Why I'm no Longer Using Airbnb

[Mary4772]

HI!

It's a long read, Hope you can finish it without dying of boredom, this is a tiny issue very particular to me and might seem incrediblly dumb in the bigger scheme of things, with all that is wrong with the world, but I'm pretty detailed oriented and I've figured that because things like this continue to occur, little misunderstanding, misinterpretations, people trying to get ahead of others and stupid stupid lies is why the world continues to be what is is.

Ominous I Know...

The Following is an Email I've sent Airbnb to help me out on my qualms regarding this very uncomftrable situation for me and the unfair treatment I recieved on behalf of the Property Managers at Birch hospitality: Lisseth and Jeremiah or Jeremiah and Lisseth.

I am Unlinking the Video Evidence and pictures to protect my children's Identity, but I submitted evidence that what is written in their review to me are outwrite lies,

Yet due to Airbnb policys on freedom of speach and how they trust Hosts to be forthcoming even though these particular hosts are simply embellishing to justify a damning Review, nothing can be done and the review remains on my profile 3 months after the fact.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/52630709?source_impression_id=p3_1646601230_OOi5kxcgObWgTeQP

This is the property we visited

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Hi Airbnb Support Agent:

A little bit of Context of my account of the facts, we drove in from New York and stayed in Salem Boston for a day and a half and then drove from Salem to the property they manage in Fyreburg Maine with two babies under three. 

We had no negative communication with the property manager and everything was smooth from the beginning, so other than being exhausted due to the long drive to Maine everything was perfect as you can tell from start to finish from my review to them.

My Review:

This place is magical at least to us; every little detail in this home has been forethought for guests, the decor is the perfect balance of understated and whimsical. Rules are strict, but the Cabin is incredibly well maintained and I suspect that those clear boundaries are a reflection of the care and love Lisseth & Jeremiah pour into their property. Can't wait to come back in summer!

December 2021

Their Review:

Mary and her family were by far the worst guests we have ever hosted. Not only did they not follow any of our house rules, they also asked for a 45 minute extension on their check out at 11 o’clock when our cleaner was already in the driveway. Once we declined this request, Mary proceeded to take a shower. We had new guests checking in at 4 PM and she took over an hour to get out of the house. She left her trash unsorted and in the garage, bacon grease all over the kitchen and killed our plants by leaving them in the open window in the middle of the winter. We would never host them again and never recommend to any host who respects their home.

I've read that review over 100 times to try to make sense of it, but there simply isn't any making sense of it, specially the bit of "Not only did they not follow any of our house rules" I Think that's the worse lie on there, we were at that moment an exhausted couple with two babies, and the rules are the following:

House Rules

Our rules are pretty simple but strict.- Guest making the reservation must be over 25.
- No smoking in the house
- The number of guests requested on the booking is the max amount allowed to spend the night. (We will check on this)
- No fireworks
- No animals
- A rental agreement may be provided with more specific rules and information.
- Quiet time is from 9pm-8am (inside and outside of the house)
- NO loud music or noise will be tolerated
- Respect the neighbors.

1. We are over 25

2.We do not smoke close to the babies, I do not allow it,  my husband would step out to smoke in the cold.

3. We had less Guests than the reservation because my teenage daughter went on another trip.

4.We left those for New Years, so no.

5.We did not bring any pets.

6. This is where they have a crazy amount of additional rules that I did not know of when reserving and would have not reserved if I had known about them, I would highly recommend they are upfront about this to future guests.

(Some of the additional Rules are, stripping the Beds, which I did, we only ended up using one of the bedrooms so I only stripped that bed, throwing the used towels in a specific place in the bathroom, which I did, hand washing all dishes which I did, and putting them away, I did not do that it would have taken me easily 25 to 30 minutes to put away all those dishes, and I was tight on time. Sorting the trash, without clear instructions on how to, there was a regular garbage can and nothing else in the kitchen like sorting instructions and the bathroom trash bins had yellow bags so we took those out to the garage since it was snowing and we were behind schedule to check out. Terrible of us, I know.

7.Babies bedtime is at 7:30pm so it is quite time if we want it or not.

