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

[Tony-And-Una0]

We had a mold issue in one of our apartments.

We just put an air-brick in the wall of each room and problem solved. A permanent an maintenance free solution.

[Helen350]

@Tony-And-Una0 My living room has an airbrick - & with it a permanent draught! (Especially in this 60mph wind!) Chimney doesn't help. No wonder my heating bills are high! Next door I have a rental cottage, long-term let, not Airbnb. It had a terrible damp/mould problem, so  bad that when a tenant left, I got a builder to sort permanently. He ended up stripping it back to a sandstone barn, tanked all the walls,- cement & black tarry stuff, then insulated plasterboard. Floor dug down 6" & polythene membrane, more insulation, then concrete. Broke my heart to see the old sandstone fireplace/range getting covered in concrete & chimney bricked up, but builder insisted COMPLETELY SEALING houses to allow NO air in/out is the modern way. And he rendered over the old airbrick, saying it was necessary for regulations these days! All very confusing!!! - Your solution sounds a lot cheaper! (My heating bills are now very low in the newly sealed cottage!)

[Tony-And-Una0]

Damp is a much bigger issue than just mold caused by general condensation and lack of ventilation and requires a more extensive solution.

[Helen350]

@Tony-And-Una0 - Indeed!

[Trevor243]

The host had multiple properties so very likely has cleaners .... I have multiple properties, and I have cleaners .... I expect my cleaners to keep properties to a very high standard .... much higher than I used to manage when I had to do the cleaning myself .... I pay my cleaners very well to do a very good job .....

And if there's a problem, I would rather know about it at 10pm at night than find out 2 weeks later when a review goes public. Personally, I would be horrified if my cleaners left a property in that condition, and yes, if a guest reported a problem like this, even at 10pm at night, I would try to relocate guests into another (clean) property, or would go out and clean it myself, even late at night.

Saying nothing and submitting a bad review is possibly the worst thing you could do, especially if you yourself are a superhost. You should know better than that.

[Eszter34]

I see this is an old topic, but I have not found many within the airbnb world about mold problems. I have just a case with a moldy flat (I am allergic incl. asthma and did get serious problems to properly breath after staying only 30 minutes in that apartment - with open windows.)

I reported the issue to the host directly, who advised me to open the refund request with AirBnB. At AirBnB they contacted another co-host, who was not aware about anything - obviously, as I did speak to the original owner of the flat, not a co-host. After this AirBnB has closed my case without even giving an answer on my escalation or giving any feedback about the case.

As the case got closed I opened already several new ones - one after another, as all of those got closed after the initial default response... 

We are traveling with AirBnB since 5 years regularly, and never ever had any issues where we needed to get in touch with their support. Is it normal, that AirBnB support is behaving like this? I mean I understand that AirBnB has the hosts as their customers, but the traveller/tourist is their customer as well, and actually as a tourist I am the one who is paying for all of this... 

[Ben205]

@Eszter34  I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I'm a host, and a guest at times. The problem here is the review system, and the fear of it. The possibility of getting a negative review weighs heavily on most of us, and it stops hosts and guests having proper conversations.

A quick example. I had a guest stay who left a glowing 5-star review. My review of her was not 5-stars because she left dog sh*t in my courtyard garden. On reading my review she demanded ABB refund her booking fee. When this was refused she asked Airbnb to remove her review from my listing, which they did!

That's how to rewrite history!

Most hosts will tell you (and I think this advice applies to guests using ABB, too) - don't dwell on this experience, move on to your next guests or visit.

[Dee1305]

@Ben205 I would have alerted them personally and stayed in my car being I am sick from mold.

This is absolutely disgusting toxic and unacceptable. I left my condo I was renting last year due to being chronically ill from black toxic mold and I just checked out of an Asheville super host Airbnb “off the beaten path” , it’s called. , due to it being completely mold filled. I was dizzy sweating woke with hives felt feverish was freezing for hours woke in middle of night , I then inspecting took a bunch of pictures and air b b still charged me for the night service fee and cleaning fee. Cleaning fee lol I left it spotless and place needs a bull doze. 

i too Arrived late at night And left as soon as I could. The told host I was extra sensitive to mold but of course she said there was none there. And the mold in that place has you postedlooks nothing like this mine did. That is in your face the and the place I was at was all over the windowsills, the window locks lamp shades  and all covered up by paint and cheap vinyl flooring everybody loves to use (which is mold candy)  you can tell the whole place is full of moldy insulation. It too Has 5 stars!? Because it’s cheaper I guess. And the property and property are nice older folk.
Really unfortunate considering I know how catastrophic repetitive exposure to mold is to somebody’s health because I live this nightmare as a single mom with my young  daughter.  
more unfortunate how Airbnb doesn’t take care of anybody and allows this to go on. I won’t be using them anymore. I am done. Too many flippers buying and renting mold holes. It’s disguising and better off with a micro camper or bigger if can afford. Bless the business.