Some hosts are threatening to strike, while others are plotting ways around Airbnb’s new restrictions. Guests, meanwhile, are celebrating.
AIRBNB HOSTS ARE melting down over a new policy banning them from making guests complete tasks that “would typically be performed by a cleaner,” like “stripping the bed, taking trash offsite, or washing and putting away dishes.”
The change, which applies to all bookings made on or after November 20, quickly sparked outrage after it was announced in an email to Airbnb hosts on Wednesday. Many began fuming online about losing the right to make their guests clean up after themselves.
“As hosts, we have a responsibility to protect our investments, our homes, and, in many cases, our personal living spaces,” one person wrote in Airbnb’s official forum for hosts. “The problem is that Airbnb increasingly expects hosts to accept the risks while limiting our ability to protect ourselves.”
The hostility these people have for their customers is really something to see.
You can kind of feel that hostility when just staying in a lot of those places. Which I refuse to do anymore. But I learned slowly after several bad experiences. I always justified it by “this doesn’t usually happen and I’m saving money”. Then at one point I realized it happens 50% of the time and you’re saving not much if any money anymore. Airbnb hosts are largely selfish assholes who lie on their listings and don’t care what happens to you or if you have a problem. I had my car broken into at an Airbnb and it was a whole debacle I won’t go into, but the host ignored my calls and texts for hours after it happened. That’s probably my worst experience but I’ve had at least 5 other memorably bad times as well.