Has anyone used Airsorted?

[Rana1]

I can't find whether Airsorted is a partner of Airbnb or not? Has anybody used them? Would you recommend it?

[Jennifer1556]

Hello, Paul.

My name is Jennifer. I'm currenty conducting 3rd party research about the Airsorted experience and am looking to speak with 2 hosts that have left the service because of their frustration. I would love to speak with you. If you're open to a 30 min call between now and Monday (Feb 12, 2019 - Feb 18, 2019), we would be happy to compensate you for your time. Please feel free to reach out to me at **

Thank you!

Jennifer

**[E-mail address hidden due to safety reasons - Community Center Guidelines]

[Alexander541]

I have used Airsorted in Paris (4+ months) and have no complaint at all. Maybe the linnen company (subcontractor) could (should) provide better high grade linnens and towels.

For me it is good enough.  It is normal they charge fees IMHO

I can not do it myself due to being in a differet time zone. However I spent quite some time and effort to make it suitable for rental (renovation).however some cities in Germany  andAustria are trying to forbid shirt term rentals. 

[Andrew1158]

I used them and they were blindingly bad. I would use them only if desperate. They get the job done but you will be frustrated by so many mistakes every step of the way, on how they manage bookings, how they communicate, how they are not organised, lack of cleanliness etcetcc.

[Juliet15]

Hi 

Airsorted are not part of Airbnb.

They are suppose to manage an Airbnb property dealing with linen, cleaning and replying to enquiries. 

In the 3 months I have used them I have had the most terrible experience. I have been charged for linen that never arrived, a broken lockbox, charged for uber rides to bring the wrong keys over and worst of all I got charged for a fraudulent booking that was picked up several days before it went ahead. 

They are very disorganised and outsource their cleaning and linen to Spick n Span and Nest Angels. 

I am still waiting for promised payments in the region of £260 which hasn't made it back to my account.

Luckily I live down the road from the property so I am able to pop in and deal with guests so have left them to do it in my own.

If you do decide to go with them read the reviews as many have complained that they take money and do a really bad job😙

[Jennifer1556]

Hello, Juliet.

My name is Jennifer. I'm currenty conducting 3rd party research about the Airsorted experience and am looking to speak with 2 hosts that have left the service because of their frustration. I would love to speak with you. If you're open to a 30 min call between now and Monday (Feb 12, 2019 - Feb 18, 2019), we would be happy to compensate you for your time. Please feel free to reach out to me at ***

Jennifer

****

*[Personal information hidden for safety reasons–in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Jenna29]

Hi All - having booked a small bedroom in south-east London for a few days early April, I messaged the "host" via Airbnb with some queries.  When I didn't get a response I tried texting her mobile number, and again heard nothing.  Eventually I phoned a London landline number which had been given in the original confirmation email of my booking.  I've just phoned them, and realised I am dealing with an agency, not with an individual.  Once I have had my London trip I will let you know whether everything went smoothly.  But I have to say now that I feel a bit let down by this.  I have stayed as a guest in several Airbnb places in the UK and on the continent, and have always been very happy with things, but the thing I appreciate most about Airbnb is that I am dealing directly with the owners of properties, who themselves take responsibility if anything goes wrong (and everyone I have dealt with to date has been great).  Dealing with an impersonal agency (who from their online reviews seem to get a lot of things wrong) is not what I joined Airbnb for.  Personally, I feel that Airbnb should sort this somehow - and if a host is using an agency rather than dealing personally with things, then I think that should be made explicit.  It feels as though the way this has been managed is dishonest - I was given the impression on the website and in the email response that I was dealing with someone called Abbie who owns the house, but it turns out that I have no way of getting in contact with Abbie!

[Lawrene0]

@Jenna29, this may not be what you want in the way of advice, but you say, "...who from their online reviews seem to get a lot of things wrong." Why on earth would an experienced guest such as yourself book a place with problem reviews? 

It's lovely that you were giving poor 'Abbie' a chance to rectify her sloppy hosting with your booking, but don't be so nice in future. Stay with hosts who have good reviews. 

Asking Airbnb to sort them all isn't going to fly, but if you would like them to sort this one, give them a call, tell them about the communication problem, and see if they will allow you to cancel and rebook without penalty. 

If they won't, consider whether it is worth losing your booking fee in order to cancel your hasty booking and rebook with someone you have taken the time to vet.

All the best with your upcoming trip, and a peaceful, safe stay! 

