This is the first negative AirBnB review we have given in 38 stays accross the UK, Europe, the US and New Zealand.
While we want to alert other guests and hopefully prevent a recurrence of the issues we faced, we do want to be fair, so will start with the good:
Our check in and check out experiences were smooth, the property was clean when we arrived, and matched the pictures. The hosts had even left us a small gift on arrival of some Anzac biscuits, fresh bread, eggs and milk - a really kind touch which we appreciated. The host's mother also showed us around the property and where to find everything we needed which was really nice of her.
There's a lot of detail on the issues we encountered below, but to summarise:
- Our car was broken into while parking on the street.
- Following this, the hosts' mother acted very inappropriately towards us and attempted to enter the property without permission, then after we asked for her not to do this, she later came by again and shouted at us and blew up at us.
Our car was broken into while parked outside the property on the second night there, and gutted for parts. We are significantly out of pocket from both the insurance excess, and paying for rentals and ubers throughout our trip. This was an unfortunate ocurrence, but ultimately one that is beyond anyone's control, and we chalk it up to bad luck. That said, we would warn others looking to stay here to invest in some deterrents for your car, or to park elsewhere. Only after we were broken into did the host mention another break-in had happened on the road earlier the week before. While break-ins are not anyone's fault but the perpetrator's, we do feel other guests should have the necessary info about this having happened twice in a week, so they can make an informed choice about where to keep their own vehicle while staying.
Perhaps more upsetting then the original theft - which though annoying, is sadly just a part of life sometimes - was the host's behaviour afterwards. Initially they were very kind and compassionate, and we chatted for a good while about what had happened. The host did offer to let us borrow a car of hers which was a nice offer, however the one time that we asked to borrow one of her cars, she said that it was unavailable as it was in the garage.
A few days later though the host's mother - who also assists with managing the property - let herself in to the property without our consent. We had not heard her knocking as one of us was changing and the other in the shower. When we didn't answer, she came into the property uninvited. We heard her footsteps in the hallway and were frightened. Hearing someone you didn't know was there inside your own house is always unnerving, but so soon after the car break-in, it really gave us a fright. When we saw who it was, we calmed down, however, and the host's mum explained she had come in as she's wanted to do our laundry for us.
This was clearly well-intentioned, but not something we had ever asked for, and however kind the intent, the impact on us was more negative than positive as we felt unsafe knowing others could enter the property without our knowing. After we'd had some time to reflect, we sent a polite message via AirBnb messenger to the host thanking her for her mum's offer to do our laundry, but expressing that her entering the property without our knowing had frightened us. We politely requested that it not happen again during out stay, though again thanked her for the kind intent. The host (Sarah) replied saying she was sorry this had happened and that she would talk to her mum about this. If this had been the end of it, we would have let it go and not seen fit to post a bad review - we all make mistakes. However, from there, the situation got a bit surreal.
Less than ten minutes after we had messaged Sarah, there was an intense banging on the door. We went down to see who it was, and saw it was Sarah's mum back again, though this time with a much less kind demeanour. We were quite taken aback by it all. Given her responses, we aren't sure if she saw our initial polite message, or if that had perhaps been misrepresented to her. She told us she was upset and outraged by us claiming to be upset by her coming in uninvited, and -bizarrely - emphasised several times in an aggressive voice that she would never mean us any harm. Our response that we'd never doubted the good intention, we just wanted a bit more warning as we were understandably a bit jumpy post-robbery, fell on deaf ears. She then started crying and blew up at us about the impact that the break-in had had on her. She lives on the same road, and had had broken nights sleep, afraid the burglars were back.
We sympathised with this and said in fact we had been effected the same way, which was why we were now so keen to ensure security of the property. She seemed unable to grasp that the break-in to OUR car had effected us, and became more and more upset discussing the impact on her. She also claimed that the door was already open when she had come by the first time which we found hard to believe - however even if this was the case, her behaviour in response to asking her not to let herself in was still inappropriate. We were alarmed, but remained calm throughout the exchange, but she nonetheless worked herself up and eventually stormed down the path, slamming the gate behind her. We were really shocked by