This essay is intended to address why I will never, if I can help it, utilize AirBnB again, anywhere.* If you are a host and want to leap to the defense of the ones I write about here, just don't bother. You can't share in my experience as a customer. If you have been a happy client with AirBnb for a long time, that's great. For YOU. But for me, this entity has tried and failed to prove its worth three times. In baseball, you have to give up the bat after three failures. For me, AirBnb has struck out.
I am aware that because the world has decided it is done with a pandemic - whether or not it really is - that same world has decided that vacation time is back with a vengeance. The consequences of these decisions are wreaking havoc in world heritage site-drenched locations like Rome, because humanity lost its collective sanity during its deprivation and no one can behave like a decent, law-abiding global citizen anymore. What's more, in countries where official assistance for small business owners was scarce to nonexistent (like Italy), those who can now attempt to make up for their revenue losses have jacked their prices to unholy highs.
Enter the person who has a job to do in a city she doesn't live in full-time anymore. AirBnB seems to work for lots of people, I reasoned, so I will take that tactic too.
For my late Spring teaching stint, I found what I needed - not too much space, good access to transport, a kitchen of some kind, and air conditioning.
Except that once I arrived, I realized that there was no air conditioning.
Enter my dispute with the host and AirBnb. Customer service wanted photographs of the problem. What on earth am I going to photograph when I am reporting something that is MISSING? I go round and round with those people until I start to get this other kind of theme, which is: if you're not happy with what you got, find something else. What did AirBnb provide in the way of service to help me find something else, in Rome, with my criteria? They provided a link to a map with about three wildly overpriced addresses that in no way met my criteria. When I asked if I could get more refined help, I was laughed at - literally! - and told in the most pedantic tone possible that I was supposed to find my lodging myself.
They then pushed the limit by stating that they were informing my host that I was leaving the premises in search of another. Only I hadn't given anyone permission to do that. I had never stated I was leaving. I had only ever stated that I had nowhere else to go.
When I took to Twitter to complain about AirBnb leaving me literally homeless, I managed to get some traction that involved a partial refund and coupon code for a future stay.
The host got a finger-wagging for not having been accurate in their representation of their apartment. 'We take that very seriously,' AirBnb said.
This didn't feel particularly serious.
Next up, I book another apartment in Rome for my Fall teaching assignment. I carefully triple-check the AC issue. I am assured that it exists.
I ask about whether there is a lift in the building since I have luggage and I am traveling alone to an apartment on the 2nd floor. I am informed that a lift exists, but I cannot use it. "When we got the place, we didn't get a key for the elevator, so we don't have one."
That's the extent of customer service, I think, as I watch residents in the building take the elevator I cannot use.
Until about a month ago, Rome was still plenty hot, so I didn't think too much about a tepid shower, until I realized that tepid turned cold after 4 minutes. That's all the hot water there was. I notified the host. A lot of back and forth. The host informed me that other clients in recent weeks had mentioned issues with the water (and its lousy pressure, which is an anomaly in Rome...usually it is fierce!), but they had all just chalked it up to August and how everyone in Rome is gone from the city then (except for tourists, who are the primary AirBnb customers). Now we are all competing for water again, was a rationale.
No, I'm not making this up.
That was my first sign that I was in trouble. An admission that at least one previous customer had complained, but no one really did anything about it.
Or did other previous clients take 2 minute showers? I'll never know.
I was told to turn on all the faucets at once, which would somehow magically prompt more hot water. Of course, this didn't do the trick.
Weeks went by. I got explanations about how all of Italy is looking to replace its boilers too, because of the energy crisis caused by a Russian megalomaniac. Thus, supply chains are in deep trouble. Can't get an appointment for months.
But just before I had to leave for the term break, a miracle. A technician would be coming to visit the apartment. I was lead to believe that the installation might happen that day. The host's daughter was going to be present for this blessed event.
Except that the technician arrived 20 minutes earlier than the daughter. He came to poke around, look at things. Took a measurement. He left before the daughter even appeared.
That was it.
The ball started to slowly roll, though. I was told that while I would be gone, the installation would happen. I was scheduled to be gone for two weeks, so this seemed like plenty of time. Realize that this water heater is approximately the size of a large microwave.
Except that the installation was only partially completed by the time I returned. They'd forgotten a part. There had to be another visit. And after that, oh, another part had been forgotten. That necessitated another visit. Each time, the technician arrived later than the appointed time. On the day of his most recent visit, he was THREE HOURS LATE.
This visit wasn't even originally scheduled. The day before, he came for two hours, smiled and left with the assurance that he would return in two days. But he left his job incomplete, as I was without hot water again. I reported this. And then I was asked to wait for him to return the next day, as neither the host nor the daughter could be present. I waited three hours to watch a guy do all kinds of things that didn't seem to be related to the hot water absence, honestly. Caulking a pipe?
If you know me, then you know I'd already blown my stack with the host well before this. And all I got was a 'if you need to go, then we understand,' in addition to lots of manipulative talk about how all they ever tried to do was make their clients happy, and that they are usually very successful.