[Jenna29]

Hi Lawrene, thanks for your response and advice.

It seems to me you may have misunderstood some of the things I said in my original post.  You quote me saying  "...who from their online reviews seem to get a lot of things wrong" and you go on to ask: why on earth would an experienced guest such as yourself book a place with problem reviews?  You also described my booking as "hasty".

The issue here is that my booking was not hasty, I took the same time and care I always do, to read all the information about the place, including the reviews.  I was happy with everything I read - Abbie in fact had 2 x 5 star reviews (my only slight concern was that she is a new-ish host, so only appears to have those 2 reviews).  When I referred to "from their online reviews seem to get a lot of things wrong" I was talking about the agency, not Abbie.  I didn't discover that the place was being managed by an agency until a week later, when I phoned the "emergency number" listed at the end of Abbie's confirmation email, because I had had no response to either a message via Airbnb or a text directly to the mobile number that was listed as Abbie's contact number.  It was only then, after questioning the person who answered the phone, that I discovered that it was being managed by this agency (AirSorted).  Incidentally, the person at AirSorted that I spoke to told me that the mobile number listed as a contact number for Abbie was not operative. 

At that point I did a search for AirSorted, and came across reviews of their work, several of which were negative (from Airbnb hosts, saying that she had stopped using them because they kept letting her, and her guests, down).

What troubles me about this is that it is clear from Abbie's listing, and from subsequent contact I have had with the agency, that this set-up deliberately misleads potential guests into thinking they are communicating directly with Abbie.  If I am in fact talking to someone in an agency, I would prefer to know that (and why not make that obvious in the listing?).  I use Airbnb because I prefer to communicate directly with owners, rather than going through an impersonal agency that adds to the cost of the booking.  I thought that was what Airbnb was all about?

You also say in your response: asking Airbnb to sort them all isn't going to fly - and I wonder why not?  I would have thought Airbnb would like to address this problem, if it is going to put people off using Airbnb.

I'm not going to try and cancel this booking, because I know that I won't be able to find another decent place in the right area in time before my visit.  So I intend to go, hopefully enjoy the stay without any problems, and then feedback afterwards. 

Thanks again for your response.

Jenna

[Mei-Ling2]

Hi Airbnb folks

Buyer beware! I used AirSorted for the first time at the end of 2016 / beginning of 2017 and have found the experience disappointing and not to the standard I was expecting. The service offering is attractive if you need help to manage you property while you’re away but honestly, they are more trouble than they’re worth.  My advice would be to give your 12% commission (now increased to a shocking 14% + VAT) to a more experienced and professional company. Given they respond to enquiries and manage all of the guest communications in your name, there’s no way that I would risk leaving my profile and reputation in their hands again.

Whilst the face-to-face onboarding session was useful and efficient, most other aspects of working with them have been disappointing. There were many little incidents that compounded and led me to assume this is a small, young and inexperienced team. I hope the below gives you enough of an idea to help you choose who to hand your property over to.

-   I was chasing and following up with my account manager frequently (she even missed the first welcome call she scheduled with me! No apology in case you were wondering) and when I queried the lack of bookings in January there was no proactive suggestion of ways to increase bookings - I was simply told January is a quiet month. During onboarding you are told they aim for 80% occupancy rate so knowing the months I was letting out my flat, it would have been good to receive a more enthusiastic response

- Imagine my disappointment when my very first guest gave feedback that she was not happy with check-in process. The guest felt that the information was not provided early enough in advance and that it was cutting it too fine ahead of them taking their flight. When I asked Airsorted about this I received a short response telling me that ‘they cannot tailor bespoke host requirements in regards to sending out guests instructions’. I understand there are security considerations around providing lockbox info too early, but I can’t see why guests cannot be informed of the check-in process well in advance to make the experience as clear and stress-free as possible. I don’t consider this request to be an unreasonable or bespoke host demand. From a guests point of view, they had a poor check-in experience which reflected on me (not Airsorted).

- Other smaller issues such the password on my account being changed without me being notified, no response to email correspondence regarding cancellation of cleaning, items missing from linen change over which meant I had to spend more time managing them whilst away so that guests wouldn’t think that’s it me being the one being a poor host.

