Gutted!
 

At the beginning of October I found the perfect rental apartment in Kyoto on AirBnB. The location could not have been any better, the apartment looked excellent and rented out by a company with 40 other properties in Osaka, all with very strong reviews and ratings. Price was right. I booked.

Yesterday, I got an email from them saying they decided to withdraw the property after the recent airing of some television programme criticising the AirBnB model, which they felt had turned neighbours of that property against them. Oddly, they've not withdrawn their Osaka properties, so not quite sure why this would be the case just for one property.

They did organise a full refund (including the AirBnB fees as well) and there was an offer of either taking a full refund (which I took) or using the entire value + an additional £125 against renting another property. I had a quick look but everything else with the criteria I've set, is either too expensive, not available or not in the right location.

Gah.

AirBnB are 0/2 for me now.

I realise that's down to the vendors not the system itself, but it still puts me off.

And now I have to start again on finding somewhere for my 7 nights in Kyoto in high season.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Unlucky!

UsedAirBnB in Kathmandu in March last year, and had a priceless time staying with 3 generations of a Hindu family for a week.

Also used them in Sanur (Bali) last October. Not quite as good, but still good vfm.

Oh what a pain, I really hope you find somewhere...
I used airBnB for a place in Spain last year which did work out, but the fact they can cancel is annoying...
Good luck Kavey. :)

Oh, Kavey, what a bummer. Good luck with your new search.

jdc

Well, that's certainly a drag, but someone with 40 properties is NOT following the original AirBnB model. There are a number of threads on the Europe and US boards about the downsides of AirBnB as it has developed. I have used AirBnB a few times, but I don't rent from people with multiple properties.

If I lived in an apartment/condo building I would be furious if a neighbor turned the place into a short-stay hotel. In Japan, with very small apartments and a strong emphasis on politeness, the reaction is probably stronger.

So sorry you had this happen Kavey. Best of luck in finding a replacement!, thanks for the heads up on air bnb.

Aloha!

I sympathize. Something similar happened to us last year with a rental in Oaxaca in Mexico. Signed on for an Airbnb apt t 3 months before our arrival. A week before we were to leave the country, host wrote me and said a new provision in lease she'd just received from her landlord prevented her from subletting. She was very apologetic and Airbnb offered similar response refund plus extra for other available properties. In fact I was impressed by Airbnb handling and got full refund. But like op other offered properties offered didn't appeal, so we had o scramble around and find something else last minute. On same trip we stayed in another Airbnb place in Mexico City that worked well. I continue to consider their rentals, but am "wiser" now. Determining whether host owns the property, if possible, is probably a good idea.

You can blame mainland Chinese for this. Seriously.

Care to expand on that, rkkwan? I tried doing a search, but didn't turn up anything relevant. However did find a New York Times article on AirBnB in Japan, and an article about the article (lol) that I found interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/ma...apan.html?_r=1

http://xpatnation.co/why-airbnb-is-d...an/#.Z96C79M0Y

http://tinyurl.com/z5g493e

Above link is to an article in the English language JapanToday newsletter - about government starting discussions of rules for paid accommodations in private residences. The comments to the article mention Chinese companies renting apartments and letting them out to tourists....all hearsay of course....but maybe that's what rkkwan is referring to.

I agree with your earlier comment, thursdaysd, - I live in a coop building and would be livid if a neighbor was renting out to tourists - of course, against our rules....

I do feel bad for you, Kavey....I also was looking at airbnb for a Tokyo rental but I was put off by the requirement of paying so far in advance with little or no cancellation possibility as well as the requirements for registering on airbnb.....

Hope you find accommodation soon.

Thanks Mara - that does sound like a nightmare!

Even if it is against the coop rules, enforcing them could be a real pain.

Exactly what I was referring to.

So sorry about this, Kavey. Have you found an alternative? You might try calling airbnb to see if they can get you a discount on one of the pricey places that met your criteria. They might be able to get you a deal.

rkk, There has been a lot written about the Chinese strategy for taking over airbnb:

http://recode.net/2015/08/19/airbnbs...outshine-uber/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccaf...round-hurdles/

In Kyoto -- and Oaxaca -- it is more likely that renters got in trouble with with their landlords (or feared getting in trouble) than that the properties were Chinese owned.

