Black mold - What would you do?

[Ben205]

We booked a room for a night, staying with a fellow Superhost. We arrived about 8pm. The host didn't greet us (though their listing said they would).

On entry, we found black mold on the walls in the bathroom, kitchen and bedroom. There was also a layer of hairs on the bedroom carpet.

What would you have done?

We were only staying one night and the hassle of cancelling and finding somewhere else made us decide to stay. We didn't contact the host at the time as we thought there was little if anything he could do at 8pm on a Saturday night (I'm not even sure he lives in the town). And, the ABB review system can be quite confrontational and complaining pre-review can be problematic.

I don't want a refund. I'm more disappointed that this person has Superhost status. I've since found out that they have 9 listings, and only make Superhost by averaging across all 9. This property is below the rating for Superhost status.

I've obviously left a review that lists the problems we encountered. Is there anything else we should do?

Ben

[Anonymous]

@Helen3  Filing a formal complaint sounds an extreme overreaction to me.  There is no good reason to get overstretched support staff involved in piddly issues like this. I think it would merit a report if the property were so hazardous as to present a present danger to upcoming guest. But some common mold on the wall and hair on the carpet? Why isn't it enough to mention these in the review, and let prospective guests decide for themselves whether these are bearable conditions?

[Helen3]

I wouldn't call black mold in the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom ' a piddling issue'.  It can be hazardous to health and not what I would expect to see in any listing let alone in the listing of a superhost.

[Anonymous]

@Helen3  If a guest spotted something in your home that they believed to be unsafe, what procedure would you want them to follow?  

1. Report it to you, and give you the chance to address it,  or

2. Report it directly to an Airbnb agent sitting in a call center, knowing nothing about the specifics of the issue but holding the power to suspend your listing and cancel all your upcoming bookings.

(As it were, the mold pictured above almost certainly belongs to the allergenic class of molds, such as Alternaria, rather than the toxigenic class you're referring to. If you live in Bristol, your apartment is 100% guaranteed to have a presence of Alternaria mold no matter how diligently you clean it)

[Kenneth12]

@Anonymous : there is absolutely no way to identify the mold without a lab.   Even if not toxic, it can be an extreme hazard to people with allergies,  asthma,  etc.

[Anonymous]

@Kenneth12 Since @Helen3 wasnt inclined to answer the question, I'll pose it to you as well. If a guest of yours found something in your property that they believed might be unsafe, what do you think they should do? Inform you about it, or bypass this step and complain directly to Airbnb? 

[Helen350]

@Kenneth12 Best only stay in desert climates if you want no mould! As @Anonymous said, I'll wager  British houses have some, especially old single skin stone ones without cavity walls. I'm going around all the time with bleachy cloths. It's worse in summer when the heating's not on.

[Kenneth12]

@Helen350 :  given the extreme heat/humidity event in Chicago this summer,  we added these wee devices called dehumidifiers-- along with multiple humidity monitors so we know what's going on.   

Works wonders.

[Helen350]

@Kenneth12 I've got one too. Little square boxy thing. Especially useful in September/October, when the place is at it's dampest, the heating having been off for longest. Of course in high summer I open windows for a through draught of air (of varying degrees of dampness itself!)- No dehumidifying with windows open tho' - Don't want my valuable electricity dehumidifying the street!

[Dee1305]

Exactly!  Just wasted 1200 miles gas money hundred and air b b still charged me for the night and service fee and cleaning fee when the place made me sick a a dog. People are lucky that don’t know that it causes MCAS CIRS and much more than wheezing and dizziness and allergies many molds are neurotoxic and actually inflame your brain and ruin your life I’m living it after renting places in Florida with water damage and old bad a c ducts.
Airbnb is full of a bunch of people that buy cheap houses that need to be bulldoze and instead they flip them and rent them I’m no longer using their service. The week for my daughter’s birthday and they should’ve refunded me 100% with all the photos I provided and they did not. Sick business. Anyone can rent a hole. 

[Dee1305]

Wow you’re lucky  You’re clueless to the damage of mold does. Do some research and consider you’re self lucky. Common mold? Look up health effects of mold black and non “black” look up CIRS MCAS and I know That until you’re sick for mold I understand no one earthly idea Take it reeks on your nervous system it actually inflames your brain talk to a doctor sometime who knows about mold. Is hives chronic nasal drip vertigo insane fatigue and even fevers I just checked out of a disgusting Airbnb in Asheville North Carolina that was a flipped house all the black mold was almost disguised we could see it growing all over the windows it is hardly something to ignore it is actually catastrophic to somebody’s house and if you live in mold long enough like unfortunately I have with my small child and spent 50,000 on rent in Florida here in America , And you lose everything to it as you cannot bring your multi things to a clean environment you were contaminated you would know just how serious breathing in mycotoxins from mold is. You are already health compromised with autoimmune diseases asthma or anything else.  

ended up on this page and happened to see your comment and I know this is old but I just thought that maybe you should educate yourself a little bit before downplaying the hazards of mold and possibly do a little bit of simple Google researching on what living in multi environments does to your nervous system and what the inflammation can do to your body other than just wheezing and allergies it’s neurotoxin there are mini molds that are neurotoxic and nobody should be breathing that crap in Airbnb has a horrible policy and they don’t care about anyone they let anybody buy a crap hole and flip it and cover up the mold I’m all done using them. 
bless the mold hole business. Seen three this year. Won’t see another. Better off buying a camper. 

[Ben205]

@Ben205 There have only been 5 others, all pretty positive. Made me wonder if we were in the wrong building!

One in December said 'very clean'! I wonder if most people don't bother leaving a review?

I thought that ABB might not post my review, but I see it is on the listing. The host has already changed the listing to remove 'Private living room' as an amenity, as there wasn't one. So, at least he's listening.

[Cormac0]

@Ben205 

In my opinion, this is about its star rating,  black mold on the walls and an abundance of hairs on the carpets does not a Super host accommodation make.

[Anonymous]

@Cormac0  There is no such thing as a Superhost accommodation.  If a guest would look through these forums at all the utterly clueless queries that begin "I'm a Superhost and...," they'd spot right away that any dingbat might become a Superhost and plenty of excellent hosts aren't.

Since 5 stars is held up as the default rating, you can't really look at the averages and tell whether a listing is genuinely deficient in some measures or they just had guests with a grudge. Also, the star ratings shown on the listing (unlike the ones used to calculate SH) reflect the entire history of the listing, so they don't offer any insight into whether past problems have been repaired. This is why the text review - which is displayed along with the date of the stay - is so crucially important. 

[Rita662]

The problema is that the Superhost status is for the host, not the house.

If you sell the house and buy another, or have more houses, the status follows you.

I know why this happens: the superhost "prizes" the host, but sometimes I think it's unffair, especially if you have more houses to manage.

[Linda108]

I have stayed in listings that have problems impacting my enjoyment in a range from annoying to disruptive of my holiday.  If I am only staying a single night, I would not take my time to notify the host to correct the problem unless I was unable to use the space.  I would mention it in a review however.  

IMO hosts should be inspecting their listing before every guest, either directly or through cleaning staff.  I think all amenties should be confirmed to be operational. Cleanliness should be inspected.  Even so, things can go wrong unexpectedly.  In that case the host should remedy asap with as little disruption of the guest as possible.  Yes a refund is needed, not to avoid a negatie review, but because the host has not provided was was advertised.  Refund and a gift acknowledging the trouble will go a long way to helping a guest get over negative feelings.  

I am not a fan of the host excuses "not a hotel" and guests should be more understanding or "don't charge as much as a hotel" and guests should be more appreciative.