What to expect from my host - amenities problems/refunds/cleaning

[Rui100]

Hi everyone,

I've had some doubtful experiences this time as a guest. Since I've not stayed in an airbnb for a long time, I wonder if it's because I'm unfamiliar with the general etiquette nowadays, and have unrealistic expectations. To avoid being a horrible person and leaving an unreasonably bad review, I hope you can help me with a reality check to ensure I'm being fair to my host 😛 I am also considering being a host myself, so your answers would be very educational for future references as well 🙂 Thank you!

I rented an entire Greek apartment for myself for 45 euros/night for a week (standard price for a very good 1br apartment in this city, so I don't think I'm expecting a lot while being "cheap" myself). I pay 30 euros for cleaning. The host is a BnB company in the city that has multiple dozens of properties and has served over 800 guests (I think this may have caused me to have hotel/hostel expectations of them, which may not be reasonable? Please remind me.).

Question on issues of amenities.

1. Water outage on the day after I arrived, from 10:30am - 4pm, due to local construction. I had a work appointment that day that values my appearance so this affected my schedule a lot (can't go out because I can't even wash my face/brush my teeth). The host says it's not in their control so they can't take responsibility, which is correct, but I can't help feeling a bit uncomfortable because I feel that I have paid for full amenities. If I was the host I would have offered some form of compensation. Not to mention later I knew that related information were posted on the water company's website, which caused me to feel that if I my host had been as attentive as an actual homeowner (instead of being a commercial bnb company with many properties), they might've been able to pay more attention and notify me in advance, as some of my other hosts have done before.

2. Fast wifi was promised in property description, but it is actually very spotty (sometimes simple webpages can't load), and completely went out for a good while I was going through an important conference call. When I messaged them using phone data, they were apologetic and said they would offer a refund. But later the wifi came back on miraculously before they came around as promised to fix it (by just restarting the router...), and concluded that everything was fine. Yet when I tried again tonight the wifi was still inconsistent. They didn't mention anything about the refund again. I've given up asking for help from them and just went to a cafe instead, because I feel that as polite as they seem to be, they don't solve any actual problems, so it feels a bit to me like superficial hospitality.

3. Cleaning. I am in general a very clean person, i.e. dishes washed, no spills, everything in its proper place. Today they said that cleaning service would be coming, but I came back to find that only my bedsheets were changed + new towels, but the trash was not taken out.

I'm just a little surprised because what they're doing is different from what I expected, or what I would've done for my clients. I own a service company myself. In the event that any sort of incident happened to cause a less-than-pleasant experience within the apartment, I'd offer some form of gift or compensation out of courtesy for my guests. It's not so much about the refund (from the guest's perspective) or shirking responsibility (from the host's perspective), but about recognizing that when I open up a space to offer in exchange for money, I am offering a service, and in order to extend kindness and support a pleasant experience, it's always good to ensure that guests coming from a foreign place feels cared for and at home. I'd offer gifts/partial compensation even for unexpected water outage that isn't in my control but disrupted the guest's stay (though I don't expect everyone to do that.) But for the Wifi, I definitely think that's the host's responsibility when they don't deliver what they claim to offer. And lastly if I say I'm going to come around to clean, I definitely would've made sure that trash was taken out to give the guest a fresh and new atmosphere.

I've travelled to & lived in many countries, including other Mediterranean countries like Spain and Portugal. Everyone is always so hospitable and generous, and I've never felt doubtful like this. Not to mention other countries like Japan, China or Thailand, etc. where the hosts are beyond caring and I couldn't find a single thing to complain about. So this experience in Greece is a bit surprising for me, and I'm not sure if it's me being OCD or if there's a cultural difference. Am I expecting too much from my host?

Thank you so much! 🙂

[Matthew285]

@Rui100, I think you are seeing the difference between an individual host (with one or two listings) and a corporate host (with dozens of listings).

It is very difficult for corporate hosts to maintain the same quality of service that really terrific individual hosts can reach. The few times corporate hosts can achieve that, it is very notable (think of the Four Seasons hotels). Normal corporate hosts just do what is required of them, and either aren't interested or aren't capable of providing exceptional service.

Sadly, the shortcomings in your stay were not even asking for exceptional service. Providing water, or at least warning the guest ahead of time of water outages is normal and expected. Providing an amenity of acceptable quality (the Wifi) is normal and expected.

As to the cleaning: did they promise a mid-stay cleaning for the 30 euros? If so, their "cleaning" was really just a change of linens, and should be labelled as such.

I know you mentioned becoming a host in the future. I'll bet that you would be a terrific host, because you seem to understand what makes for a good guest experience.

To answer your overall question: your expectations were reasonable, and were not met.

They corporate host did only the minimum to satisfy your complaints. You may want to send private feedback to the owner of the listing indicating that the service was far from top notch.

(I'm assuming here the corporate host is not the actual owner of the listing.) (If they are, then you can still tell them their service needs work.)

As to the general etiquette for AirBnB stays: I would say that the expectation should be higher now that ever before. There is a lot of competition as the number of hosts and listings have risen. To stay on top of the rankings, a host needs to be better than ever (in my opinion).

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Rui100

It sounds like you got something that is pretty average - personally I would not expect much for 45 euro for a full appartment - it;s not going to be anything other than average to medium at best. Wifi is so subjective and so different in each country, and within each country. So London, we have fibreoptic - go stay with friends and the world could freeze over waiting to book a flight, but they think that is normal. The cleaning could just be they were providing a change of linen (that could be lost in translation somehow). The water - it happens.

Sounds like I am being very negative, but I think it's a combination of factors and one thing loads on to another and builds up to a big issues. It;s completely normal. Would I expect a refund - personally as a host I would for the water - as a thank you for your patience.  You can be honest in your review and say you did expect more for 45 euro a night, but be very specific - be careful about lists of things that will make other hosts think you are being petty etc

[Sarah977]

Your post is very well articulated. I don't think your expectations in this instance are at all unreasonable. If they said there was reliable fast wifi and there wasn't, you should definitely mention it in the review. As far as the water goes, sometimes you have to roll with the punches, as this wasn't the host's fault, but if this water outage was posted before the fact, and the host just neglected to inform themselves or you, or make alternate arrangements ("Hey, so sorry, but will be a water outage today from 10:30 AM-4PM due to neighborhood construction. We have filled some 5 gallon pails with water for you to use in the meantime- sorry for the inconvenience") then this might be mentioned as well.

And yes, it would be nice if the host offered some kind of compensation for your internet and water inconvenience.

You might consider booking with an on-site host next time instead of a management company- this one obviously doesn't train its cleaning staff very well (unless it was stated somewhere to you that you were expected to take out the garbage) and their cavalier attitude leaves something to be desired. They've probably taken on more listings than they can effectively manage.