This a review on Muhammad’s place but also on AirBnb appalling behaviour. It’s important to mention that we have booked accommodation using AirBnb before and we had never encountered a situation like this.
We booked this place last minute to stay in London for one night before going to the airport the following day. We had communication with the host before arrival asking for an earlier check in as we could not ask for this at the moment of booking (as it was done quite late in the night). The host did contact me later on the day of arrival to say it was possible to check in earlier for an extra fee, but by then we had already decided to wait and to arrive at the scheduled time of check in.
On arrival, we entered the place and the first thing we noticed was how dirty it was. Yes, the beds were made with what appeared to be clean bed linen; but unfortunately, that was it. Different areas of the floor throughout the house were dirty, with black soil on them. The skirting boards were all covered in dirt and dust, the kitchen mat was mucky from previous food preparation and the toilet seat was dirty as it had not been properly cleaned, which is shocking.
When reading the previous reviews, we saw that cleanliness had been an issue before, but that previous person contacted the host and they cleaned the place for them. Therefore, we were expecting that cleanliness would not be an issue anymore as someone else had already drawn attention to it. After all, the host is offering a service and one of the reasons guests have to check in after a certain time on the day is to provide the host with enough time to make sure everything is ready for the new guests to arrive. We felt it was not fair on us having to ask the host to clean the place properly within the time of our stay as this should have been done before we arrived, so we left the property within less than 20 minutes of arrival.
We took pictures of this issue and sent them to AirBnb, claiming a full refund on the paid tariff as we left the house because it was dirty. However, and for our surprise, AirBnb response was quite bad as they washed their hands off and left the issue to be solved by the host, which we find very unfair as we did not book this place with the host directly but using the AirBnb platform instead. In their app (and also in the booking confirmation we received), it can be seen that AirBnB has something they call AirCover, some kind of guarantee in case things go wrong. However, given our experience, this AirBnb cover policy does not seem to protect the guests’ rights but quite the opposite, it seems to protect the host and, probably, AirBnb’s commission.
What we cannot understand is the fact this host is classified as a Superhost by AirBnb. We thought AirBnb Superhosts were given this title when they had gone beyond of what it is considered basic, going the extra mile to improve the stay of their guests whilst using their accommodation. Certainly, having a clean space would be part of the minimum requirements to host someone and if this is not met then they should not be described with such a title as it is misleading. I mean, we are clear this is not a five star hotel but at least it should be clean.
I have messaged AirBnb several times now and instead of giving a proper response, they just sent this form for us to review the accommodation. Quite appalling, one must admit, as we are still waiting for the refund for this rather bitter experience. I do not think we will be using AirBnb in the future anymore, which is a real shame as I have used them in different countries over the past seven years and it’s always a nice way to meet new people and other cultures, but if they are not going to protect the travellers when things go wrong, we prefer to steer away from such a company. And for those wanting to stay in this place in the future, we hope you find it much cleaner than how we did.