This post is about an experience we had with an Airbnb property but it features a certain football club. A club with a great heritage and loyal support who often finish high up the league but have won no trophies for over 15 years, despite getting to a European final only recently. Yes, I speak of course about ACF Fiorentina! Quite why the Italian equivalent of my chosen English team feature so prominently in a post about Airbnb accommodation will become clear.

We've been using Airbnb quite a lot on our recent travels. You do hear some horror stories and the Trustpilot reviews are full of tails of woe. My theory is that people are only moved to upload a review of a big corporate like Airbnb if they are really p*ssed off or have staggeringly good service. It's difficult for a company that is basically just a digital platform to really impress, you just expect it to work. So the feedback you see is the former, and usually it's an issue with the host rather than the platform. My experience is that the platform works really well. It is the hosts that are more likely the issue.

What we've learnt about Airbnb hosts is that on the whole they are very keen to please. This may be because they are good people, as they mostly seem to be, or because they really care about the ratings and reviews that are left on the site by the client after their stay. 

Now, as Tracy's mum taught her, there are sins of commission and sins of omission. A sin of commission is doing something that you shouldn't have. A sin of omission is not doing something that you should have. I mention this because what we have also learnt about Airbnb hosts is that what you really need to look out for is not so much what they say about their property as what they don't. They are unlikely to lie about a feature of their property but they may be tempted to omit to mention something that might deter you from booking. Normally this will be something like there's no microwave, or there's free parking (but it's a 500m walk away).

What we experienced at our booking just outside Florence was a sin of omission at a whole different level. The property in question had only recently been listed on the site and it looked fabulous. Three previous reviewers provided fulsome praise and 5 stars across the board so we felt confident to book. Here is how the listing describes the property:

Stylish portion of villa 10 minutes from the center of Florence. The apartment consists of two rooms both with private bathroom, elegant living room with fireplace and kitchen. The patio overlooks the Tuscan garden with 15x5 meter pool. The lemon grove has a gym-equipped room; on-site parking is private and with an electric car charging station.

Notwithstanding that our car uses diesel I think you'll agree that is sounds lovely.

Tracy took this video to show my son and daughter what the problem was (hence why I feature in it as 'Dad'). Take a look and you will start to appreciate the issue and where ACF Fiorentina come into the story:

Yes, that is a stadium currently under construction immediately adjacent to the property and overlooking the pool! And on further investigation we discovered that is it not just a secondary stadium for the club but is is part of their new training ground, which will be the largest sporting complex in Italy! It turns out that much like Tottenham the club think that building the best facilities in the country will bring success on the pitch. Well spoiler alert my amici, it doesn't!

Anyone familiar with major construction activity will know it's noisy and the noise goes on all day. And sometimes they shut off the electricity leaving the occupants of adjacent properties stuck outside the electrically operated gates! Our host and three previous reviewers had forgotten to mention it.

We had booked for five nights but left after three and the host agreed to provide a refund for the last two nights. Whilst we feel some sympathy for the host we felt obliged to warn others in our review (isn't that the point of the system?) and as far as I can see she has not had any bookings since, at least none have left a review. I don't know whether it is the case or not but I have a sneaky suspicion that she had sold the land to the football club for the development. If not she has certainly got the raw end of the planning process.

You can see the listing here and click through to the reviews to see what we and the previous reviewers said: https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/863831414735021629?source_impression_id=p3_1688933650_GotNl7Qr1V5xH2Xk

So there you have it, beware the sins of omission when booking Airbnb. You can always ask the host a question before you confirm the booking, something like "is a major football club building a stadium on your doorstep" for example. Although they may think you are mad and turn down your booking. Sometimes, like Fiorentina (or Tottenham), you can't seem to win.

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