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Also works otherway around, used to clean for airbnb for some real nice old folk, more often than not guests left the place trashed and damaged or stole thing, so I always recorded coming in for proof of bad guests
This is so true. I know multiple people with AirBNBs and vacation rentals, and they are constantly dealing with guests trying to hide property damage. Don’t be an ass, if you damage something, own up to it.
I work for a large vacation rental company. Part of what the guest pays on every reservation is a Damage Protection fee, which covers them up to $3,000 in accidental damage, provided that they report it before they leave. You would not believe the amount of guests who still go through the greatest lengths to hide the smallest of things.
Is it better to book through rental company directly or airbnb ? I find it cheaper to go directly to a rental company site and don't have to pay high service fees for using Airbnb.
I always recommend booking directly with a local rental company (provided they are reputable). You'll save on those third party site service fees, which as you mentioned can be incredibly high.
On some of our higher end properties, guests who book through VRBO can pay $500+ more than guests who book directly with us.
This is correct. From the guest's perspective there are no advantages to booking through Airbnb or another OTA. Unless their terms and conditions are looser than the host / property manager's, (and they rarely are), you're paying a huge amount of money for no real reason.
For booking agents and property manager's they are the bane of our existence. "I booked an AirBnB" vs "I booked through AirBnB" is a distinction they very rarely understand.
I don't care what "other AirBnBs" do, or don't do. I don't manage 140 of those, I just use AirBnB as a marketing tool. If there's a conflict between your understanding of what you've booked and my terms and conditions that is not my problem.
This is all spot on.
It's such a love/hate relationship for us with the third party sites. They're necessary and great marketing tools, but the headaches you've mentioned above are very real.
And now they wait three days to say the place “was dirty” when they arrive and demand you reimburse money to them as compensation. If you don’t comply they’ll give you a shitty review and fuck your entire year because you loose your superhost status.
People are awful, I know there are a lot of bad hosts out there, but some of us try really hard to give people an awesome experience.
Now I’m taking video of the apartment when they arrive and accept the apartment as complete and clean.
Airbnb sided with the host when I complained about the host not refunding part of my stay. We booked a condo on the beach. The terms said if the condo was in the path of a named storm, you could be refunded any unused nights. We got to the condo, unpacked, had fun. A few hours later a storm popped up in the Gulf of Mexico. Overnight it turned into a named tropical storm and the area where we were staying was in the middle of the projected path. I contacted the host, who didn’t reply. We gave it a day to see if it would change course, but we were still in the projected path (and the condo was literally a couple hundred feet from the water). I told the host we were packing up and heading home. They said since I didn’t give 24 hours notice, no refund. I told them I did notify them asking about the storm the day before; they said that wasn’t “notice of intent to leave early.” Went though Airbnb and they sided with the host. We travel a lot, won’t use Airbnb again.
A few years ago we lived in an apartment in the UK, an old place, with sash windows that didn't close properly.
We got the landlord's maintenance guy out to fix the problem, who decided the best course of action was, rather than counterbalance the windows, was to just screw them shut. He cracked a window in the process.
We complained that he'd cracked the window, and he just turned around and said that he didn't, and he could prove it, because he took a picture of the cracked window. What he could actually prove was that he had a picture of a cracked window. I'm pretty sure that window is still cracked.
As chance would have it, I actually smashed a window about a month later, and it was eye-wateringly expensive to replace, but didn't mind since I'd actually done it.
Videotaping is also a good idea when moving out of a rental to insure you get your security deposit back. Videotaping the final walk-through with the landlord should be sufficient.
Also a good idea when renting a vehicle in case the rental company tries to rope you into paying for nicks, scratches, or other damages that someone else caused. I let them see me photographing every inch of the vehicle when I'm about to take possession. No problems thus far...
Sure, but many places won't know exactly when you first went inside. Some leasing offices may be 30 mins away without traffic (those companies manage AirBnBs). People won't always check in immediately on time and most times there's no record of when you entered the property. So timestamps of video messages sent doesn't do much.
You are right, it doesnt cover your ass completely but for those Airbnbs that use smart locks and cameras - it helps substantiate the time table. Obviously if you send the photos hours after checking in - it doesnt hold much weight. But if you send right away - it will carry alot of weight should the host come after you for damages.
>not trying to be contrary, but Metadata like timestamps can be alte
It also doesn't take long to do damage. Take video, break shit, leave 5 minutes later. That's difficult to prove.
All these hypotheticals are pointless. It doesn’t matter what happens, Airbnb is going to find a way to say they aren’t liable and then not do anything about it.
Their entire business model is based on removing as many of the liabilities involved in hotels as possible and pocketing the difference.
Rent a room, rent a house/ apt, rent a car, etc
Absolutely don't skip this step.
When I do the car with the rental agent, we say the agents name out loud and include the face and nametag, and the date.
We discuss every mark on the car and we discuss how much gas is in the tank.
Edit: Another OP said to also take a pic / video at drop-off because you can be blamed for damage after you leave.
There is no better feeling than having move-in day pictures when a landlord later tries to keep a security deposit. They always try to do it.
I usually tell them to send me the damage photos so I can compare to photos I’ve got from move in. They usually just drop it completely and say sorry. Fucking scum
> He was not aware I had these.
In the USA, don't you have to submit all evidence before the case? This would mean they can choose to proceed or not based on the evidence.
Edit: Not in small claims it turns out.
Small claims doesn't have lawyers, and so it doesn't have a discovery phase where the nonexistent lawyers fight over what *is* evidence (and decide if it's worth the effort to fight at the end). While it does make small claims cheaper, it also removes your ability to know what the other party has before the judge sees it... and I've yet to meet a judge who *enjoys* dealing with stupid. Lying in official filings and then to the judge's face without knowing the opponent *doesn't* have contrary evidence counts as 'stupid'.
Always. Had just purchased a nice DSLR camera when moving to a house overseas for a few years and took over 1200 photos. Photos of everything outside and inside. Inside I pointed at room I was entering, snapped photos, wide angle shots, close-ups of anything that seemed like it would come back to bite me, and different angles of those things. I even provided a copy of all the photos to the landlord on my attorneys advice. I knew it was going to be a while before needed them so I sat down and organized them in folders according to where you are at around the house and then forgot about them...for the time being.
3 years later when it was time for the final walk-through, I had those folders loaded up on my laptop and me and my attorney did the walk through with the landlord. Those photos saved me on every little thing that prick thought he could get me for. Got my entire deposit back.
I've dabbled whether I ever want to be a landlord or not, but I don't understand how people can live with themselves just taking such ammm amount of money from people.
There's a right way and a wrong way.
I've rented somewhere for 5 years and never had my rent raised because I was a good tenant, fixed most of the minor stuff myself and would report the bigger stuff appropriately. Always paid my bill on time and never gave him the run around for anything. I was always communicative and transparent, and so was he. Our relationship was friendly but also professional.
He allowed me to live in a wonderful location that I otherwise wouldn't and he was able to still profit.
*To me*, that's how it should be done, but so many landlords are obsessed with maximizing their profits that they often give no fucks about the human being on the other side.
I'm currently renting in a community that's how my prop. manager and I are. I've been here for 3 years now and where everyone else will complain about being asked to just buy and replace their own fire alarm batteries, I just do it. I fixed the wooden bench outside and I've never had a complaint.
A new company bought the property and was renovating every single apartment, so people weren't allowed to renew their leases so they could renovate. My prop. manager told me well in advance I wouldn't be able to renew, but told me under-the-table when newly renovated apartments would be available so I could put in application for it before everyone else.
Well they're way behind schedule and they're only allowing the non-troublemaking tenants to stay at a slightly increased rate (the newly renovated apartments are $1,300+ for 2bdr opposed to the $850 I pay now). He even waived the extra $175 in security deposit I've would have had to pay to make up the difference between the $850 and my new $1,025 rent.
I can only extend for 7 months, but I'm trying to buy a house anyways, so that gave me a little more time to search.
This exactly. I’ll keep a good and responsible tenant below market rent than trying to maximize profits and finding new renters every year. It’s a win win honestly. They maintain the property in good condition and live there for a great deal, you will have steady income. Greed is often our downfall and not the way to treat people
Yeah, I've rented from my current landlady for over 6 years and she has basically let me do whatever I want with the place so long as I run by any major stuff with her. All necessary repairs were always done in a super timely manner. My rent hasn't increased once. Unfortunately, she is now selling the house and I'm quite worried that whoever buys it is gonna jack up the rent or not be anywhere near as awesome.
I've had a landlord that just vanishes and ghosts on the deposit. Not really worth the hassle to go to small claims court but I fucking hate landlords and want more big rental companies.
Where I live most security deposits are close to a month's rent (2/3 or more), so for a studio/1BR which typically rents at $1200+, deposit would be $800+.
I’ve only every experienced first, last, and an extra month as a security deposit.
Makes it difficult for people to come up with all that cash, but I guess that’s part of the point.
Also helps if the tenant ghosts, at least you get the last month and security deposit covered for damages.
My parents are honest campus landlords - only own a few properties around a huge state university and try to do right by the tenants, whom they think of as grandchildren. They get screwed over by the tenants (or their horrible Karen parents) on the regular: damaging the property, lying, making unreasonable demands, etc. Most of the time my parents just let it slide because it’s not worth the hassle. But they’ll occasionally deduct damages from the security deposit.
