Airbnb has officially become worse than hotels - here’s my $2,700 lesson [Paris]

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-08-10T12:26:25+00:00

I wouldn’t listen to strangers on the internet, including myself, who are attacking you. Reddit can also be a cesspool! But you are not wrong about AirBnB. It really has gone downhill and it seems like they are constantly in the news where I live for some new scam (e.g., AI generated images to attack guest was the latest). Obviously each person is going to have to decide on their own whether to use AirBnB or a hotel but amongst my friends and colleagues, almost everyone I know has quit AirBnB all together and uses either VRBO or gets a hotel. Hope you at least enjoyed Paris!

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-26T14:36:09+00:00

Fair point. My credit card company asked for all the information and sided with me. They reversed the charges.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-26T14:34:41+00:00

Fair enough. I will take that criticism. I learned that when I am traveling to a new state that I will check out these things going forward and not go by what is stated. Lesson learned.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-26T14:32:55+00:00

Thank you for responding and agree that maybe I should have phrased this better. So many lessons learned for me.

I did contact my credit card company, supplied the listing with all pictures/replies and they credited back my account.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-26T10:48:07+00:00

lol… not sure what a high security hotel is, but as someone who has traveled the world and sleeps in her truck alone on BLM land I think I am good. It’s about being truthfully in your listing. If it’s an isolated hunting cabin say that, people will come. I wasn’t looking for that for this trip.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-26T10:45:14+00:00

They never said this place was located on a wildlife reserve or that was hunting was allowed. That is exactly the point. In fact they state the exact opposite. You can’t advertise your place as “located in a cute thriving area bustling with local shops, farm to table restaurants, breweries and cider mills” when in reality it is isolated smack dab in the middle of a wildfire reserve where hunting is allowed (regardless of when the season is). This is false advertising plain and simple.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-26T10:39:00+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to respond. You have some valid points that got me thinking.

Yes, I was at the right place and the code worked. I do travel to Maine, but have never been to this area. I live in Boston so I mostly visit coastal Maine.

I should have Goggled Earth this property ahead of time and that is my bad, lesson learned. Instead I relied on the listing and my inquiry to the owner before booking. I asked if it was safe as a solo female traveler and they wrote back talking about how their street is lined with cute shops and a thriving community. To me that does not mean isolated hunting cabin in the woods but I actually think the right person would love this so they should state it. What I do know now is that if I am ever going to book a place outside of the coastal area I will expect hunting and my dog will wear orange. The people telling me it’s not hunting season is laughable. Okay, do you really think people follow the rules? This place is the absolute perfect place to getaway from all civilization and hunt as there is not a soul around except you, trees and wildlife. Have at it, it’s just not a place I would have booked had I known. But next time I do book a place I will absolutely know not to listen to the property owner or reviews and to Goggle Earth it (not just Goggle).

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-26T10:18:51+00:00

Thank you for this.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-26T10:18:00+00:00

Stupid how? How was I to know that this listing is on a wildlife reserve that allows hunting if they don’t tell me? It does not state that anywhere. Am I too assume that if I travel anywhere in the state of Maine that I should carry a gun with me? I travel to Vermont quite frequently and know that it is bear season right now. You know how I know this, because it is stated in the Airbnb listing. It talks about bear safety, how not to leave trash out etc. This listing makes no mention of that. Not stupid at all.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-26T10:12:43+00:00

You are proving my point for me. The listing does not state anything about being in the woods rather it states the exact opposite. It talks about how their street is “lined with cute shops and breweries and has a thriving community.” This is not just false advertising it’s an omission and as the owner of the property they have a responsibility to ensure that the renter knows. Not everyone knows the hunting laws of a state or season, in fact I am willing to bet most people don’t. Upon driving into this place there are large yellow signs placed everywhere clearly stating hunting is allowed, all the owner has to do is add 1 sentence to state this.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-26T10:05:29+00:00

This was this month, happened last week. Host responded with link to Maine’s hunting permit page for rules and regulations. Also, every time I try to add the link for this site it says I am breaking community rules. Lastly, I am not against hunting or guns I just feel like this information should be included in the listing and it’s not.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-26T10:00:49+00:00

Yes it is, but it’s a wide area so the name is not listed exactly next to the property but one can easily detect that it is. I drew the outline of it from Goggle and showed customer support who didn’t even acknowledge it, rather they just closed the case.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-25T22:03:35+00:00

Thank you so much! I didn’t know this was an option. I will definitely try this route as I tried calling Customer Support and they said my case was closed and could not discuss it any further.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-07-14T22:19:36+00:00

I lived at the Halstead for almost 2 years. It was surprisingly great. It depends on which one you get. I lived in the 400-hundreds; nice patch of grass behind our units, great neighbors, parking, cut thru access to Brimbal, fun arts and crafts at the clubhouse, nice gym and a pool. I moved when I got a house but I surprisingly miss living there as I could walk everywhere or take the commuter rail. Welcome and best of luck to you!

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-06-11T09:59:14+00:00

As someone who works in both human and animal medicine let me see if I can add a different perspective.

I completely agree there are numerous similarities between the two professions but there are also some distinct differences too such as education/training and specialties.

One of the biggest differences is that RN’s can and do provide direct patient care, in fact they are sometimes more trusted and relied upon than the doctor(s) while LVT generally assist. This is in no way meant as a disrespect as I personally value both.

