Is it the regular practice? Bait and switch?

[Gil1952]

I rented, well I was thinking I was renting the entire house as it was mentioned: "You’ll have the chalet to yourself". The description was nice and met my needs. However, at the bottom of the page, there is a section "during your stay", which is next to the footer. In that section that is partially hidden, was added that there are parents of the owner who will be staying in the basement of the house.

I didn't see that until my wife mentioned it to me. So I reached out to the owner and asked what is going on? The response was, that indeed there will be another couple staying in the house as well.  At this point, I mentioned that "You’ll have the chalet to yourself". This however didn't make any difference to the owner, and I was told to read more carefully next time.

Airbnb support was on the side of the owner as he generates them revenue, not me. I was told that a separate entrance is considered an entire home. Apparently in eyes of Airbnb homes and basements are not part of the same structure.  The basement can divorce the rest of the house at any time and be on its way to Florida.

The refund for this property was only 50%. So my question is what should I have done? Is it fair practices of Airbnb to support incomplete and misleading listings? By helping them, after all, they help themself, but the reputation in my eyes is gone. I am a comedian, so I take it with a rub of salt, but regardless it is in my opinion an organization that supports such behavior, only lasts so long. What do you think? What would you have done? Have you had similar issues?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Gil1952 we host 3 'entire homes' all of which are within the same building (a 1750s rectory with 1850 extension) as our house. This has never caused an issue as we call them apartments. If you could include the link to the booking you made it would be interesting to see how it is described.

[Linda108]

Hello @Gil1952 .  I see that you are new to this platform and have been caught in the situation where inattention to detail has caused you concern about the listing.  If you are in a self contained space with its own private entrance and do not share space with the hosts or other guests, you do have the space to yourself.  That others are next to you or above or below you, does not negate your privacy.  It not does, however,  fit with your expectations.  You believe your expectations are accurate given the description you read, but both the host and Air BNB can point to information on this listing that was missed by you. 

You can cancel your reservation and perhaps the host will authorize a full refund if the days you cancelled can be rebooked, but you will not be refunded the Air BNB fees.  Or, you can just continue with your reservation and enjoy the space as you imagined.  You can reflect your disappointment in your review, but I wonder if you are willing to see your contribution to the misunderstanding rather than punishing a host.  Just a thought...

[Sarah977]

@Gil1952  It is not misleading to list as an entire place if guests don't share space with anyone else and have a private  entrance. You just didn't know that.

As far as the wording being "hidden", it isn't- it is the guest's responsibility to read everything  the host has written in the listing information. Yes, you have to scroll down to see it all and click on where it says "Read more".

There is nothing here that qualifies as "bait and switch".

I'm not sure why it would matter to you that there are people in a completely separate basement unit, who you may likely never see, or at least no more often than you would see the neighbors in passing, unless you were planning to have more guests than booked for, sneak in a pet, or throw a party.

[Lisa723]

I would call this place an "entire apartment" rather than an "entire chalet" because people don't read carefully. Unfortunately Airbnb doesn't really have a good category for the main part of a house.

(@Tracy792 - fwiw)

[Huma0]

It is the guest's responsibility to read and understand all parts of the description before booking but Airbnb doesn't make it easy for them, so I can see how these misunderstandings happen.

That is why I ask all guests to confirm with the that they have read EVERYTHING. I point out that they need to click on all the links and tabs to see it all and include a question in my house rules that they need to answer so I know they have read the full version.

We shouldn't really need to do this and it can come across as a bit over the top to some guests, but I will not accept a booking (or honour an IB) if they don't do this.

[Mark116]

@Gil1952 It isn't a bait and switch when it is disclosed in the listing that the 'house' includes separate/private areas.  If you didn't read the listing and missed this, that is your mistake.

I would agree that there should be a better way to describe listings that are fully enclosed private parts of houses where the main structure itself includes other domiciles.  I would probably make the title something more like 'private apartment/wing in chalet' to make it a little clearer.  But as long as the facts were disclosed in the listing, the onus is on you, the buyer, to know what you're buying.

[Lisa723]

@Gil1952 @Huma0 @Sarah977 @Linda108 @Mark116 

Hosts don't control the title I think the OP (and the recent poster from the host's point of view on the same issue) refers to. Airbnb generates it from the property type, e.g.

So if the property type is "chalet" and the listing type is "entire place" then it's going to say "Entire home/You'll have the chalet to yourself."

(I have noticed that you can now add how many floors does the building have and which floor is the listing on.)

[Huma0]

@Lisa723 

Oh dear. Well, they make it too complicated then for hosts who have this type of listing.

