
Airbnbs have become a treasure trove of vacation experiences for all kinds of families—but for one vacationing mom of three, the experience she and her family had was far from ideal.
In a viral TikTok, which has amassed 21,200 views, user Railey (@railey_bobailey) shared how her recent Airbnb experience fell short of her expectations.
What happened at this Airbnb?
As a mother of three kids—two-year-old twins and a seven-year-old son—she booked an Airbnb back in February that was advertised as a family-oriented rental, with many of the positive reviews mentioning kids.
So, Railey thought that she had found her dream vacation lodgings. She explained that her son, especially, was excited by the fact that the property had bunk beds. As the twins still slept in a pack-and-play, her plan was for the son to sleep on the top bunk.
However, when they arrived at the house, Railey’s husband called her over.
He showed her how the so-called ‘bunk-bed’ was simply two single beds placed on top of each other, with the TikToker noting that the beds weren’t even secured to the wall or to each other.
To check its safety, her husband tried adjusting the bed and found that it was easy to slide.
In the end, her son had to sleep on the couch, and Railey says that she decided not to say anything until after the vacation. Apart from that, the trip was going well.
At the end of the trip, she was prompted to review the property. She did so honestly, mentioning the bed issue.
In a more extended, private review, Railey says she reiterated her point about the bunk beds and her belief that they were unsafe.
How did she review it?
However, Railey found a further surprise in the Airbnb’s review section. Despite many of them mentioning kids, none of them commented on or mentioned the bunk bed.
The TikToker also claims that the host never got back to her and that her review was never published.
“Can Airbnb hosts pick and choose what they wanna review?” she asked viewers. “This is a safety concern — I’m still kinda worried about it.”
Railey didn’t immediately respond to The Mary Sue’s request for comment via TikTok comment.
@railey_bobailey #fyp #airbnbhost #airbnbsuperhost ♬ original sound – RAILEY || running + motherhood
Viewers failed to agree
In the comments, users had conflicting answers. One claimed that you have to wait 14 days for your review to be published. While another said that hosts “can’t pick or choose” what reviews they publish.
However, most commenters were more concerned with the situation itself.
“For your concern about the bed, since everything else about the home and stay was good, I would have written it only in a private one to the host,” one wrote. “I would not have put it in the public review.”
“I get that it wasn’t an inconvenience to your trip but you should have messaged the host immediately,” another opined. “That is a safety concern and it is a simple low cost fix if bunk beds were wood. As for now you need to contact Airbnb.”
While a third added, “So the bunkbed not being secured to the wall isn’t a concern to me because I’ve never heard of that but the beds being two twin beds stacked on top of each other is weird and scary to me.”
Can Airbnb hosts remove reviews?
Airbnb hosts cannot decline or remove reviews on their own. However, per the Airbnb website, it is possible for them to contact Airbnb. Then they can ask them to remove the review if they feel that it goes against their review policy.
Airbnb’s review policy dictates that reviews should be unbiased, relevant, and not violate its content policy, which in turn prohibits explicit, discriminatory, harmful, fraudulent, and illegal content.
Airbnb didn’t immediately respond to The Mary Sue’s request for comment via email.
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