Unfortunately this was a pretty disappointing trip. Firstly, it’s worth mentioning that the property is overseen by a management company. As a result you get none of the personal experience that usually comes as a result of dealing with Airbnb hosts. You’d have hoped that it would at least have been an efficient experience, but there was none of that either.
Before you arrive there are countless forms that you’re asked to complete including ID checks and so on. I’ve never been asked for anything similar through Airbnb. During a 1 month holiday we stayed at 6 different Airbnb listings and the planning/admin required in this instance was the equivalent to all of the others combined.
We were offered an earlier check in of 12pm, and had to arrive at exactly that time to meet one of the company’s “greeters”. I have never had to arrive at an Airbnb at a firmly specified time - again none of the flexibility you typically get with Airbnb. However we arrived to find that the clean had only just begun and were asked to return at 3pm. We were travelling with three very young children and a huge amount of luggage (we were over from Australia). Anyone with young children knows that nap time is a pretty hairy window and we had planned the day around being able to put them down to sleep at the property. We ended up having to walk the streets for hours - had we known we couldn’t get in until 3pm we would have made other plans.
We returned to find that the house was only superficially clean. It very much feels as though you’re living in someone else’s house which they have briefly vacated- there are things everywhere which have essentially been pushed aside leaving (with the exception of a couple of shelves in one wardrobe) absolutely no room to store your own things.
We had also pre-arranged to have access to the parking space specified within the listing but returned to find another car there. Again this required a call to the management company and we had to pay to park our car elsewhere whilst they arranged to have the other vehicle moved.
I spent so much time liaising with the management company that it felt similar to staying in a hotel - except you were in someone’s slightly messy house.
Our stay cost us around £1,800, and we were offered a £250 discount for the issues listed above.