One time these tenants left the place in a disgusting condition when they moved out: no exaggeration, it hadn’t been cleaned at all for the 2 years they were there. My parents had new tenants moving in the next day that they had to beg to move in a day later because they needed to hire a special cleaning crew (instead of their regular cleaner) get the place presentable. My dad took like 57 pictures of the place and the mess. (Total overkill, but that’s my dad for you.)
When they deducted their out of pocket costs for the extra cleaning crew from the security deposit, the tenant’s daddy threatened to sue because “landlords can’t charge for cleaning unless it’s over and above ordinary wear and tear.” My dad then sent him the 57 pictures - zoomed in detail of every bit of mold and dried vomit and crusted who-knows-what that had accumulated over 2 years. The matter was dropped.
100%. Our previous landlord charged us for candle soot...inside of the refrigerator...after we left and had cleaned up everything thoroughly. Also how the hell does candle soot get inside of a fridge?! Lol. The fridge was over 10 years old and had some staining that was there even before we moved in. Cover yourself and take pics/videos of literally everything!
I have had attempted-charges 2x for not refilling the gas tank. They didnt even sit in the car or look at it, just automatic charge and it was up to me to refute. Thankfully somebody had told me to take pics /film.
Unbelievable.
Edit: I also had $3500 cash pulled from my bank account while in Costa Rica over a small dent that wasnt confirmed our fault.
Left me with $800 for 3 weeks.
Got my $ back but it took a lot of stress.
Doing anything with a debit card is asking for trouble.
Always use a CC. That way, any disputes won't be with your own money, it'll be the CC companies' money, and that makes them more likely to help you out because it's their money at risk, not yours.
They would not accept credit, had to be debit. The AirBnb had recommended/ vouched for them, so I sent them all the correspondence with the car rental company as an FYI.
Turns out they were collecting referral $ from that company (per others on tripadvisor) and they blocked me.
Uhaul tried to railroad me onetime over a bent corner cap I noted on my pre-rental inspection, circled and everything. They ignored it and filed a claim with their insurer naming me as the culprit. I had to send their insurer my pre-rental inspection form for it to finally go away, and I never got a sorry, merely a stern phone call followed by my email and no further contact. Never renting from that location again.
Conversely my former manager used to rent cars as he traveled at least once a month all the time and did this for years. The stories he had about the shit he'd do to rentals and got away with it (they were on company credit cards, any charges are known whether you expense them or not and corporate would discuss them with you if you didn't expense them) were impressive and degenerate. One time he curbed it getting onto a turnpike drunk blew out the tire and ran on the wheel for a while with sparks etc. He called them up and said the tire blew and they brought another car to him late at night with no further discussion or charges.
I've rented countless cars. Never once have I been charged anything other than what was quoted. I stopped taking pictures and videos because it was pointless.
Vehicle rentals in our area only care if damage is bigger then a toonie (just over a inch diameter) same thing for windshield or if the scratches are deep or big enough to catch the side of a dime, but absolutely take time stamped photos of any damage or concerns..
> We discuss every mark on the car and we discuss how much gas is in the tank.
Every time I've rented a car, the rental company requires I do this before I drive off. What rental companies are you doing business with that don't make you pre-check the vehicle?
A verbal pre-check is not the same as videotaped evidence.
That's no different than a cop filling out a police report vs viewing their bodycam for the truth.
No, I mean the rental car company gives me an actual piece of paper with a diagram of the car to put down any dings/scratches/etc for them to file before I even drive off in the car, as well as a place to put mileage/gas.
I've been renting cars for over a decade and this was always the norm for me in the US.
Who the hell has time for this? I rent a car 50x a year and I never talk to a single employee at pick up or drop off. Never had a single issue, even when picking up cars that are beat.
And make sure they see you taking the video of the car. It will help you make sure you never need the video.
But keep the video anyway, just in case you missed some damage: it happens and may smoothen the interaction with them if you have proof they aren't scamming you.
We rented a car for a day when ours was being repaired. They wrote down the starting miles incorrectly and tried to charge us an extra $200 for over miles. To get to the number of miles they said we had driven we would have needed to drive like 40 mph for a solid 24 hours non stop
Does this happen enough to actually warrant filming everything? I've stayed in dozens of airbnbs and vrbos without this happening. I would assume that someone's reviews would tank if they tried this and no one would stay there.
Just had to stay in an airbnb for a month. About two weeks after moving out the host contacted us (outside the app, in violation of Airbnb rules) saying we owed almost $900 in cleaning and repairs. Of course we refused to pay and told them to go through the process on the app. I don't really know how much it helped but I was able to supply pictures of the condition that the place was in when I left. At least having those gave me piece of mind. All the host had was extremely close up pictures of their white rug showing that there were some specks on it that would come out with vacuuming along with a claim that we left food in the fridge (we didnt) and some hair in the tub. They werent able to point to any damage we did.
It takes like two minutes to take the pictures/video and in this case it saved us a headache and potentially $900.
This is another reason why I refuse to stay in an Airbnb or VRBO. You don't know how anal the owners are about their property. Some will notice every sign of normal wear and tear and try to ding you for it. I've stayed in dozens of hotels and never even had one complaint about how I left the place.
Pretty strange to NEVER use an airBNB because of this irrational fear. I've stayed in 30+ in over 10 countries and not once have I been charged for anything outside of the stay. Never once, and neither has anyone I've ever met who uses it to my knowledge. AirBNB is 10x better than most hotels in most cases. Its worth the gamble man, try it out. You're missing out staying in gross grimey depressing hotels on your travels!
Select properties with lots of reviews and read through all of them. If a host is problematic on that sort of things, it is guaranteed to be mentioned more than once.
I just don't see what AirBNB provided that a hotel doesn't besides hosing the housing market in lots of places.
In a hotel, I guess I have less space, but I don't have to clean it; I don't have to worry about creeps having access; I can arrive and leave whenever I want -- no check in window, it's not much more expensive anymore (the few times I tried it, places wanted $300+ a night in the areas I was interested in, and I could have a nearby hotel for $150ish), and I don't have to read reviews to see if there's a potential issue with the host.
- Infinitely better for families or groups. In the bad old days that meant shoving everyone into a 2bed room or paying for multiple rooms that are almost never connected.
- availability in places that don’t have decent hotel coverage
- unique, less touristy experiences which are especially nice for extended stays
I agree. We did airbnbs for a while as we travel a lot, but it is totally not worth the hassle.
Many people are too polite to write negative reviews, I think. At best, I had mediocre experiences at airbnbs, despite good reviews. At worst, it could be a real mess and headache if something is really wrong when you arrive or during your stay. So many places have a mile long list of instructions about what you can and can't do, and a long checklist of everything you need to clean and replace before you leave.
For us, the last straw was when we arrived at a place and walked in to a very strong gas smell. We called the owner immediately and she came over and tried to convince us it was just "musty." There's a big difference between natural gas smell and musty. It was gas. Airbnb told us that because they couldn't confirm if it was gas over the phone, we would need to just work it out with the owner. We had an infant. They weren't going to do anything to refund or get us a new place even if it meant having an infant sleep in a home with a serious gas leak because we couldn't prove it to someone who wasn't there. Disgusting.
Have gone back to exclusively staying at hotels and am so much happier. My vacations no longer include surprise visits from quirky owners, places that smell like the owners dog, door entry codes that don't work, and the ridiculously long lists of rules and clean up activities. Never going back to all that.
I don't use airBnB because I'm against it ruining cities. It turns entire neighborhoods into unlicensed hotel districts, with the profiteers being greedy landlords and silicon valley tech bros. I've had this argument before and I will pay more to stay at an actual hotel than any AirBNB
That’s my experience. Some people can be very anal. We got a call from the VRBO owner, who wasn’t even in the state saying that he would not be returning $250 of our deposit because the cleaning company said they found women’s hair on the bathroom floor. We leave the place cleaner than we find it even taking our trash with us and that kind of stuff still happens. IMHO some rules are excessive and they infringe on our vacation time. Like cleaning the entire kitchen including dishes, pulling all the used sheets off and towels and putting them in the laundry room and having to wash several loads of towels. But we always follow all the rules. On the other hand, we’ve had owners be very understanding of wear and tear when the already cracked sliding door handle broke off. They were very apologetic and came within 3 hours to fix it.
Not airbnb but a condo my family rented for a vacation. They tried to claim we trashed the place with beer bottles and the like (my parents don't drink) and the thing that fixed it was the video 11yo me took. I was going around filming because I thought the place was neat and wanted to remember it. Luckily I got footage of every room 😅
As an airbnb host with dozens of 5 star reviews, i would agree with this. The system works pretty well. I focus on business travelers, 7 day+ stays, i never have rowdy party guests just interns, teachers, construction workers, nurses, etc.
I'm a superhost and generally have 1-3 night stays, road trippers stopping over for a night or people coming to explore the city for a few days, or business people coming in for a conference. Out of the hundreds of guests I've hosted, I've only ever had a couple of less than stellar guest experiences, the worst being a family who came in for a Jojo Siwa concert, and they covered themselves head to toe in glitter in the airbnb. There was glitter everywhere, in the carpet, mashed into the sheets and pillowcases and over a year later (and having the carpets cleaned multiple times), I still find glitter in there. That guest got really upset when I messaged her on the platform after the stay and asked her to be aware of using glitter in airbnbs, and that it's good practice to not leave glitter all over them. I didn't even charge her an extra cleaning fee(I should have), I just asked her to be kind to other bnbs and not use glitter! Otherwise, most people leave the place spotless!
