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What I understood from Pitonview’s posts is that despite the issues, it is the best available rental in the area for their needs, location and price-wise, and maybe in provided amenities. And now that they are aware of the issues, they’ll know what to ask for (unplug the damn air fresheners long before we arrive!) and what to check on if they book there again. Any listing is a gamble the first time you book it. If you book a different place in the area the next time, it could turn out to be worse.
“The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t” is a saying that comes to mind.
Sometimes even though a guest had legitimate reasons to not find a place perfect, it was good enough that they’d stay there again. For instance, maybe it wasn’t immaculately clean and the guest spent some time wiping things down that were missed, but the price was such that they don’t mind having to do that again.
@muddy is correct. There are four separate parties in our group (two couples and two singles), and everyone else said “Book this again!” because of the location and the price. We paid under $100US per night per bedroom, while the nearby hotels were all $250 or more per room. If next year’s apartment is in a slightly different location but within a mile of this one and the same general layout and price, they will be happy.
I was the one that booked it and arrived first, so I was the one that dealt with the communication discrepancies (and the one to unplug the air freshener).
If 5 of the 6 people would have given it 5 stars it seems particularly weird to give it 4 stars. I’d suggest you have another in your group book it for next year. As it sounds like you’d stay again, and still give it 4 stars.
I fully understand that AirBnB considers the only acceptable rating to be five stars. If you read my original post, I was mostly looking for advice on what to put in the public review and what to put in private feedback, not what star rating to give them.
I experienced the “wrong address” on a recent trip to Bogota, Colombia. The host explained it as an Airbnb error when initially set up, and he hadn’t been able to correct it. It wasn’t an issue for me other than a little confusing at first upon arrival, but correct address was 1 block away.
I do not understand you wanting to go back ever again after they misled. You are relying on sleazebags for your health and safety – how could you possibly put yourself in their hands ever again?
I don’t know that I’d consider the issues the OP described as having anything to do with safety. It sounds to me more like the management company is just lax and incompetent and not keeping listing addresses up-to-date, and the right hand doesn’t know what the left one is doing, or they are purposely doing bait and switch and then trying to explain their way out of it.
Neither of which is okay, of course, but just because a management co. is incompetent or misleading doesn’t equate to “unsafe”.
Personally I’m in Spark’s camp in that I wouldn’t want to put more money in the pocket of a business owner like this, but the OP is also part of a group who it seems is adamant that they want to stay at that place again.
I just wonder if the managers can be trusted not to put the group elsewhere than that same place they want to book again.
This had me chuckling. As a long time poster here, Piton, have you ever actually seen a post where the OP was provided the information they were looking for and not twenty other alternatives they didn’t ask for?
If they are untrustworthy – you still count on them (trust them, if you will) to make sure there are no “loose keys” in circulation; that the windows and doors are prowler resistant; that there are no rats or cockroaches; that there are no outstanding issues with electrical wiring. I wouldn’t trust a host who did a “bait and switch” to be diligent and trustworthy on safety-related matters.
I know the threads go off topic, and it’s part of the reason I enjoy this forum the most. That’s why I only made one attempt to clarify my question and have just been watching the discussion since.
I love the old joke about how many forum members it takes to change a light bulb (Chuckle of the Day)
