I have only ever had one bad review on air bnb. We arrived to find a home dirty other issues and I thought I should inform owner in case she had paid to have it cleaned. She felt I was being very rude (turned out she had cleaned the home herself) and wrote a scathing reply. Now I am afraid to add air bnb to my trusted housesitters profile. How important is that?
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Not important at all. Better to build up reviews by housesitting than staying in an Airbnb.
Must admit I’ve got good reviews on Airbnb but, despite asking here and asking Airbnb haven’t managed to work out how to link them!
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Any sitter who has reviews on THS, I’m not even going to look at Airbnb reviews.
But even on that platform, if both sides of the story are visible (aka there are reviews on both sides), it’s often clear when a super negative review reflects more on the reviewer than the person being reviewed. Especially if the rest of the reviews show a very different experience with the person.
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I also have one bad review because I gave honest feedback to an Airbnb host. It’s pretty annoying because I was trying to be honest and helpful and she retaliated against me and left a terrible review after we spent $250/night and left the place super clean.
@SunshineAndAloha We had 2 (unfair) bad reviews on Airbnb and managed to get both removed. Took a bit of work and persuasion but we didn’t want any black marks on our account!
Unfortunately there was one review airbnb refused to remove because the host didn’t actually write anything that was against the t&c, even if he was mean, so we just wrote a very strong response to him. His review sticks out a mile against our 50 other great reviews anyway so says more about them than us!
For THS- when we first joined and had no reviews we got the idea to cut & paste some of our best Airbnb reviews directly into our profile! This was before you could link the profile directly. I think it helped a lot in the beginning as we never had much difficulty getting sits.
Hi @Purplepatti - it is not compulsory to add any links to your profile.
Can someone explain to me what an Air B&B is? I’ve never really understood. Thanks🤔
Wow!
It’s a bit of a misnomer as most AirBnbs don’t offer breakfast, but they’re places to stay around the globe. Originally they were in people’s homes, a room with either shared bathroom or an en suite sometimes with use of the kitchen and laundry facilities; sometimes whole apartments or villas; sometimes hotel rooms. Check out the airbnb app
@MarieHuggins check out the airbnb app.
We’ve been using it for years for getting cheap rooms and apartments around the world. For us its more useful than hotel apps as we always want self-catering. Despite the name its not the same as a traditional B&B (bed & breakfast) its an accomodation app for everything from a bunk bed in a hostel to luxury villas etc
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What is bame?
Im still confused 
I kind of understood until you said hotel rooms. So not private residential homes? Are the owners there too? Ooh. I wouldn’t like that
The original Airbnb concept was an upgrade from Couchsurfing. It started in 2008 when two friends saw the potential of a lack of hotel rooms in their city of San Francisco so blew up three air beds and charged people to stay on them in a room in their apartment, it was so popular they created ‘Air Bed and Breakfast’ . This quickly became shortened to a more snappy ‘Airbnb’ which is still to this date confusing as it is unusual for Airbnb rentals to include breakfast.
Anyone that had a spare room could let it on the site. We joined in 2011 and had guests stay in our spare room in Manchester UK for over 10 years, literally, thousands of guests stayed over that period, and we made some good friends from all over the world - the whole experience changed our lives positively -socially and financially.
It was not long before people saw the earning potential and started to let whole apartments, caravans, castles, you name it. Many people started Airbnb businesses with lots of different rooms and apartments on their books.
For a while, it worked great but unfortunately, it became a victim of its own success and landlords, seeing the money that could be earned started to take their properties off the regular rental market so that they could Airbnb them instead - this has resulted in a rental shortage and higher rents in many cities around the world.
There is now currently quite a backlash against Airbnb and many cities have introduced or are in the process of introducing tighter regulations on whole property Airbnb renting.
We still use them often for short stays and love staying in spare rooms and meeting local people, Honestly, we also often rent whole apartments for longer stays but always do this with a sense of guilt as we understand the housing issues that this is now causing.
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I have had great reviews wherever I stayed but one air Bnb owner did not because I informed her home was dirty when we arrived thinking she would want to know her cleaner did not do a good job… unfortunately she was the cleaner and ripped me apart on the review, I’m worried that if I listed Airbnb profile in my TrustedHousesitters references it might hurt me… suggestions?
Sometimes, although it’s getting rarer as that’s a very niche market.
Through Airbnb I’ve stayed in: a room in someone’s home while they are there; an apartment or suite with a separate entrance where the homeowners are onsite but not sharing space; fully independent apartment or homes where there is little or no contact with the host; as well as traditional guest houses or even small hotels in locations where the platform allows the hosts to reach audiences they otherwise would not.
I often like to travel with local interaction, so I’ve enjoyed all manner of accommodations (and have couchsurfed and hosted CSers as well), but Airbnb got so well known due to the beautiful apartments available for far less than a hotel or traditional bed and breakfast.
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Thanks for this Colin. I didn’t know how it all started, so fascinating!
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Not worth the risk. Also don’t see the need to link the Airbnb profile.
They’re chalk and cheese IMO.
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Yes 
We have a no Airbnb policy in our buildings because of the same concerns, but our next door neighbor rents her upstairs apartment, which I have nothing against but I think it can be an issue when entire communities or spaces are being put on Airbnb rather than being rented out to locals.
We prefer hotels for long weekend stays or tropical vacations because for us personally is just a better experience than staying in an Airbnb.
We still use airbnb for long term stays or when traveling with big groups, and normally always look for something in a very busy part of town. We learned our lesson the last time we were in Guatemala for a month and could tell the neighbors were annoyed we were there, but the hosts were super nice and helpful but my favorite was our clean lady that came twice a week which was a real treat, and we made sure to give her a generous tip. She was so grateful she even cried and gave me the biggest hug. I sure hope to see her again when I go back, even though we won’t stay at that Airbnb again.
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I’m sorry I don’t understand how she could retaliate because of the review you gave her. Reviews on Airbnb are blind. I don’t get to see my guests review until I write there’s. They are published simultaneously.
Those low prices are rare these days.
Another reason why I prefer staying in hotels these days!
I like when it is just a bedroom in a nice home where the owners live or connected garage turned cottage home places, they’re still around but they’re not cheap.
I think Airbnbs are still nice for secluded places, I love the OMG! and Tiny homes categories.