We’ve been fortunate enough to stay in some very attractive Airbnbs as we travel the world full time. Some had tastefully designed interiors; others offered spectacular views. But the truth is that, for every gorgeous Airbnb, we’ve also stayed in some total nightmares. No Airbnb is ever perfect and some of them were far, far from perfect.
As just one example, we stayed in an Airbnb in Toronto that seemed good enough in the photos. We could tell the furniture was likely a little run down but the location was great and the price was right. Well, we couldn’t believe what we found when we got there. The kitchen was crammed full of old food; every shelf, even the fridge and freezer, had someone else’s partially used food. The bathroom was similarly chock full of clutter. It took a day to clean it all out and make the place feel liveable.
And that wasn’t even the worst place we’ve stayed. In fact, we’ve compiled a list of our very worst ones. Out of the 32 Airbnbs we’ve stayed in during the last two years of full time travel, these five are the most awful.
When we first started travelling full time, we were feeling very frugal. We’d just wrapped up a couple years of very intensive cost cutting. We moved into a studio apartment; we quit our expensive cross fit gym; we started buying food in bulk; I was even making a lot of my beauty products at home. By the time we quit our jobs to travel the world, we were very price sensitive. We had a budget of $900 USD a month for our Airbnbs and we were going to try to make it work no matter where we were.
The only problem was that we had zero experience with picking Airbnbs for longer stays. Of course we’d booked a lot of cute little Airbnbs in the past but those were just for one or two nights. We had no idea how to pick an Airbnb for long term use. We’d need to cook meals, spend the evenings there, do a little computer work; regular living is different from being a tourist.
As you can imagine, we ran into problems right away…as soon as we got to one of our first destinations: Lviv, Ukraine. To be honest, at the time, there weren’t many really nice Airbnbs to choose from anyway. We picked one that seemed acceptable, based on the photos. When we arrived, we were introduced to what we’ve come to see as a very common feature in many eastern European countries. It was a very dilapidated building, lots of stairs and no elevator to help us get our 50 kilos of luggage up to the 4th floor.
As soon as we got into the apartment, we realised that we hadn’t looked at the photos as closely as we should have. If we had, we would have seen some really uncomfortable furniture. There was a big vinyl couch, which was always very cold and hard, not cosy at all. There were little stools at the dining counter instead of proper chairs with backs. Really the only comfortable place to sit was the bed but that wasn’t a practical choice for all our activities.
Of course, there were lots of other issues as well: the walls were scuffed up and dirty; there was no cutting board; the oven didn’t work; there was no way to make coffee. And that was supposed to be home for the next couple weeks.
We learned that it’s not enough to look at the photos; you have to really scrutinise them and try to imagine what it would be like to live in the space. To this day, if I see a vinyl couch in an Airbnb photo, that’s an instant pass.
Still newbies at picking our Airbnbs, we went directly from that apartment to one that was much, much worse. It was our very first time in Istanbul and we were sticking way too firmly to our budget of $900. We didn’t understand that in some destinations, even in low cost destinations like Turkey, nice apartments just cost more.
Our first impression was terrible. We arrived after dark, checked out the kitchen, opened the fridge and discovered that the power had been off for some time. A terrible smell gusted out of the fridge; it was shocking. We had no idea how we would deal with it.
Then we took in our surroundings. The apartment had been described in the listing as “bohemian” and that should have been our first clue that it was going to be a real hodge podge of old mismatched furniture. We call it “rummage sale style.” The whole place was jam packed full of furniture and someone else’s stuff. The kitchen shelves were full. It took a couple days for Gillian to declutter enough of it so that I would feel comfortable enough to step a foot in there. We regret not capturing all of this on video but at that point we still wanted to show off the glamorous side of travel—and this apartment was nowhere near glamorous.
At this point, we were a couple Airbnbs into our travels and finally learning the importance of scrutinising photos very closely. But we still had a couple more lessons to go.
Our next major stop was Florence, which is not an inexpensive city. You try finding a nice place there for $900 for a month. We found a place that seemed pretty charming and was surprisingly close to our budget. The only problem was that there was only one guest review. And that should have been a major red flag.
In person it really was a charming space; a typical old-fashioned Florence apartment. Unfortunately there were a hundred small things wrong with it. No garbage bins; no lids for pots; only two mugs and they were mismatched and chipped; not enough cutlery; the wifi didn’t work consistently. And instead of a double bed like normal there were two single and half beds…I didn’t even know a one and a half sized bed existed. And it really wasn’t big enough for the two of us, nevermind the four of us if you include the dogs.
Basically it was not set up well as an Airbnb and certainly not for a long stay. We realised moving forward that we need an Airbnb with some history. If a place is newly listed and it has no reviews or even just a couple reviews, it’s not for us. We want to know that other people have stayed there and that all the kinks have been worked out.
After that place, we did end up picking some good ones. We had a gorgeous penthouse apartment in Athens and a really nice place in Split. But right after that we hit our lowest point ever with our Airbnb selection. This was the apartment that almost broke us.
