"Plus" host refused to provide cleaning materials & expect me to wait 8 hours for a repair

[Netta5]

I'm using Airbnb nonstop and I love it. Recently I encounter an uncomfortable experience and I would like to hear your opinion please. Just to note, it's Airbnb plus and I assumed it should be better, but I was wrong. Unfortunately, I booked this place for one month so I can't leave 😞

I arrived at the Airbnb, there were some dysfunctions, I took pictures of them but I thought that I can handle with them, just for the worst-case scenario, and told the host about some of them.

On the first night, I planned to use the dishwasher after I cooked and I noticed that the door cannot be closed because there's an accumulation of calcium beneath (I guess because of the time of the quarantine there were no guests here). In the morning after I send a message to the host, he responded after 6 hours that he'll invite a repairman for the day after that will come between 10:00-14:00. 

I was uncomfortable with that because the host itself told me he didn't come to welcome me because of the COVID-9 issues, and anyway all the time he sent his friend to check things because he's not in the city (So he lied apparently).

On the day after I ruined my plans for the morning and I was waiting. At 13:00 while I was waiting he wrote to me that the repairman canceled so he wants to invite him for the day after in the afternoon (also with a time-frame of 4 hours). He told me that I don't have to be in the apartment but I told him that I don't feel comfortable with that because I want to make sure that his friend and the repairman are using masks and also there's no place here to lock my stuff so I'm a bit concern. 

Anyway, the host wasn't nice at all, he all the time repeated that it's not his fault and when he sent me the message at 13:00 he wrote me "at least you were waiting only 3 hours, and not 4" like he has no respect to my time at all. All the time I tried to contact Airbnb and they replayed after 2 days and were not responsive and feel like they don't care at all. But I wanted to have a dishwasher so I wanted to give it another chance maybe, but then I realized that there is not even one cleaning material in the apartment and thought that of course there's a chance that the repairman or his friend would like to use the toilet and it won't be humane not to let them. So I asked the "Plus" host and he told me that "honestly" he gave me a monthly discount so he doesn't think he should provide me any cleaning materials. I tried to explain to him that it's also for his good to maintain the apartment but he refused. Besides, he sent me a message and wrote that he thinks that it was a "mystery" what happened to the dishwasher because the cleaning team told him they cleaned it but luckily I had a pic I took 1.5 hours after I arrived showed clearly that the door of the dishwasher is open and that there's an accumulation of salt beneath. 

In all my last Airbnbs there were cleaning materials even if it was not written in the amenities. I was surprised that he refused to provide me and more surprised that Airbnb told me that he shouldn't provide me because it wasn't written in the amenities. I saw articles of Airbnb where they wrote clearly that the host should provide cleaning materials because of the COVID-9 situation.

In the meanwhile, I wash the dishes by hand and count my days until check out 😞

I'm doing all I can to be a polite & clean guest, the only reason I want cleaning materials is that I care for the place I stay in and I want to keep it nice & clean.

I'm very disappointed with Airbnb that they don't try to help to find another place. The behavior of the host makes me feel uncomfortable staying here. I understand that people can have financial problems but I don't think that I ask something that isn't basic. I really want to leave 😞

Thanks,

Netta

[Sarah977]

@Netta5  "I don't think that telling your host that something is broken or missing is called "complaining".

No, it isn't, and no one on this thread said anything of the sort. Airbnb guests are supposed to notify the host if something is broken or missing. 

What was complaining was that after the host arranged to have a repairman come, you complained about the 4 hour window during which the repairman might show up and complained again when he couldn't show up that day.

Homeowners do not have control over exactly when a tradesperson will arrive. It would be extremely unusual for a plumber or electrician to say "I'll be there at 2:30". Why? Because when a plumber shows up because someone has called about their plumbing being plugged up, there is no way of that plumber knowing, before he arrives, what is causing the problem, and whether it will be a job that takes 15 minutes, or 3 hours. It isn't an oil change on your car, which the mechanic knows exactly how long that takes.

So a plumber will usually say he'll come in the morning sometime before noon, or in the afternoon. And he might not even call when he can tell he's going to be late, because he's down in the basement with his arms up a pipe trying to unblock the clog.

