gungadin

Yes, I actually did request a particular date. It’s just a lesson learned again and again that you cannot take anything for granted when renting. I will continue to rent Airbnb’s when needed but will be even more detail oriented. Both the owner and myself are happier when I do because I give truthful reviews.

travelmad478

In that case, I am in full agreement with Finkface—that price should have been honored. Jacking it up without warning is a d*** move, in my Superhost opinion. Unfortunately, there’s no way to ding a host for this sort of thing, since you didn’t go through with the stay and don’t have an opportunity to leave a review.

iahphx

It's funny, because I feel almost the exact same way as a GUEST when I stay at hotels. For an overnight stay, I personally don't need fancy. I just need clean and comfortable. Lower priced motels generally provide this, but the clientele can sometimes be a problem. For example, I am at least 3x more likely to have noisy neighbors at a cheap motel as I am at a mid-priced motel. I solve this problem by playing the chain hotel loyalty game (and sometimes aggregator booking site games) to pay cheap motel prices (or less) to stay at nice hotels. I don't know what I would do otherwise. I probably enjoy bells and whistles at hotels as much as the next guy, but I don't need them, and am reluctant to pay for them. As you might imagine, I'm not a luxury car owner, and generally avoid most purchases that are bad values.

Finkface

So here is why I dislike AirBnB and much prefer VRBO. It goes along with what I said earlier about the quality of the clientele. AirBnB-ers tend to be much cheaper and wanting even more of a discount as opposed to just paying the quoted total as they tend to do on VRBO.

AirBnB inquiry for next September. My place was PERFECT, never seen one better, is dying to stay there, doesn't want to stay anywhere else, etc. But wants a 6am checkin. I said if it is available at the time, sure, but if it is imperative to check in that early, she should book the night before to be sure as I can't guarantee someone else won't book it (I am always pretty much 100% booked, which you can see if you scroll through my calendar) and if so, it then wouldn't be vacant for a 6am check in. She sent me back a snotty reply about how I have no idea what good customer service is. Seriously, she expects me to block off an extra night for her for free on a 7 night stay a year in advance?

This rarely happens on VRBO. People either book an extra night before or after if they need it without even asking about extended time, or they ask me how much for a late check out. I should note that I always give a late check out free to anyone who stays a decent amount of time (like 3 weeks or more). I just block off that night for them. But to expect it on a short stay and then to get mad when I won't give them a free night (at $159)? Sheesh.

travelmad478

That’s pretty rich. I’d decline the stay for the snottiness alone.

mot29

To add another data point on cleaning - I just completed a 3 night stay in a studio between Paihia and Kawakawa in northeast NZ.
Big bed room with a queen and twin bed, couch, table and chairs, another room with fridge, microwave, plates, cups, etc for 4. Big bathroom, separate toilet.
The host provided coffee and tea, milk, juice, bread, cheese, ham, cereal, butter and jam, and lots of fresh fruit.
I paid $38/night plus the Airbnb $15; no cleaning charge.
And because there was no kitchen sink, the host has you put dirty dishes in a plastic tub and collects them and washes and returns them each day. She also gave me fresh towels for the third night.
But this is ‘shoulder’ season in northern NZ.
In my mind, she really is a super host.
Tom

tkelvin69

I've given up on AirBnB. I was asked to provide photo verification which I attempted over 10 times but decided to try to book one more time as there was a property I liked. It took my photo and confirmed the reservation and payment from my credit card. Next day I was cancelled and refunded because I wasn't "verified". I sent an email and received this response:


"You’ve completed the necessary verification steps and should now have full access to your account.

You were enrolled in this verification flow because our systems detected unusual activity (ex: an attempt to log in from a new computer) on your account. When this happens, we ask you to complete additional verification before logging in. We do this to help make sure you, and only you, have access to your account.

If you’re still having trouble logging in, please let me know—I'm here to help."

To which I replied:


DID YOU READ MY EMAIL??? YOU WON’T ACCEPT MY PHOTO ID!!! I obviously can log in as I sent a message from my account.

I’ve attempted to provide a photo with two different browsers, the app, a laptop, downloaded photo, live photo and it takes the photo and then I get a message the photo wasn’t adequate. How many times do I have to give you a photo. I’m just going to ask owners to list on HomeAway because you have a problem you won’t fix.

tmiw

I actually asked for early check-in for my last VRBO stay and the owner was perfectly okay with it. It probably helped that I tried to be nice about it and was completely willing to check in at the normal time if it wasn't possible. (Fortunately, my inbound flight was delayed enough that it wasn't even necessary.)

diburning

In my experience, most hosts are be ok with early check-in if they're not booked the night before, and are around to let/check you in.

travelmad478

A few hours early is one thing (usually I’m OK with anything past noon, although my listing says 3 PM). A 6 AM check-in is quite another. I often offer early check-in, proactively, if I have evening plans that will constrain my ability to check guests in after 5-6 PM.

cruisingmickey

does anyone know if there's still a limit as to how many gc you can load per day? i saw on DoC $300-$400. i recall there being some limit like 5 cards per day or something? thank you.

Evgheni

Here in Malta airbnb is charging 15% to the guest and 3% to the host, which goes up to 18, so becomes as any other platform.

iahphx

I'm still not a huge fan of Airbnb, but it''s grown so large that it's virtually impossible to ignore if you're visiting an unusual location or need a vacation rental. I have a couple of winter "island vacation" trips planned and Airbnb was pretty much the only game in town. Airbnb and the VRBO website seem to have driven some vacation rental realtors out of the game. I do like how I'm able to apply discounted airbnb gift cards for my stay -- usually at around 20% off -- but for longer/more expensive gift cards, it's sometimes hard to find the discounted cards when you need them (I'm reluctant to prospectively load hundreds of dollars in Airbnb gift cards to my account, since my usage of their site is erratic). I do like the fact that they now seem to let you pay 1/2 for your rental now, and half later (no fee for this). That gives me time to round up more discounted gift cards, which I assume I can easily use to pay off the balance of my rental when the bill comes due. I'm also using my Discover card bonus category spending (5% and 10% for $1500, usually with gift cards) to redeem for "free" airbnb gift cards when I need them, which they sell to you at a 10% discount.

heraclitus

This sounds intriguing... where do you find discounted airbnb gift cards?

iahphx

If you follow doctorofcredit's blog, he'll tell you when you can buy them and where.

But there may be a bit of a glitch about paying the "second half" with gift cards. I've had to escalate this matter to management. They're payment system is oddly ill-equipped to deal with it. So to avoid any problems, pay in full with your discounted gift cards.