Bad review or no review?

[Alison545]

Whilst on holiday in Bulgaria we booked a few days in an AirBnB which did not meet our expectations.  The property was promoted as a 7 room villa with pool and mountain views.  In the small print it did mention that the property was split into two separate 2 bedroom apartments, but this was far from clear.  Moreover, none of the pictures showed the accommodation which we got.  I thought I had booked a large villa with a pool in the mountains.  We got a shabby, 2 bed flat which was badly in need of updating, situated in a valley with nothing nearby, a pool which was really just a large children's play pool and had to share the nicer shared parts of the accommodation with a family who had already been there three days and had very much claimed their space.  

I can only blame myself for misunderstanding what we were getting but the pictures and description really did allude to something the place wasn't.  We checked out early and went to a hotel.  The host was very sweet about it all, but did not offer a refund and I felt I could not really ask.  That said, I would never have booked the place if it clearly stated a two bedroom flat - rather than the lead in about a large villa - or had pictures of the extremely grotty kitchen and bathroom.

What should I do?  I don't want to be mean or get bad feedback as a guest.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

Were the photos in the listing of the actual place you stayed?

When you say "in the small print" do you mean in the description of the listing?

I'm trying to get at whether the listing was deliberately misleading?

[Alison545]

Hi Helen and Mike,

The pictures showed the communal roof terrace and accompanying kitchen are, the garden and the other apartment.  There were no pictures of the accommodation we were in.  As for the small print, I mean the third paragraph under guest access.  The main introductory paragraph alludes to something quite different.  

[Lawrene0]

I'm wondering the same as @Mike-And-Helen0 , @Alison545 . There is no space on our listing pages for small print - it is all the same size, but perhaps there was small print in a contract you signed? If you can be more specific, we can maybe help. 

Do be honest in your review. If the photos did not represent the place you got, then you will need to mention that. Does your host have many previous reviews? What did those say? Did other guests understand what they were getting?

Was the place at a different address than shown in that circle on the map? Or than the address you received when you booked? You were in a different valley entirely than you wanted? 

You won't get bad feedback as a guest for giving a "bad" review. Reviews are double-blind in that your host cannot see your review until he/she posts one, or until 14 days have passed, and after 14 days, reviews are no longer possible. 

It does sound very disappointing. I see you are new, and I'm hoping there were just things you missed in the description, so that, going forward, you know every place is not like this. 

Will you let us know?

[Lawrene0]

I forgot the most important bit: There are no bad reviews or good reviews. Only, we hope, honest reviews. So please do review, @Alison545 !

[Gordon0]

@Alison545 - share the listing link so we can take a look.

[Alison545]

This is it:  https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/20317513?location=Batoshevo%2C%20Bulgaria&source_impression_id=p3_156...

Misleading or is it me?  

[Alice595 · Accepted solution]

@Alison545  There is a guest access section quoted below

All guests are able to rent a fully equipped apartments. Each apartment consist of a double bedroom and a bedroom with 2 single beds as well as bathroom. On the third floor the apartment has a double bed, small kitchen and guest bar lounge and a huge 50 m2 terrace with a BBQ, hammock, sofa and a table to enjoy your al-fresco dinner.

It seems to be pretty clear here. And the host also indicated that it is Private Room instead of Entire Place. But on the top, it does indicate that there are 4 bedrooms etc. There are indeed confusions. In this case, I would advise guests to send messages to the host to clarify before booking.

[Lisa723]

@Alison545 maybe it's a language issue but this listing is definitely confusing, if not outright misleading. The title includes "Apartments to rent" but the property type is listed as "private room" with "10 guests
4 bedrooms 7 beds 3 bathrooms." None of these three things is consistent with any of the others. So it seems to me that the responsibility for the mix-up here is shared. The listing doesn't make sense but before booking you could have read more carefully and/or requested clarification.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Alison545 

VILLA mountain view- APARTMENTS for rent - private ROOM in the house

of course is misleading. Besides, he rents 2 apartments or the entire villa on just one listing. He should have 3 listings.

[Kenneth12]

Seems to me the listing is confusing / ambiguous and the onus is on the host to be clear.  Not only would I review poorly,   I'd likely file a Dispute Center Claim "substantively not as described."   

[Alison545]

Thanks guys.  I have left a not too favourable review taking responsibility for the place not being as expected because I had not understood what we were getting, but also pointing out that none of the pictures featured the accommodation which we had.  Dispute Centre Claim is an interesting one!

[Kenneth12]

I reported this as inaccurate "This listing says it's an entire house 10 guests 5 BR but it's actually a private room."

[Sarah977]

@Alison545  There are quite a few hosts who post here on the forum asking other hosts to look at their listings to find out why they are either not getting bookings or having 10 guests able to book for the price of one, or getting dissatisfied guests who didn't understand what they were booking, when the fact was that the host simply didn't have their listing set up correctly. They weren't intending to mislead, they were just uninformed and confused about how to list what they were offering. I think this is what happened here.

That said, it's definitely the host's responsibility to make sure that what they are offering is clear to guests. While there are a lot of guests who just fail to read the listing information and assume it's a entire place, when it's quite clear that it's just a private room, you seem like a guest who actually did read it and I think you are being fair in thinking that the host was at fault, not you.

[Helen744]

It would  seem rather cheap for so many rooms.