KindredReviews of livekindred.com

In theory, this app could be great. In practice, it is not. People do not respond to requests. They put their homes on “available,” you send a request, and then they never respond. Kindred does very little about this. As a result, you have to send multiple requests if you actually want to find somewhere to stay for a few days. You can only have two requests out at the same time. If both people do not respond, you have to wait for them before you can send new requests. You then have to start over again, even if there are other apartments or houses available for the same dates. The credit system makes this even worse. For example, if I have 5 credits, I can only put out one request for a 5-credit stay, even though that request is probably going to be left unanswered before I can send another one. Even if I wanted to send another request for the exact same dates, I cannot, despite the fact that I am not actually using more than my 5 available credits. Instead, Kindred promotes incentives like allowing users to have more than two requests out at once to “increase their chances,” but only by using more credits. How about regulating the platform better instead? Don’t let people repeatedly ignore requests without consequences, and allow guests to send multiple requests for the same trip when a host has a very low response or acceptance rate. In the end, using Kindred is much more stressful than simply booking a hotel. You don't know in advance that you have somewhere to stay and you can’t arrange things with work. With Kindred, you can spend a lot of time sending requests without even knowing whether you will actually have somewhere to stay. The quality of the apartments is also disappointing. Kindred’s social media shows beautiful apartments and makes the concept look very appealing. Once you are actually on the app, however, a large proportion of the available places are pretty terrible. There is a big difference between what is advertised on social media and what you actually find on the platform. We now have a lot of credits because we hosted people in our beautiful apartment in Zurich while we were away. Yet we struggle to use those credits because many of the available homes are not appealing, and people do not respond. The concept is great, but the execution is not. Kindred needs to rethink how requests, response rates, credits, and host accountability work. At the moment, using the app feels like a lot of effort and uncertainty for something that should make finding accommodation easier.

Per il momento ho solo ospitato degli utenti a casa mia. Loro si sono comportati bene, ma il servizio Kindred è stato terribilmente scadente. Prima della pulizia pre checkin ospiti, si è presentato un ragazzo lamentandosi perchè non riusciva ad entrare in casa nonostante fosse alla porta sbagliata, e mentre era in casa non mi ha spiegato chi era, ma era sgodevole e presuntuoso (non era delle pulizie come immaginavo, ma faceva foto alla casa prima delle pulizie). La cosa peggiore però è stata la pulizia finale prima del mio ritorno, che fortunatamente era solo il giorno dopo. I pavimenti tutti appiccicosi, il bagno con degli aloni come se avessero pulito con acqua e sapone mani, ma senza risciacquare, e una puzza di muffa incredibile in bagno perchè hanno lasciato tutto chiuso prima che si asciugasse. I sanitari non puliti bene, con peli pubici o sicuramente non miei, e la doccia appannata anche quella pulita sicuramente non da un professionista. Quando ho comunicato la situazione all'assistenza Kindred, loro hanno ritenuto che non avessi diritto neanche ad un rimborso per poter rifare le pulizie in autonomia con un addetto di fiducia, ma che il loro servizio fosse stato svolto adeguatamente. Vorrei poter allegare foto ma Trustpilot non lo permette. Sono molto delusa perchè tutti ne parlano bene, e perchè dopo aver dato casa mia senza percepire 1€ mi aspettavo quantomeno che Kindred fosse in grado di svolgere il proprio lavoro adeguatamente.

While the experience of renting and staying with Kindred is generally great, the Kindred Concierge service has been really disappointing recently. Messages are often unanswered for days.

I genuinely like the idea behind Kindred and the trust-based model of opening your home to other members. Unfortunately, my experience with the damage-claim process after hosting has made me much more hesitant to host again. After several stays, I reported a number of damaged or missing items and provided photographs, links to replacement products, and repair information. Some items were approved for reimbursement, which I appreciate. However, the overall process was extremely time-consuming and required repeated explanations and additional documentation. For several household items, reimbursement was capped below the price of the same replacement products I had identified. For damage to the walls, Kindred offered only a partial contribution toward the repair quote, while other items required further professional assessments before they would consider coverage. My main concern is therefore not simply the amount reimbursed, but the amount of time and energy required from a host when something goes wrong. When you open your private home to others through a platform built around trust, you need to feel confident that documented damage can be resolved efficiently, predictably and fairly. Kindred’s support team did eventually respond clearly and confirmed which decisions were final, and I appreciate that they approved reimbursement for several items. But the experience has significantly reduced my confidence in hosting. If a similar situation happened again and required the same level of effort to resolve, I would not be willing to go through the process another time. I hope Kindred considers this constructive feedback. The concept of the platform is excellent, but for hosts to feel comfortable continuing to participate, trust, efficiency and reliability need to be just as strong when problems arise as they are when arranging the stay itself.

Our first Kindred experience was excellent, which is why we trusted the service again. Unfortunately, our second experience was very disappointing. The Kindred cleaner did not wash the used towels and bed linen, and the home was returned dirtier than we had left it. The most serious issue was damage to our wooden floor. We had clearly stated in our house rules that nothing wet should be used on the floor. We also had a steam cleaner in the house that should not have been used. Despite this, the cleaner used it and damaged parts of the floor. Kindred apologised and said we could file a claim if we could prove the damage, but the problem is not only proof. It is also the stress, time, and back-and-forth you have to deal with afterwards. My advice to other hosts is to document everything carefully before each stay, especially delicate surfaces. And if cleaning instructions really matter in your home, I would seriously consider arranging your own cleaner instead of relying on Kindred’s. Based on our experience, Kindred does not seem to make sure their cleaners have properly read and understood the house rules and care instructions for each home.

Good when it works, but you have a bad guest, it sucks. My previous stays and guests were good. But.... My latest guest was awful. There was damages throughout and he only vaguely admitted to one thing. He claimed he didn't know about the others and therefore Kindred judged it didn't happen. I'm out hundreds of dollars - broken blinds, stain on dryer, dent on fridge, ridiculously high heating costs.... 7x higher than my own unit which is twice the size. I was offered a few extra nights of credit, and the guest is still on the platform. Never again.

Don't do it. Their promises of treating my home better than their own are not true - I had significant damage on several things because of a cleaner and a guest (all the cleaners sucked by the way, but the last one was the worst one) and Kindred barely offers a 1/3rd refund. Crazy stuff. It's a pity because I love the philosophy behind it, and of course it's nice to book other people's home for relatively little money with bigger groups of people, but with all the money, time and stress it cost me, I would not recommend it at all.