“I used Hello Guest to fully manage my home as an AirBnB let when I wasn't there. It was a total disaster. They engaged a cleaning company that did an awful job, and worse still, they tried to blame them for everything, and the cleaning company tried to blame HelloGuest. Do not fall for Veronica's charm on the initial phone call. The whole thing is a mess, to the point of being a scam. Guests arrived to dirty front step, shower not clean, bed not made properly, insides of old toilet rolls on bathroom floor, bins not emptied. After 3 guests, I arrived back to find all the laundry balled up in a cupboard on top of my belongings. HelloGuest changed my AirBNB account to their bank details (how foolish I was to let them). At the end of a month out of £600 earnings, they are paying me £150, plus I had to refund £75 to a guest because the flat wasn't cleaned properly. HelloGuest refuse to take any responsibility and worse still, they 'gaslight' and pretend it's my fault. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!”
“I was there for 1 month in the HelloGuest Farrigdon apartment. When we arrived with the family, the staff was very nice, the apartment was clean, which is very important to me. While we were there there was no problem in the apartment. the guest service, those who responded very quickly when we could not find something, and were kind. i can only recommend HelloGuest. we will be happy to come back for Christmas for more time.”
“I often travel abroad for business purposes and tend to stay away from home for months. This is why I decided to let my flat in London and given the full management to HelloGuest. They managed my flat in a very efficient way and when I came back everything was perfect like if I never left (with the exception that it was much cleaner this time lol!). I was stunned by the fact that I did not find any damage in the apartment and this is definitely a plus! (probably I was lucky who knows!)
They also managed to achieve full occupancy during the whole period I was out (my flat is in zone 2 ok but to achieve full occupancy you usually have to be really good and it is not something you can take for granted) which was just the cherry on the cake! I would definitely recommend HelloGuest to all fellows owners like me that have available slots during the year and want to make some extra quids... Topnotch service!”
“The Helloguest managed my flat while I was working abroad. All the available dates were fully booked. I've got my flat back fully cleaned and there was no damage at all. I highly recommend this company.”
“I have had a great experience with Helloguest, they have managed my listing and now I am superhost. I had an existing listing but didnt do very much with it or have the time to manage bookings and guest enquiries. Helloguest managed everything for me and updated the information, improved the content and set the pricing. They got me a lot of bookings before the COVID virus but have still managed to get some after, and hopefully will be getting more again. They always pay me promptly and send me details of every booking.
I would definitely recommend them if you are looking for someone to take care of everything and manage all the hassle.”
“Becoming a host with HelloGuest has been a whole new experience. I was referred by a friend when I was on the hunt to place my home on ShortLet for the first time. All the team, has been very helpful with providing information before we started and also the all operation Teams are just fantastic and have no issues with arranging any additional services we need.
Their advice and experience has proved valuable in helping ensure the flat is marketed and managed effectively.
As a landlord, living between London and abroad I am pleased I get to stay at the property when needed and ensure that my property is looked after when i am not close by.”
“Excellent team, they are really doing a great job! Life would be really hard for owners without them. They really take care of the properties, clean them spotlessly, solve the maintenance issues, communicate with guests, arrange fresh linen, collect the best reviews from guests, advertise the property on numerous platforms. I can recommend the company for every owner! :)”
“Stay away ! Terrible experience - Completely disdainful of your property. Ended with more damages than revenues
I contacted them among a number of other short-term letting agencies.
I was ultimately captured by the friendly and reasonable manners of her front-office manager Veronica. She's very amiable, and was reasonable in negotiating a couple of adjustments I wanted to make to the agreement.
Trouble started when their operating representative got to my property. This lady comes in to check the property, note where things are, do inventory, and ask possible particular requirements. In the case of my property this is particularly relevant, because is a warehouse conversion with some special features that need to be known.
Note - the lady doesn't even have a piece of paper and a pen, nor she has a phone out or something to take notes on.
When I ask if she is not taking notes, she asks me for a pen and paper, which I provide, and for the rest of the chat she just writes down two half-sentences without even completing one - visibly just to address my concern and pretend notes are being taken.
So - ZERO NOTES OF THE DISCUSSION / PROPERTY DETAILS TAKEN.
When I go for about a month, they manage to find 4 tenants. Hard to judge performance under this point of view. Seemed reasonable - not impressive nor disappointing. It was plain high-season, and in my experience another agency managed to do better in a less favourable time of the year, although hard to compare - as it depends on a number of factors.