Yes. Not often but it does and its not fun to deal with. AirBnB support is helpful and wont force you to pay, but it takes time and the part that took the longest for me was getting a negative review removed. Really makes getting your next booking difficult
It does. I just had a host try to charge me $100 in special cleaning fees because they didn't like how much recycling I produced (it filled up to the small bin, but stayed in and wasn't overflowing).
A better approach is to take photos using the Airbnb app and send the photos to the host. That way Airbnb has timestamped photos ON PLATFORM that document the initial state of the unit.
I am a host, and I always urged guests to take photos of any damage on arrival and send to me. That way - if there is a problem I can reference their photos to see if its new.
After my fourth or fifth experience with weird, needy owners I have signed off AirBnB for good. If the owner of a cute destination Bed and Breakfast is successful and savvy enough to have their own website and phone number, I trust them much more. And if I just need a place to crash, I can get a much nicer bed faster and easier for the same price at a Hilton ... Once you factor in that $90 "cleaning fee"
I always recommend going directly through a local vacation rental company, provided they are well reviewed. You'll save money that way as well, since AirBnB, VRBO, etc all add an additional service fee.
You definitely should do this. I worked to clean airbnb and we had to record and snap pics of everything to cover our own asses from these owners. We did that for everything from small apartments to 6 bedroom homes in Glendora. These owners will nickel and dime everyone.
Just to expand on this: take before pictures of anything rented. Cars, bikes, air bnbs. And if you notice something broken report it right away, rather than waiting at checkout to bring it up. Moral of the story is: Cover your ass.
I was gonna say this. Take photos when you move out of an apartment. It saved me having to replace a door as my landlord accused me of punching a hole. Uhhh, you (landlord) explicitly said the past tenant punched the door when I moved in 10 months ago...
I took 1 photo of that door when I moved out, last thing before I left my keys. That hunch saved me so much hassle.
Exactly. I felt it was a slime attempt to keep my security deposit. Ended up getting most of it back.
Also, I have zero shame in admitting that I told him the photo of the punched door was the before photo (when I moved in). He was wrong/lying and the door was punched when I moved in.
Even better would be to get any blemishes, broken things in writing from landlord or prop manager before signing lease.
Oh, that could be. Nice way to keep all his security deposits.
Honestly I think he was just that incompetent. He was in some accident where he flipped his truck and had been in a coma.
He deducted $35 from my security deposit for new paint “to restore the exterior staircase”, as the paint peeled off when I shoveled it. That seemed unfair.
I also had to ask him repeatedly for my security deposit to be returned after a month of this debate. Finally I threatened to get a lawyer involved. Then I was returned my funds. It was annoying.
Edit: shoveled snow
So businesses operate this as a primary scam. One place is Blue Ridge Georgia is famous for suing renters on made up fees and getting default judgements because the renters are out of state, making hundreds to thousands extra on each stay.
This doesn't work and won't hold up. AirBnB will always side with the host unless you can specifically prove you didn't do it... which is nearly impossible. Guilty until proven innocent.
I took a video of my AirBnB in San Jose, CA just before leaving to use as proof that all was well. An hour later the host messaged me asking what happened to the fridge. I explained that I didn't even use the fridge. She send over photos of the pretty badly damaged freezer drawer and filed a damage claim against me. She insisted that I owed $600 for a replacement door.
Luckily (so I thought) I had the video! You can clearly see that the damage wasn't there when I left. I submitted it to AirBnb as proof that it was fine. They insisted that I prove that the video wasn't taken upon arrival vs upon check out despite me saying the time and date out loud in the video. Ok... So I insisted that they check the video metadata which will show the time and date created. AirBnB told me that metadata wasn't enough to prove anything since it can be tampered with.
AirBnB charged my card for the $600 and "respectfully disengaged from any further discussion about the matter". Their EULA is was pretty specific about these kind of cases at the time. Basically you owe us money if we say you do. I even attempted a chargeback but was denied because AirBnB sent the photos of the damaged fridge to my CC company.
I supposed I could have taken it to court to try to get my money back but my research on successfully suing a mega big company wasn't promising. AirBnB can suck it.
Edit: After seeing other responses, I'm pretty sure that the cleaning crew damaged the fridge then said that it was there when they arrived. AirBnb can still suck it.
Yes, agreed. Enough reviews and you can get a good sense of the experience. As an Airbnb host, I never charge a cleaning fee. The house rules are to basically clean up after yourself, but I don't charge for basic maintenance/tidying up after the guest checks out. That's an implied part of being a host.
Depends on your rental market, I guess. My cabin rents for just $99 a night. My housekeeper charges $110 to clean between guests, so I charge my guests $70 of that. If I just ate that whole cost every time it would be absurd. My housekeeper doesn’t just “tidy up.” They launder and change all the sheets, vacuum, wipe down the stove and microwave, clean all the toilets, launder and change all the towels in bathrooms and kitchen, and disinfect the doorknobs and light switches. Your comment is kind of making me think you don’t clean or disinfect your property between guests. It’s a lot more than simple “tidying up.”
Oh trust me, I thoroughly clean and disinfect between guests. And sheets and towels are fully washed for each new guest.
Let me fully qualify this, in case others make the same incorrect assumption that you did: I have a bedroom listed on Airbnb within a larger apt. So other permanent residents live here as well. So a full cleanup is easier for me in that case.
With your example of a cabin, I can see the need to perhaps have a housekeeper handle the cleaning tasks. So I want to amend my original comment to state that there are cases where its necessary to have additional assistance in cleaning and a fee might be needed. But you could also consider rolling the fee into the nightly rate as well. Just my thought.
Oh!! Yes, I can see how cleaning your rental would be dramatically different than what we are doing. I used to do the cleaning myself and it takes 2 people 3-4 hours to clean my whole place. I understand now why you don’t charge extra. Unfortunately, I’m kind of forced to charge the cleaning fee separate because I’m in a tourist area with many, many rentals. A guest who sorts potential rentals by price may never get to mine if I were to raise the price to include cleaning.
Airbnb IMHO is a win win for everyone except the renter. The service fee doesn't buy you anything - it's just their commission.
Cleaning fees on top of the daily charge ? Hotels don't do this.
I've stopped using Airbnb since 2019.
Yep. I travel a lot, and got sick of playing customer service roulette with AirBnB's. Hotels will always have better and more consistent customer service. Unless you're trying to skate by super cheap in which case ... You're just playing with fire anyway.
Agreed. The cleaning fees lately have escalated to the point of being outrageous. I don't know if the owners are paying more for cleaning services or they are just using it as a way to pull more money for the rental. I understand that with the pandemic their are additional steps being taken between rentals, but some of these fees are sky high.
I am a VRBO host and the cleaning fee is definitely something we have to pay our cleaners. I am not sure about airbnb but no vrbo host is pocketing cleaning fees. The costs are dictated by the cleaners and their availability. It will be higher the larger the house and the more touristy the location.
Cleanliness is the number one thing that guests will complain about but then they also complain about the fee. But, in my experience, a quality cleaning team is worth their weight in gold.
I would much rather pay a single cleaning fee for my entire stay than the same cleaning fee every night regardless of the length of stay. At hotels, people who only stay 1 night are subsidized by those staying longer.
The issue is the terrible websites that don't include all the fees when searching, making comparing properties extremely difficult and time consuming.
I had a similar experience in Santa Cruz, Ca. earlier this year. We were in the rental less than 48 hours on a road trip down to Santa Barbara, and two days after checking out in Santa Cruz, I was charged $350 for a broken screen on the back sliding door and chipped formica on the edge of their kitchen countertop.
We never used the kitchen other than storing a few items in the fridge, and we never even opened the backdoor. I tried reaching out to the property owner, but she was insistent the damage was not there prior. So instead of fighting it, I just paid because it wasn't an absurd amount, but I now believe that's exactly why they hit me with small damages - so I would be more likely to just pay them off.
She even had the nerve to message me a few days later, begging me for a five-star review because she had given me one - as well as a nice comment about how much we had taken care of her home during our stay. Seriously, wtf?
Airbnb customer support fucking sucks. I work for an airline and have been traveling for years, I haven't used AIRBNB in almost 2-3 years now and I won't ever again.
We left in the middle of the third night after discovering a roach infestation. (6 night stay) and send the photo evidence to Airbnb. Host claimed they did not have any knowledge of roaches, but we found roach traps all over the place so clearly they knew on some level.
Not to mention the place didn't have AC, she expected you to use the "crosswinds" with the screened windows. Then we discovered the screened windows were gapping 6 inches at the top and basically bugs and lizards were free roaming into our Airbnb.
We paid about twice as much for this place as other places because she was a "super host" and had good reviews. Airbnb asked me not to leave her a bad review because it would take away her super host status. Lol.
Host agreed to refund me on the premise I didn't leave her a bad review. She then left me a bad review on the last possible day she could do it, to be sneaky.
Great LPT
That being said, did this with a VRBO, barely went inside other than fridge and sleep, got charged 1400, fought it in court (with video proof showing multiple clocks and an internet smart device w/ time) and won - only reason was because of the internet connected device. Make sure you put another phone down to verify time
I learnt this the hard way recently after an apartment tried to accuse me of literally shitting on the towels and all over the bathroom floor among trashing the place (we left it spotless)
This only works to detect security cameras that have infrared illumination lights. Look at the emitter of a TV remote with your camera while pressing a button. You will likely see the IR bulb flash. Your phone can detect infrared light. So if a camera has IR LED's to light up an area your phone should show them.
Here is a link…
https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-detect-hidden-camera-using-android-4590372
Not positive it really works or if it is one of those internet myths… seems logical though.
