This is the only time I've had a bad experience with Airbnb. It was terrible!
I thought we would be dealing with Steve, a private landlord, as with all other Airbnb's that I've happily stayed in. But the flat is managed by the "StayManaged Team", who also manage Steve's Airbnb account. Once you've booked on Airbnb, they then have a tedious online system of their own, which is supposed to include a manual for the flat, check in/out systems, a reporting system for complaints etc. It was all so cumbersome and dysfunctional that we went back to basics and phoned them to report the many, many problems, including:
- the boiler didn't work when we arrived so we had no hot water or heating
- the gas and electric metres hadn't been topped up
- the key fob for the car park didn't work so our car got stuck in the car park overnight
- the place was dirty - there were stains on the sofas, windows were absolutely filth, stains on the walls etc etc. And, instead of replacing hand soaps, they'd just topped up near empty bottles with water
- there was no manual for the flat - we were given a generic manual, eventually. It took many asks to have it emailed over, and then it had pictures and instructions for appliances that weren't in the flat
- a touch ironically, we were sent detailed instructions of how to check out hygienically, due to covid, and we tried to follow them as best we could, but for example, the laundry bag that we should have left all the linen in wasn't in the flat!
- there was all sorts of post just left in drawers for people whose name we didn't recognise
All in all, it felt pretty abandoned and uncared for, and did not make for a pleasant stay. Whilst the StayManaged Team were all pleasant, especially the maintenance man who made so many trips out and was friendly and professional each time, it couldn't make up for the state of the flat!