It was a first tweet that triggered a real avalanche of testimonies from dissatisfied customers: Ewen, a 21-year-old student, testified on the social network about his misadventure with the owner of an Airbnb in Marseille. She demanded 290 euros for a shower gel stain on a drawer. The host justified the bill: 140 euros to buy new furniture and 150 euros for installation costs.
A “totally ridiculous” claim, according to the Breton who spoke to AFP. A summer soap opera that fascinates Internet users, which will end in favor of the tenant: Airbnb will not claim anything from him, after examining the situation.
An isolated story? Not really, given the number of clients who will testify after Ewen about their own misadventures.
Bury
If more and more customers are turning to Airbnb for their holidays, it is also because the platform offers a certain security: in the event of fraud, non-compliant accommodation, etc., it guarantees the tenant a new accommodation solution. And for the owners, it is usually also the guarantee of receiving payment and compensation in the event of damages. But when something goes wrong, what really happens?
Camille paid the price this August. The 26-year-old, who lives in the Paris region, heads to Le Havre with two friends: they want to spend four nights in the port city and, for accommodation, they have opted for a small apartment that they rent for just under 500 euros. Upon arrival, they are disappointed. “The cleaning had not been done,” Camille explains to BFM Business. As evidenced by traces of mould in the fridge, stains on the toilet bowl… The group decides not to let this situation ruin their holiday and, armed with wipes, they do the cleaning.
But at 9:30 p.m., Camille decides to contact Airbnb: a man is shouting in the hallways of the building and they have just discovered… cockroaches in the apartment.
Noise, dirt, pests… It’s too much, they want to be rehoused. So begins a real marathon for Camille with Airbnb, between telephone exchanges and written messages.
“We have to repeat the same thing several times, because we never speak on the phone with the same person. They don’t tell us the same thing about compensation, relocation. It was a battle,” he says.
The group will spend a “complicated” night in the apartment, but they don’t want to spend a second night there. They will spend the day on the phone with Airbnb. Finally, with no real solution, they will set off that same evening to return… to Paris.
“We finally got someone on the phone at 10:15 p.m. and got a refund for the nights we didn’t spend in the apartment and a small compensation to offset the expenses. But we had to negotiate, in English, from a rest area on the highway, because we were already on our way back. It’s very stressful,” he continues.
The end result for the trio: a bad review on Camille’s Airbnb profile because the host was not happy to see them go and dismissed their criticism, a big day of stress and the disappointment of ending their holiday prematurely. The next few weekends, Camille will be heading “rather to a hotel or a campsite,” she concludes.
A 2,570 euro bill
Last May, Emma, 25, also had an experience that “no longer makes her want to rent houses.” The young woman says: “I’ve always had a lot of doubts about renting on Airbnb, I’ve had bad reviews. That’s why, when I go on vacation with my boyfriend, I prefer the hotel.”
But it was a matter of spending the weekend with a group of five people and the “friendlier” side of the house finally convinced the young woman to rent this villa with a swimming pool in Corsica. Contacted by phone by BFM Business, she tells us how the two-day vacation will turn into a month-long battle with Airbnb and the host of the house. A “terrifying” experience, in her words.
Upon arrival, there is no inventory of the owner’s mother who welcomed them. “We are already shocked, because we discovered that this person lives under the house, very close to us. The advert did not specify this. And then, during our stay, he will enter our accommodation three times,” the young woman stresses. A practice completely prohibited by Airbnb.
The stay went off without any major problems. Upon leaving, the group will tell the woman that she broke a glass. The problem will be resolved by a hand-to-hand transaction of 3 euros.
The exchange is over, the keys are returned and the group hits the road again. A few hours later they are notified via Airbnb that a dispute has been opened. “The host accuses us of having stained the wooden terrace, damaged the plaster of the house, broken several glasses, scratched the table… the list is long, we would have fled on leaving so as not to cause any damage. business.” With this inventory, a hefty compensation of 2,570 euros is requested.
She contacts Airbnb and tries to defend her case. “There was actually a double dialogue between our exchanges with the person who was there and what was sent to Airbnb,” the young woman observes. After a month of exchanges “with several interlocutors, never the same ones, who never knew the file,” she sighs, Airbnb closes the file and the five young people will have nothing to pay. What will save them? A simple video.
“When I arrived, I filmed for my friends who were still away, to show them the house.” And Airbnb will notice it just like they do: the stains on the terrace? Already there, just like the broken plaster, which we also see in the photos of the online ad… Material evidence that allows the platform to decide in their favor.
“Even the most welcoming people can turn against us”
Recording videos, the only solution? In any case, this is the opinion of Nawal, this young mother had an unpleasant experience in 2022, but continues to rent on the platform. “I never trust hosts anymore. Unfortunately, even the most welcoming people can turn against us. People have to take photos, videos… Now, when I arrive at an Airbnb and tell the owner, I take photos of everything.”
It’s summer and she decides to spend a week in Perpignan with her mother and two children. “We were very respectful of the apartment. My mother is a very demanding person, so I can assure you that when we left everything was perfect, we had done a thorough cleaning, even the sheets were washed,” she recalls. At the end of the stay, the host, who is absent, tells them that they can leave and leaves the key in the mailbox.
“We hit the road, I left a great review on the platform… I regretted it,” Nawal laments. Because if for a few days she didn’t receive any message from the host – “I even forgot about this apartment,” she laughs – almost seven days later she received a complaint request directly from the platform.
She is accused of having caused “very deep” scratches on the parquet and of having damaged “a decorative totem”. The bill is 554 euros. A huge sum for “a tiny scratch on the photos, and she asked us to reimburse her for the totem for more than the purchase price!” Nawal chokes.
Nawal then responds to the platform that she will “never pay a cent” and has evidence to back up her claim. “I systematically take photos and videos when I enter the accommodation. Frankly, it irritated me, but it didn’t stress me out, I even laughed because it was so big. She wakes up a week later, despite having rented the apartment. accommodation in the meantime…”
An account “under surveillance”
Then he sends all this evidence to Airbnb. The floor was not really new when they arrived and the photos prove it. “Airbnb did a good job with my case, they kept me informed and after a week the case was closed.”
She will simply receive a very bad review from the owner on her profile. A negative review that does not prevent her from renting on the platform again: “I have many other positive reviews. I continue to rent without problems, but I am very selective and pay a lot of attention to the reviews, the quality of the exchanges with the host… and I photograph and film everything on arrival and departure!”
Airbnb, contacted by AFP, said these problems were “rare”. But the rental platform has reopened an investigation into the owner of the Corsican house rented by Emma and her friends. “They contacted me on Wednesday to tell me, probably following my tweet, because I hadn’t heard from them since June, when they told me they had put my Airbnb account ‘under surveillance’,” says the young woman.
“While we do not require guests to conduct a full inventory upon arrival, we do recommend that they inform the host of any damage upon arrival so that they can review it,” Airbnb said in a note sent to AFP on Friday.
Source: BFM TV
