I’m struggling to write a balanced review here. On one hand, the house was new and very clean with some nice touches- and the location is fantastic. That said, our experience was overall very negative one, and unique to years and years of Airbnb-based travel at dozens of places… based on our exhausting and ridiculous interaction with the host (Brenda) alone.
We booked for 2 nights and our communication began well but devolved when we found out a day beforehand we may have extra guests for 1 of the nights and asked if we could arrange this. This meant instead of 3 people, there would be 5 for a night (The house advertised 6 beds and sleeping 8 people). She agreed but insisted the new guests had to also satisfy a two night minimum (though our stay was already booked for her stated minimum of two nights) and charged us an additional $120 ($30x2x2nights) rather than $60 or a linen fee. She demanded this to be paid in cash, and refused to bill us through the platform. It was too late to cancel, so we relented.
As we were checking in (there is a lockbox, and no apparent need for her to meet us, but that’s her prerogative) she also said she ‘had a particular way’ of making beds and would review us negatively if she suspected ‘misuse’.
After our checkout, she sent a text with her bank info demanding a further $120 for “using extra beds”— presumably beyond the 5 beds? In Brenda’s mind you can book an Entire Home with 6 beds, but if you use 6 beds or 4 beds or whatever her idea of the number of beds you ‘should’ use is, she deserves more $, even if she has already charged for that use.. Brenda might not understand that if you have a bunk room and kids, kids tend to move around- but it is also none of her business where our kids sleep in an Entire Home booking. The Airbnb customer support person I spoke with agreed, and said that as a Entire House booking, 1 person should be able to sleep wherever they want, in each of the 6 beds if they wish.
For reference we delivered the house spotless with all beds stripped of linen as a courtesy, as we do with all our bookings.
I suspect Brenda should raise her cleaning fee or other upfront pricing instead of seeking $240 additional on a $540 booking because she doesn’t like people ‘using beds’ and tries to find ways to nickel and dime guests- or perhaps change her model to a single room booking, or perhaps hire a third party to handle the booking and maintenance of the house. It is clear that the idea of a guest using an entire house that they have paid for and have advertised access to is too much for her to bear.
As a hospitality person myself, I can’t believe how quickly and easily this could have been resolved amicably, yet Brenda chose the opposite. The second request for cash was the coup de grace, and a sizeable portion of this spur of the moment and fun weekend has been spent addressing what should have been a simple transactional experience.
We have sought mediation guidance from Airbnb, and they have confirmed Brenda violated their policy on multiple occasions. Book at your own risk.