My 1st Airbnb experience- BittERrr but ultimately Relieved!

[nRiTeCh]

You mentioned he still has listings. Can you link any of those ?

I was not asking you to be greedy but seeking compensation for wastage of time, effort and your hard earned money. They are liable for damages beyond just the refund. Given that the listing has simply moved to another dummy owner, you should actually lodge a complaint with the consumer grievance cell.
Anyways these were just my suggestions and I would have actually done all of these, if in your place.

I have listed those links in primary thread please refer at the bottom!
I will try to ask them for damages and compensation if they can provide.

Will consumer forum work here? Will try though!

Stick to OYO if looking for budget travel in Mumbai. There are decent options within 1500 to 2k a day which is far better than this.
I have never stayed in an AirBnb becuase of such stories.

Lot of hostels thesedays have private rooms also. can always opt for a zostel

I did researched on too oyo and frankly speaking 99% of hotels in the location vicinity had all -ve reviews stating unhygienic, dirt and poor services etc. reasons!

that itself is red flag.. 5500 in bombay, you cant expect anything but a slum.
even the carlson group of hotels are very very low standard compared to rest of the planet.

Not necessary, I saw few properties with been the entire 1bhk apartment between 4.5-5.8k for offerings in plush areas like pali hill, bandstand etc. however, either they weren't available for those dates or the owners themselves were out of town.
Reason: It was a looong weekend- 4 holidays b2b.

Even found a proper villa with entire first floor 3 rooms for rent costing some 9k for those 3 days but obviously it would had been a complete overkill for just 2 of us.
Mumbai or even US doesn't matter, if one carefully digs you can even get a bungalow for dirt cheap rates.

I will never overlook vs under look any place just by the brand it carries as eod not aliens or bot but people stay at any given corner of the world and not everyone is behind money.

I remember using OYO back in 2016 when it was good and you would get good hotels but now it seems that with OYO and Airbnb, the quality has gone down and I have started to avoid them.

True this! Oyo 5=6 yrs ago or so was good. Now it has become a brand for one night stand bangbang hobbies and even oyo knows that whoever is booking their rooms is already aware of oyo quality, purpose of stay and service so now oyo doesn't care anymore. Its like accept us as we are or F off if you have more to spend!

But again oyo in proper tourist places is good as the biz totally depends on tourism. and they have to maintain some standard there.

All in all, it was a very poor experience and I decided I was never going to use Airbnb in India again.

I have booked Oyo quite a few, mostly it has been decent hotels. I have run into issues once or twice where the hotel simply refused to accept the booking saying they didn't have a tie up with Oyo. Oyo refused to do anything about it except refund my money, which doesn't compensate me for the harassment I had to face nor for the higher charges I had to bear due to the last minute booking in another hotel.

In general, service quality is quite poor in India and one should keep their expectations very low.

Again, any international brand launching themselves in India will be or have to be a bit linear as Indians cannot match international standards so the brand have to do with it.
I had many such sharing apartments options but obviously was not at all ntrested in one. Also, given the reviews etc. where the flat owners were rude and providing only partial services etc. it was an added bonus to avoid such places.
Moreover, when traveling, I require a complete privacy and total flexibility as dont want to be time bounded staying in elses house etc. and be in their cage rules and all. Not at all comfortable, else better to stay at relatives places for free!

 

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I remember using OYO back in 2016 when it was good and you would get good hotels but now it seems that with OYO and Airbnb, the quality has gone down and I have started to avoid them.

Ah, i was thinking about the OYO places i saw on the street that dates back to that time. This is in Blr btw

in my experience its much has to do with location and not oyo/airbnb

I'd say it has much more to do with who is offering it than anything else.

On the same street, there can be a night and day difference between accommodations offered.

You could be in a decent location but still, get a tight and weird landlord or vice versa.

 

[solo_wing]

Sorry to hear about the experience you and your wife had to go through. Specially being in tourism Industry a major part of job is also hospitality and hearing such stories is worrisome.

thank you for sharing this. more people should be aware of it.

My personal experience with Airbnb outside India has been great . Never thought of using Airbnb in India except for last year in Amritsar but covid hit airline again and plan got cancelled. Host was nice and understood and got the full money immediately even though there was some cancellation fees.

For the ones travelling with family be little extra careful with your hotel booking and place you book.
There is lot of scam going on with good pics of stays but reality is different and these days with photoshop , It is crazy what you can do.

many rich people and NRIs have bought plots and made villas and farmhouses in very remote location and they think of making extra money and post it for availability on Airbnb. For them it is an investment long term if idea that the main city will get connected but for tourist reaching to that location can be very difficult.

Think of these points before making your plans. make good use of google maps before booking.