- Finally, I have been in dispute with Airsorted regarding return of my deposit. Their criteria for return of the deposit are return of the linen, lockbox and to ‘be with them’ for 30 days. However once I had returned from holidays, returned the items and requested my deposit they refused to return it because I had less than 30 days occupancy of the flat in my time away. The descriptor ’30 days with them’ is ambiguous and doesn’t specify whether it’s listing, membership or indeed occupancy for 30 days. When I queried this and after some back and forth, I received a copy of the contract and the relevant clause stating 30 days occupancy. But honestly looked like an extra sentence had been tacked on to the end of the clause and retrospectively added, especially as this line was in a different font size to the rest of the document. They claim the T&Cs are available during the sign up process however this process is split into several stages over time (call back, registration and then face-to-face onboarding session) so at time of signing up, you don’t have opportunity to even know the full extent of their services until after the onboarding by which time you’ve been asked to agree to terms. Fyi, contract not supplied at the beginning of the engagement.

Despite recognising the ambiguity of the conditions on the website (at time of writing Terms of Service not available on the website) and lack of transparency about the process, they have continued to refuse to return my deposit. Heads up that apparently the deposit also needs to cover their own internal onboarding costs (yet another criteria) so make sure you’re aware of this hidden fact in case you have less the 30 days occupancy as they will likely present additional reasons why the deposit can’t be returned.

[Kathleen90]

I've just advised them that my new strata bylaw amendments will prevent me from allowing my home to be used for any term less than 1 year without me remaining or residing on site as the host and limiting my booking to two people only as per the city bylaws.  So, we'll see if they even return the deposit to me!  I doubt it as they said nothing about it even though I haven't started with them and we only met for a brief meeting during which they take over the host's Air B & B profile and booking platform.  I insisted I wanted to screen my bookings for dates and guest numbers to ensure it made financial sense, but they advised me that was not possible.  It was an all or nothing service.

[Kitty14]

AirSorted are a total disaster - appalling service and very expensive - I won't be using them again.

[Jonathan500]

Hi Kitty, Did you find a better alternative? We're interested as we're in a similar situation... Many thanks!

[Meeta1]

Hi Jonathan did you ever get a response to this question? I’m wondering what a good alternative to Airbnb would be?

[Lol1]

What she said. Tell us, Jonathan! Is there a good alternative? I used Air Shambles for 6 months and it was the most exhausting experience... it's shocking to hear they make a policy of ineptitude not just in London but across their global network. Agree they are borrowing interest of a trustworthy brand like Air B & B then they need to live up to it. Otherwise it is surely illegal to trade like a parasite off the Air B & B brand in this way! If anyone knows of a good alternative please let us know. thanks

[Christina246]

Yes, we have used them for our flat in Edinburgh since February 2017. 

I have mixed feeling about them, but in general I think it is better using them than our last property manager.

Here is what I have experienced, They charge 15% plus Vat which makes it 18%, however this is 18% of the total fee before airbnb have taken off their fees, also 18% of the cleaning fee that is charged. Before signing up I worked out costs and it is about £1000 a year more expensive than our previous management company, because they use a lockbox instead of meet and greet and dont leave a welcome pack, plus their cleans cost less, but they take all the bookings and deal with guests too. Which is better value. However, their pricing system for guests is awful, they charge ridiculously high prices, so no one actually books, then they drop the prices about one month before but have to go lower then normal then as its so close to the dates, this discourages returners and means you get less money. They get full occupancy but less money. I realised this was a disaster pretty quickly, so took back control of the pricing. One positive on their system though, because their cleaning and linen costs are cheaper than the other company I used , i can afford to take one night and two night bookings and make a profit. Before I would lose money on really short bookings , so if there was a two night gap, it had to remain empty. So I will make more money than before even after paying them more. (provided I set the prices)

They are beter at dealing with guests than me and my star rating has improved, although sometimes its gets lax. They are worse at dealing with out of the ordinary requests. You have to keep an eye on them. We do prefer having less hassle and not having to deal with guests is easier. 

My main bugbear is their system of booking cleans. They like to have it all streamlined, so when something is out of the box, things go wrong. If I book dates for myself or friends, or a very occasional private booking thats when things go wrong. I have to ring them up before the booking and again after to ensure it all works. If I don't the clean doesnt get done.  Also they charge a lot for their handyman, best find one for yourselves, plus they dont clean the windows or have someone you can book to do it. But they do deliver wood for the woodburner, which is great, although so far we've got the wood ourselves when we visit.

In general, as long as you keep an eye on them and do the pricing yourselves, it can be less hassle than taking bookings yourselves. We have rented out holiday lets for a while and need to have less hassle now.  But be aware, things will go wrong at times.