8.We played Mariah Carey's All I want for Christmas is You on volume 7 on Google Hub, which could be qualified as obnoxious, but is not a rule we broke.

9. We went out to the backyard once and never encountered a neighbour.

Here is the video of the state of the house the morning we left, I had done all the dishes and the kitchen was clean, we were definitely not recording for Evidence as you can tell, but one of the two tiny examples of Sansevieria trifasciata commonly known as Snake Plant; is seen in the beginning of the video, these busters are HIGHLY RESISTANT and it's placed exactly is where it was when we arrived, even though these are almost Kill Proof Plants, I would never do anything to harm plants, it's quite laughable even since ironically Im a Permaculture Design Consultant and an avid Gardener, not that you need to be any of that to not lack the common sense to not place them in an open window during a SnowStorm that was occuring during our stay in the Property they manage. We never opened the windows period.

It was beyond freezing:

December 23

-1°

-13°

December24

-2°

-16°

December 25

-3°

-13°

These are the videos of me showing my family the place, where you can clearly see that there are just two tiny potted plants in the entire house,  one in front of the downstairs bathroom mirror on top of the sink and another in the window sill in front of the kitchen sink, both Snake Plants that were alive and well when we left.

VIDEO

VIDEO

This is a picture of me stepping out of the property the hosts manage, it was taken with a Phone that is in GMT 5:00 that is Dominican Republic's Time Zone which is an hour ahead of Maine, the time stamp is in the Info Detail:

IMAGE

Yet everything and everyone was in the car garage by 11:45am Maine Time ready for our almost 6 hour drive to our Compadres'

 house in Chappaqua New York. Adding to that, the cleaner had already been in the house for 30 minutes since she was let in 10 minutes after she arrived at 10:55am, when she knocked at say 11:05am. We apologized  profusely to her and she was very kind and told us not to worry "It is Christmas Morning after all". The fact is that I was already changing when she came in, so what they say about me disregarding when I had asked as a courtesy because we were 45  minutes behind in schedule is more embellishment to justify the incredibly damning review that should have read something more like this:

"Not our best guests ever, these guests need to work on their time management and learn how to sort out trash accordingly to the requirements of the Fryeburg Recycling Center, I would not be able to host them again since my vetting process for the properties I manage is quite strict, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, best of luck to you and your family on your ongoing travels."

One can dream, I know this pretty much won't serve me to attain what I wish for, I cannot speak for others actions or words only for my own, even though it has caused me a great deal of stress and shame looking at the lies that remain on my profile, the only solace I have is that I've kept in coherence to my character and honored my upbringing.

I do not think I will be using Airbnb further through my own profile, one's supposed reputation is at risk in the platform and it can be severed by the whim of  strangers that do not necessarily adhere to the same principles decent and conscious gentlemen and ladies do. 

Thanks for hearing/reading me out,

Mary

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I've kindly asked them twice to edit and or remove the review directly , I kinda lost my cool for a moment last night and copy pasted some bad reviews they had to the chat and said I pictured them having to sort through my trash and chuckled with a hahaha. (In December when the review came out the thought of them having to deal with my garbage made me super embarrased but now I'm kinda happy about it, don't know if that even happened but one assumes, given the heated review) That seemed to have caught their attention because they are currently not recieving messages from me and doubt they will be any time soon. People hate to be caught in their lies, And as a guest i've noticed that personal messages in Airbnb are there for a reason, cordiality , constructive critisism, even a scolding, If I were a host I would use that tool and be straightfoward and assertive.

But to write anything as further from the truth like that and have no regards of how that will affect someone clearly shows who you are as a person.

My vacation was ruined in a sense after that moment. Still affects me as you can notice. *gulp*

My reply to their review is not my best work either, I was obviously angry, and one should never post angry yet, what is done is done.

