I just had the strangest experience yet with a short-term rental. I booked this through Vrbo rather than Airbnb because the listing and price just seem to work better for the trip – large enough to accommodation a family of four, in the neighborhood we wanted, and seemed to be clean and well-reviewed.
Shortly before arrival I received a copy of the rules for the home, which included lots of details that weren’t in the listing. Things like ‘not moving the furniture’ which is fair enough, except there were planters infested with bugs. One had roaches, the other spiders. I moved both of those outside onto the balcony, in spite of the rules.
Despite very meticulous instructions on how the property is to be left, there was a sweatshirt draped over furniture in the entryway. I guess someone left that behind, and so did the cleaners (whenever they’d cleaned).
But this was a new one on me – there was a bat on the balcony, asleep (bats are nocturnal) and hanging below one of the chairs.
I reached out to the property owner or manager, it was never clear which, and they replied,
Regarding the bat, that’s a new one. We do live above the wildlife reserve and see them fly by, but never rest on our balcony.
There was no offer to help. What does one do about a bat, exactly…? We certainly weren’t going to use the balcony and possibly disturb a bat. It hasn’t been that many years since someone bit into an undercooked bat that escaped the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and we all know how that turned out.
It turns out there’s a volunteer wildness rescue service in the vicinity, which we were able to contact. They came over and addressed the bat, after warning us of the myriad diseases it likely carried that cautioned us to stay off the balcony. I let the owner know, and they seemed pleased to have that not become a greater headache (and they were fine that we’d moved bug-infested furniture off the balcony as well).
I’ll leave it to you to draw any conclusions about short-term rentals versus hotels from this incident.
That is a hell of a bat. I was expecting one of those hamster-sized ones, not something that should have a tail number. AirBNB and VRBO were great at the start, but now there are too many scams and misrepresentations. I’ve gone back to hotels, although those are fast becoming just as unreliable.
Bat soup, anyone?
One short stay at a VRBO Property, actually a friend had won a 5 night stay, convinced me that future stays anywhere would be at a Hotel. This was in the Orlando area, in a quite large exclusive Golf Community. The place was a mold infested place, and the amenities which were advertised were non-existent. There were 7 of us with thinks like dish washing detergent, paper towels, toilet paper, wash cloths etc. very scarce. There was enough dishwasher detergent to wash dishes approximately 3 times. One roll of paper towels. No extra toilet paper. When we asked about the pool heater we had to put a deposit to cover the pool heater as it was late October and not exactly warm weather. The pool deck and pool as well as the furniture had a lot of mold but so did the walls outside the home. There was only street parking since the homeowner had turned the garage into a game room that was unusable since nobody had thought to take the garbage out from the previous occupants.
Although Hippos kill more people a year, bats are number one on my list of animals I want nothing to do with — they are a major (if not the most common) vector for rabies in the US…..
There a plenty of stories of people bit by bats while they were sleeping too.
I hope you stayed far, far away from it.
I suspect that most AirB&B owners are not up to my standards of cleanliness and sanitation…whereas most 4/5 star hotels are. For those reasons I generally avoid other peoples homes that are rented out on a daily basis. As far as the bat, I recently stayed at the Austin Hyatt on “Town Lake” (and saw the bats that evening) and even though the hotel has major renovations in progress the renovated rooms are very nice. I suspect Hyatt will be changing it from a Tier 4 to 6+ after construction is complete. Plus if you want to be cool in Austin, you do not stay or live north of the Colorado River, unless you have lakefront property with a boat dock… then you are very cool.
@Gary – Somehow, I feel like a Marriott would be worse, as would many other hotels. Hotels are similarly hit or miss in the way vacation home rentals can be. Give them the review they deserve, Gary!
As far as the bat, that looks like a fruit bat. There’s a bunch of species, but generally, not a huge threat to humans in that they’re not interested in you. Obviously, they are disease reservoirs and I would not go disturbing one! It’s just not something to be terrified of generally.
Is that a bat or is it Man-Bat from DC comics?
“I am Batman.”
I once had a bat in my house in Albuquerque. I called animal control. They told me to hit it with something and throw it outside, but be careful it might have rabies. I said that they should come over and hit it with something, but be careful it might have rabies. They said that’s not their job. Luckily, a friend of mine was up to the task.
I’ve stayed in dozens of home accommodations, mostly booked thru AirBnB, all over the world, and I’ve never seen a bug in any unit, you really lucked out, and you should definitely post about the “infestation” in your online review of the place. Some are more spartan than others, some not as well furnished, some slightly untidy. But I find when you start paying the same nightly rate as a 4/5 star hotel, the home rental facilities are comparable. Ultimately the choice between a hotel and AirBnB is a personal one based on what you value in a vacation stay.
“something that should have a tail number.”
Ha!
You viewed this as a problem? ♂️
You got to see something really cool, but rather than appreciating the experience, you took it as a negative…
The reason there was no offer of help was because no rational person would need it…
You handle it by leaving it alone and going about your day.
It was a sleeping bat, not an rabid, armed pit bull with aids!
This is why I only stay at hotels. Too many stories of stays gone wrong, extra fees,. etc. If long term stay, I love Homewood Suites or similar. You know the room will be pretty consistent and reliable.
Gary, I’m in Portugal about to visit friends in Portimao and was about to give Airbnb another chance , 10 years after the landlord cancelled a one month prepaid stay in Tel Aviv the day before I was set to move in.
I think I’ll stay at a hotel
Aww! It’s a sky puppy!
And why are they in any way at fault for the bat?
That’s an outdoor location, the bat simply chose to sleep there.
I agree. The bat was outside. It wasn’t going to assault you. I don’t know why you thought you needed to “do” anything about it. It’s a neat experience.
Welp, the bat would’ve been glad to eat all those bugs! Just sayin’!
What kind of bat was it? Looks like you’re in SE Asia here?
I’ve stayed in a lot of Airbnbs over the years. Some better than others, a few really memorable and only one memorably problematic. You do need to do due diligence in reading the reviews and ratings. In the end, I mostly prefer them to hotels. But given that the very next article on here today is about “goop” in Hyatt shower bottles, I’ll leave it to you to draw any conclusions about short-term rentals versus hotels from these incidents.
《They came over and addressed the bat,》hey Mr. Bat, how’s it goin’. The “it’s no big deal, enjoy” crowd is nuts. You paid for a balcony, you should get to use it.
You really put in this writing that a bat caused covid lock downs? It was a lab leak. Something anyone with half a functional brain knew back in 2020 and was admitted by all officials by 2023 for the remaining population who believed the bat story.
Just get a hotel if you are this concerned.
@Gina – I was not actually delving into the origins of covid, I was joking, but even a lab leak involves a bat origin virus
@Gary Leff — the joke wasn’t funny.