Can I attach pictures or links to my reviews?

[James471]

I will be renting a unit this August and this will be my first foray into Airbnb. I am quite excited because the apartment that I am about to occupy has all the necessary facilities, especially the kitchen tools, and for a lot less money than hotels, which generally feel less homey.

One of the activities that I do when I'm in other places is that I review hotels. Sites such as Tripadvisor allow me to attach pictures that i've taken of the rooms and the areas, and in the same way, I wish that I would be able to do the same on Airbnb. But it seems that all of the reviews that I've read do not have photos in them so I assume that guests do not have the ability to attach photos.

 I really would like to accompany my reviews with photos so that I would be able to help prospective customers in convincing or dissuading from renting an apartment. On the other hand, I also think that pictures could boost the reputation of the host if his or her apartment deserves better attention.

I have not done any reviews before. So my question is can we attach pictures to our reviews? If yes, how? If no, are there other ways to circumvent the restriction?

[Tracey183]

The outside of a building is of little concern to me. The more than 20 photos I have demonstrate that the apartment we are in is little more than a dump. The listing misrepresents the condition of the apartment and the owners photos appear to be shot with a fish eye lense. I don’t really care either that the place is small, but the photos are carefully framed to exclude any of the less palatable aspects.  There are only two reviews of the property and one of those is in Chinese so not very helpful to me. We have stayed in many properties all over the world and this is far and away the worst. I certainly will raise my issues in review, however if one can not provide photos it becomes the word of one against another.

[Sarah977]

@Tracey183    But you can submit the photos with a complaint about inaccuracy to Airbnb. If they determine that the place is mis-represented, they will likely send the host a threatening message. But they won't tell you they've done it, they don't share info like that.

[Joesey0]

where on the site can u send the photos to air bnb? when i was filling out the survey after my stay i didnt see anywhere i could post the ones i took from a situation similar to what Tracey is talking about

[Joesey0]

i see that i can post them here but idk how much good that will do for alerting people to a specific bnb

[Joesey0]

halethorpe air bnb - mildew in showerhairs in showerhairs in showerhairs in shower at recent stay in halethorpe air bnbthere are more photos of this place i recently stayed in that are better representations of the condition and layout of the space that were not represented by the hosts photos

[Joesey0]

the shower was so disgusting i didnt feel comfortable using it - luckily i was only there 2 days and didnt spend much time there at all anyway but coming back after dark was not pleasant either as there was no light over the door to speak of. and as you can see the walls are very dingy and dirty looking - also not shown in any of the photos. i dont think i would stay here again even with as convenient as the location was or if they decided to do some improvements

[Todd184]

Scuffs on a wall are one reason I think posting pictures in reviews doesn't make any sense, once that is open you get pics of every little nit-picking issue. That said, there should be a way to post a picture of something that is hard to explain. The place I recently stayed had a broken toilet flush cover...those in Europe might know immediately what I’m talking about

But others might not.

[Sarah977]

@Todd184    No, I've not heard the term "toilet flush cover". I'd assume it's what I'd call a toilet tank lid. If that's what it is, I'm not sure why that would be a huge problem for a guest, or something worth complaining about. As long as the toilet functioned properly, if I were a guest, it's not anything I'd make any mention of, as long as the place was otherwise comfortable and clean and not just full of broken stuff.

[Todd184]

So, this is what I'm talking about. While the toilet did function, my primary irritation was the host didn't even mention it as showing me around. It would have been at least helpful to have known how to use it. Also, this kind of condition become less palitible, when you're paying $150 a night. 

At another property on this same trip (not airbnb) the owner, pointed out a lamp that had just been broken by the last guest and glued back together, he appologized, and said a new lamp was on order, but this was the best he could do now. That place was $70 a night, and here an owner is explaining something, very likely I would have never noticed...quite a contrast. 

[Judy452]

Joesay, The photos are excellent and make our point.  If they were with the review of the property, it would be a natural process.  Problematic properties would drop off the website leaving a higher quality inventory.  There are always exceptions to situations. 

If hosts object, in my opinion, they are hiding something.  

[Sarah977]

@Todd184    Ah, I've never seen one of those. Seems like an unnecessarily complicated contraption compared to a regular toilet.

[Megan443]

I agree with everyone that attaching photos would be beneficial as I only placed my search for a top host and most people were really good reviews but when we arrived at our location the person taking charge of the airbnb for the owner(her parents who lived in Scotland and part time in England) had a baby 6 weeks prior and is renovating their own home so to our dismay our rental was horrid. Broken hot tub, green pool, advertised as “heated” was ice cold and couldn’t use and when heat was finally turned on on day 3 evening time we awoke to day 4 super green pool and owner came over and splashed huge tube of chlorine said don’t get in and then said she had to call in a “pool specialist” and not to use pool until he was done which was after 6 when he could come. She said it was not healthy to swim in 🙄when I been complaining since day 1 and no true fix until mid week of our 1 week stay. My daughter was tortured looking at a pool she couldn’t use. The pool guy stated couldn’t use until he came back next day and then owner stated couldn’t be there until maybebefore lunch and refused to give exact time or even an hr notice so we couldn’t leave. The pool was finally blue again and we sat. This to me was horrible on multiple levels to do to a kid on vacation bc my daughter didn’t understand and had nothing else to do. The hot tub jet popped out and jabbed my

husband in his back and multiple jets didn’t work. Back burner was broke on stove, hole in yard and dogs got out under fence. Screened porch was torn causing multiple bugs and only table to sit around for dinner or meals was outside. Clogged

drains where u didn’t need a plug in bathroom and sink filled within seconds of brushing teeth. Horrid experience and owner was mad we contacted airbnb. Only response I could get in writing which I sent to airbnb was “different people have different standards.” I feel that people should be able to post pictures to validate their experiences whereas it could be heresay and someone would say “ohthwy are just very high standards or complaining.” So I feel that this would help owners not show

one thing and provide another keeping the prices legitimate and not ruin someone’s vacation which they might not understand. 

Megan 

[Michael3068]

I agree we should be able to post our photos on our stays.  If the owner of the property has not updated the photos, just saying they are not updated is not enough.  I have been on Yelp for over 8 years and the ability to post photos on that site is a huge plus.  We should be able to do so on some section of the review comments.  

[Anita487]

I just had a terrible experience of staying at a property that is using completely false pictures of the site (older pictures) - I have pictures of what the site really looks like when we stayed there. Any suggestions on how I can get help using these pictures? Not only is the property inaccurate, it is unsafe as there was construction work going on while we wer there and the crew told us they had no idea someone was in the house! 

[Maureen314]

I had a horrible experience in Hillsdale NY   The second bathroom was dilapidated ... the shower was corroded and mildewed.  I have pictures of the ceiling peeling and the plastic shower curtain --- OMG  it had clearly been eaten on by rodents!   How can I show these to future guest?  The host is a superhost but clearly guest are only using the downstairs master bath!