I’ve struggled with this review. Because the truth is, it’s a decent airbnb. The living space is spacious and the hosts were responsive when we asked them to fix the chirping fire detector and the broken blind over the door to one of the sleeping areas. Here’s where it’s tough….
When we first reserved this airbnb, we were asked over message for our home address, our phone number, and our e-mail off of the airbnb platform. We were a bit uncomfortable since this is against the terms and conditions. We requested guidance from airbnb and they told us not to give this information to the host. When we communicated this to the airbnb, they told us that they needed our information for their “hosting permit”. I looked into this and could not find any evidence that this was required by the city of New Orleans, and when I requested the source of the requirement, they refused to provide the information. Furthermore, they said that if we did not provide out personal info, they would cancel our reservation, and that similar to a hotel, this was a requirement for them. By this time, it was too late to get another airbnb within our budget, so we reluctantly gave them the information and requested that they not contact us off of the airbnb system.
So I am holding this airbnb to a hotel standard. There were a couple major problems with the place:
- no hand soap in the bathrooms
- the toilets were… problematic… one of them had a seat that was not screwed on. The other toilet was literally not attached to the floor. So neither were great….
- The water pressure was non-existent, so showers were not pleasant
- House rules required that we were quiet in the evenings to the point where they threaten fines if you make noise. Our neighbors clearly did not have the same restraints. The first night was very loud. I’ve lived in cities, so it wasn’t a big deal, but it was quite loud.
- The house rules required that the air conditioning be turned off during the day. It’s summer and Louisiana, and it’s not ideal to return to a hot house.
So those are the problems. Now besides all of this, they were responsive and mostly friendly (save the initial requirement of our personal info without proof of requirement— directly contradicting airbnbs guidance) This is clearly a business with a number of employees (different people seemed to respond every time I messaged) that runs a number of home shares through a number of different companies, so I hope that they’ll take this review as it is intended— constructive criticism.