In regards to the accuracy of the home and location, as well as the setup and comfortability of the home, my group and I were satisfied. That being said, out of all my Airbnb experiences, I’m leaving this one with a bad feeling in regards to the property management and communication. Specifically:
The management style of the property was very intimidating. Shortly after making our booking, I first felt pressured into accepting a switch of properties to “show this as available in the interim so I can get other bookings.” This has never happened to me in my Airbnb experiences before and I felt uncomfortable having to say no twice to this request. Upon my group’s arrival at the home, this feeling of intimidation was felt by my entire group when everyone had a chance to review the home manual. We were stunned to see that after paying over $3,000 for our stay, including a $150 cleaning fee, there were over a page of cleaning requests. This felt like a completely unnecessary burden to put on guests who are paying a cleaning fee.
Two other instances my group and I felt intimidated were in regards to someone accidentally setting off the alarm and following our group’s checkout. While unexpected, the alarm was resolved immediately on our end and was confirmed after a 1-minute check-in with local police. That being said, it felt like excessive use of power on the host’s part to suggest we might have to pay a fee for the police that were called. Referring to our receipt and Airbnb policy, the local tax dollars we pay in our booking go toward local emergency services such as this one if needed.
The day after my group checked out, I also felt uncomfortable with the number of texts sent to my personal phone number. In the app, it shows the host’s average response time is 18 hours - given this, I did not expect to receive two texts within a couple of hours while I was at work because there was not an immediate response on my end. In this moment, I felt intimidated to respond at a time not convenient for me.
Finally, given the social climate of the world today and the proven data on racial discrimination and bias on AirBnb, the intimidating management style of this property feels anti-Black in nature that I would not recommend it to other Black guests. I’ve been a positive Airbnb guest, both solo and in large groups, for years and have never felt this level of uncomfortable hospitality.