In sum, our stay at Rebecca’s was incredibly disappointing largely due to the fact that she was totally unresponsive when I messaged her within an hour of our check-in/arrival that the washing machine wasn’t working. Although initially responsive with various questions about the machine, she went totally radio silent the entire rest of our stay and made zero attempt to diagnose and repair the machine. I sent multiple messages over the course of our 3 night stay in addition to leaving a voicemail and a text on her emergency cell phone number. My last message to her was that I hoped she was ok and that there wasn’t anything seriously wrong that prevented her from communicating with me. Again, no response from Rebecca.
On day 2, I asked Airbnb to intervene as I was rather desperate to do laundry at this point on our trip. Rebecca didn’t respond to Airbnb either. I felt that her complete dismissal of us as guests was totally unprofessional. On the other hand, Airbnb customer support was great in trying to help us and did secure some money back since a key reason we had booked Rebecca’s place was to have laundry facilities.
What added insult to injury (and a touch of irony) were the pre-programmed messages that came from Rebecca each day asking us how our stay was and whether we needed anything in which case we should reach out to her. Another pre-programmed message asked us to send her pictures of our stay for social media purposes. Honestly, it felt like she cared more about looking good digitally than delivering high quality customer service.
To be fair, Rebecca’s place is a cute flat in a great neighborhood. It was comfortable for our family of four. As a few others have pointed out, the lack of a true shower was challenging since the whole bathroom got wet and the floor had standing water every time someone showered. The situation could be remedied somewhat with a squeejie to move all the excess water into the drain (as some one else aptly suggested). She could also add another wall partition and put a raised rubber mat (with an open grid) by the door so guests have something to wipe their feet on besides a soaking wet bath mat before exiting the bathroom.
I am sure that Rebecca will give me a bad review as a guest. I did ask if we could drop off bags an hour or two early, which turned into a frustrating back and forth where I got a bit testy. Mostly because Rebecca didn’t actually appear to be reading and responding personally but instead sent curt, automatic “no” messages. I did end up apologizing so we wouldn’t start off on the wrong foot, but I have to say she made it seem a rather excessive and obnoxious request when I’ve had hosts the world over offer the same accommodation many times and in a friendly, kind way.