We were back in Istanbul for a second time and really struggling to find a place that offered everything we wanted and had a good price. We finally found a place that looked appealing in the photos. It was done up in a Scandinavian minimalist style—actually quite an unusual style for Istanbul. It was an Airbnb Plus property and we ended up paying way over budget expecting it was going to be a really pleasant stay.
We had a few small concerns going in. A couple reviews mentioned the shower stall was mildewy and some of the furniture needed repair. We asked the host about the shower and they said it was now fine.
We were blown away when we arrived and not in a good way. Sure, the shower had been scrubbed clean but the rest of the place was filled with problems. The sofa was a Murphy bed, which was broken. The bed couldn’t be fully closed so that meant it was hanging over us whenever we sat on the sofa. But there was lots more: the mattress and upholstery were stained; the chair legs kept falling off; lightbulbs were missing; and there weren’t enough plates or bowls.
And yes, over the course of the month the shower became full of black mould because there was no ventilation.
Whenever I think of that apartment, I think of our worst moment ever as Airbnb guests. A team of three people came over to clean all the upholstery. We couldn’t stay in the tiny apartment while the cleaning was underway but we had nowhere else to go. Istanbul was in a state of lockdown due to the pandemic and we couldn’t even sit in a coffee shop. So we had to stand outside and wait and, since it was December, it was cold and rainy.
Worst apartment ever.
You’re probably wondering what we did about it. We spent a lot of time documenting all the issues and we shared everything with Airbnd and ended up getting a refund on our first week. The refund was helpful…except that we wasted a whole week of our time in Istanbul dealing with issues instead of enjoying the city.
We knew coming out of that experience that this lifestyle of ours—full-time travel—it just wasn’t going to be sustainable if we were dealing with this sort of thing all the time. So we came up with our non-negotiable criteria for screening Airbnbs and weeding out the duds.
First of all, Airbnbs with high ratings only; we’re talking a 4.8 out of 5 or higher. We also like to see at least eight to 10 reviews. That means that a number of guests have tested out the apartment and, if there are any issues to be found, they’ve found and resolved them. We don’t want to be the beta testers
We also read every review in detail. Those guest reviews are the best source of information that we have and we need to pay very close attention to every little thing they say. If a couple guests mention that the shower is mildewy, the shower is probably mildewy and that’s an apartment we need to avoid.
And we’re not just looking for reviews where the guest said “it was a nice place.” We’re looking for phrases like “outstanding”, “the host went over and above” “it was beyond my expectations.” We want to see some superlatives.
We also want to see well-lit photos showing every single room in detail. If any important rooms are missing, like the bathroom, we’ll just ask for more photos. And if you can see a lot of personal items in the photos, chances are that the cupboards are also full of stuff.
And we’ve come to understand that we just need to pay a bit more if that’s what it takes to get a nice place. Over time our monthly budget for accommodations increased from $900 USD to $1,200 and now it’s $1,500. This is still very workable within our annual budget; we know we can always make up for it later by staying in lower-cost destinations.
Our Top 5 Favourite Airbnbs (and Why They Weren't Perfect)
It sounds really glamorous when we say we travel full time but honestly travel comes with as many lows as highs. There are the long travel days and the packing and repacking and trying to navigate our way around in a new city. But sometimes the quality of a travel experience just comes down to whether or not we’re staying in a good Airbnb.
We have stayed in AirBnbs all over the world (4 continents). Almost all have been on point and we have met some fantastic hosts. One time though outside of Seattle we rented a house that not only didn’t have the lakeside location it represented in photos and the description, it was the home the family lived, clutter everywhere. Spoiling food on the counter and in the refrigerator (which was jammed full) and seemingly everything we touched broke (2 sets of blinds, a door fell off the hinges, a deck chair…). It was awful.
We’ve been renting apartments in other countries for 45 years—long before AirBnB. Many of these apartments were found on the internet. Here are a few things we looked for so that there were no surprises:
1) if you have an address or if the description of the place is unique, try to find the listing on other sites. You might find different reviews. A place in France advertised only one beautiful rental apartment. In fact a second larger apartment was available in a very close proximity situation. Our apartment was advertised on a US website and the other was advertised on a Great Britain website. It was a nightmare dealing with the other 5 adults and 3 children especially when we expected to be alone.
2) Look at the photos to see if the living room has enough comfortable furniture. Sometimes there is a small love seat with plastic chairs which is far from comfortable. That is especially important if there is more than one couple!
3) if you have a car make sure there is convenient free parking
4) try to see what bars and restaurants are near the apartment. In Barcelona we were above a nightclub that was open until almost dawn. Also learn about the culture of the area—all night bars in Barcelona; all night weddings in France and South America. Do reviews say the location is quiet.
5) this will be a surprise: some owners just plain lie! Like the owners of the place above the bar.
6) some places offer breakage insurance. Be sure to ask about the details. A deductible of $500 is not going to help you in most breakage situations.