If you notify a host about something that's not working correctly,  and the host igores it, then you have a legitimate complaint. If the host arranges to have it fixed, and communicates to you when he was told the tradesperson can come, then you, as a guest, have to be amenable to accommodating that. If you aren't willing to, then you should cancel the rest of your stay and leave.

If you notify a host about something you think should be provided, but wasn't stated that it was provided, the host may agree to provide that. If he doesn't, you have no cause for complaint- you can't expect something that wasn't promised when you booked. 

Yes, the host appears to have had an unnecessarily rude manner, but there is nothing regarding the host's actions in arranging for the repair, or not providing the cleaning supplies you wanted which can be considered bad hosting or cause for complaint.

[Netta5]

Hey @Sarah977 , first of all, I didn't share with him that is was wrong for me to wait.

I just share here and ask for your opinion that he should feel a bit bad because he didn't check things before I came and to feel uncomfortable when the repairman cancels, even that technically isn't his fault. That's what I would feel. 

I didn't talk with him a lot, because every time he replayed time he was really not empathic so I just talk to the point and that's it. I "talked more", or trying to write messages to Airbnb help center which until now even didn't replay. I think that @Huma0  and @Ann72  understood me the best, I'm not blaming the host and I feel sorry if he's in a bad financial situation, I'm blaming Airbnb for letting me think that if I choose "Airbnb PLUS" it'll be nearly perfect or at least should provide me basic amenties

I didn't get this apartment for free and even if there's some discount because I'm renting this place for one month that shouldn't change nothing unless I would be notify before and maybe it would change my decision for booking somewhere else.

[Netta5]

@Sarah977 But thanks for your messages! I appreciate the fact that you are helpful and explain to me. 💜

I understand that technicians do not always arrive on time and can cancel, my problem is with Airbnb not with the host.

[Sarah977]

@Netta5  Okay, I get it. It's actually one of the problems with Airbnb- what they lead hosts and guests to believe is not necessarily the reality. Or they state things in such a way that most people would interpret it to mean XX, when they haven't really said, in unequivocal language, that that is the case.

For instance, in those guidelines for Plus that you screen shot on the first page, after stating what guests most want, it says "Consider stocking up on....." So you assumed that this was what you could expect. And I think most hosts would take that as advice they should follow. But it doesn't say "You must provide".  It's important, when dealing with Airbnb, and hosts, (and this holds true for hosts, as well, when they are dealing with Airbnb) to be careful not to interpret or assume. Only what is stated absolutely can be counted on, or give reason to object if it's not. When in doubt, ask. 

[Netta5]

@Sarah977 Exactly. Like that for for you & me cleaning materials seem like something necessary and for other hosts it doesnt and they assume I'm rude even to ask it, just I need to by my own and to carry with me sponges and toilet liquid in my small suitcase.

For me amenity for everyday life, more important than TV or microwave is cleaning materials. I just feel that Airbnb should talk to me and explain me the things I hear in this forum.

[Sarah977]

@Netta5  Okay, so look at that first little picture and the text under it. "Always fully equipped. Count on verified amenities like...." 

So really, they are making you think you'll be fully supplied, when the most important wording there is actually ·"verified amenities". So that means that you have to find out exactly what amenities are offered by the host, or required by Airbnb, because they don't really specify there, they simply give you the impression that all of what you or I consider to be essential will be found there, which may not be the case.

Want to know what you can really count on with Airbnb? Very clever marketing spinners.

[Netta5]

@Sarah977 Can I ask you please as a host, do you have an option in your listing to present that you provide "cleaning goods"? I never notice it and as I wrote there wasn't even one Airbnb I stayed without cleaning goods. 

[Ann72]

@Netta5  I checked under "amenities" and cleaning supplies isn't one of the choices.

I never noticed it before.  I imagine that, because Airbnb started as a homesharing option, there was an assumption that most households have cleaning supplies.  If they don't, I'm guessing it's because they hire cleaning services that bring their own.

