I felt I needed to try to redress the balance slightly as I am a little bewildered by the extreme negativity of these posts. I have been both an Flipkey host and Flipkey user for the past four years and based on my own experiences feel that generally, with one or two exceptions, Flipkey offers a great service to both travelers and hosts alike. HOWEVER - Flipkey can only be as good as its hosts and as good as its users.

We have stayed in Flipkey accommodation in the UK, and abroad. When my husband and I travelled across the USA, we stayed almost exclusively in Flipkey properties with host families and with the exception of one bedroom in New Orleans, were generally delighted with the quality of the accommodations, and the friendliness of the hosts. OUR LAST EXPERIENCE WAS 10 DAYS AGO.

Flipkey was a life saver on one occasion, when, due to flooding we had to make a 300 mile detour. We had to cancel the Flipkey we were heading for (the host was wonderfully understanding and refunded our monies), and when we found that every hotel and b&b in the area was fully booked with families fleeing the floods it looked as though we'd be stranded. We checked Flipkey and found a home within 3 miles - they took us in immediately just asking an hour's grace to get the room ready! And it was a lovely room too.

Even the room in New Orleans was fine - however, in the photos, the curtains to the window were drawn. We found out why when drawing them back -there was no view, just a massive air conditioning unit filling the whole window. The hosts were also quite uncommunicative - possibly because they had such a high turnover they could not be bothered to chat to ALL their guests.

As hosts, most of our guests have been lovely and often very interesting people. One or two have been less lovely and have seemed to forget that our home is not a hotel, but they were in the minority. We have an ensuite room in our house, so we are on the premises. Most Flipkey issues seem, in the main, to centre around properties where the owner is not on site.

I am puzzled by reviews that state that the host has the opportunity to vet guest reviews before they are posted. That just is not true. The system is that guests and hosts can do one review on each other. Neither can see the other review until both have been posted or if only one review is posted, until 14 days have passed. Flipkey will send reminders to guests and hosts to do these reviews during this time span.

We always review the guest straight away. In most cases, we receive a review back. We also have the opportunity to leave a public response to a review once they both appear publicly - for example, one guest review suggested that our guest accommodation just had use of a bathroom on the same floor. We were able to set the record straight in the public response (our accommodation is ensuite).

I do agree that sometimes, Flipkey seems weighted a little unfairly towards the guest - if on the extremely rare occasion we had to decline a booking for very good reasons Flipkey responded by sternly admonishing us to ensure that our details are up to date and meet guest requirements (this after declining a guest who informed us that they were terrified of dogs and might scream when they met ours! Our details state quite clearly that we have a dog that has a full run of the house).

That said, when we have needed assistance or advice, Flipkey has been quick to respond. You do have to go through a procedure before making direct contact with them that can be irritating, but I think this is almost certain because so many queries and questions are the same. When we have written with an enquiry or problem, we have pretty quickly had a response back.

Generally, we are quite happy with Flipkey and would certainly recommend it to other potential hosts and guests.

Good luck to you all - guests and hosts alike and enjoy the experience!