Here is my reply:

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Wowza completly sideswiped by this Review, Jeez I never thought I would have to respond to a negative review of this sort given the nature of this plataform and how I've visited so many places around the world without any issues. Guys I did not leave your plant in an open window, never opened the windows, so I honestly dont even understand this outright lie as to adorn your exaggerations, we were late to check out by 45 minutes not an hour and the cleaner was let in to clean while I got ready, did not realize I needed to ask you for permission to take a shower. It was Christmas morning and we got a little off schedule opening presents with our girls 1 and 2 years old so when the cleaner drived in by 10:55am I had already finished cleaning the stove and hand washing, since there is no dishwasher all the dishes(To my surprise in an 800 dollar a night air bnb that requires you to do this and put all of them away instead of it being a suggestion, just tried my best given my timeframe) The Bacon Grease you mention was left in an Anchor Hoking Measuring cup not all over the Stove Dude or dudette, I just did not know how to dispose of it as well as the garbage, and with the rush did not have a chance to ask you guys since we have absolutely no clue about sorting trash and or recycling yet we're slowly learning about it in our month long vacation in New England renting various Air Bnb's with kind and accomodatting hosts, that have all given us great reviews. I thought you guys were accomodating since there was absolutley no negative communication between us hence my 5 star review to you because your house was truly so pretty immaculate and our experience was so magical. It will remain that way, because in spite of this uncomftrable moment I was priveleged enough to visit and be barred 😛 Could've been a terrible guest and not stressed out so much about taking care and following the rules as I did, if I had known. I would suggest that instead of ambushing us with this very misleading filled with lies, holes and very obvioulsly shrewd and callous review you change it looking at the entire context of what happened not just your super overzelous and a bit psycorigid Account of "facts". Sucks I had to waste my time stating my version for all my future hosts to see, Message to future hosts: Me and my family are not barbarians, I promise, and the good news is we've recently leveled up our guest abilities by learning to sort trash accordingly, we are working on not making any mistakes or running late on Christmas Morning. Best of Luck and Happy New Year Jeremiah & Lisseth. So sorry our paths crossed and it was a negative experience for you. 🙂

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The happy face at the end of my reply was a little number he pulled on me when he told me I could not shower, out of courtesy at around 10:40am I had told him we were a bit late to check out and that I needed a bit more time because opening presents had taken longer than I had scheduled for  and I told him I was going to take a quick shower and be out ASAP. I say "he" because we were texting directly from my husband's phone and it was Jeremiah I was texting to and he sent me this:

11:00am: The cleaner is already in the driveway 🙂

That was all, Little did I know he was fuming and scheming to harm my Airbnb reputation.

So words out, I'm definitely not perfect, and even though they put out a vibe that they are indeed perfect, with all the 5 star reviews and incredible accolades they've accomplished, good on them *slow clap* It gave me some peace to see they had a couple of terrible reviews in the beggining of their career in Airbnb where Jeremiah's Lisseth's fickleness jumps out of the text and bites you on the Nose. 

 I truly had no idea how to sort the trash I left in the garage,  and I yet have to learn to accept being ambushed by a barraging review like this that is completely uncalled for, I honestly do not think I will ever be able to learn that Skill Set or have such Thick Skin.

Thanks for reading until here, I hope it was atleast entertaining.

May the Thickness of Skin Be With you fellow Airbnbianites

Faithfully:

Former Airbnb User Mary4772

[Sarah977]

@Mary4772  Airbnb will only remove reviews that violate their review policies. They won't remove reviews simply because a user says the other party was lying. I can assure you it is far more common for guests to leave fabricated issue reviews than hosts, and hosts cannot get those reviews removed. Airbnb has no way of knowing which party is telling the truth- it's one person's word against the other's. 

One of the problems here is that you booked with property managers who have over 60 listings. These type of listings have a reputation for doing a lot of things that are upsetting to guests, from not returning cash security deposits, even when the guests have left the place clean and tidy with no damages, cancelling reservations last minute, etc. 

It is much safer to book with a small-time, hands-on host than these corporate run listings, most of which don't ever meet the guests and establish no personal connection. They rely on the cleaners report, for example. If the cleaner says the place smells like smoke, the "host" assumes you smoked inside. The thing is, a place can be left smelling like smoke even if you restrict your smoking to outside, because the smell of the smoke enters on the guest's clothing, hair, etc.