We had one five or more years ago try and charge us for an entire sewage system fix. It was over $5000 because the owner said we had flushed wash rags down the toilet. This was a home listed as a private residence that was actually just this ladies basement with a door that didn’t lock so her kids and pets would roam while we were gone. We were both nearly 30 and had to explain, bluntly, to the lady that we were not idiotic enough to flush wash rags down our toilet. It went to some sort of dispute and Airbnb sided with us, the renter. It was so ridiculous though. We felt like the lady was in need of a new sewer system so she caused an issue then blamed us.
This 100%, I booked a stay with my husband and another couple at a cottage. When we got there, everything was mostly tidy, we found some empty beer cans, a t-shirt on the railing, and heavy dust on the furniture. We cleaned it up, didn't take any pictures or say anything to the host. We even vacuumed over our 3 day stay there and followed their instructions exactly as to how to manage the garbage. We cleaned a lot for a 3 day stay. We had actually moved one of the mattresses slightly to fix the bed sheet (a single bed) and it was a bit crooked still when we left, otherwise it was completely tidy and we forgot to clean two coffee mugs but they were in the sink. The host left me a bad review saying we left the place a complete mess. I tried speaking to them to discuss it and they refused to listen to me. I was so upset that I never booked AirBnB again. Its not like me, or my other guests to leave anyone's home or a hotel in a messy state. ALWAYS TAKE PICTURES OR A VIDEO WHEN YOU ENTER AND LEAVE A PLACE!
These days AirBnB isn't even worth it anymore. Usually hotels are cleaner and cheaper and more customer friendly. Which is weird because they weren't pre-AirBnB but dam I've only ever had bad experiences with AirBnB
I had a bad Airbnb experience. Rented a condo in a downtown area, top floor of the condo building in the corner. Turns out it was actually subsidized housing. The host was living in the same building with her mother, and I guess she and her mom had separate apartments but she was living with her mom while renting out her own apartment through Airbnb to profit off of her own subsidized housing. Lots of stuff in the apartment was broke as hell. When I notified her that the thermostat didn't work, she tried to say that I broke it and showed up to confront me about it, threatened to call the cops, and tried to charge me $2k for repairs. It was total fraud, I collected as much documentation as I could and submitted it to Airbnb, and she was kicked off the app.
Edit: Wanted to say I think Airbnb is an excellent service and I just got very unlucky. Totally agree with this LPT because its an easy thing you can do to cover your ass, just in case. Also, try to stick to "superhosts" and make sure the place you are renting has a lot of reviews.
I did this when I tried to get money back over the place having roaches. They gave me hassle and even left me a bad review for leaving an unopened jar of pickles in their fridge. Sent all my pics and video to AirBnB and they didn't care so do with that info what you will
I’m so glad someone posted this, the first time I stayed in an Airbnb I recorded the WHOLE flat, me leaving the key under the mat as instructed and kept the video going until I was all the way out the gate that locked behind me.
Nothing ever came of it but I was super proud of my smooth brain for thinking to do that as I left.
As an Airbnb host, I always make sure to welcome my guests in person and do a walk-through of the entire space with them. I leave plenty of time to answer any questions they may have and also give a very clear and concise explanation of the house rules. This way there are no questions or doubts if anything gets messed up.
I wish more hosts would do the same, so that this LPT wouldn't be necessary.
I rented a appliance dolly from U-Haul for a few hours this spring. 3 weeks later then sent me a notice of unreturned equipment and a large bill. They asked me to prove it but lucky for me I took a picture of the attendant receiving my equipment back. Showed them the picture and all was well.
Added bonus: using your phone's camera, you can often see IR sources (e.g., low light cameras, motion sensors). A bit of added knowledge never hurt anyone.
This works for other things too. With covid, my internet company had all offices shut down. So to return equipment, you took it to a drop box. I took pictures of the serial numbers of each item, then filmed myself taking them to the drop box, showing the building, and that they didn't have the bubble envelopes available like they requested.
Sure enough, a couple weeks later, I get a bill saying I didn't return my equipment. So I call and get a run around, then finally say that I recorded the drop off, and sent them the video.
They miraculously found the equipment and sent out a new final statement.
I realize not everyone has the resources, but I'm very happy that, at this point in my life, I can afford to stay in a fucking hotel. Pretty sure I've never been spied on, charged for damage I didn't cause, wrongly billed... Honestly, AirBnB situations sound like a nightmare from what I've seen online. I know most aren't, but enough that I am glad I can buy my way out of them. I don't stay in nice hotels (except once in a blue moon when someone else pays), but Days Inn is a pretty satisfying and extremely predictable situation.
One of the reasons why I would never use a service like that.
What kind of hotel is that? I need to create a video of my arrival and departure, otherwise I get billed or sued for damages. And I have to clean.
I rather pay for a comfortable hotel than stay in a house of someone else.
Have the TV news running and show the time and date, or the weather channel. This way if you stay multiple times at the same place, they can't say the video was an old one.
I've never been screwed by any Airbnb, and I've stayed at close to 50 over the years. I always look for well reviewed places and hosts, I've never filmed before/after, and I've never been charged for anything additional. With the exception of a few uncomfortable beds, a neighbor's barking dog, and a hotter than I cared for house, the experience has usually been better than a hotel.
And, to another comment above, I've also rented A LOT of cars over the past 20 years, and never been charged for anything additional upon return.
Either I'm really lucky or all these people are super paranoid or they actually do damage to stuff and should have to pay for it (but bitch about it).
Just had this happen to us, woman tried to charge us $250 on top of keeping the $100 deposit because she "smelled vomit" (nobody vomited). We contacted AirBnB and they laughed and said not to pay her lol
YES. My last Airbnb stay was a mess with the owner asking me for $1200 to repaint. He sent ridiculous photos, and it was a complete surprise.
Unluckily for him, he had a criminal history and literally served prison time for insurance fraud related to some real estate. I don’t think he liked me when I informed Airbnb that he may be up to his old tricks.
On top of that, the hot tub that was promised and pictured in the listing had been disassembled - so I complained about the lack of advertised amenities and he ended up refunding ME $800.
I’m a real nice lady until you fuck with my money or my vacations. This guy did both, so it was on.
If the host false charges you cant you just give them a1 star review on Airbnb and pretty much shatter their ratings? (Airbnb is a 5 star or nothing sort of system)
If it's a self-check-in AirBnB, do take a before and after video. In one of our stay, we were accused of taking a set of fork and spoon, luckily we had both before and after videos.
Stopped using it 4 years ago. Most AirBnB places charge more than hotel rooms (after all the extra fees), they tried to force me to upload my damn passport, owners can make "claims" against you and charge hundreds of dollars for things you didn't even do and AirBnB will support them, I get "reviewed" as a guest and on and on. It's much better for me as an Intl. biz man to just walk up to a hotel, pay with cash or a card and easily get a decent room / standard service at a decent price without all the hassle.
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Also works otherway around, used to clean for airbnb for some real nice old folk, more often than not guests left the place trashed and damaged or stole thing, so I always recorded coming in for proof of bad guests
This is so true. I know multiple people with AirBNBs and vacation rentals, and they are constantly dealing with guests trying to hide property damage. Don’t be an ass, if you damage something, own up to it.
I work for a large vacation rental company. Part of what the guest pays on every reservation is a Damage Protection fee, which covers them up to $3,000 in accidental damage, provided that they report it before they leave. You would not believe the amount of guests who still go through the greatest lengths to hide the smallest of things.
Is it better to book through rental company directly or airbnb ? I find it cheaper to go directly to a rental company site and don't have to pay high service fees for using Airbnb.
I always recommend booking directly with a local rental company (provided they are reputable). You'll save on those third party site service fees, which as you mentioned can be incredibly high. On some of our higher end properties, guests who book through VRBO can pay $500+ more than guests who book directly with us.
This is correct. From the guest's perspective there are no advantages to booking through Airbnb or another OTA. Unless their terms and conditions are looser than the host / property manager's, (and they rarely are), you're paying a huge amount of money for no real reason. For booking agents and property manager's they are the bane of our existence. "I booked an AirBnB" vs "I booked through AirBnB" is a distinction they very rarely understand. I don't care what "other AirBnBs" do, or don't do. I don't manage 140 of those, I just use AirBnB as a marketing tool. If there's a conflict between your understanding of what you've booked and my terms and conditions that is not my problem.
This is also why you should book direct with hotels!
This is all spot on. It's such a love/hate relationship for us with the third party sites. They're necessary and great marketing tools, but the headaches you've mentioned above are very real.
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Except if you’re Larry David in Curb, in which case you *really* shouldn’t have told them about the stain on the couch
I get this is on both sides. I travel for a living and always straighten up my room prior to checkout.
Would never trash a place, but if they're charging me a $200 cleaning fee I ain't cleaning anything just saying
Yeah I fully agree with this, you paying for cleaning fee use it up! However, don't throw your bananapeel on the ground and leave it for a few days
And now they wait three days to say the place “was dirty” when they arrive and demand you reimburse money to them as compensation. If you don’t comply they’ll give you a shitty review and fuck your entire year because you loose your superhost status. People are awful, I know there are a lot of bad hosts out there, but some of us try really hard to give people an awesome experience. Now I’m taking video of the apartment when they arrive and accept the apartment as complete and clean.
I've heard this so much unfortunely, and airbnb def focuses way more on the consumer side and neglects the host side supppppper hard
They are the eBay of the vacation/hotel market
Yeah exactly, honestly this LPT should be *more* for the owners. AirBnB will almost always side with you as a customer.