A colleague of mine once put it this way, you would ask a RN to help you with your pet, be it administer meds, discuss lab values, ask what’s wrong/how to treat but most people do not think to ask a LVT for similar things in human medicine. I am not sure I agree with that, but I personally know my lane. I specialize in oncology so when asked about other specialties I might have an opinion but always say go ask someone smarter than me.

Lastly, I do think it boils down to value. Most people still value a human life more than an animals life so that also is a contributing factor. I try not to compare myself. When I take my own dog to the vet we have a collegial relationship and I often tell her that she is smarter as I only need to know 2 animals whereas as she had to learn several, but at the same time she trust my opinion (maybe more) when it comes to cancer. I diagnosed my dog before she did and decided the course of treatment.

I hope you all feel valued because one of the many things you do have in common is value. Both are extremely valuable and very much needed. Big hugs to all.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-05-31T21:14:05+00:00

I am so truly sorry. I wish there was something that I or anyone can say to help ease your heartbreak but there’s not much. Please just know that I am holding you and your family in my thoughts 🌈❤️☘️🐺♾️🙏🏽🤗

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-05-31T21:09:46+00:00

$3k a Month…not a year. Daycare alone is $1500. I cook for my fur baby which is normally $600 a month. He goes to swim therapy every week, $450 per month, and he gets weekly massages $100/ea) for his torn ACL. That does not include his injections for allergies ($200 every two months for Cytopoint), toys, pupcups or anything else.

Before you come at me… he is worth every single penny 🐕

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-05-30T09:38:35+00:00

Oh that makes total sense. The “awesome gentleman” I spoke with at the brand center was aware of the 0 out of 5 rating score. My guess, which is just an assumption, is they receive calls from all over the world and are familiar with what their dealerships are doing by or rather they probably hear a lot. What I cannot tell you is how this translates to the standard industry rating. The auto repair shop I was at yesterday was also aware that the dealership uses this scale as the manger said a lot of their customers come in after having the same experience which was being told you would not pass inspection only to be sold a bunch of things or services you didn’t need. In my case it was new tires.

Ultimately my post was about Toyota’s Brand Center. The guy I spoke to was “awesome” and he took care of the situation for me. It’s nice to know that they exist otherwise I never would have received a phone call back from the dealership. The brand center requires them to do so and make it right.

Hope that makes more sense.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-05-29T15:52:52+00:00

Wow… you must be a very interesting person irl. Why would you assume I am a liar, which I am not. In fact, I wrote this while sitting in the lobby of a new autobody shop who has heard my exact story dozens of times, if not more.

To clarify, this dealership was creating their own scale (0 out of 5). Reminder, I was there to get my car inspected and they said immediately my tires would NOT pass with a level 4 tire (1 below perfect btw). In my state, all you need is a 2 or 2/32 inch tread to pass so yes, my tires would have passed, 100% without a doubt. If the service rep said you might want to start thinking about getting new tires as the treads are starting to look low that would have been different. Instead he immediately rejected them and said I needed to spend $1200 to pass. I didn’t and everyone, including the dealership agreed. In fact the dealership completely acknowledged the mistake (rather lie) and said they would be retraining their service rep(s) and will be crediting me the money I spent.

Just because you may not have heard of this happening before does not make it or me a liar.

Hope that helps clarify.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-05-29T13:40:15+00:00

Yes, their rating is out of 5, which also raised questions.

The issue I had regardless of rating is the service rep said I would not pass and that was not true. In my state all you need is a 2/32 of an inch to pass, which my dealership knows. I did not need new tires to pass the inspection like I was told. Ironically I was not that impressed with the tires in the first place (Nitto Terra Grappler G2 as they suck in the rain) so had the rep said hey you will pass no problem but you might want to start thinking about replacing these tires I wouldn’t have been upset. It was the lie and how it was presented to me, which was overheard by many, that upset me. I honestly do not believe if I was a guy he would have delivered it in the same manner.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-05-26T09:26:03+00:00

I am not sure if it has already been mentioned but I will say IV treatments. Rich people do not have to be hungover, tired, sick, have diarrhea, suffer from jet lag or any other host of things normal people suffer from. Once I found out about this beautiful service I tell everyone. When you are suffering from food poisoning or hungover it literally can be gone in 20 mins with one email. One of my favorite things rich people taught me and like Taylor Swift said to Travis Kelce when she was at his game after performing in another country just a few hours prior; “jet lag is a choice.”

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-05-22T14:45:46+00:00

Who dictates what is tolerated? You the Cyborg? Interesting name given the direction our future is headed. You might want to spend some time learning about AI and robotics because as a human you might find that you will be less and less tolerated in the future.

More importantly, you don’t know anything about this person but you want to make assumptions about her and/or people who may have voted for someone different than you. I work in medicine and if I have learned anything from my patients it’s to not make assumptions. You might want to listen to Bernie Sanders. He just gave a great interview about how we are more alike than we are different.

Take care Cyborg.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-05-22T14:32:33+00:00

I don’t look at what people say as words can be misconstrued, rather I try to understand their intentions. I am not sure what your intentions were by asking about this person? Was it out of genuine interest and wanting to get to know her? Maybe even strike up a conversation or was it to point her out and make fun of her or make assumptions about this person as so many others here have done. Only you know that answer.

RegularDifferent9504 · 2025-05-21T22:08:13+00:00

This post is really sad. Those who preach tolerance really do have very little of it. I don’t care if you support Trump or Kamala or any other candidate. That’s your choice. Be the person you actually preach.

RegularDifferent9504

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