb. That is the unspoken rule in a two sided marketplace where one party is given preferential treatment (hosts in Airbnb, restaurants in delivery businesses and so on). Like you, I too have lost faith in Airbnb reviews. Previously, I would have recommended staying at Airbnb when traveling with extended family but no longer.

francescopnpn 6y ago

Same. Sometimes I use Airbnb and it's a mixed bag. Same thing happened with me once a year ago: I left a bad review for the host, the host a bad review to me, both have been removed. so much for trust. Why not completely remove reviews and manually inspect each property with some regularity? Might as well do that since they're completely fake. Sure, there'll be less properties but the quality will go up so much which translates into higher retention and $.

OnlyLys 6y ago

While we're on this topic... Late last year I wrote a detail review of a place I stayed at that was poorly maintained. I made the review very detailed, even providing picture evidence of the dirty microwave and clogged air conditioners to prove that the place did not deserve all the 5-stars it was getting. After I posted it, I realised that no one will ever read it, because all the paragraphs I wrote were merged into one huge wall of text. In particular, the numbered list of issues I wrote was merged into a mess. All the links to pictures were also stripped out from my review without warning. If links are not allowed, shouldn't it have brought up an error when I tried to post the review? I don't understand why they would allow my review to go through, but then censor it later. I then got really mad when I tried to rewrite my review into something shorter, but couldn't, because Airbnb does not allow you to edit reviews if the host has already reviewed you. Since all the host had to say was "Great guest", his review was up first, and so my unreadable review was permanent.

romanhn 6y ago
Yep, I literally went through all same reactions, until I realized that these decisions were all intentional on Airbnb's part and served to inflate the ratings and reviews on the site. That's when the trust was lost.
- ryandrake 6y ago
  I'm always shocked that anyone still trusts online ratings and reviews of anything. You've also got fake Amazon reviews, Yelp manipulating reviews based on whether the business pays them, and all kinds of other examples of online reviews being total rubbish, yet somehow people still look at them. It's like the X-files: "I want to believe!"
totalZero 6y ago
I would read your review anyway, even if it is a difficult process. I never book an Airbnb without reading every review first. So, at least in my view it's good that you posted that review.