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Airbnb’s customer support really impressed me recently. I thought I would share.
I checked my Ring camera on the morning of Christmas Eve to make sure my guest checked in successfully and to make sure I did not have an over occupancy issue. He was seen entering the condo with a lit cigarette in his mouth and four hours later seen exiting my condo with a lit cigarette in his mouth.
I called customer service, he asked me to email him the video, he watched it while I was on the phone, and he immediately canceled the guest’s reservation where it looked like the guest had canceled the reservation and not me. I asked the guest, via the messaging system, to pay me the $100 it cost me to rent an ozone generator to get the smoke smell out of my condo; and he of course did not respond.
Within 20 seconds of me asking Airbnb to get involved through the resolution center (after the guest’s 72 hours was up ) I got an email saying Airbnb was approving my request and I would be getting the $100. (I have a $250 security deposit.)
I know there are plenty of things to be frustrated about with regard to Airbnb, but this was handled so swiftly and satisfactorily, I thought I would give them their props.
Wow, it’s nice to see some positive for once! I actually had a pleasant surprise last week, too. Called to verify that I would be honoring a free future stay for a guest who canceled due to bad road conditions, & only had to hold for 3 minutes. Total call was less than 5 minutes.
There’s plenty of companies whose pitiful customer service rivals that of Airbnb’s. Air Canada is reknowned for terrible CS. I won’t ever book with them again after a couple of bad experiences. Customers have reported calling and being put on hold for 6 hours.
One other thing to consider is a provision in your house rules that if the guest breaks any house rule the guest agrees not to leave a review and for Airbnb to remove the review if a review is left. The guest agrees that the Host has the exclusive authority to determine whether a guest has broken a house rule.
I don’t know if Airbnb would enforce that, but it seems to me to be helpful to have such a rule.
I know a lot of guests don’t read all the rules so maybe this wouldn’t affect booking rates. But there is no way I’d choose a place with that rule. I’ve seen a lot of shady hosts and I’d be afraid of a host abusing their power.
I can’t imagine that they would. I could see them suspending or even deleting a host with such a provision. It’s not worth the risk.
I suppose you are trying to think creatively but this seems like an ill conceived idea.
That’s not what they are suggesting. They wonder if Airbnb would “enforce” the host’s unilateral request for removal of a review. Only Airbnb can remove a review, that’s what they would “enforce.”
You don’t think that gives a completely false idea of the concept of hospitality? I would never stay in a place that had that requirement in their listing.
That message is saying “I have lots of rules. If you break even just one, once, you agree that you won’t review me. But if you do review me (despite the fact that I’ve said you mustn’t) then Airbnb will remove it. And what constitutes the breaking of a rule is entirely, wholly and solely up to me”.
I’m starting to doubt that Airbnb would allow such a rule to be in place anyway. It’s almost an upside down version of review extortion.
I’m sorry, but on the advice of my lawyer, and fear of being forever banished to a naughty step in a far off forum, I have no comment to make on the past few posts.
You might be right. I would like to think that Airbnb would look the past conduct of the Host and the circumstances in which the Host is asking Airbnb to apply it. Airbnb can always say ‘no.’
