AVOID AT ALL COST!
Before I begin this review I thought I would mention that I’ve been using Airbnb for many years now and have experienced many stays with my friends, my girlfriend and even alone. Each stay would typically go great and I have never experienced any major issues or disagreements with hosts whether I was on a weekend getaway to the Central Coast or adventuring through Taiwan.
Before staying at Peter’s place for two nights I stayed at two other airbnbs in the same region as part as of 6 night holiday to the northern NSW region. Once again as all of my other stays, there were no issues encountered and everything went great.
I’ve never really left any one star reviews on any platform (for example google maps) because in most cases even if something does come up the provider of the service would engage with me to do their best to rectify the issue. But unfortunately for this stay I had to make an exception and hopefully my review below will help potential guests understand why I would recommend to stay clear of this property.
Our initial concern at Peter's property was that during our first night we noticed quite a few bugs on the ceiling. The amount was noticeable but wasn't overwhelming, so we thought that this was something to be expected as the cottage is set in a rural/country location.
However, by the second night the ceiling was completed covered in bugs which was very uncomfortable to experience so the best thing we could do to try to get some sleep was spray ourselves with insect repellent.
The next morning we decided to have a look to see what could have been causing the problem and we found that the fly screen was quite worn and a part of it was detached from the door which would explain how so many bugs got in. We notified Peter of this the same morning and took some detailed photos with our original intention to simply pass these on to Peter for his reference. We received no response or acknowledgement from Peter about the fly screen.
The next incident that occurred at Peter's property occurred on the morning of our checkout. As I closed the sliding door two of the hooks from the curtain rod snapped off leading to the curtain falling. This took as by surprise and we did not understand how this could have happened from such a routine and simple task (closing the door).
However, later when looking back at some of the photos and videos we took of the place before the incident, we noticed that one of the hooks supporting the curtain rod was barely attached to the wall by a loose screw and the weight of the rod was tugging at the hook. It was an accident waiting to happen and could have occurred to any other guests before or after us.
We notified Peter of this incident too straight away but received no response or acknowledgement.
There was no attempt from Peter to contact us and try to understand or clarify any of the incidents and to our shock 2 hours later we received a reimbursement claim for $1663! The claim had little evidence to support it and the monetary value was determined simply by the host’s “best estimate”.
The incident description accused us of damaging both the curtains and fly screen and also some additional false claims such as:
-	Accusing as of checking out 30 minutes late. We provided two pieces of evidence to Airbnb to show that this was not the case.
-	Accusing us of using bedsheets in place of curtains. We had video evidence to prove there was no presence of any bedsheets in that area.
-	Accusing us of staining the curtains. We had video evidence to show it was not stained or soiled in any way.
Shortly after we received a message from Peter accusing us of damage and the other false claims mentioned above.
We have obviously rejected this claim, passed on all evidence that showed the poor condition of the fly screen and curtains, explained all the necessary details and clarified all queries related to this incident to Airbnb. The incident is currently being moderated by the Airbnb Support Team.
The advice that I now give to all my friends and family and anyone reading this review is when settling into a new Airbnb ensure to take clear photos and videos of everything in the property! That way you will have clear evidence on your side regardless of any accusations, false claims or manipulative messages that you may receive.