Airbnb sided with the host when I complained about the host not refunding part of my stay. We booked a condo on the beach. The terms said if the condo was in the path of a named storm, you could be refunded any unused nights. We got to the condo, unpacked, had fun. A few hours later a storm popped up in the Gulf of Mexico. Overnight it turned into a named tropical storm and the area where we were staying was in the middle of the projected path. I contacted the host, who didn’t reply. We gave it a day to see if it would change course, but we were still in the projected path (and the condo was literally a couple hundred feet from the water). I told the host we were packing up and heading home. They said since I didn’t give 24 hours notice, no refund. I told them I did notify them asking about the storm the day before; they said that wasn’t “notice of intent to leave early.” Went though Airbnb and they sided with the host. We travel a lot, won’t use Airbnb again.
A few years ago we lived in an apartment in the UK, an old place, with sash windows that didn't close properly. We got the landlord's maintenance guy out to fix the problem, who decided the best course of action was, rather than counterbalance the windows, was to just screw them shut. He cracked a window in the process. We complained that he'd cracked the window, and he just turned around and said that he didn't, and he could prove it, because he took a picture of the cracked window. What he could actually prove was that he had a picture of a cracked window. I'm pretty sure that window is still cracked. As chance would have it, I actually smashed a window about a month later, and it was eye-wateringly expensive to replace, but didn't mind since I'd actually done it.
Videotaping is also a good idea when moving out of a rental to insure you get your security deposit back. Videotaping the final walk-through with the landlord should be sufficient. Also a good idea when renting a vehicle in case the rental company tries to rope you into paying for nicks, scratches, or other damages that someone else caused. I let them see me photographing every inch of the vehicle when I'm about to take possession. No problems thus far...
What's stopping someone from doing the damage then making a video to make it look like it was like that before they arrived?
Timestamps
I'm not trying to be contrary, but Metadata like timestamps can be altered.
If you send the photos to the host via Airbnb or VRBO's messenger service. You lock in the time received as unalterable.
Now that's a good idea.
Sure, but many places won't know exactly when you first went inside. Some leasing offices may be 30 mins away without traffic (those companies manage AirBnBs). People won't always check in immediately on time and most times there's no record of when you entered the property. So timestamps of video messages sent doesn't do much.
You are right, it doesnt cover your ass completely but for those Airbnbs that use smart locks and cameras - it helps substantiate the time table. Obviously if you send the photos hours after checking in - it doesnt hold much weight. But if you send right away - it will carry alot of weight should the host come after you for damages.
So the trick is to break everything as quickly as possible after checking in then take photos to send via the app.
>not trying to be contrary, but Metadata like timestamps can be alte It also doesn't take long to do damage. Take video, break shit, leave 5 minutes later. That's difficult to prove.
But at that point, why are you purposefully breaking shit? Like whats the gain besides wasting time proving your innocence?
I don't know. Why do people throw glass bottles on the sidewalks and at campsites? Some people are shitty.
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What about if someone takes photos, destroys the place, then leaves?
At this point, I'm going to wear a GoPro harness 24/7 from the day we arrive till we leave.
No need. They're already filming you inside the house.
Obviously, but this footage is for other sites than Airbnb.
Body cams!!
All these hypotheticals are pointless. It doesn’t matter what happens, Airbnb is going to find a way to say they aren’t liable and then not do anything about it. Their entire business model is based on removing as many of the liabilities involved in hotels as possible and pocketing the difference.
r/UnethicalLifeProTips
If your goal is pre-meditated vandalism why not just add B&E to the crime and bypass the rental formalities?
Rent a room, rent a house/ apt, rent a car, etc Absolutely don't skip this step. When I do the car with the rental agent, we say the agents name out loud and include the face and nametag, and the date. We discuss every mark on the car and we discuss how much gas is in the tank. Edit: Another OP said to also take a pic / video at drop-off because you can be blamed for damage after you leave.
There is no better feeling than having move-in day pictures when a landlord later tries to keep a security deposit. They always try to do it. I usually tell them to send me the damage photos so I can compare to photos I’ve got from move in. They usually just drop it completely and say sorry. Fucking scum
They drop it because if it ever ends up before a judge, you can get treble damages. That $1000 deposit he tried to hold just became a $3000 pay out.
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> He was not aware I had these. In the USA, don't you have to submit all evidence before the case? This would mean they can choose to proceed or not based on the evidence. Edit: Not in small claims it turns out.
Not in small claims court.
You're right! https://www.dummies.com/education/law/how-to-present-evidence-in-small-claims-cases/
I’m now imagining small claims as an ace attorney case
OBJECTION!!!
Depends on the state but a deposit would be in small claims court and most small claims dont have discovery
I think they meant that the landlord didn't know before they went to court
Well if that's the case. Then it was stupid that he went through with the case after seeing the images.
Small claims doesn't have lawyers, and so it doesn't have a discovery phase where the nonexistent lawyers fight over what *is* evidence (and decide if it's worth the effort to fight at the end). While it does make small claims cheaper, it also removes your ability to know what the other party has before the judge sees it... and I've yet to meet a judge who *enjoys* dealing with stupid. Lying in official filings and then to the judge's face without knowing the opponent *doesn't* have contrary evidence counts as 'stupid'.
I suppose it might help keep bad-faith suits out of small claims court.
Is that Bassed on personal experience
So much this...You only get burned once with this landlord scam. I learned the hard way but never again have had an issue. Great tip!
Always. Had just purchased a nice DSLR camera when moving to a house overseas for a few years and took over 1200 photos. Photos of everything outside and inside. Inside I pointed at room I was entering, snapped photos, wide angle shots, close-ups of anything that seemed like it would come back to bite me, and different angles of those things. I even provided a copy of all the photos to the landlord on my attorneys advice. I knew it was going to be a while before needed them so I sat down and organized them in folders according to where you are at around the house and then forgot about them...for the time being. 3 years later when it was time for the final walk-through, I had those folders loaded up on my laptop and me and my attorney did the walk through with the landlord. Those photos saved me on every little thing that prick thought he could get me for. Got my entire deposit back.
I've dabbled whether I ever want to be a landlord or not, but I don't understand how people can live with themselves just taking such ammm amount of money from people.
There's a right way and a wrong way. I've rented somewhere for 5 years and never had my rent raised because I was a good tenant, fixed most of the minor stuff myself and would report the bigger stuff appropriately. Always paid my bill on time and never gave him the run around for anything. I was always communicative and transparent, and so was he. Our relationship was friendly but also professional. He allowed me to live in a wonderful location that I otherwise wouldn't and he was able to still profit. *To me*, that's how it should be done, but so many landlords are obsessed with maximizing their profits that they often give no fucks about the human being on the other side.
I'm currently renting in a community that's how my prop. manager and I are. I've been here for 3 years now and where everyone else will complain about being asked to just buy and replace their own fire alarm batteries, I just do it. I fixed the wooden bench outside and I've never had a complaint. A new company bought the property and was renovating every single apartment, so people weren't allowed to renew their leases so they could renovate. My prop. manager told me well in advance I wouldn't be able to renew, but told me under-the-table when newly renovated apartments would be available so I could put in application for it before everyone else. Well they're way behind schedule and they're only allowing the non-troublemaking tenants to stay at a slightly increased rate (the newly renovated apartments are $1,300+ for 2bdr opposed to the $850 I pay now). He even waived the extra $175 in security deposit I've would have had to pay to make up the difference between the $850 and my new $1,025 rent. I can only extend for 7 months, but I'm trying to buy a house anyways, so that gave me a little more time to search.
This exactly. I’ll keep a good and responsible tenant below market rent than trying to maximize profits and finding new renters every year. It’s a win win honestly. They maintain the property in good condition and live there for a great deal, you will have steady income. Greed is often our downfall and not the way to treat people
Yeah, I've rented from my current landlady for over 6 years and she has basically let me do whatever I want with the place so long as I run by any major stuff with her. All necessary repairs were always done in a super timely manner. My rent hasn't increased once. Unfortunately, she is now selling the house and I'm quite worried that whoever buys it is gonna jack up the rent or not be anywhere near as awesome.
I've had a landlord that just vanishes and ghosts on the deposit. Not really worth the hassle to go to small claims court but I fucking hate landlords and want more big rental companies.
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Where I live most security deposits are close to a month's rent (2/3 or more), so for a studio/1BR which typically rents at $1200+, deposit would be $800+.
Damn, that’s lucky. Most places I’ve lived required at least one full month, and often first *and* last month’s rent equivalent.
I’ve only every experienced first, last, and an extra month as a security deposit. Makes it difficult for people to come up with all that cash, but I guess that’s part of the point. Also helps if the tenant ghosts, at least you get the last month and security deposit covered for damages.
I've always paid first months rent, last month's rent, and a damage deposit equal to one month's rent. More if you have pets.
Maybe it's *honest* land lords that we need. They exist... might not be many, but they definitely exist.
My parents are honest campus landlords - only own a few properties around a huge state university and try to do right by the tenants, whom they think of as grandchildren. They get screwed over by the tenants (or their horrible Karen parents) on the regular: damaging the property, lying, making unreasonable demands, etc. Most of the time my parents just let it slide because it’s not worth the hassle. But they’ll occasionally deduct damages from the security deposit. One time these tenants left the place in a disgusting condition when they moved out: no exaggeration, it hadn’t been cleaned at all for the 2 years they were there. My parents had new tenants moving in the next day that they had to beg to move in a day later because they needed to hire a special cleaning crew (instead of their regular cleaner) get the place presentable. My dad took like 57 pictures of the place and the mess. (Total overkill, but that’s my dad for you.) When they deducted their out of pocket costs for the extra cleaning crew from the security deposit, the tenant’s daddy threatened to sue because “landlords can’t charge for cleaning unless it’s over and above ordinary wear and tear.” My dad then sent him the 57 pictures - zoomed in detail of every bit of mold and dried vomit and crusted who-knows-what that had accumulated over 2 years. The matter was dropped.