As an aside, having raised 3 kids myself,  I understand the challenges of getting out the door on time when you have kids. You get the toddler all bundled up in their snowsuit and strapped into their car seat, and they say, "I have to poo." 🙂

As a parent, you just have to plan for those events and start getting ready an hour before you would if you were childless.

You can leave a response to that review. It can make things clear to future hosts reading your reviews and responses. Hosts don't take every review they read as the gospel truth. We know other hosts can be wrong or dishonest or overly critical. A well-written guest response can win over future hosts. 

Keep responses as brief and concise as possible (unlike your post here  🙂 )- basic facts, leave out all the details and storylines, don't come across as defensive (accept responsibility for legit issues over which you had control, like the late check-out, don't put forth excuses) or aggressive. Just state simply what you feel is fair and unfair criticism, and very basically why. Your audience for your response is future hosts, not the host who reviewed you, so don't address them in the response- "just the facts , ma'am".

[Emiel1]

@Mary4772 

Reviews are only removed by Airbnb when violating their content policy.

There is no such violation in the review.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy

It seems to me the host wrote the review when being upset regarding the check-out issue.

Your other reviews are fine. Maybe let it go and continue using Airbnb.

[Mary4772]

Thanks 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Mary4772  I never looked at your review page before giving you advice on how to write a response, and see you already left one. Far too long and detailed and shouldn't be directed at the host. Oh well, hopefully you never get an unfair review again, and if you do, you can write a response more consicely.  

The thing is, when reviews or responses are too long winded,  they tend not to be read by those you are trying to make things clear to. Readers just gloss over them, whereas brevity will encourage a read.

[Huma0]

@Mary4772 

I am afraid you’re not going to like my response and you may think it’s a bit harsh, so feel free to ignore it… but I can’t help but comment on your thread.

It’s not so much the host’s review (which is bad, I’ll admit), but your response to it and your post here which would totally put me off hosting you. There’s a great deal of entitlement and petty childish behaviour going on there, e.g. being glad they had to sort out your trash mess, or “good on them *slow clap* It gave me some peace to see they had a couple of terrible reviews in the beggining of their career”

Let’s break it down:

• “…everything was perfect as you can tell from start to finish from my review to them” – Erm no. Your experience was perfect. That doesn’t mean it was perfect for the host. Take a step back and remember that there are two sides to this experience, not just yours.
• In your response, you describe the host’s review as a “very obvioulsly shrewd and callous review you change it looking at the entire context of what happened not just your super overzelous and a bit psycorigid Account of "facts". But the host has no reason to do that if you were indeed great guests. How on earth would it benefit them? They seem to leave lovely reviews for their other guests. Clearly you touched a nerve if they thought you were their worst guests ever!
• Maybe the host’s review seems harsh if the only problems were late check out and not properly sorting the trash. If clear instructions about sorting the trash were not left, that’s their fault and I strongly disagree with having ‘hidden’ house rules that a guest has to request to see in full. However, check out time is clearly stated on every listing so there’s no excuse for not abiding to that.
• You make a big deal about the cleaner turning up five minutes early (although you left her waiting outside for 10 minutes) but think it’s no bother if you leave 45 minutes (according to you) or an hour (according to the host) late. Consider that the host probably has other guests checking in and therefore a timeframe to turn over the place (which you agreed to when booking). The cleaner has been booked and paid for, but you are still there having given the host next to no notice, informing him 20 minutes before the scheduled check out. Not okay. He tried to respond politely with a smiley face reminding you that it was not appropriate to take a shower at that point as the cleaner was already in the driveway (actually not 20 minutes, but maximum 5 minutes, before check out according to the timings you have listed). You didn’t just inconvenience the host and cleaner but probably put them under a lot of unnecessary pressure. However, I suspect it’s more your attitude about it that upset them.
• So, you did not know about the “crazy amount of additional rules” when you booked? Again, I think it’s unfair not to state all the rules upfront. However, regardless of when you were made aware of them, you chose to cherry pick which ones you would follow or not because “I was tight on time,” which is not the host’s problem, but you are making it theirs. Again, I can’t comment too much on this because I think rules should be upfront but I’m not sure who is and isn’t telling the truth about that.
• - “since there is no dishwasher all the dishes(To my surprise in an 800 dollar a night air bnb that requires you to do this and put all of them away instead of it being a suggestion, just tried my best given my timeframe)” – Was a dishwasher listed as an amenity? If not, why are you complaining about it afterwards? If you think a dishwasher is a must, book a listing with a dishwasher.
• No idea what happened with the plants so can’t really comment on that.
•  There is a lot of extraneous information in your post (and also your review response), e.g. “we drove in from New York and stayed in Salem Boston for a day and a half and then drove from Salem to the property they manage in Fyreburg Maine with two babies under three.” Why did you write this to the Airbnb rep? What is the relevance? I can only imagine it’s because you want to gain sympathy for travelling with two toddlers…

