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I just got a very interesting call from Airbnb. The background is that I had a guest for whom a number of small things went wrong, and the guest was determined to be angry. But I played my part perfectly: I responded within minutes, both at midnight and at 7am; the guest demanded a 50% refund, and I granted it immediately; and consistently I was apologetic and recognized the problems.
So anyways, Airbnb calls to ask about the situation, will I give a refund? But I’ve already given one, I say! And then I point out some details in the guest’s complaints, how the guest is really making a mountain out of a molehill.
The representative checks the conversation log, sees that this is correct, and suddenly changes direction. “We recognize you are our business partner”, “you’re doing everything perfectly”, “sometimes these things happen and you just have to keep a positive attitude”, “don’t worry, this won’t hurt you.” On and on he went.
Anyways, this is the first time something like this has happened. I’ve also noticed that when I do have to call in to the call center, I consistently get to a human within 10-15 seconds. This, too, is a big change from Airbnb.
I wonder if this is an overall change or if it’s because I have 15 listings and 1000+ reviews? Have other people seen a similiar change?
Update: Airbnb put it in writing! I just got a follow-up email to the call. “Your comments regarding the experience with your guests are very important to us. We are your business partners, so your report of a disturbing experience with one of our guests is a serious concern for us. … Second, we will flag this guest for being determined to be angry.”
I’d be interested to see if this flagging business has real weight, but certainly this is a new attitude. And it goes along with Airbnb’s state intention to help hosts with “outlier” poor reviews and poor reviews about location (something outside of hosts’ control).
Airbnb is my website host, booking and payment platform. I’ve not needed much help with anything else but like Georgygirl it’s nice to think of having help if I needed it. I’d like to partner up with an exclusive home-sharing partner and hope that a viable competitor will emerge. The fact that one hasn’t emerged yet makes me wonder if there just isn’t enough money in it for someone to give it a go.
[quote=“Matthew_Haines, post:1, topic:27308”]
I wonder if this is an overall change or if it’s because I have 15 listings and 1000+ reviews? Have other people seen a similiar change?
I can’t say whether or not this is an overall change, as I have only been hosting since June 2017, with only two separate B&B listings in my own home, I don’t feel that your number of reviews or listings is the reason.
I think it does depend on who you get to speak to, or which in jurisdiction your call is answered, and sometimes we don’t have a choice! But my own experience, albeit paltry, has been good throughout. I do ensure that the CS pulls up the message thread, so we can go through it together, after ensuring that said thread is an audit trail, particularly with difficult guests. I’m not sure if I called them before attaining the SH hotline facility, but it is usually answered at speed, and helpfully.
On one occasion, I had a very entitled young man demand a refund, on the grounds that no one had slept here. Given his mother and a brother with profound learning disabilities and autism were here for several hours, and that his mother eventually decided to take her son back to a hotel where he would be less over stimulated and before my home was destroyed, I refused his request. He went on to make a formal complaint and I was asked to respond formally, although I had documented what had happened on the message thread. When Air received more explicit detail of events, they were a) apologetic b) no refund c) took the account down.
I find that Airbnb’s corporate babble is pretty awful. Luckily I pay very little attention but I’m sick of all the obviously insincere stuff that’s supposed to make me feel good about myself - it’s the money that does that
I must say Airbnb has done right by me. To protect myself, I never do instant booking, charge a cleaning fee and a security fee AND have a strict cancel policy.
I just got hit by a guest trying to cancel on me under a strict cancel policy. Her excuse? Her dad is advised by her doctor not to travel on a plane. I’ve offered to credit her the 50% cancellation fee with future stays out of goodwill, but she hasn’t responded.
She obiovusly knows how to play the extenuating circumstances game and I suspect her lack of non-response so far is because she’s already discussing with Airbnb on how to get her full refund back. The booking was over $5,000. I really got screwed by this one. Will update you guys on how it turns out.
She probably knows. She has to get a proof though from a doctor.
I had once a girl who cancelled her reservation based on a fact that she saw naked man through the window. And she didn’t feel safe.
She said it was my husband .
I was laughing answering her. She said she saw him through the window to the left of from my door. The thing is that my long term guests NEVER open their window blinds as they know they are very well visible from.the street. It’s permanently closed . Even if they open windows you still can’t see anything as blinds are always shut.
Second she sent me text at 2 am when she said she would arrive at 11 pm. Thats what she said though , we are not sure she even came to the house .
First I went through a discussion with her , then I started reading her reviews and saw she already did it twice with other hosts: cancelling making up stories after she was supposed to be checked in .
Judging by her reviews she was refunded both times .
I could see later that she was refunded for my booking also. I called and they reversed the charges. Not sure if they Air paid me out of pocket or they charges her
I’m not likely to get refunded insofar as I can see. She’s cancelled and I’ve got the email that I will receive 50%, but i’m just waiting for the email from Airbnb that says they will proceed to refund the entire amount. Based on the extenuating circumstances procedures, the first step is to cancel the reservation, the 2nd step is to submit the documents.
