Airbnb Support: Hot running water is not an “essential amenity” | Hacker News Reader

Airbnb Support: Hot running water is not an “essential amenity”

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21 pointsgurchik12 comments

From the linked support chat:

> Customer: You're saying that you list hot water as an amenity on each listing? And if it's not listed, we should assume we only get cold water?

> Airbnb Support: Yes ma'am some Host may have it without listing it which would be a value added. But in case you as a guest would like to make a claim the amenity has to be listed in order for us to force the Host to comply with it.

KB article: What are essential amenities? https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2343

It seems Airbnb's position is to judge listings equally regardless of the country that they're in. An "essential amenity" is an amenity that would be considered essential everywhere, and very few things are designed to meet this criteria. Hot water would not fall under this umbrella since you would not expect hot water for listings in some countries. By that rule is electricity in the same boat?

Even if this policy makes sense, I don't think it's communicated well before making a reservation for a listing in another country. This listing appears to be in Portugal where I think nearly everyone would expect hot water.

Someone in the Reddit comments said Airbnb gave the same answer in response to a listing in the US that didn't have a bathroom, so at least they're consistent. I could talk about how such a listing wouldn't meet American habitability requirements, but they didn't post any evidence of the conversation.

I am sure there are plenty of places in all countries where you've got shared bathrooms or toilets which you can't really list as having a bathroom or hot water, even though they are available (eg imagine beach bungalow on a camping site).

Still, I'd agree that hot water is an essential amenity that needs to be available to a guest, even if the rented unit does not provide it.

As I understand it, a camping site could be listed on Airbnb without any access to a bathroom or running water. If this is properly communicated before booking, I don't have a problem with it. In this case the property normally has hot water but it was broken and the Host attempted to fix it but was unable to. Airbnb refusing to refund seems to me to be unfairly hiding behind a technicality. I don't support the idea that every detail of every listing on the site needs to be meticulously inspected otherwise you might not end up with an expected standard amenity.

Not arguing against your point (I do agree with it!), just mentioning that there being this technicality is reasonable for a generic case even in countries where it would be out of the ordinary not to have them.

Edit: I could have said it simpler above :)

It's rare but when you have a problem with an Airbnb, in my experience the customer support does not have your back. They are trying their best to get out of paying you or supporting you.

Booking.com is called evil on this site, but I feel much safer using them.

Surely there could be a way to set up my account profile with "Mandatory amenities" or other mandatory qualities that any host must possess in order for them to show up on searches, or give me an alert when I try to reserve one, if they don't meet my minimum requirements.

On a somewhat related note, I've noticed that any site search tool that has filters, often does not allow you to set filters to see items without a property. So if I'm searching for smartphones, but I don't want NFC. I can search for smartphones that feature NFC no problem. But I can't exclude that NFC quality and see all phones without NFC. Now apply this when I'm searching for a HCP in a provider directory. It's a huge pain to sift through hundreds of records visually when computers are built to efficiently process large amounts of data.

If only there were another way to secure lodgings for a short period of time, with a reasonable assurance of quality.

Seriously, why do people still use these "hyuck, regulations don't mean shit to me" organisations and then complain when said organisation doesn't uphold basic concepts the regulations demand?

Literally airbnb (and few smaller alternatives) are the only sites where you can get place with kitchen and two rooms (traveling with wife and 2 kids so hotel room is not really an option). Airbnb is lifesaver - you just have to be ready for hiccups from time to time. Stressing about cost of 1-4 nights if things do not go well is just silly - you have to be ready to eat the loss, it’s cost of travel.

I don't know what country you're from but I can assure you that Airbnb did not invent the concept of, and is not the sole purveyor of either serviced apartments or multi-room hotel suites.

Charge it back and let your card issuer decide whether hot water is essential. I bet their opinion would differ.

These companies do this because consumers let them get away with it.

For context, this was in Portugal and it broke during their stay.

This would be not unexpected in many countries at a certain price level.

No idea for Portugal. At $200 a night it seems unlikely.

You are shadowbanned by the way. I've vouched for this specific comment but your entire comment history is [dead]

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