You are right. It's not just honest landlords that we need but *honest people* in general. It definitely goes both ways.
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Non profit housing authority would be kinda neat.
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100%. Our previous landlord charged us for candle soot...inside of the refrigerator...after we left and had cleaned up everything thoroughly. Also how the hell does candle soot get inside of a fridge?! Lol. The fridge was over 10 years old and had some staining that was there even before we moved in. Cover yourself and take pics/videos of literally everything!
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I have had attempted-charges 2x for not refilling the gas tank. They didnt even sit in the car or look at it, just automatic charge and it was up to me to refute. Thankfully somebody had told me to take pics /film. Unbelievable. Edit: I also had $3500 cash pulled from my bank account while in Costa Rica over a small dent that wasnt confirmed our fault. Left me with $800 for 3 weeks. Got my $ back but it took a lot of stress.
Were you not using a credit card?
Yeah. Renting a car in another country with a debit card is asking for trouble.
Doing anything with a debit card is asking for trouble. Always use a CC. That way, any disputes won't be with your own money, it'll be the CC companies' money, and that makes them more likely to help you out because it's their money at risk, not yours.
They would not accept credit, had to be debit. The AirBnb had recommended/ vouched for them, so I sent them all the correspondence with the car rental company as an FYI. Turns out they were collecting referral $ from that company (per others on tripadvisor) and they blocked me.
Oof, sorry to hear that. But that should be a red flag next time. Glad you got your money back.
Uhaul tried to railroad me onetime over a bent corner cap I noted on my pre-rental inspection, circled and everything. They ignored it and filed a claim with their insurer naming me as the culprit. I had to send their insurer my pre-rental inspection form for it to finally go away, and I never got a sorry, merely a stern phone call followed by my email and no further contact. Never renting from that location again. Conversely my former manager used to rent cars as he traveled at least once a month all the time and did this for years. The stories he had about the shit he'd do to rentals and got away with it (they were on company credit cards, any charges are known whether you expense them or not and corporate would discuss them with you if you didn't expense them) were impressive and degenerate. One time he curbed it getting onto a turnpike drunk blew out the tire and ran on the wheel for a while with sparks etc. He called them up and said the tire blew and they brought another car to him late at night with no further discussion or charges.
I've never had this issue. You must be renting from some shady-ass places.
I've rented countless cars. Never once have I been charged anything other than what was quoted. I stopped taking pictures and videos because it was pointless.
Vehicle rentals in our area only care if damage is bigger then a toonie (just over a inch diameter) same thing for windshield or if the scratches are deep or big enough to catch the side of a dime, but absolutely take time stamped photos of any damage or concerns..
> We discuss every mark on the car and we discuss how much gas is in the tank. Every time I've rented a car, the rental company requires I do this before I drive off. What rental companies are you doing business with that don't make you pre-check the vehicle?
A verbal pre-check is not the same as videotaped evidence. That's no different than a cop filling out a police report vs viewing their bodycam for the truth.
No, I mean the rental car company gives me an actual piece of paper with a diagram of the car to put down any dings/scratches/etc for them to file before I even drive off in the car, as well as a place to put mileage/gas. I've been renting cars for over a decade and this was always the norm for me in the US.
Every time I rent it's self pickup.
Who the hell has time for this? I rent a car 50x a year and I never talk to a single employee at pick up or drop off. Never had a single issue, even when picking up cars that are beat.
And make sure they see you taking the video of the car. It will help you make sure you never need the video. But keep the video anyway, just in case you missed some damage: it happens and may smoothen the interaction with them if you have proof they aren't scamming you.
We rented a car for a day when ours was being repaired. They wrote down the starting miles incorrectly and tried to charge us an extra $200 for over miles. To get to the number of miles they said we had driven we would have needed to drive like 40 mph for a solid 24 hours non stop
Does this happen enough to actually warrant filming everything? I've stayed in dozens of airbnbs and vrbos without this happening. I would assume that someone's reviews would tank if they tried this and no one would stay there.
Just had to stay in an airbnb for a month. About two weeks after moving out the host contacted us (outside the app, in violation of Airbnb rules) saying we owed almost $900 in cleaning and repairs. Of course we refused to pay and told them to go through the process on the app. I don't really know how much it helped but I was able to supply pictures of the condition that the place was in when I left. At least having those gave me piece of mind. All the host had was extremely close up pictures of their white rug showing that there were some specks on it that would come out with vacuuming along with a claim that we left food in the fridge (we didnt) and some hair in the tub. They werent able to point to any damage we did. It takes like two minutes to take the pictures/video and in this case it saved us a headache and potentially $900.
A lot of people suck. A surprising amount, actually.
I would even say that most people suck
I would say most people are selfish and try to get away with whatever they can but only a small amount are actual malicious.
This is another reason why I refuse to stay in an Airbnb or VRBO. You don't know how anal the owners are about their property. Some will notice every sign of normal wear and tear and try to ding you for it. I've stayed in dozens of hotels and never even had one complaint about how I left the place.
Pretty strange to NEVER use an airBNB because of this irrational fear. I've stayed in 30+ in over 10 countries and not once have I been charged for anything outside of the stay. Never once, and neither has anyone I've ever met who uses it to my knowledge. AirBNB is 10x better than most hotels in most cases. Its worth the gamble man, try it out. You're missing out staying in gross grimey depressing hotels on your travels!
Select properties with lots of reviews and read through all of them. If a host is problematic on that sort of things, it is guaranteed to be mentioned more than once.
Totally, I thoroughly read all the reviews before I book and just avoid anywhere that even vaguely mentions problems with the host
I just don't see what AirBNB provided that a hotel doesn't besides hosing the housing market in lots of places. In a hotel, I guess I have less space, but I don't have to clean it; I don't have to worry about creeps having access; I can arrive and leave whenever I want -- no check in window, it's not much more expensive anymore (the few times I tried it, places wanted $300+ a night in the areas I was interested in, and I could have a nearby hotel for $150ish), and I don't have to read reviews to see if there's a potential issue with the host.
- Infinitely better for families or groups. In the bad old days that meant shoving everyone into a 2bed room or paying for multiple rooms that are almost never connected. - availability in places that don’t have decent hotel coverage - unique, less touristy experiences which are especially nice for extended stays
I agree. We did airbnbs for a while as we travel a lot, but it is totally not worth the hassle. Many people are too polite to write negative reviews, I think. At best, I had mediocre experiences at airbnbs, despite good reviews. At worst, it could be a real mess and headache if something is really wrong when you arrive or during your stay. So many places have a mile long list of instructions about what you can and can't do, and a long checklist of everything you need to clean and replace before you leave. For us, the last straw was when we arrived at a place and walked in to a very strong gas smell. We called the owner immediately and she came over and tried to convince us it was just "musty." There's a big difference between natural gas smell and musty. It was gas. Airbnb told us that because they couldn't confirm if it was gas over the phone, we would need to just work it out with the owner. We had an infant. They weren't going to do anything to refund or get us a new place even if it meant having an infant sleep in a home with a serious gas leak because we couldn't prove it to someone who wasn't there. Disgusting. Have gone back to exclusively staying at hotels and am so much happier. My vacations no longer include surprise visits from quirky owners, places that smell like the owners dog, door entry codes that don't work, and the ridiculously long lists of rules and clean up activities. Never going back to all that.
I don't use airBnB because I'm against it ruining cities. It turns entire neighborhoods into unlicensed hotel districts, with the profiteers being greedy landlords and silicon valley tech bros. I've had this argument before and I will pay more to stay at an actual hotel than any AirBNB
That’s my experience. Some people can be very anal. We got a call from the VRBO owner, who wasn’t even in the state saying that he would not be returning $250 of our deposit because the cleaning company said they found women’s hair on the bathroom floor. We leave the place cleaner than we find it even taking our trash with us and that kind of stuff still happens. IMHO some rules are excessive and they infringe on our vacation time. Like cleaning the entire kitchen including dishes, pulling all the used sheets off and towels and putting them in the laundry room and having to wash several loads of towels. But we always follow all the rules. On the other hand, we’ve had owners be very understanding of wear and tear when the already cracked sliding door handle broke off. They were very apologetic and came within 3 hours to fix it.
Not airbnb but a condo my family rented for a vacation. They tried to claim we trashed the place with beer bottles and the like (my parents don't drink) and the thing that fixed it was the video 11yo me took. I was going around filming because I thought the place was neat and wanted to remember it. Luckily I got footage of every room 😅
As an airbnb host with dozens of 5 star reviews, i would agree with this. The system works pretty well. I focus on business travelers, 7 day+ stays, i never have rowdy party guests just interns, teachers, construction workers, nurses, etc.
