I made reservations at two AirBnBs in Italy within the past month.
One in Rome and one in Firenze.
The one in Rome was in a great location (Trastevere) near the Viale di Trastevere and a grocery store on that Street. The interior of the apartment was quite beautiful and the place was the home of the owner and her daughter. They decided to use the apartment entirely for an AirBnB space.
Unfortunately, when I arrived at the apartment, the manager/daughter was not there. Her mother and two aunts were holding a class in the livingroom and they let me in.
I had a lot of bags and the directions they gave me were difficult, especially after getting off flights from California to Germany changing to a flight in Milano and then a train ride down to Rome.
The room I had did not have heat, the bathroom had been used by the students who were in the class.
The manager arrived later saying she had had some glass from her mobile phone get into her eye (which is pretty serious so I can understand that).
There was no Wifi even though the site said there was Wifi.
Multiple problems and no back-up manager for the apartment to call for help. I texted, called and left messages for the manager over the course of 3 or 4 days and would never get an answer.
In this case, a drip in the steam heater and the traffic at the Street level kept me awake for 4 out of 6 nights.
My second experience was in Firenze (Florence)
The owner of the Oltrarno apartment (Stefano Amorosi) was also not there when I arrived at the place I rented.
Particularly, I mentioned that I had a knee injury and that I needed quiet to sleep.
When I showed up at the apartment, a pair of cleaning people were at the door about to go into the building door. I asked in Italian if there was an elevator (when I saw the stairs).
The lady said no. I had to walk up more than 50 stairs with my bag and a bad knee.
Later I had to walk down those stairs to get to the Street.
I texted the owner through AirBnB and he said I should cancel asap to free up the space (obviously so he could use it for someone else).
Since I did not have a back up plan, I had to stay the first night.
This became a nightmare situation with AirBnB because once you start a reservtion (mine was for 7 nights) you have to call AirBnB back in the USA to cancel the rest of the stay.
I had to call 3 times (2 times I got an voice message). I tried calling in the European time zone to England and Italy (both times I got a voice message saying they were not open, call back another time).
Because of the terms of the rental for this apartment, the owner ended up taking the first nights rent and half of the rest of the days of my stay. Plus he asked me when I arrived for 30 euros in cash for the cleaning of the sheets.
I felt that I was really cheated by the Italian apartment owner.
But more than that, I do not have any faith in the enforcement of proper standards outside of the USA for AirBnB properties. In the USA, I think there are American consumer standards. Outside of the USA, I do not think owners are Always honest.
My first experience in Torino, Italy through AirBnb was good.
But how about if the listing promises something (quiet, Wifi, heat) and there is none?
I choose a property to stay in based on the above and I got none in the two cases I wrote above.
I will not use AirBnB again.
I am currently staying in a Bed and Breakfast that is owned by a friend of a friend in Florence (Firenze) and am so relieved to feel secure and safe. It is the dead of winter here in Italy. It would ruin my trip to feel discomfort and insecurity since I am traveling alone - even if I do speak some Italian and have traveled to Italy several times.
Joanna
San Francisco, California