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About our positive AirBNB experience with their office staff at headquarters…

Just back from Sicily….loved it.

We had 3 rental apartments, first one in Palermo was pretty good, despite walking up five floors to reach it!
Last one on return to Palermo for the last 3 nights was beyond stellar…I can’t describe how great it was in every respect.

However, the middle one in Siracusa was a different story.
No info was given to us about the apartment on checkin with the host, who told us they were hurrying to their lunch.
Host shouted as an afterthought back up the stairs as they were running down “Don’t flush any TP, put it in a bag.”
Otherwise we would not have known.
This is is the case in all of the area, to protect the plumbing.
No hot water…we sent a message and were just told “ a plug”….eventually found the water heater and got it plugged in.
Shower in one bathroom immediately overflowed as drain blocked…by day 3 it was unusable and we had to share the second one.
Toilet seat in first BR hanging off by one bolt, I nearly fell.
Sent another message, someone came and fixed the seat but not the shower.
No info given that water there is undrinkable as it tastes like salt.
No water at all on 3rd night…another message…told it was common to go off in the area occasionally.
Elevator advertised, but not working and looked like it had been that way for a while.
No bath mat …had to use kitchen tea towels…and no plug for kitchen sink .

I did point these things out in multiple messages to the host, and in my final (polite) review.
At one point the host messaged back “I am ill, I have a fever”. ???

The host reviewed me as “A stiff people” !! 🤨😏

Anyway, the point of this is that I contacted Airbnb yesterday after returning home, and they were very responsive, and ended up refunding me a small amount of what I had paid.
I did not ask them for money, rather I wanted them to make sure that this host fixed all these deficiencies for future guests.

So… in the end I was very pleased with AirBnB’s prompt responses, even though I had not asked anything but to have the host be more helpful and provide the amenities listed in the actual listing for the apartment.
We all work hard for our vacation dollars, and this apartment definite did not meet what was on the listing.

So…kudos to AirBnB in the end for their excellent response to me.

Posted by
427 posts

I always use and Airbnb and have been very happy to do so. On the couple of times I needed to call the main office (San Francisco I think) they were very helpful and quick to respond. For me I get a HOME by using Airbnb not a bedroom. Not every place would I stay again, but there are tons of hotels I would not stay again. So the ratio of good and bad is way higher using Airbnb. I don't work for Airbnb I am just a VERY happy customer. J

Posted by
7835 posts

S J, sorry about your experience. You said you were "polite" in your review but I hope you let others know about the problems you had in your review. That is one problem I have with Airbnbs - too many people are afraid to leave a bad review.

Posted by
3446 posts

Hi Mardee:
I was polite, but did describe what we had experienced.
It didn’t ruin our stay there, but I booked two bathrooms for a reason: two women, each getting ready at the same time!
It wasn’t a bad review, but it wasn’t good either.
Airbnb said they would remedy the defects with the host.

The thing that really frosted me was that I was reviewed by the host as “A stiff people.”! 🤣
Every single Airbnb review by hosts I’ve ever had before was excellent.

Posted by
7835 posts

S J, I had that happen once - I booked 3 nights in an AirBnb in the states around Thanksgiving, and made sure the place had a full kitchen since I would be cooking. Unfortunately, the oven was very sluggish and stopped halfway through (evidently a fuse problem) and there were a few other issues that I had to contact the owner about. In his review, he said I was "high maintenance." I guess I should have just accepted the poorly-working oven. 🙄

Posted by
3446 posts

Mardee: We are tigers rather than sheep,it seems!😂

Posted by
19955 posts

I don’t think 99% of the hosts want to do a bad job, they just didn’t know what they were getting into.

It’s a business and a hard one at that, just imagine: Turn on the AC or Heat, plug in the water heater, meet and greet, recite the rules and general information, be on call if anything does go wrong, inspect after checkout, get cleaning crew in the 3 hour window before the next guest, inspect pots and pans and replace as needed, replace broken glasses, general repairs and repainting due to wear and tear, update Airbnb listing and argue with them when your listing disappears, file for license to operate, pay taxes, report guest passport number to authorities, file reports with authorities and on and on and on.

And it isn’t terribly profitable in most locations considering all the work involved, unless you use the place yourself as well.

All other things being equal I look for professionally managed units, mostly mom and pop management companies that maybe take care of a dozen units; as those people make their livelihood in the business and can’t afford bad reviews or they loose all their clients.

You can spot them when you see the same person hosting a half dozen or more flats in a town, and no they are not trying to hide the fact that they aren’t the owners, it’s the way AirBnb is set up.

Still, I prefer hotels.