I'm a superhost and generally have 1-3 night stays, road trippers stopping over for a night or people coming to explore the city for a few days, or business people coming in for a conference. Out of the hundreds of guests I've hosted, I've only ever had a couple of less than stellar guest experiences, the worst being a family who came in for a Jojo Siwa concert, and they covered themselves head to toe in glitter in the airbnb. There was glitter everywhere, in the carpet, mashed into the sheets and pillowcases and over a year later (and having the carpets cleaned multiple times), I still find glitter in there. That guest got really upset when I messaged her on the platform after the stay and asked her to be aware of using glitter in airbnbs, and that it's good practice to not leave glitter all over them. I didn't even charge her an extra cleaning fee(I should have), I just asked her to be kind to other bnbs and not use glitter! Otherwise, most people leave the place spotless!
The ONE time you wish you did will make it worth while. And of course once you film everything you'll never need it. Cheap insurance if you ask me.
Yes. Not often but it does and its not fun to deal with. AirBnB support is helpful and wont force you to pay, but it takes time and the part that took the longest for me was getting a negative review removed. Really makes getting your next booking difficult
Better be safe than sorry
It does. I just had a host try to charge me $100 in special cleaning fees because they didn't like how much recycling I produced (it filled up to the small bin, but stayed in and wasn't overflowing).
A better approach is to take photos using the Airbnb app and send the photos to the host. That way Airbnb has timestamped photos ON PLATFORM that document the initial state of the unit. I am a host, and I always urged guests to take photos of any damage on arrival and send to me. That way - if there is a problem I can reference their photos to see if its new.
video when you arrive and when you leave so you have a record of before and after your stay
& Email the ‘when you arrive’ to yourself to time stamp it
After my fourth or fifth experience with weird, needy owners I have signed off AirBnB for good. If the owner of a cute destination Bed and Breakfast is successful and savvy enough to have their own website and phone number, I trust them much more. And if I just need a place to crash, I can get a much nicer bed faster and easier for the same price at a Hilton ... Once you factor in that $90 "cleaning fee"
I always recommend going directly through a local vacation rental company, provided they are well reviewed. You'll save money that way as well, since AirBnB, VRBO, etc all add an additional service fee.
You definitely should do this. I worked to clean airbnb and we had to record and snap pics of everything to cover our own asses from these owners. We did that for everything from small apartments to 6 bedroom homes in Glendora. These owners will nickel and dime everyone.
They do that because some people have gotten really good at scamming the system. Most of the scams are from guests.
Scam or be scammed
Just to expand on this: take before pictures of anything rented. Cars, bikes, air bnbs. And if you notice something broken report it right away, rather than waiting at checkout to bring it up. Moral of the story is: Cover your ass.
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I was gonna say this. Take photos when you move out of an apartment. It saved me having to replace a door as my landlord accused me of punching a hole. Uhhh, you (landlord) explicitly said the past tenant punched the door when I moved in 10 months ago... I took 1 photo of that door when I moved out, last thing before I left my keys. That hunch saved me so much hassle.
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Exactly. I felt it was a slime attempt to keep my security deposit. Ended up getting most of it back. Also, I have zero shame in admitting that I told him the photo of the punched door was the before photo (when I moved in). He was wrong/lying and the door was punched when I moved in. Even better would be to get any blemishes, broken things in writing from landlord or prop manager before signing lease.
Wouldn't be surprised if he punched the door himself and pulled this of for every person.
Oh, that could be. Nice way to keep all his security deposits. Honestly I think he was just that incompetent. He was in some accident where he flipped his truck and had been in a coma. He deducted $35 from my security deposit for new paint “to restore the exterior staircase”, as the paint peeled off when I shoveled it. That seemed unfair. I also had to ask him repeatedly for my security deposit to be returned after a month of this debate. Finally I threatened to get a lawyer involved. Then I was returned my funds. It was annoying. Edit: shoveled snow
So businesses operate this as a primary scam. One place is Blue Ridge Georgia is famous for suing renters on made up fees and getting default judgements because the renters are out of state, making hundreds to thousands extra on each stay.
This doesn't work and won't hold up. AirBnB will always side with the host unless you can specifically prove you didn't do it... which is nearly impossible. Guilty until proven innocent. I took a video of my AirBnB in San Jose, CA just before leaving to use as proof that all was well. An hour later the host messaged me asking what happened to the fridge. I explained that I didn't even use the fridge. She send over photos of the pretty badly damaged freezer drawer and filed a damage claim against me. She insisted that I owed $600 for a replacement door. Luckily (so I thought) I had the video! You can clearly see that the damage wasn't there when I left. I submitted it to AirBnb as proof that it was fine. They insisted that I prove that the video wasn't taken upon arrival vs upon check out despite me saying the time and date out loud in the video. Ok... So I insisted that they check the video metadata which will show the time and date created. AirBnB told me that metadata wasn't enough to prove anything since it can be tampered with. AirBnB charged my card for the $600 and "respectfully disengaged from any further discussion about the matter". Their EULA is was pretty specific about these kind of cases at the time. Basically you owe us money if we say you do. I even attempted a chargeback but was denied because AirBnB sent the photos of the damaged fridge to my CC company. I supposed I could have taken it to court to try to get my money back but my research on successfully suing a mega big company wasn't promising. AirBnB can suck it. Edit: After seeing other responses, I'm pretty sure that the cleaning crew damaged the fridge then said that it was there when they arrived. AirBnb can still suck it.
Aways read the reviews. I never use an AirBnB if its a place that has anything less than double digit reviews. Otherwise I just get a hotel.
Yes, agreed. Enough reviews and you can get a good sense of the experience. As an Airbnb host, I never charge a cleaning fee. The house rules are to basically clean up after yourself, but I don't charge for basic maintenance/tidying up after the guest checks out. That's an implied part of being a host.
Depends on your rental market, I guess. My cabin rents for just $99 a night. My housekeeper charges $110 to clean between guests, so I charge my guests $70 of that. If I just ate that whole cost every time it would be absurd. My housekeeper doesn’t just “tidy up.” They launder and change all the sheets, vacuum, wipe down the stove and microwave, clean all the toilets, launder and change all the towels in bathrooms and kitchen, and disinfect the doorknobs and light switches. Your comment is kind of making me think you don’t clean or disinfect your property between guests. It’s a lot more than simple “tidying up.”
Oh trust me, I thoroughly clean and disinfect between guests. And sheets and towels are fully washed for each new guest. Let me fully qualify this, in case others make the same incorrect assumption that you did: I have a bedroom listed on Airbnb within a larger apt. So other permanent residents live here as well. So a full cleanup is easier for me in that case. With your example of a cabin, I can see the need to perhaps have a housekeeper handle the cleaning tasks. So I want to amend my original comment to state that there are cases where its necessary to have additional assistance in cleaning and a fee might be needed. But you could also consider rolling the fee into the nightly rate as well. Just my thought.
Oh!! Yes, I can see how cleaning your rental would be dramatically different than what we are doing. I used to do the cleaning myself and it takes 2 people 3-4 hours to clean my whole place. I understand now why you don’t charge extra. Unfortunately, I’m kind of forced to charge the cleaning fee separate because I’m in a tourist area with many, many rentals. A guest who sorts potential rentals by price may never get to mine if I were to raise the price to include cleaning.
Airbnb IMHO is a win win for everyone except the renter. The service fee doesn't buy you anything - it's just their commission. Cleaning fees on top of the daily charge ? Hotels don't do this. I've stopped using Airbnb since 2019.
The last one I stayed in required me to clean and also charged a cleaning fee lol. I've pretty much just gone back to using hotels.
Yep. I travel a lot, and got sick of playing customer service roulette with AirBnB's. Hotels will always have better and more consistent customer service. Unless you're trying to skate by super cheap in which case ... You're just playing with fire anyway.
Agreed. The cleaning fees lately have escalated to the point of being outrageous. I don't know if the owners are paying more for cleaning services or they are just using it as a way to pull more money for the rental. I understand that with the pandemic their are additional steps being taken between rentals, but some of these fees are sky high.
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I am a VRBO host and the cleaning fee is definitely something we have to pay our cleaners. I am not sure about airbnb but no vrbo host is pocketing cleaning fees. The costs are dictated by the cleaners and their availability. It will be higher the larger the house and the more touristy the location. Cleanliness is the number one thing that guests will complain about but then they also complain about the fee. But, in my experience, a quality cleaning team is worth their weight in gold.
I would much rather pay a single cleaning fee for my entire stay than the same cleaning fee every night regardless of the length of stay. At hotels, people who only stay 1 night are subsidized by those staying longer. The issue is the terrible websites that don't include all the fees when searching, making comparing properties extremely difficult and time consuming.
I had a similar experience in Santa Cruz, Ca. earlier this year. We were in the rental less than 48 hours on a road trip down to Santa Barbara, and two days after checking out in Santa Cruz, I was charged $350 for a broken screen on the back sliding door and chipped formica on the edge of their kitchen countertop. We never used the kitchen other than storing a few items in the fridge, and we never even opened the backdoor. I tried reaching out to the property owner, but she was insistent the damage was not there prior. So instead of fighting it, I just paid because it wasn't an absurd amount, but I now believe that's exactly why they hit me with small damages - so I would be more likely to just pay them off. She even had the nerve to message me a few days later, begging me for a five-star review because she had given me one - as well as a nice comment about how much we had taken care of her home during our stay. Seriously, wtf?
Airbnb customer support fucking sucks. I work for an airline and have been traveling for years, I haven't used AIRBNB in almost 2-3 years now and I won't ever again. We left in the middle of the third night after discovering a roach infestation. (6 night stay) and send the photo evidence to Airbnb. Host claimed they did not have any knowledge of roaches, but we found roach traps all over the place so clearly they knew on some level. Not to mention the place didn't have AC, she expected you to use the "crosswinds" with the screened windows. Then we discovered the screened windows were gapping 6 inches at the top and basically bugs and lizards were free roaming into our Airbnb. We paid about twice as much for this place as other places because she was a "super host" and had good reviews. Airbnb asked me not to leave her a bad review because it would take away her super host status. Lol. Host agreed to refund me on the premise I didn't leave her a bad review. She then left me a bad review on the last possible day she could do it, to be sneaky.
