Jenny and I have never used Airbnb, and I doubt we’ll be using
them any time in the future, given the growing dissatisfaction among both
visitors and hosts.
Visitors are complaining that they’re expected to carry out
various domestic chores that amount to cleaning and should be carried out by
the host – like stripping beds, washing towels, mopping floors and taking
rubbish off site.
That’s in spite of visitors usually being charged a cleaning
fee.
Hosts on the other hand complain that visitors can leave
accommodation in a complete mess, with broken furniture, vomit, pet urine and
rotting food. Cleaning it all up can take several hours and mean extra costs
for the host.
Airbnb have responded to the complaints by clarifying what
should normally be expected of visitors and hosts. They say hosts can no longer
ask visitors to do jobs normally carried out by cleaners and should only make
“reasonable” requests.
But we know quite a few people who have used Airbnb and were
quite happy with the way it went. Though what sort of mess did the host have to
deal with before they welcomed the next lot of visitors?