The real trouble comes when I am back
- My two large windows of the living room are broken
- The kitchen electric black stoves are heavily scratched
- The bedroom carpet has coffee and shoes marks in multiple places
- The tenants fully helped themselves with house supplies (which to an extent is fine) but here they drank 3 pretty expensive wine bottles I had, they took away the perfume of my girlfriend and a full pack of toothbrushes...
- On a big mirror I have, I had a pen drawing of an artist friend of mine (the portrait of a lady) which I specifically mentioned to the operations lady I wanted to keep and preserve. When I get back I find it wiped out, and the blue colour of the pen has been dragged on the white wall next to the mirror, which is now stained
Anyways
I don't make any scene, I just mention the facts and I only ask for the damages to the windows and the stoves - that are pretty clearly visible as soon as you step into the living room. So I contact Veronica again and this Naushad dude pops up out of nowhere. He is entirely unaware of the circumstances or the property. He just immediately says that
"damages are are part of the cost of rental"
That starts to irritate me. We have a first exchange, I point him to their agreement, and he agrees that that statement was stupid. So he now says that
"it's difficult to spot damages if they are not visible"
Said by him who doesn't even know what property are we talking about, nor has he ever been there or asked for images. This is just another attempt to refuse responsibility. When I show the pictures of the damages - which are so damn obvious - then he changes version again, and now
"they can't check all properties because different housekeepers check the properties in and out"
Which essentially makes doing the inventory completely useless, and means that they just DO NOT CHECK properties for damages as a standard practice, in fact he adds
"a housekeeper will not be able to check the flat as this would require carrying out an inventory which is not economical or viable in short lets"
So they don't check property for damages because it would cost too much to them (?!). At the end, he just keeps adding more and more offensive excuses and refuses to pay damages. I end the relationship and ask for my keys to be sent back. They even lose the keys and takes 3 months for me to get them back.
Bottom line
By trusting them I ended up with more damages than revenues, and a painful and offensive treatment.
Don't fall for the friendly manners of Veronica - the operations behind her are plainly and simply set up to be ENTIRELY DISREGARDING of your property, and they will refuse to pay the damages they procure up to the point of being utterly ridiculous and frankly offensive.”
“Thanks to the lockdown, we have found Helloguest who helped us to find great accommodation for our company who needed to carry on working during this period.
We`ve stayed in several properties they manage and always found the properties in great conditions, the team have always been accommodating and please to deal with.
We will continue to use Helloguest directly instead of booking via other booking site and happy to recommend them.”
“We had an amazing staycation in a wonderful cottage in Devon. Working from remote allowed us to move from the city and stay in this gorgeous place. Service was smooth and we are extremely satisfied!”
“Veronica and her team are great! They manage our home in London. We live in Manchester so it’s reassuring to have a reliable, and friendly team close to the house since we’re so far. They always answer any questions we have, and are very clear with how the process works. They manage any repairs and maintenance needed, but always get our approval before proceeding with any big ticket items. We found a great tenant through them, and couldn’t be happier.”
“Booked end February for stay in June 2020. Paid £155, 50% deposit. When lockdown happened in March I contacted them to check what would happen. I was told I would have to wait to nearer the time, if I cancelled would lose £155. Contacted as requested 2 weeks before stay. Told only option was to have credit for stay in another property, not confirmed the one I booked up to 31/3/21. This was unacceptable for me so they did not refund the £155. I claimed on the credit card who declined to refund me as the place was available, even though I could not get there and it was illegal to travel. I appealed, citing CMA advice that the contact was frustrated and Covid legislation overruled contract law. I was prepared to go to court but the credit card gave me the deposit back plus compensation as they did not respond to my appeal in good time. A lot of stress and time wasted. I now book with AirBnB, their service fee is worth every penny for the peace of mind.”
“I booked this company as a place to spend Christmas 2020. When the government put tier 4 restrictions on London I contacted the company to cancel. They debuted the refund a lot we are unable to travel home for Christmas. Absolutely disgusting! Never use again”
“We had a great time in the property- all nice and tidy and fully equipped. Customer service very quick in helping us. Location was great! Thanks so much!”
“We have used the full management services by HelloGuest for short-term lets of our property. We can 100% recommend using HelloGuest as your service provider: The service was excellent, ranging from very fast and reliable communication with our guests - and us - to cleaning and everything else around bookings. We have only received 5 star ratings by our guests, which was also thanks to the professionalism of Veronica and her team! Best of luck to HelloGuest for continued business success!”
“I found my property has been managed well when I use their services as I spend periods of the year away. I have always found them friendly, polite and efficient in getting back to me with any queries or problems. The calendar is straightforward and easy to update and have since recommended them to friends.”
