I’ve been a super host with Airbnb Since 2012. I have over 450 positive reviews. I began to manage listings as a cohost for others.
One of my most recent hosts made an honest mistake in his over zealousness to accommodate, he put a better quality toilet paper in a listing after the guest had arrived, He Knocked on the door to see if the guest was there but then decided to just go in and put the fresh toilet paper in its place. When the guest asked me about the new toilet paper, I explained to him it was a new host and he just wanted everything to be perfect. Based on the guests own admissions.… They felt the concern had been alleviated And thanked me for clarifying.
Later the host offered $100 credit towards a future stay just to create an even more perfect guest experience simply because there was any concern at all because the guest had said they didn’t request the new toilet paper And was “initially” taken aback. The guest later decided Maybe he should ask for $100 back on this particular stay. I explained to him that as far as I knew, the situation did not entitle him to $100 refund and that the host did not even have to offer a credit for a future stay, he was just trying to accommodate. I told him I would call air bnb to see if they felt differently.
The man immediately sent me an Airbnb link to show me how to give him a refund. I told him that the concern wasn’t how to give them a refund, but whether or not one was justified under the circumstances. I called Airbnb immediately just to put them in the loop and make sure that everything I was doing was appropriate. I was reassured by the customer service rep that the guest was not entitled to $100 for something like this especially since the guest said all of their concerns have been alleviated, nothing was missing, moved nor touched. She even chuckled a little at the thought of the guest trying to get $100. The take away from this is that no good deed goes unpunished.
And then it just continued to get worse. We put a very true and honest review of the account up Since Airbnb encourages honest and fair reviews. They don’t tell you that if you give this honest review and the guest doesn’t like it, you could be the One punished in the end. When we did this, the guest called Airbnb and did not deny that the review was honest, but wanted to know if it could be removed anyway. Of course we know that Airbnb does not like to remove those reviews.
Then Airbnb decided they would punish both of us. Without any notification or communication of any kind, all of my listings were shut down. When I called to ask for an explanation I had to wait more than two days before I was told it was because of this guests complaint. I messaged the guest and told them if they wanted any kind of refund at all they had to go through Airbnb because their complaint had been escalated to a “Safety case manager” also known as a “safety case ambassador”. I said nothing about my listings being shut down in this thread for fear of retaliation from Airbnb. He called me immediately and apologized Emphatically. He said he had just wanted his review removed. I told him I appreciated his apology and it was then that I told him that all of my listings are actually now removed. People that did not even know one another. Clients that I have had for years and even my own listings were affected by this situation.
He was shocked and surprised that Airbnb had taken such a drastic measure and kept me in the loop on all of his correspondence both written and verbal. It was clear that he had told Airbnb that it was a misunderstanding, that there was no situation and that he had insisted that my listings would be reinstated. Airbnb reassured him that they would close out the ticket and inform him when this was all taken care of.
Later he got a letter from this case manager saying she closed out his tickets but she was going to continue to investigate. She then wrote him saying she would not be sharing anything further with him as it was not his account. I called her and I asked her if she needed any more information for her investigation. She said no. I asked her if there was a reason that the listings were still being paused. She said we have to review the guidelines to make a decision. I asked her if there was a reason she wasn’t familiar with her guidelines. She said she was very familiar with them. I asked if she could explain them to me. She said no they are internal. I asked her if this is my account, then why can’t I know what guidelines are impacting it. Nothing… I expressed confusion that if she was familiar with her guidelines then why would she need to review them At this point. She kept saying we need to review. I asked her who the “we” was And caught her lying. She said it was actually only going to be her. This woman made a decision to impact numerous listings for numerous hosts simply because she could. This is what Airbnb is employing.
I asked to speak to her supervisor and she played gate keeper and refused. I called back to find out if I could speak to anyone above her and she told me she was the highest person I could speak to in her department. I said if I have a complaint about her who would I speak to. She gave me some format and I asked her where my information would go. She said it would inevitably end up back with her. I said so if I want to complain about you it only goes to you? None of this seemed OK. Further, I informed her that two weeks earlier when the situation had originally occurred, I had indeed contacted Airbnb as I should. I had asked them if I would have any concerns at all and if I should be giving this man $100 in light of the situation. The customer service rep looked through the message thread at that early date and said no you did absolutely everything you should do. You’re going to be fine. So one representative told me I did everything Right and the next one decided with the same information to shut down all of the listings I manage.
Adding more insult to injury, my husband went to still use the platform as a traveler and book a stay to go visit our son in college. She even impacted our ability to utilize the platform as a traveler. Everything I’ve read about people going through situations like this has said it was only their ability to host that was impacted.
Reread the actual situation and tell me if you believe this was an appropriate action on the part of Airbnb. Fortunately my listings are on another site so I’m not as impacted as so many of my clients. I have a good relationship with them, but many of them are very high-end clients with very expensive listings and I’m now forced into a situation of having to sit down with them and explain why we need to move their listings to a different Platform and hope that I do not lose any of them. When Airbnb employs people like this, they not only lose money for the hosts, but they lose money for their own company.
They advertise that they are partners with their hosts. They indeed are not. They are in a position of control and they know it. They advertise the importance of communication. They even have that as a key factor in their review process, yet they communicate so poorly or not at all when it comes to handling any situations in house.There needs to be a different policy in place for them because the current one is definitely failing and both hosts and guests are being impacted.
This situation has been going on since Sunday and today it is Thursday. She’s apparently out of the office for her days off and no one else has been handling it. I was reassured yesterday that it would be handed over to a new ambassador, but no one has gotten a hold of me. Needless to say this woman like many others is working from home with loud obnoxious birds in the backdrop making noises. I’ve heard everything from dogs to chickens to babies crying and although this company started in the states, most of these people do not live in the states and do not care. They have outsourced much of their customer service representative base. What happened to the company that was so appreciative of the hosts That help them to climb the ladder to make them this faceless corporation?