Be warned!
Click Barry the co-host’s personal profile, pay attention to some bad reviews about his repeated unpreparedness at different listings - hygienic issues, heating issues, leaking issues - in particular how he responded to the guests.
Basically, their understanding about hospitality is fixing whatever defects or unclean issues the guest discovered one by one, instead of preparing everything well in advance. They find it’s fair, righteous and even professional to get into the rented flat and fix things. The worst is, they would then accuse you of making them break the covid restriction rules.
About my whole experience of staying there:
I hardly slept well there.
Although I made peace and washed the dirty pots, pans, duvet covers myself, I didn’t know what their next false accusation would be.
Their thermostat couldn’t detect and regulate the temperature accurately, Barry himself misled me to switch on a heater in the living room, causing the temperature hot there, cold in the bedroom and kitchen. It never happened to me in all previous Airbnb in the UK, Japan or Korea.
First, they accused me of forcing them to buy a new frying pan although I actually offered to buy one and leave it for the next guest. Then, Natalia alleged that I turned up their thermostat to 31-degree celsius - Well! it was done by Barry when fixing their thermostat which failed to detect the temperature accurately; he didn’t tell Natalia the truth. Of course, Barry also blamed me for the uneven temperature - as if it was not him switching the heater on randomly.
When the handle of their front door was broken, instead of feeling sorry for the safety issue caused, they questioned me, saying that I lived closest to the door.
It became the last straw and I determined to leave their listing.
I managed to find another Airbnb close by and started moving to there on my second night -YES! SECOND NIGHT!
Natalia told me that she found it ‘odd behaviour'.
About Refund
I left four or five days earlier than I should and didn’t ask for or take any refund at all. I witnessed how they orchestrated a show of refunding: They described their offer of a refund was ‘kind and unasked for’, they called me as ‘an unhappy person who finds fault wherever’ and ‘professionally seeking free night accommodation’. They stigmatised it, making you feel difficult to take it.
Barry also kept saying that I was blocking the calendar and unreasonable. I was still paying for the days I didn’t stay! Both Barry and Natalia didn’t see the whole point of it: they have ruined people’s holiday and money, which is just a very little refund, which means nothing. And it did not come as a sincere apology: They stigmatised it, making you feel difficult to take it.
Since I made the booking with a coupon, they could easily shift the focus away from their intentional unpreparedness, defects and unhygienic issues by suggesting strongly that the guest was only there to find flaws, pick their mistakes and get money.
The truth was, there is a rule regarding the use of coupon in Airbnb:
A coupon can only be used once. If you cancel a reservation that was booked using a coupon, the coupon is no longer valid.
About how Barry treated other guests:
I am not sure if Airbnb truly keeps all the reviews or in under what circumstances some reviews can be removed. (But I did take some screenshots of those reviews just in case he said I lied about it.)
I noticed that Barry tended to offer an unprepared flat, he took the chance to see how the guests would deal with him, if he met guests who found it unfair, he then refunded partially. It’s repeated malpractice. Please read the reviews on his profile carefully. The terrible thing is, even when a guest was forgiving, he still left some ill-considered remarks under the review to portray the guests, who have reasonable expectations, as people who are simply being demanding.
Think carefully before you confirm booking: Would you like to take the chance and see if he will happen to be nice and prepare a functional, clean flat for you? Would you like to risk having your holiday or long-stay spoiled because of the defects or his attitudes towards hospitality? Do you prefer a bad experience, partial refund and the hassle of finding a truly welcoming host?
One review written by his guest whose name is Flora wrote that the broiler was broken during her stay in January. Although she was forgiving and did praise Barry for fixing it quickly in her review, Barry responded negatively. He said the girl was harsh to give him a low rating, he also said that the girl tried to get a refund despite the portable heater worked.
Another review was written by a woman who had a one-month stay with her family. She complained about similar things like mine. Barry responded as if it was the guests’ errors: from not having informed him early enough of the defects to keep complaining.
If he did prepare, what kind of Airbnb guests would enjoy writing messages back and forth to get things fixed?
What to do if you have no choice but to stay with Barry’s listings:
Barry takes charge of over 41 listings across Edinburgh, if you are seeking holiday here, you’re likely to rent his flats especially during the high season.
He may improve.
But, make sure things work within the first 24 hours. Leave, don’t give him chance if there are defects. After the first 24 hours, even Airbnb will not be able to be of much help.