My listings are very clearly private rooms in a shared house, with shared communal facilities such as kitchen, bathrooms etc. Most guests do get this, but it's kind of astonishing how many don't.

Just the other day, I had an enquiry asking about the en suite. There is no en suite. The listing states that the bathrooms are shared.

Maybe it's the guests just not reading all the info (quite common) but, for me, there are some things that are very important that I would like to appear on the homepage. Yet, in many cases, there is no way to choose to highlight these, so you have to remind guests to read EVERYTHING and a lot of them simply don't want to do that.

[Laura2592]

@Gil1952 read the whole listing. ALWAYS. Even the partially hidden stuff. 

Hosts are not responsible for ABB website design. We only have so many choices on how to describe our space. We only have so many house rules that are front facing and at the very bottom of the page where guests don't always scroll. You have to expand them to see them in full. Many hosts will hide an Easter egg in their listing to make sure that you read everything before booking. 

No host wants to provide a bad experience. No guest wants to go in thinking they are getting a full, remote location only to realize that they have another couple staying in the same space. The only way around this (until ABB hires better graphic designers to work on their web content) is to read everything. And then do it again. And again. And then press the "booking" button. 

[Gil1952]

Thank you all for responding to my post. It seems that the majority of you are hosts, therefore protecting the flock. It is understandable but disappointing. Those who for example buy tickets to concerts don't know for sure if the event will be fun. They hope it will be. Here, on the other hand, is a full description that should clarify and provide all the details. Some of these details when spread in parts of the listing that are not being read or hidden for the eyes of the reader, make this a bit more intentional.  I joke a lot about corporate behavior, and the way that corporations take advantage of us, the regular people. I guess every dog has its day. And now the joke is on me. Hey, but to be fair, next time you create a listing think about us the regular folk, who might not read the whole shpiel. We on the other hand might be renting from you more often. Leaving your home with sorrow and a wishing to come back soon. All the best folks.  

[Sarah977]

@Gil1952  I think you missed what hosts were telling you. No one was "protecting the flock". 

Hosts have no input into the format of how the listings are presented. Hosts have complained to Airbnb about hiding house rules at the bottom of the page where many guests don't scroll down all the way to. We have complained about guests having to click on "Read more",  which they often neglect to do. And Airbnb inserts the wording, "You'll have the entire chalet to yourself", not the host.

Hosts spend a lot of time writing up their listing information to make things as clear as possible. It's of zero advantage to hosts to try to hide information- the harder it is for guests to easily see the important info, the worse it is for hosts- it leads to misunderstanding  and guests arriving not being aware of what they booked or the house rules and being upset or demanding a refund.

So if you have complaints about "hidden" info, you should address that to Airbnb itself, because it's their graphic designers and programmers who are responsible for that, not hosts.

The same goes for complaints about what should be considered an "entire place". Airbnb only provides a limited number of descriptors for hosts to choose from and explains what each one means. They indicate that if a place has a private entrance and no shared spaces, it should be listed as an entire place. Hosts didn't make that up, Airbnb did.

All a host can do is try to clarify the living situation in the description they write. Which the hosts whose listing you booked did. But we have no way of forcing a guest to thoroughly read through everything. That's up to you.

[Gil1952]

@Sarah977 you might not have control over the presentation but you do have control of the content. If you are honest about your property, you will include major details such as "you only get part of the house" in the about section. You do put details about how beautiful the house is, close to the lake, shops. Why not include this particular nuance? This is an obvious reflection on the personal self, nothing else. Sorry if I am being captain obvious. 

[Laura2592]

@Gil1952 apparently your wife caught the details about the house. So it wasn't that difficult to find....

There is never a reason not to read all the info on what you are purchasing. Perhaps it takes a few minutes longer to do so. But looking back, wouldn't you rather have put in a few extra minutes than lost the money? 

Your criticisms of the website design are well founded. I would mention them to Airbnb Corporate. Hosts DO put a TON of content in their listings. The major headers and categories are something we can't control and honestly don't really like. But you have said yourself you didn't read/won't read. So how can we make the content perfect for someone who won't read it or won't fully expand the sections to see what it is? 

Sorry this happened to you. Take it as a lesson learned and move on. 

[Sarah977]

@Gil1952  Many guests don't even read what is front and center. My listing title includes the phrase "for solo travelers" and right under that it says 'private room' and right under that it says '1 guest, 1 bed.'

None of that is even slightly hidden. Yet I get guests sending Inquiries or Requests that say, "My girlfriend and I...", then 15 minutes later another message saying, "Oh, my girlfriend just noticed that you only accept 1 guest".

So even though that info is the first thing  there for guests to read, not hidden behind "Read more", not buried at the  bottom of the page, they don't.

How do you suggest hosts deal with that?