In future, one thing to look for in searching for an Airbnb is the number below the stars.  Anything below a 4.8 (which will still show as 5 stars) means the host doesn't qualify to be a Superhost.  I think this is important for the consumer/traveler to know, because we might buy something online with a perfectly acceptable 4.6 rating based on customer reviews.  But we hosts know that more than one guest has had problems with a place when we see a 4.7.  And that several guests had serious problems when we see a 4.2.  Guests don't always mention the problems in the reviews, so the number is important.

[Debra300]

@Ann72,

I would add the caveat that the number of reviews should be considered when looking at star ratings.  One low rating for a listing with a small number of reviews can tank the overall rating.  In these situations, I recommend that the prospective guest read the comments of other reviews, and even look at the profile and reviews left for the Negative Nicky to see if that guest is an experienced Airbnb user and what hosts have said their experiences with the person.

[Netta5]

@Ann72 Thank you so much Ann 💜

I used to have a lot of luck with my Airbnbs in the past and I guess that these kind of hosts with "different prespective" can happen too because Airbnb doesn't have any regulation compare to hotels for example. I thought about it and it's like that if I'm using booking to book an hotel and there's a problem I'll ask the hotel for help but in Airbnb I'll ask the website itself.

There's a lot of uncertainty and I thought that Airbnb will answer me. You know I was talking with some agent on the phone after I called them 2 days after I arrived and it's like they're gone. I mean they were into my case but then just left it and I keep sending messages and no one answer. I'm sure my case isn't the end of the world, even though the host is really a person I would never like to stay in his apartment or to contact with him. Maybe @Helen350  thinks that I'm "whingey whiner" but it's just because it's easy to read things on the internet and think it's nothing but she doesn't understand that I'm a girl traveling alone and I need to deal with such a horrible host. Every message is sending me is really like he's trying to make me feel uncomfortable on purpose.

I think Airbnb are really irrisponsible not to write it as one of the ameniteis, I would never think that sombody would be happy that I will live in his place without cleaning it for a month but I guess I was wrong 😞

[Helen350]

Not always the case tho' @Ann72 . Many guests think 4* is a good rating, especially in 'budget' listings. I've had 5* in ALL individual categories, but only 4* or even 3* overall.... People don't know that in Airbnbland 5* means 'satisfactory, as described' , & may think 5* is only to be given to high end luxury listings! It can be a lottery!

Bizarre-rating-of-the-century award goes to my guest who admitted the only reason he gave me 4* was the marring of the experience caused by the news that his brand new house (also an Airbnb) had been burgled whilst at mine! - Like I was responsible for that??!!

[Anonymous]

@Ann72  @Debra300  Additional caveat:  the star rating that determines Superhost eligibility is only the average of the past 12 months. Whereas the star rating displayed on the listing is cumulative to all the years the listing has been active. 

When choosing a place as a guest, I put far more weight on the text of the most recent reviews than the star ratings and the years-old reviews. I'd rather pick a lower-rated listing that shows signs that the host has been receptive to feedback and continually improved, than a highly-rated one that's recently fallen into decline or disrepair. 

I would also say to @Netta5  that if you're someone who values having an attentive and friendly host, pay careful attention to the direct mentions of the host's name. Some guests genuinely prefer hands-off hosts who leave them alone, so their reviews will usually focus on the building and location. But when people get memorably good hospitality, they tend to mention the host (or co-host) by name in the first sentence or two.

[Debra300]

@Anonymous,

Agreed.  The recency and the trajectory of the reviews are important facts to consider will selecting an Airbnb for a stay.

[Helen350]

@Netta5 One of my guests complained (& tanked my ratings) because I DID have cleaning supplies in my (shared) bathroom!

- Deliberately left on show so guests could clean their own mess before the next guest!

- Obviously the sight of this offended him!

 - We can't win!

[Netta5]

@Helen350 @I almost forgive you calling me a whingey whiner 😄  it's up to you, what would you prefer, a neat guest whose eager to clean her/his own mess or a guest who's Mama used to clean after him and looks at his host as if she/he was his Mama? And that can cause also other things like conflict with other guests and not following the house rules as well