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I’m heading back to the U.K. for a few days next week and thought, as usual, I’ll find a cheap Airbnb.
Well, I did. But after looking at some of the hosts responses to negative reviews I ended up on BDC.
This is from one. There are more
JF
It was a property that was basic and met my needs for our trip. Don’t expect a lot of frills. It is a quiet area,not in the heart of the city center or west end. The location is about a mile and a half walk from the west end, be prepared for a walk up the hill for buses as there are none on Kelvindale Rd.
Response from Shohreh And Cyrus:
You paid 45 pounds and you want an expensive lamp shade well it simple pay more and i will get you one of my 5 star apartments, People are not stupid they know when paying £15 a head for a 2 bedroom apartment with washing machine, heating 2 double beds and a single bed and flat screen tv and internet and coffee making machine, DVD player, free bottle of water and tea and coffee and milk and sugar, instant coffee and tea and shower and a full kitchen and not sharing with other all reserved to yourself, Not being in a backpacking hostel, fresh linen, extra pillows, FREE PARKING the apartment being very clean, in a one of the better areas…they know trust me they know not to except Sheraton Hotel in the middle of city centre They know trust me they know not to expect room service and silver spoons I suggest try to set the water in shower first and then jump into it and the only hill you get to the buss stop is about 1 meter high and if you call that a hill then then I can assure you you must be in world of your own. as regards not being close to city centre you must get told where is via map system and airbnb did not show you then tell airbnb to make more clear or think before you book. You get 3 star, what would you give me if i had charged you £30 per person probably 1 star. When your cup is half empty then nothing seems quite as good,that is my opinion
Would not stay again was not like description was rather unclean table broke shower had hairs on the wall where it hadn’t been cleaned properly bed was broke and chocked up with wood had a smell of damp in the full apartment
Response from Shohreh And Cyrus:
the cheaper you sell your apartment the stupid errrr the reviews is there no one telling this guy 2 bedroom sleep 5 wifi, full kitchen living room £24 , do you not feel silly to complaint… a guest house would have cost you 3 times the price for a bed, a back packers bunk bed would be more expensive you silly silly man… Where do airbnb finds these ones from
Good info. Wow I had no idea all this was out there. Am learning heaps. I thought that first one you showed was actually quite good (??). Just non emotional and descriptive. Thank you.
I agree with the previous comments about why not to leave responses to reviews, but I thought yours was strategic and cheeky. As a potential guest reading your reviews, I would read that and think “wow, she had a horrible guest who damaged her place and likely lied about everything” and would totally book your place.
We had a host in our area who routinely insulted guests. My evil twin will miss him! But the hosts have a point. When they are charging $15cad a night, what did you expect
I found the guy’s responses that I’d seen in Feb that I thought were way over the line. It seems like after he posted these responses his business took a hit but still more bookings than I would have expected.
I also notice that his lack of host photo doesn’t seem to hurt his business.
I don’t know. This dude is a superhost with 278 reviews on one listing and 70 on the other since 2016. Maybe we should start another topic called “quit taking crap from guests because you’re afraid of a bad review.”
The first one in particular is truly disgusting and I am beyond shocked that Airbnb has allowed it to remain up there and this man is allowed to continue to host.
I am also shocked that anyone female or male would book with him after reading that misogynistic pile of CXXP.
Agree. I can see how some hosts could gain a certain cachet by responding to reviews with humorous remarks, even vaguely insulting ones Basil Fawlty style, for example. Guests might be amused and up for taking a “challenge”, as it were.
But that response is just nasty and shows the host to be a sack o’ shite, as we’d call him round here.
Anyway, to answer your question @Flettie (and it’s a great question btw!)…
I’ve been hosting since Sept 2012 and I think that was before there was such a thing as superhost. (Does anyone remember when it was introduced?)
Anyway, it took me a while to gain the status even though I was an established host. I was so chuffed when I got it! But then it made me stressed… I became obsessed with cleaning and doing all kinds of nonsense in order to somehow live up to this dizzy height of greatness.
Mine is a budget listing and, at the time, I listed two rooms in my house with shared bathroom. During high season, even though I was competitively priced, guests still didn’t rate me high enough so I lost superhost and honestly, I was relieved.
For the past two years I have only listed one room (my son’s girlfriend moved in to the other one) and last year I managed to maintain superhost status for long enough to get that bonus. That was nice.
I still list two rooms during August when accommodation is at a premium in my city (I can make almost three times as much as I do the rest of the year so it’s worth all the hassle of moving stuff out etc,.) and it’s possible that I will lost superhost status again after that because of guests sharing a bathroom.
One thing I found: my permanent listing is a room with two single beds. It’s a really good deal for two friends sharing and they seem to like it a lot. Couples in the double room consistently scored lower, even though it’s actually a nicer room and closer to the bathroom. So they were the ones who brought down my chances of SH.
Also, I don’t bend over backwards for guests anymore and don’t obsess over being a superhost. As long as they pay and don’t piss me off, I’m happy.
Thanks for that post, disgusting offensive and totally out of line…
But at the same time totally hilarious!
What host has ever dreamed of writing something like that.
I agree tho amazing this person is still superhost? He must have great location, great pictures and great prices.
