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Still no response from AirBnB to the question we asked. We tried Facebook, but just got referred back to the same “Support Ambassador” who refuses to answer the question - i.e. what we should have done to comply with their policies and not incur more penalties when this happens again (which it will). I honestly don’t think they know.
What social media sites does AirBnB actually respond to in a meaningful manner? Any?
Thanks. I’m not on twitter. Always hated it. But I will look into it tomorrow.
Twitter. If you are not on it you can easily sign up with an email. Make sure you use the hashtag Airbnb and link to their EC policy for hosts that show you can cancel penalty free in these circumstances.
Also link in Airbnb owners on your posts.
Try a different approach - “Hey, this is actually an EC as the bridge in a remote area not covered by national or international news washed out. My potential guests could have died crossing the bridge. We’re in a national reserve and there aren’t any records to give you. Here’s a photo of the flooding, tagged by my location. Give me back my superhost status.”
Keep asking for a supervisor. Keep calling back and Tweet the heck out of it.
Thanks. Am now on twitter. Had to wait till we could get into town because Twitter wanted to send a verification code, and of course we have no mobile reception here. This is one of the reasons I never joined before.
As a complete Twitter newbie, can you tell me which hash tags I should be using (other than just #airbnb). Is there an “airbnb hosts” or “airbnb owners” hashtag?
If you type #air it should autofill some suggestions. #airbnbhosts is another good one. You want to tag @AirBnB and @AirBnBHelp
Yes, because sadly two people have died in floodwaters when their cars were washed away during this current flooding. 
So. AirBnB has closed this case and is refusing to answer the original question. They can offer no advice on what hosts should do in the case a guest is in immediate jeopardy.
Hosts are on their own
I know that’s disappointing and contrary to the image they push in their ads. But if you just think of them as a booking and payment platform and don’t expect anything else from them it will save you grief. You did the best you could morally and according to Airbnb policies. It’s probably time to let it go and move on.
Good advice. From now on I will try and think of them as just a “booking and payment and penalties” platform.
Again, good advice.
But they can only penalize bookings on their platform. Use other booking platforms, make your own website, use social media to promote your listing, use local travel resources like the tourist bureau, book repeat guests directly, etc.
And although there are penalties, they are temporary, not permanent.
Yes, we do all that, but clearly we need to work a bit harder to reduce our dependence on AirBnB. Sadly, it is a bit too late for this season (we typically make well over 50% of our annual income in just the coming two months, and most of those are AirBnB bookings). For the moment, we are just going to concentrate on not getting booted off AirBnB and then wean ourselves off them in time for next season.
Well, I’d say that’s mostly due to the outsourced, clueless reps they are using these days. It didn’t used to be that way.
These third party provider reps are paid by how fast they can close cases and probably get demerit points for passing the case on to someone appropriate, like the Trust and Safety team, who probably would have actually given you an answer.
The wrap up on this is completely demoralizing.
I told that to a rep a few months ago. A guest had violated house rules, brought extra guests, etc and then refused to pay.
Then Air refused to pay. They kept giving me fluff about being my partner, etc. It took me 3 weeks but they paid me in full (kept making me lesser offers).
I get the “booking and payment” thinking thing but it feels like trying to convince myself my pain is all in my head. They position themselves to be more than that & depending upon one’s rental type/circumstance, you’re slapped with that reality more often.
@KKC highlighted the best takeaway…don’t have all our eggs in one basket.
Definitely Twitter time, and also on their Facebook host forum, as well as the forum on their site. I would do a multi pronged attack.
But before you do, get photos and videos of any road outages in your area, lists of closures from county emergency site, etc. Marks them all on a custom google map you save, and then make the link to send it to them. Have all the documentation in one folder ready to send. Put a photo of one of the washouts in your tweet and post, multiple pix if you can.
If you hit them from enough directions they WILL respond. Oh, an another poster here got resolution by sending an email directly to Brian Chesky. You might try that, along with the photos.
This is result of replacing real Customer Disservice people with folks working from home in a 3rd world country (on one call, she had to shut the door because of kiddy noise).
They know English, can use a computer, and can read scripts, but have no understanding of AirBnB.
I’ve tried both twitter and facebook. In both cases, all I got was a referral back to the same “Support Ambassador” (goodness, how I am beginning to hate that term!) who dealt with the issue so badly in the first place. I don’t know how to escalate any further. I think I’m done.
This forum post. She wrote Chesky.
Thanks. Have done so. Will report.
I expect we will either get thrown off AirBnB, or we will finally get an answer to our original question. It may not be the answer we wanted, but I can live with that.
No. This isn’t that dramatic.
People have definitely been suspended for complaints regarding safety (home unsafe) or policy violations (ie. cameras inside the house, etc), but many of us have (1) cancelled stays and (2) pestered Air to do the right thing. No one kicked off for that as of yet…does anyone know otherwise?
No, I’ve certainly read posts from hosts thinking they’ll probably get kicked off for bugging Airbnb constantly about an inappropriate decision, ranting on social media, or threatening to go to the press, but I’ve never read of that actually happening.