airbnb, C or D?

i've used airbnb with a lot of success

the situation in vancouver is that you're turning a residential/condo building into a hotel, and there are strata regulations against that. homeowners are also being taxed differently due to not reporting that they will be using their property for short-term rentals. there's also the tearing of a community by installing what is essentially a hotel in a residential zone

having said all that, the problem, specifically in vancouver, lies in the fact that airbnb rentals are a lot cheaper than hotels or other short-term rental solutions

>if i decided to fuck my apartment up and stop paying rent it would probably take my landlord months to get rid of me.

yes. this. took half a year and even then she only left because we weren't letting her walk all over us, we never actually succeeded with an actual eviction after two tries. she also (in addition to not-paying rent) had pets she was just letting destroy the place and a bf that moved in (couldn't legally say anything about that!) who'd she get into constant screaming matches with followed by door slamming/frame destroying tantrums that would terrify our child. and again, the LTB could not give a fuck about her terrifying our kid and inviting her deadbeat boyfriend into our house without our consent. we cannot charge deposit here either so we will likely have to eat the cost of the damage her and her fucking cats (can't say no to pets) and boyfriend caused as well. plus all the fees it costs at the board and now (ongoing) small claims.
so now it's either Air BnB or nothing. we'd rather have trouble making ends meet than ever be at the mercy of the LTA again.

lol at my reddit formatting. whoops!

I'm bumping this so I can find it on zing! - the bookmark didn't seem to work - But I desperately need advice to plead bear with me.

I'm staying for 21 night in Ibiza and have been here 9 days so far. The hostess is a highly strung (to put it mildly) French woman who had told me of quite fiercely for - amongst other things - closing doors too loudly and leaving the bathroom light on. Fair to correct someone but this is quite unpleasant. Today I got told off for flushing the toilet too much today 😳 ok? 4 times in one morning she had told me. She also told me she was about to put on a washing and "hoped it could be a half load" because I was using so much water. And her tone is getting increasingly unreasonable.

I need to go back to pre-arrival though:- here's how I fucked up in the beginning. I asked by Airbnb message for her address and postal code or equivelant one week before arrival three days later she replied by email (not on the air bnb message system - she had asked for my email address) saying that the address listed on the air bnb website was not correct and that the actual address was this - and gave me another address quite near actually one street away. Now I think she waited until 4 days prior to my arrival because she had a moderate cancellation policy and that if I wanted to cancel I had to do it 5 days before to get a refund. I should have taken it through Airbnb right then but I'm a first time user and didn't want to have nowhere at all to stay although i was worried. She told me to go to the new address and the person who was checking me in would meet me outside the building which she did ( a friend of hers). Now, The new address 44 via romana was not the correct address either. There is a 44 but her flat is at 46! She wouldn't give me the buzzer number and I had to meet her friend outs this doubly incorrect address.

She told me she had the wrong address listed because it is illegal to let an air bnb on Ibiza (this is not correct as I'd researched it) I suspect it's because she's illegally subletting.

Should I take it directly through air bnb or try to reaolve? I already feel like I'm treading on eggshells here. also there's another person staying here (also French) and this French woman said the host told her her name is Ciara not Clodia ( as I call her) she has the different rooms of the flat listed under different names with different accounts.

I've no idea what to do and would prefer to move or come home. But I can't afford to move as everywhere else is fully booked other than significantly more expensive places or hotels and flights back are LOADS right now.

Thanks for reading this. I could say much more but I'm posting from my phone so ask me anything you need clarification on.

I have no advice but I hope you're alright. I would spitefully take a massive shit in her toilet and not flush it "to save water" before leaving if it was me.

And ps I don't have enough money in my bank accounts to pay for new accommodation or a return flight. I have euros to spend here and cash in the bank enough to cover my uk bills and a bit extra.

I have actually been using the loo a lot because this is giving me a bit of a nervous/anxious tummy.

sounds like a really shitty situation, that sucks dude. honestly though i would just tough it out and spend as little time as possible at the place, avoid her as much as you can, and try to have fun in ibiza. in less then two weeks this will all be over

Document everything sketchy and then file a complaint with airbnb right now at an elevated/emergency status.
The giving of the wrong address and the emailing outside of their system are huge red flags for them and they should respond accordingly. Make sure to let them know the sensitivity of the situation.

They may be able to partially refund your payment and (help you) find alternative housing in the area.

Worst case is you have to stay put but you're in Ibiza... Plenty of things to do away from the crash pad.

ya, i would think they'd make some effort to get you somewhere else. did this woman have a decent rating? this can't be the first time she's pulled all this.

Thanks for all the feedback. She has decent ratings but very few over a long period (like 5 or so since the beginning of 2015) and one very negative concerning the hygeine of the flat, which I have no issue with.

The thing is I think she is using multiple profiles in the same flat and I can't seem to find her other listings (although I had seem them previously) so her negative ratings, if she has them, must be spread across them.