And again, “did not realize I needed to ask you for permission to take a shower. It was Christmas morning and we got a little off schedule opening presents with our girls 1 and 2 years old”. Not the host’s problem and really demonstrates an entitled attitude. Also, no you don’t need permission to take a shower in your own place, but when you decide to check out late without permission, don’t just assume you can then take a shower unless you know you are going to be out ON TIME. The place is yours until the stated check out time, which you agreed to upon booking. After that, no, you don’t get to shower there and take your time and leave the cleaner waiting.

• Then we get to the part about your correspondence with the host after the review and that’s where it gets really bad. Yes, we all lose our cool sometimes in the heat of the moment, and at least you admit it, but I am not at all surprised that the host refuses to have further contact with you.

I could go on and on, but this post is already far too long. Please stop and look outside yourself. I know you think because you have small children that the world owes you a favour but most of the world’s population have children. It doesn’t make you special. You chose to have children and therefore you need to manage your time accordingly, not make it other people’s problem.

[Mary4772]

I think most of you overlook that I actually state that I was ok with the Host leaving a bad review deal is he embellished quite a lot to justify it. I don't understand the entitlement bit, I was not being entitiled, nor do I believe the world owes me anything because I have children I was late for check out, and I did not sort the trash nor put away the dishes because I was late to check out.

The host left me a terrible review where none of what he says is true, you can choose to believe what you want to believe.

I've found some of what some of you have posted helpful, some is just unnecessary, kinda like what I've learned here, I should just keep to the facts, but since im not that kind of person, I just wont be using airbnb further.

[Mary4772]

Thank you for taking the time to write this, it's not as harsh as you think it came off, because it's what you think from what you can gather from the little whinning blurb that I wrote, and I'm ok with that. I'm just not ok with the lying the hosts had to serve in order to justify such a horrible review.

I was terribly stressed to be late, and was very concsious of how me being late could affect the whole logistics behind preparing the airbnb for the next guests, I was apologizing profusely,  I don't get the whole entitelment deal most of you are using as a crutch: As I remember it I had already showered and was changing when the cleaner came in as you can read in the post. 

My Extense Whine leaves alot to the imagination I'm guessing,  I'm happy that as a host you are forthcoming with all the rules, though you might not know, it is very helpful for mothers so we can plan ahead. I honestly don't know if I could have pulled it out either way. Between an entire day out with the girls visiting the sights, making dinner and all that entails, wrapping the presents and doing the suitcases and pre packing the lunch boxes and picking out their outfits organizing the house, doing all the dishes, pre making breakfast, I went to bed at 4:00ish am and I still did not make it out on time the next morning. I do not have the practice or skills to do any of what I did quickly due to the context of my regular life, that's why things take me longer, or why I seem to be making "excuses for myself" 

I do not normally do any of the hard work having a child in the States would entail I mostly just enjoy time with my daughters and my hobbies, probablly a romanticizied version of parenthood, with a live in nannie a cleaner and cook.

I don't wish to gain sympathy, I was just writting about what happend to me from how I felt and what occured from my vantage point. It's odd to be scrutinized by what seems to be all Hosts that like to read into who I am, instead of what occured. It's a strange phenomenon, that of pushing a nerve on someone that I never saw, spoke to directly or even heard their voice and where our communication was very positive from the beginning until the end of my stay.

