I recently stayed in Panama City, Panama for a week, and booked an Airbnb for my stay. When I checked in, I was so tired from the flight that I just wanted to take a hot shower and crash. I turned on the shower and waited for the hot water. And waited. And waited. Finally I messaged the host to ask if I was doing something wrong with the shower controls.

The host’s response: “We don’t offer hot water at this rental.”

I was, let’s say, surprised.

I asked them where in the listing they mentioned that, and they said “We didn’t list hot water as one of the amenities. That was intentional.”

So essentially, Airbnb considers hot water to be an “amenity”, on the same level as a coffee maker or a carbon monoxide alarm.

Of course I escalated to Airbnb support and of course they sided with the host. So completely aggravating. Like, ok but you also didn’t list “front door” or “roof” among the amenities. What should I infer from that?