We like staying in apartments because we stay in hotels so much for work. Have used vrbo and local agencies for many years and when airbnb came on the scene, renting became more convenient. We have had good luck with airbnb, mostly in Europe. But you do have to know how to read between the lines. Yes, you should figure out if the host is the owner (an agency works as well) and also pay attention to recent reviews.

You are right (Thursday) that a vendor with 40 or so properties is not following the AirBnB model, but they had very strong ratings from a high number of users, all of whom mentioned the ease of getting in contact, the high quality of furnishings etc, that the property photos were a very accurate representation, and so on.

Whereas many of the properties loaded have "cleverly taken" photos to make tiny spaces look larger.

There are also a lot of one-off owners with properties that honestly look like very cheaply furnished student digs! Cramped, cheap furniture, inflatable beds or what look like very thin futons...

When they cancelled, they did organise full refund PLUS an additional £125 to find an alternative property, or just the full refund if I didn't book something else. BUT I looked at EVERY property available in the area I want to be in, and there's very little else that would meet my standards. I think there was one that is clearly for a bigger party and more than double what this one cost.

Another thing to note is that the majority of Kyoto AirBnB hosts choose the strictest of AirBnB's cancellation terms, so you need to be very sure when you book that you won't need to cancel from your end or you will lose your money.

As Mara says, it can be very offputting.

Glover, aaak, a week before would have been pretty stressful!

I do have 4 months left, just frustrating as I'm travelling in peak season. But 1 week would give me a mini heart attack!

I have made a booking.com hotel booking as back up for now, but it's not really what I wanted, so will keep looking.

Thanks again, everyone!
Kavey

Also, if you have time to check my other thread, would welcome some input on the gaps:

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...y-planning.cfm

The fact that there was nothing else available that you liked doesn't seem to me to be a good reason for encouraging people to subvert the initial AirBnB model. (Not that AirBnB itself isn't encouraging that very thing.)

The accommodation situation in Japan is different from that in Europe.

I didn't suggest it was a good reason, Thursday, but to be honest, that's not my concern so much as it should be AirBnBs concern. Perhaps it suits them though, since they get more properties loaded and thereby more commission? From my point of view, the reason I liked the vendor was that the reviews on their various properties gave me a higher level of confidence about the accuracy of their listing description/ photos and service than some of the other properties I considered. :-D

Right, AirBnB's only concern seems to be how much money they can rake in. So much for the sharing economy.

Well indeed.
I have a good friend who uses it as intended and rents out a room in her place, offers breakfast and loan of her lovely dog for walks, and such. Works very well for her, as an additional small income.

Like any giant business, airbnb is not perfect, but it certainly has been a game changer for those of us who rent houses and apartments when we travel. We have been doing this for 30+ years, mostly in Europe, but also in Latin America and the US.

Previously, when using VRBO and local agencies, we had to wire money and keep our fingers crossed. Now we have a greater selection, more transparency with public rankings, super-easy booking, an open dialogue with a local host, and a formidable advocate in case something goes wrong.

And airbnb doesn't hand over your money to the landlord until you are in the lodging, a policy that actually helped the OP in this instance. (Would Kavey have her refund if dealing with a shady individual? Maybe not.)

Kavey, I still recommend calling airbnb -- and maybe reaching out on social media. It is frustrating getting through to them on the phone, but they might come up with a suitable replacement.

Thanks Crosscheck, yes it was that financial separation from the landlord that I liked. Had the cancellation been nearer to departure date, I would absolutely reach out to AirBnB for help but given that I have four months to go I don't imagine I'd get anything additional to the £125 they already offered (which amounted to around 10% of the total booking value). There is very little listed in the area I want, so I think for this particular week, AirBnB is out of the running.

Thanks for the comment though, it's good to know that the service has proved to be such a positive thing for others.

I have nothing against the <b>original</b> AirBnB concept, and have used it a total of four times myself - although not in Asia. The problem is with its unrestricted growth (never a good thing), with regular people being priced out of rental properties in the central areas of some cities, and the areas in question becoming tourist ghettos. Not to mention people finding their coops, condos etc. turning into hotels. Plus this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/10/yo...next-door.html

The AirBnB folks have shown absolutely no interest in preventing abuses.

