Non-Airbnb booking in Hounslow West

[Man11340]

**[The title of the thread has changed in line with - Community Center Guidelines]

The house was well equipped, i.e. with all the utensils you needed, but the host is greedy and tricky.

At the last day of living, the host charged me £30 for accusing me not cleaning the room clean enough.
Such a reason was kind of okay, but then from my further conversation with her, I can tell this is her normal practice and she is sophisticated to use such excuse to charge when a guest is about to hand back the key to her.

The day for me to handover the key and room inspection was on Saturday. The regular day for the cleaner to come was Thursday, i.e. two days ago. But for this week the cleaner didn't come on Thursday but instead she came on Friday, which was one day before I was about to leave. 
On Saturday's room inspection, the host complained to me that I should have used the last chance to ask the cleaner to clean for my room. 

However, on Friday, in fact, the cleaner did not ask if I needed any help from her, at all. Just as usual and before, we just said hi and bye only.

I can't believe that all the things happened as coincidence. Only for this week did not come on the day as everyone expected and then the host complained for not asking for help on the day after??! By looking back, the host is just so well planned to charge me extra fees.

What is more, similar things, around two months ago, happened before. At that time, there where two cleaners, who were paid by us, all the tenants in the house. We originally agreed to pay £6 per month by everybody. Then one day the host suddenly announced that because of their cooperation problems, she requested us to pay £2.5 more per month. Then one of us found it ridiculous as the problem between the cleaners was indeed none of our business, so she discussed to issue with the host. Just because of this issue, the host very soon did not talk to her publicly on our Whatsapp group and kicked her out of the house by terminating the contract with the guest. 

The room itself is comfortable but the way that the host treats her tenants is uncomfortable.

Lastly, the house I live in was on the Rosemary Avenue, which is very close to the Hounslow West Station.
I hope you all will not meet any host who like use house rules to make extra money for himself/ herself.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Man11340  it is unlikely that you will find any on here that have dealt outside of airbnb.  Through airbnb you might have had a case, as it is now, you are on your own.

There is a reason why this listing is no longer on airbnb - it has probably been reported.

[Helen350]

@Marit-Anne0 Many hosts in the UK advertise their rooms on SpareRoom, a lodger/tenant finding site, as well as Airbnb. - I do this!  So I'm not sure booking a room outside of Airbnb would always be breaking Airbnb terms & conditions? We ARE allowed to list on multiple platforms, are we not? 

@Man11340  implied he heard about the room through a friend who rented another room (in the same house) through Airbnb. So I guess there is nothing unethical about going through a personal contact; no more than contacting a landlord via SpareRoom, rather than Airbnb? 

Of course if Man went through another platform or through a friend, his disputes with his landlord do not come under the auspices of Airbnb, nor do the protocols for settling disputes apply. And if a landlord rents through SpareRoom, they CAN make up their own rules! - Which may be different from Airbnb norms. In which case the tenant needs to make their own enquiries re what they are agreeing to before they move in! 

[Marit-Anne0]

@Helen350 of course we are free to list on whatever platforms we prefer or what is the best option for our target market,  I do that myself, whatever brings in the bacon. But using airbnb or any other platform for a bait and switch is not really ok. I do not know if that is what happened here, but it sounds like it.

In need for accomodation on the holiday rental market myself late last year, I came across bait and switch once and another that seemed to be a fake or a scam. The response to the inquiry came across as a hotel in Kazakstan !! and I were looking for southern France. In the end I found a place on IB and decided IB only from now on.