**[Private conversation removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

END OF TEXTS

I can be quite childish, and  as you can picture I'm honestly flailing my arms and legs in a fit at the end of the conversation, it's an incredible tantrum just like a child would do when they are not heard, wronged or simply don't get their way. I'm not petty, I was just wronged, and I've always had a thing for truth and hate injustices it's one of the things I like the most about myself, but it definitely does not serve me in this sort of plataform, hence my retirement.

Thanks again.

[Mark116]

@Mary4772  Your entire post really seems like you are making excuses for yourself.  You didn't see the other rules, that's on you.  You checked out 45 minutes late, that is also on you, and it doesn't appear you bothered to notify the host you were running late.  You say there was no information about how to sort the trash, but since you failed to read the house rules or pay attention to the check out time, I am not much convinced this wasn't another over sight on your part.  It would seem a very odd 'lie' for the host to make up about the plants....

Having young children doesn't exempt you from the things you agreed to when you booked or from knowing what it is that you agreed to in the first place.  Lastly, you don't appear to spare a thought of the stress you put other people under on Christmas day..the cleaner, the hosts and possibly the guests arriving later that day who may or may not have been able to check in on time due to your actions.

[Mary4772]

Yeah, I did think of the cleaner, apologized profusely and did everything I could do given my timeframe and I was quite thourough when I read the Rules when I booked, yet there were extra rules that were in the house manual. I just did not  know how to sort trash, and there wasnt clear instructions as how to do it. The cleaner was in the house by 11:10- 11:15 am she knocked and came in and started cleaning right away.

I honestly don't see how that's entitiled, but ok.

[Mary4772]

I thought it was an incredibly odd lie too. If I send you the video evidence I sent the Airbnb Rep maybe you would start to lean towards not doubting every word I write as much. I did not expect support on this thread, It's very obvious that it's mostly conformed by hosts, yet I was not looking for support or sympathy, regardless I think it's a bit of an overreach given the facts I've stated that me checking out 45 minutes late on Christmas morning during a snowstorm while the cleaner was cleaning and was telling us to not stress out while she cleaned because I was freaking out and apologizing like crazy that I did not care. Next guests checked in fine, I read their review, I'm one of those creepy guests that lingers on your profile when you lie on a review to me. 

I did Notify Jeremiah I was running late, I dunno man, I knew what I agreed to, I just did not know my host had a temper. I know I have a temper, but I'm  generally quite patient with stupidity, not so much with malice.

[Colleen253]

@Mary4772 Your response to the host review is more telling about this whole story than your post or their review. I would not host you based on that response, not on one apparent “outlier’ among good reviews. 

[Mary4772]

I honestly do not understand what you mean, they have fantastic reviews the house was beautiful everything was incredibly well taken care of, it was advertised correctly, our communication was good that's not what is being discussed. What is being discussed is that they seemed to have gotten mad and simply decided to lie on their review to me.

I wish they would change it to the truth, or even erase it.

You're reading into who you think I am vs what I'm saying happened and decided to judge through a nearsighted lens, maybe you just read over it on only really read my response.

But that's ok, I would not host me either if that's all I read, I'd be like NEXT.

hahahah

Ah wait I get it, ok, ok I'd change my response to something less Irate and lengthy, but I'm honestly not lying about not using Airbnb anymore so I don't know if it would be worth it.

Do you think bad reviews on airbnb will affect peoples Social Credit any time soon? Id maybe get my ducks in a row if that's the case.

[Sarah977]

@Mary4772  Yep, your response to that review basically reinforced the entitled attitude the host made clear in his review. 

Opening presents with your children is not an excuse to check out an hour late, and if it would have taken you 30 minutes to put away the clean dishes (which sounds patently absurd), you must have not washed a dish for your entire trip until check out morning. 

If you had that many dishes to wash and put away, seems like you would have gotten that out of the way the night before, so you'd only have a few breakfast dishes to wash. Considering you had presents to open in the morning and all. Not to mention deciding to have a one hour shower at check-out time, expecting the cleaners to try to start cleaning around you. 

And addressing the host as "Dude or dudette"? 

[Mary4772]

A one hour shower? Where'd you read that from? I found your first comment super helpful , now it just seems like youre trying to get at me?