<The AirBnB folks have shown absolutely no interest in preventing abuses.>

I do think they're on it. They have a lot at stake with 50 million users, 500,000 a night. From the piece you posted:

'Airbnb offers a hotline for neighbors having problems with hosts anywhere it operates and is building tools that will try to recognize parties before they happen, say when someone books a large house and that listing is immediately viewed by many other site visitors.'

The article makes it sound as if Homeaway is more to blame for Austin's party houses:

'At HomeAway, which is based in Austin and also owns Vrbo.com, executives did not want a ban and said that renting out one’s home on a short-term basis was a fundamental right. '

---
I'm dealing with a homeaway manager about a villa in Costa Rica right now -- we're set to go in two weeks and it takes 5-7 days to get a response to my emails. How I wish we could have booked through airbnb.

But does calling the hotline actually result in any action? Didn't sound like it from the piece. They've been fighting regulation in San Francisco (lots of money to fight a referendum), New York and Paris.

I've heard nightmare stories about all of those services, in terms of people being let down very very badly and not getting any kind of help from the booking site at all.

I'm not sure AirBnB is any worse or better than the rest in that regard, though it's hard to know when it's based purely on the occasional news or social media story...

Kavey so sorry to hear you've had this hassle but glad you've still got lots of time to sort out an alternative.

I guess the upside of Air bnb is that the payment goes through them and that they don't get the cash till you've arrived andand are happy with the place - 24 hours later I think. Cancellation seems to be a downside to all these rental arrangements. So far it has worked out for us but we've always rented directly from individuals - though I admit this system has great potential for fraud, particularly when you have to send a large deposit.

AirBnB MIGHT end up 1/2 again.
The first place I contacted, not for the 1 week in Kyoto but for an overnight elsewhere, had come back to me to say that the property that they'd loaded and was showing available was actually not yet taking bookings for next year as they were reviewing whether or not they would be doing so.
They promised they'd let me know, I chased up a few weeks ago and nothing.
They just came back to me saying it's available, BUT the price has gone up from £326 per night to £447 (in GBP incl AirBnB fees) which is a hefty hefty increase.
I've written to ask if the new price includes dinner and activities, if not I'm not sure whether I'll accept.
But uuugh.

Not to beat the airbnb topic to death but I copied the below article from an online newsletter I subscribe to - Fukuoka Now.

"Fukuoka to Allow Airbnb-Style Lodgings on a Limited Scale
Dec. 10, 2015, 10:14


Fukuoka City has announced plans to launch a pilot program that will permit the rental of rooms in private homes as lodgings only during times when concerts or other major events make it difficult to secure hotel rooms. It plans to begin a trial this month coinciding with concerts by the extremely popular groups Arashi and Exile. According to Japanese law, it is technically illegal to charge visitors money to stay in private residences. In July, at the behest of local governments feeling the pinch of the nationwide hotel shortage, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour issued a statement to all of the prefectures and designated cities saying that home-sharing (as opposed to renting and listing entire apartments or homes as accommodations) does not fall under the purview of the hotel industry. Based on this, Fukuoka will grant permission for Airbnb-style accommodations on a limited basis. It will use the City homepage to recruit people offering rooms, but it will not be involved in setting prices or lodging conditions. The City will start with 17th~19th and the 26th~27th, the respective dates of the Arashi and Exile concerts, and will consider expanding the initiative to dates when large conferences are held in Fukuoka.
Source: RKB-TV Dec. 8"

Interesting that it says Japanese law makes it illegal to charge for stays in private residences. In many other places around the world I think the legal aspect is more around the details of one's contract, which may preclude subletting, or the rules of the specific building etc. rather than a country-wide law. Perhaps that's why these guys pulled back at the first hint of potential complaint?

By the way, the Miyama thing worked out - when I politely pointed out that the increase was 37%, the young man replied that he'd gone back to his president as he agreed it was unfair, and they put the price back down to just a little above the original price - and I think the difference is only because the £ has fallen against the yen... so I went ahead and confirmed.

For Kyoto I have a back-up booking for the 7 nights in a hotel near Yasaka shrine so it's not urgent but not quite what we'd hoped either.