So this somehow meant that I was the problem? Perhaps not really, but it felt that way.
I realized that I was stuck, yet again. And why go the route of appealing to AirBnb, yet again? My last experience was terrible. I can't describe the huge energy drain that it entailed.
For the last four weeks, I had hot water, but the tech visits were not over. Oh no. Someone had to come and bless the installation for the purpose of insurance, too. (This actually never happened in the time I was there, so I was just left with the potential of another visit happening).
But wait. There's more.
Italy declares a date every year for citizens to be allowed to turn on their heat. A combination of temperate weather and high fuel costs prompted a delayed date: November 21.
It began to get chilly in the apartment.
Does the radiator here work?
Why, no. It does not. I have hot water in the shower, but no hot water inside the radiator. I inquire with the host. There is a thermostat programmed to kickstart the heat in the radiator once the ambient temp reaches 19C, she says. I take a photo of the thermostat, which has as a part of its digital display one telling word:
"OFF"
"Who turned it off?" the host asks, after she sees my photo.
As if I would know.
The host was in the hospital - a place she had been to more than once during my time at her AirBnb, a place where she had 'terrible cell reception,' she said - at that point, and so there was no movement on the radiator heat. I asked about what to do with the key when I left. I never received an answer.
BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE.
I have a third incident to report. My term break in the UK. I went to London, which is notoriously expensive to stay in. My plan to attend a workshop and stay in an AirBnb was going to be great, I thought, because for once, in a city where a lot of Airbnbs are stays in places where the host is actually also living, my host would be off to work in international finance. I would have the place to myself.
A lot of her verbiage about her place seemed to be ultra-concerned about taking care of the flooring. Guests were ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITED FROM WEARING SHOES ANYWHERE IN THE APARTMENT. Slippers would be provided, she said.
Except that the slippers she provided were pre-worn. Because I have hard-to-fit problem feet, I had already planned ahead and purchased what I needed before traveling, so I was therefore extremely glad I had had that foresight...because the idea that I would be expected to wear terry cloth slippers (you know, the kind hotels might provide) that someone else had worn was disgusting.
And speaking of disgusting, this host was the type of person who could clear away some clutter but not be bothered with attention to cracks and crevices. Nor could her cleaner, it seemed. I reached up to switch on the light in the hood above the stove and was completely grossed out at what I touched. Ditto for the underneath surface of the small refrigerator door edge. The spaces underneath the temperature controls for her stove were caked with grease and yuck.
Her toilet seat sat askance on the toilet. There was no righting it so that you didn't have to place your posterior half on the bowl. She had leather sofas with stuff draped all over them to 'protect them,' but she could be bothered to fix her toilet seat. And while I could stream things on my laptop in the evenings, I found it really odd and off-putting that while there was a place for a television in the living room, there was no television. I presumed it had been moved into the locked bedroom that was hers.
But the real kicker came after I left the place. The host transferred keys and access to the building and apartment via one of those locking devices that real estate agents use. Shaped like a large padlock with a container for a key and a building fob inside. She gives the code, and you unlock the whole thing to get in. And when you leave, you put it all back in place, attaching the device to a railing outside the apartment building.
I did precisely as I was instructed.
I went on to the Isle of Man for the last leg of my trip.
First, I received one text from the host reporting that the cleaner found everything in fine condition. I held my tongue, even though I was sorely tempted to state that I left the stove cleaner than I found it.
And I then began receiving these alarmed texts from her: what did you do? What did you change the code to? I have used that code with over 400 guests, and now it doesn't work? WHAT DID YOU DO? My next guests had to wait three hours for my cleaner to come and she couldn't unlock the device either!
I did nothing, I calmly replied. I followed instructions. I don't even know how I would change the code if I wanted to.
Unfortunately, she replied, you must have accidentally changed it.
I said nothing.
A day later, I receive a notice from Airbnb's resolution center, indicating that the host was pressing me for a reimbursement for her expenses related to this accident. I was expected to give her the equivalent of the cost of the device, the key and the fob. Nevermind that all of those items were still attached to the railing outside her building. Nevermind that over 400 other people also knew that code. Nevermind that this kind of thing is the cost of doing (not very well thought out) business.
I was given 24 hours to reply to this request. By this point, I was hot with a fever, ill with a sore throat, lying in bed and wondering how this person thought they could possibly get away with this. I was also mystified at how a business that works largely with people who are...um, traveling?...thought it could get away with giving a customer just 24 hours to respond to allegations like these.
I wrote my reply, denying responsibility, and pointing out that to expect me to replace equipment that might just break because THINGS BREAK was pure folly. And also, she hadn't lost any of the items she was asking me to pay for. They were right there, under her nose. It would have made more sense to request reimbursement for a locksmith. But she didn't do that, and I still would have refused.
I removed my method of payment from my AirBnb account and waited.
First, they sent a message stating that I had failed to respond and that they would review my case without further input from me.
I reached out to customer service (because there was no way to get to the people who issued that previously described message) and said, hey, I did SO respond. Here are screenshots.