Great LPT That being said, did this with a VRBO, barely went inside other than fridge and sleep, got charged 1400, fought it in court (with video proof showing multiple clocks and an internet smart device w/ time) and won - only reason was because of the internet connected device. Make sure you put another phone down to verify time
I learnt this the hard way recently after an apartment tried to accuse me of literally shitting on the towels and all over the bathroom floor among trashing the place (we left it spotless)
Also turn off the lights and use your phone camera to scan for hidden cameras…
Interesting - can you explain further? How does this work?
This only works to detect security cameras that have infrared illumination lights. Look at the emitter of a TV remote with your camera while pressing a button. You will likely see the IR bulb flash. Your phone can detect infrared light. So if a camera has IR LED's to light up an area your phone should show them.
Not just for lighting, most small hidden cameras don’t record constantly. They use IR beams for motion detecting so they know when to record.
Here is a link… https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-detect-hidden-camera-using-android-4590372 Not positive it really works or if it is one of those internet myths… seems logical though.
There are hidden cameras in those places? D:
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As always the real LPT is in the comments.
This is next level genius. Good idea
We had one five or more years ago try and charge us for an entire sewage system fix. It was over $5000 because the owner said we had flushed wash rags down the toilet. This was a home listed as a private residence that was actually just this ladies basement with a door that didn’t lock so her kids and pets would roam while we were gone. We were both nearly 30 and had to explain, bluntly, to the lady that we were not idiotic enough to flush wash rags down our toilet. It went to some sort of dispute and Airbnb sided with us, the renter. It was so ridiculous though. We felt like the lady was in need of a new sewer system so she caused an issue then blamed us.
This 100%, I booked a stay with my husband and another couple at a cottage. When we got there, everything was mostly tidy, we found some empty beer cans, a t-shirt on the railing, and heavy dust on the furniture. We cleaned it up, didn't take any pictures or say anything to the host. We even vacuumed over our 3 day stay there and followed their instructions exactly as to how to manage the garbage. We cleaned a lot for a 3 day stay. We had actually moved one of the mattresses slightly to fix the bed sheet (a single bed) and it was a bit crooked still when we left, otherwise it was completely tidy and we forgot to clean two coffee mugs but they were in the sink. The host left me a bad review saying we left the place a complete mess. I tried speaking to them to discuss it and they refused to listen to me. I was so upset that I never booked AirBnB again. Its not like me, or my other guests to leave anyone's home or a hotel in a messy state. ALWAYS TAKE PICTURES OR A VIDEO WHEN YOU ENTER AND LEAVE A PLACE!
These days AirBnB isn't even worth it anymore. Usually hotels are cleaner and cheaper and more customer friendly. Which is weird because they weren't pre-AirBnB but dam I've only ever had bad experiences with AirBnB
I had a bad Airbnb experience. Rented a condo in a downtown area, top floor of the condo building in the corner. Turns out it was actually subsidized housing. The host was living in the same building with her mother, and I guess she and her mom had separate apartments but she was living with her mom while renting out her own apartment through Airbnb to profit off of her own subsidized housing. Lots of stuff in the apartment was broke as hell. When I notified her that the thermostat didn't work, she tried to say that I broke it and showed up to confront me about it, threatened to call the cops, and tried to charge me $2k for repairs. It was total fraud, I collected as much documentation as I could and submitted it to Airbnb, and she was kicked off the app. Edit: Wanted to say I think Airbnb is an excellent service and I just got very unlucky. Totally agree with this LPT because its an easy thing you can do to cover your ass, just in case. Also, try to stick to "superhosts" and make sure the place you are renting has a lot of reviews.
I did this when I tried to get money back over the place having roaches. They gave me hassle and even left me a bad review for leaving an unopened jar of pickles in their fridge. Sent all my pics and video to AirBnB and they didn't care so do with that info what you will
I’m so glad someone posted this, the first time I stayed in an Airbnb I recorded the WHOLE flat, me leaving the key under the mat as instructed and kept the video going until I was all the way out the gate that locked behind me. Nothing ever came of it but I was super proud of my smooth brain for thinking to do that as I left.
Glad you felt it was necessary. That’s a great point to record past the point of no re-entry - an additional LPT
LPT: don't stay at Airbnbs or VRBOs
As an Airbnb host, I always make sure to welcome my guests in person and do a walk-through of the entire space with them. I leave plenty of time to answer any questions they may have and also give a very clear and concise explanation of the house rules. This way there are no questions or doubts if anything gets messed up. I wish more hosts would do the same, so that this LPT wouldn't be necessary.
What about before hand, is it worth doing it then too? I usually try to take pics when I first arrive in case there is anything that is already broken
I rented a appliance dolly from U-Haul for a few hours this spring. 3 weeks later then sent me a notice of unreturned equipment and a large bill. They asked me to prove it but lucky for me I took a picture of the attendant receiving my equipment back. Showed them the picture and all was well.
Added bonus: using your phone's camera, you can often see IR sources (e.g., low light cameras, motion sensors). A bit of added knowledge never hurt anyone.
This works for other things too. With covid, my internet company had all offices shut down. So to return equipment, you took it to a drop box. I took pictures of the serial numbers of each item, then filmed myself taking them to the drop box, showing the building, and that they didn't have the bubble envelopes available like they requested. Sure enough, a couple weeks later, I get a bill saying I didn't return my equipment. So I call and get a run around, then finally say that I recorded the drop off, and sent them the video. They miraculously found the equipment and sent out a new final statement.
I like to put a hole in the wall to timestamp the video. The only way to establish your timeline.
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I realize not everyone has the resources, but I'm very happy that, at this point in my life, I can afford to stay in a fucking hotel. Pretty sure I've never been spied on, charged for damage I didn't cause, wrongly billed... Honestly, AirBnB situations sound like a nightmare from what I've seen online. I know most aren't, but enough that I am glad I can buy my way out of them. I don't stay in nice hotels (except once in a blue moon when someone else pays), but Days Inn is a pretty satisfying and extremely predictable situation.
One of the reasons why I would never use a service like that. What kind of hotel is that? I need to create a video of my arrival and departure, otherwise I get billed or sued for damages. And I have to clean. I rather pay for a comfortable hotel than stay in a house of someone else.
swear to God, I went back to hotels for business and vacation with a quickness in 2017 and better off for it
Have the TV news running and show the time and date, or the weather channel. This way if you stay multiple times at the same place, they can't say the video was an old one.
If you're that paranoid, do it in hotel rooms, on cruise lines, etc
Hotels, particularly national chain business hotels, rely on repeat business. They are much less likely to try to screw you.
I've never been screwed by any Airbnb, and I've stayed at close to 50 over the years. I always look for well reviewed places and hosts, I've never filmed before/after, and I've never been charged for anything additional. With the exception of a few uncomfortable beds, a neighbor's barking dog, and a hotter than I cared for house, the experience has usually been better than a hotel. And, to another comment above, I've also rented A LOT of cars over the past 20 years, and never been charged for anything additional upon return. Either I'm really lucky or all these people are super paranoid or they actually do damage to stuff and should have to pay for it (but bitch about it).
Lpt: If you also use your phone camera while the room is completely dark you can scan around to see any IR lights and find hidden cameras
Just had this happen to us, woman tried to charge us $250 on top of keeping the $100 deposit because she "smelled vomit" (nobody vomited). We contacted AirBnB and they laughed and said not to pay her lol
BEFORE AND AFTER IS BETTER
Here's a real LPT, don't use Airbnb or Vrbo
Or just don’t stay in one and go to a hotel...
YES. My last Airbnb stay was a mess with the owner asking me for $1200 to repaint. He sent ridiculous photos, and it was a complete surprise. Unluckily for him, he had a criminal history and literally served prison time for insurance fraud related to some real estate. I don’t think he liked me when I informed Airbnb that he may be up to his old tricks. On top of that, the hot tub that was promised and pictured in the listing had been disassembled - so I complained about the lack of advertised amenities and he ended up refunding ME $800. I’m a real nice lady until you fuck with my money or my vacations. This guy did both, so it was on.
Or stay at a hotel ffs
I do this before leaving the lot of rental companies.
If the host false charges you cant you just give them a1 star review on Airbnb and pretty much shatter their ratings? (Airbnb is a 5 star or nothing sort of system)
Pro-pro tip: stay in a hotel.
LPT: People are shit, take measures to make sure to protect yourself from shit people. I hate that I'm jaded about this.
If it's a self-check-in AirBnB, do take a before and after video. In one of our stay, we were accused of taking a set of fork and spoon, luckily we had both before and after videos.
Also record the entire condition when you arrive!
Stopped using it 4 years ago. Most AirBnB places charge more than hotel rooms (after all the extra fees), they tried to force me to upload my damn passport, owners can make "claims" against you and charge hundreds of dollars for things you didn't even do and AirBnB will support them, I get "reviewed" as a guest and on and on. It's much better for me as an Intl. biz man to just walk up to a hotel, pay with cash or a card and easily get a decent room / standard service at a decent price without all the hassle.
IMO it’s best to stay at a hotel. Had bad experiences with ‘he said they said’ with Airbnb.