To whom it may concern,
Please, don’t be hopeful like my group of 8 and myself were! We looked over reviews for our one night stay in Venice for the holidays and after reading the reviews we looked at it from a glass half full perspective and decided that it was 50/50 on good and bad reviews. So, we booked and hoped that it was just complaining tourists being complainers. Unfortunately, this was NOT the case.
To begin with I would have overlooked the bad communication and the helicopter host with rules and regulations as if we are children; my last straw was the front door being broken and unable to lock which is a extreme oversight of safety including the host response of minimal concern along the line of “the doors to the rooms lock still” in other words lock the other doors and we will address it later. Unacceptable! Yes, it is a eve of a holiday so understandable businesses are closed but seeing as we paid $1400 and at the time being asked to give €200 security deposit for our one night stay this among other responses from the hosts throughout our interactions completely made me regret being hopeful for a host to be decent and responsible. (The will be listed below from different members of our group)
To be honest the door was my tipping point! But, the problems began before the door even came into the equation.
•To begin with the rules which all Airbnb’s have were aggressively sent more than once and asked for verification more than once as well.
•Then you have being asked to communicate via WhatsApp for our documentation (was sent via Airbnb, I’m not sending my information over WhatsApp)
•Told checkin was by appointment only, advised around what time we would arrive and would be in communication the closer our train arrived. Then told checkin would be self check in. Which is it by appointment only or self check in?
•Being declined access to the Airbnb codes to access the unit until we paid the security deposit (this was after I clearly stated we would like to check in first to ensure check in goes smoothly before sending more money to this host. As we already had been thrown off by the previous text from the host on rules and possible charges as well as cameras to make sure no additional guest will be visiting)
•poor communication with the host when trying to access the address as gps and google maps had the address as invalid and in the rules sent over the address was different from the one listed on Airbnb. (Of course this was after I called and text with no reply) (when answered after multiple calls, told don’t worry about the mandatory €200 before arriving and they would just collect later, confirmed address is the one sent on email)
•this is the part where we finally arrive to the location, we enter code, door looks ajar already but we enter code anyway. We enter, and the door will not close or lock behind us.
•contact host, I will admit the host did reply quicker this time around. But, let me say the reply was as if we are an experienced Maintenance crew instead of coming to fix the issue themselves. We spent about a hour and a half on troubleshooting and on a goose chase looking for a key that didn’t work and end up being stuck in the door for all to see that passed by the door.
•the door malfunction resulted in us being late for our event and having to make other arrangements for our ride (did I mention, we had to leave the front door unlocked with a key in it and barricade the door with the recycling bins)( the only option was to close and lock every door in the apartments and take all valuables with us to our event.)
•after all this troubleshooting and the inconvenience of being late the host was called again and we are asked “did we push to hard or break it?” Seriously, the audacity baffled me to be honest. From the demands and the rules to now not taking accountability for the location not being in full function when we arrived.
•checkout is before 10am. At 9:30 am a man enters the home. Our group consist of mostly women. NOT OKAY IN ANYWAY! Luckily, the unannounced visitor is maintenance. I’m glad he came to fix it as we are checking out, great for the owners. However, a call or just a text to notify us he was coming would’ve been greatly appreciated and less alarming.(btw, he stated the door was messed up before us)
As I stated we had a group of 8, I have included my parties views on the property and the host as well below:
Guest #5
- The temp in the house was cold
Guest #5
- The space heaters did not have the correct connector for the outlets
Guest #4
- Holes in the walls
Guest #4
- Shower floods due to poor draining
Guest #1
- Shower curtains are too long so they are sitting in the water during the shower. They also smell really sour and like mildew.
Guest #1
- Sink floods due to poor draining.
Guest #1
-Allot of dust, especially from the drywall coming off the walls and under the beds.
Guest #1
-loose floor tiles
Guest #1
-not a place to stay if you have allergies or sinus problems between the dust and mildew smell from the showers
Guest #6
-we were told to be quiet between 9pm-9am however it was excessive noise from the neighbors throughout the night and early morning.
Guest #7
-once you get the correct address, the locations number is worn, so you can’t tell if it’s the correct location until you get close to the keypad and small sign
Guest #3
-The place had different addresses that were used from