And customer service replied that the host had not asked for any reimbursement of any kind.
I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.
I replied to customer service that the host had indeed asked for reimbursement and that is why I had reached out to them.
The next day, I received a message indicating that the host's request had been closed. Some faction of all of those Airbnb gremlins I've dealt with actually agreed with me. Another faction is of course still puzzling over what I'm talking about.
And here is why:
The organization is too big to handle its own business effectively.
And even in its overly large scale, AirBnb provides almost no way to speak with a human being when you need to. Should you happen to get one, that person will be halfway around the world and pre-programmed with all kinds of pseudo-polite but mostly useless things to say.
AirBnb is also quite unregulated. Hosts are expected to be truthful in their representations of their homes, but you rarely get what you see in the photos. Cleaning fees probably conform to some kind of company scale, but they are wholly and totally overboard in amounts. I've seen some of these cleaners. I am not convinced that they are pocketing all or even most of that cleaning fee.
Who is checking to see if the cleaners are even adequate? Who reviews policies like the issue of used house slippers to paying guests? Who is looking at other sanitation practices? Who is going around a property with a checklist on a clipboard to see if there IS air conditioning or wifi?
Who is reviewing these written descriptions of properties, with their phrases like 'only 42 steps' (which is actually 4 flights in my case, enough to have even left the trim little Italian plumber breathless) to the door, or "15 minutes to the city center' (after a 20 minute walk to the subway station)?
Who in this company is equipped to assist a traveler to a foreign country with transfers and other property bookings if the situation is not what the customer thought they were signing up for? Who can force a host to abide by the little expectations, like consistently available hot water? What host might offer to put their customer up in other lodging while repairs have to be made?
No one.
NO ONE.
And the whole idea that you can really stick it to someone in a review is garbage, frankly. How fun is it to reflect on the crummy experience you had, that you paid for, and have any real satisfaction? Furthermore, I'm betting that there are incentives in place that we ordinary folks don't know about, in which hosts who get that bad review can wipe it clean from the public eye through some kind of mechanism...which might just amount to cash. They have it in surplus from those inflated cleaning fees.
And please, in the name of all that is holy, please do not inform me that I didn't do enough foot-stomping and demanding, as a customer. Americans in particular still maintain their infallible rightness as customers in this world, and I can call on a few colleagues who will back me up on this: the intractability of many places and people, with insufficient supply chains and unreliable workers and service personnel, is REAL. No amount of foot-stomping and demanding will gain you a single inch of progress. Just save your energy (and if you know me, then you know that I never advocate giving up...until now).
Instead, you can instead ponder this shot of what I think is black mold in the bathroom of the second Roman Airbnb with no heat and only recently available hot water. It was so faint when I arrived...but when I left? Blatant. I suspect that the water lines to the bidet and toilet are leaching (maybe its condensation?) into the plaster walls. I also think that the cleaner was, up to a point, probably doing her level best to try to wipe away the evidence of that black mold between short-term guests. But my longterm stay, combined with the eventual introduction of truly hot water in a space with no fan...and voila.
That upper respiratory infection I contracted in the Isle of Man in October had progressed to a cough and I still have it, four days before Christmas . While the CDC argues that black mold is actually not quite the toxic nightmare that we've been led by popular culture to believe, I don't think that it's completely innocuous either.
It has been a long, long time since I explored the offerings on VRBO, and because I'm not planning to completely swear off vacation rentals I will certainly consider that angle. But AirBnb? With its crummy, pseudo-customer service - so crummy that I just documented things that went wrong in a long message thread with the host, in this case, lest I find myself fighting to claw back another unauthorized 'your client is leaving the property' message so I wouldn't be homeless? With the negligent oversight of hosts' claims about their lodgings' amenities, so I can risk being in another un-air-conditioned studio apartment in June with a case of Covid?
No thanks.
*there is only one exception, and that is in my hometown. There ARE some decent AirBnB hosts, I am confident. The likelihood of finding them more often than not is, as far as I can tell, not great. At all.
POST-SCRIPT: after the black mold, no heat and lack of hot water for the better part of my last AirBnB stay, the kindly host wrote to say that she was exploring a partial refund through AirBnb 'because they have to have insurance for this kind of thing' (not sure what she's thinking, but ok, I'll play along), and short of that, she would be glad to refund me directly.
This was three weeks ago.
POST-POST-SCRIPT: It took until late in January, but I actually received a partial refund from Airbnb AND the host of the moldy cold-water-only apartment. This was after the host sent a paltry amount for a refund (7%???) and I took that up the chain. I little barking from the host (asserting that I was responsible for the mold growth in the bathroom?!? I have witnessed this special refusal to own responsibility in residents of this city before, and while I know about it, that doesn't mean I have to accept it) and a few painless customer service communications later, my total refund amount came to 20%, which I found to be satisfactory. All this to say: while the ultimate outcome was the best of all of the sordid problems I've had with Airbnb, it was still a kind of trial I'd like to not repeat. I put up with a lot, and I shouldn't have. Life is short. So onward and upward...to reliable sources like Booking.com and VRBO.