Thanks for all the advice. It is Ibiza but it's rainy af right now so I think I'll write down everything that has happened on pagesso that I can fire off an email to support very quickly if the situ worsens.

Will try not to use loaded language about her been French or highly-strung haha.

i didn't even think about Airbnb for my London trip, bcz being surprised with stuff like this would be bad enough domestically.

"on pagesso that" should read "on pages, so that"

True, morbs.

Although you could maybe look for someone with EXTREMELY positive ratings.

I searched a different way (without dates, although the app doesn't lend itself to you doing that) and found all four of her profiles - there are only three rooms in the flat fwiw, one is listed twice under two different names.

sounds like she's fucking at it. I've been on the receiving end of airbnb bullshit before (lack of comms leading to last minute cancellation) and it is stressful af ! hope you get this sorted x

Aye I think she might be! cozen, would your advice be to bypass her and go straight to Airbnb now?

two options, I think

1. dingy her as best you can and just try to have ur best holiday, staying away from the apt as much as possible. appreciate this is difficult if she is a super on edge type & ur all cooped up w/the rain etc.

2. raise a support ticket w/airbnb, outlining all the irregularities and difficulties in your message to them & stressing the potential precarity of your situation. don't think it's beyond the pale to stress tht she's not being particularly welcoming host either. ask if they can support you by helping to locate another room or whatever

not mutually exclusive those options of course

Seems very stupid of this woman to be horrible to someone who is in a position to expose her prohibited by airbnb at best, illegal at worst activities!

I don't have any experience of contacting/relying airbnb support however so can't say how responsive or helpful they are sorry

They're pretty good ime.

jed, email or call Airbnb now!! My neighbors went on vacation and their reserved apartment was mysteriously unavailable when they got there (I forget what happened), and they complained and Airbnb put them up in a hotel within a matter of hours!!

AND refunded their money I think!

Yeah two points - one is they are collecting a substantial fee from your booking and thus their help is a service you are paying for. Two, is that it's essential this woman be reported to prevent others having the same bad experience, particularly if she's gaming the system with the multiple profiles and fake addresses.

Multiple profiles and fake (ok, obfuscated) addresses is an inherent element of Airbnb's business plan.

I was away from wifi and on limited roaming data so thanks for all of your advice. I wouldn't like to exaggerate the precariousness here. And I've already been contacted by a friend (who saw this thread, thanks) and who has offered to help me out with flight arrangements if it comes to that which I'm sure it won't!

I'm going to compose this email now and then head out for a drink!

rip

http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-governor-signs-bill-authorizing-fines-for-airbnb-rentals-1477079740

Staying at an airbnb and woke up this morning and met the host, and he said you are a foreigner, and where I'm from its tradition to give a foreign guest a shot of vodka.

I said thats great, and he said well i wont be back till very late, so then he poured me out a huge glass of vodka, said you'll enjoy your day now, then he jumped in his car and drove to work

lol

are you going to drink it?

burps

time to have an incredible day!

I too am interested in enjoying my day

didn't realise it was that easy #lifehacks

and where I'm from its tradition to give a foreign guest a shot of vodka.

So where's he from?

He is from Nigeria!

I had a little bit of it but most of the glass is now in the fridge for this evening. having said that, a little bit of a huge glass....isnt that much of a little bit, when i'm trying to do some work!

Very nice!

I have just arrived at another airbnb. the host has left me a bottle of wine in the room. there are two glasses

well if you break one

Drink both of course

that doesn't even make sense.

leave a review pointing out that the you've come to expect a Jon Bonham Breakfast and this wine nonsense is unacceptable

"All this wine nonsense! You get all these wine people don’t you? You know, wine this, wine that!. Let’s have a bit of red; let’s have a bit of white! Oooh that’s a snazzy bouquet! Oooh this smells of... I don’t know, basil! Sometimes you just want to say ‘sod all this wine just give me a pint of mineral water’."

had my first repeat AirBNB stay. there's one place for like $30 in Ybor City where they just give you codes to get in and out and the owners aren't there. good for when I'm going to get drunk at a show, Uber-able distance.

feel like I'm going to start leaving cryptic clues each time I stay there

"Detroit just banned Airbnb without anyone knowing it" https://detroit.curbed.com/2018/2/8/16991266/detroit-banned-airbnb-zoning

awesome!!

I wish I knew more about the legal issues and technological issues around information sharing of tax documents. I feel like it should be possible for cities to be able to get copies of the 1099 forms that Airbnb gives to its "hosts" and then develop better systems for collecting business tax from them. And if that enforcement and collection results in higher rates or less profits for Airbnb, then fine. But I feel like it's screwing cities out of hotel tax revenue and also creating unfair competition with actual hotels because Airbnb isn't paying its fair share of local business taxes.

i guess they aren't enforcing it https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/02/09/detroit-airbnb-ban/322991002/