I wish I saw this coming. It explains so many issues why I am having with my huge drop in bookings.
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.airbnb.com
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Awful! Itās such a shame that terrible āhostsā may be the downfall of us all.
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The reviews are terrible, but I take some consolation in that most of the people posting donāt seem to have legitimate claims. One person posted that Airbnb wouldnāt help her after she booked off platform, another complaining because they claim a host changed the cancellation policy after a booking (not possible). Regardless of the legitimacy, it still sucks to see a 1.4 rating. If I was Airbnb staff, Iād be all over replying to those claims.
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As a host I am tempted to give my review, but it appears the overall rating already is telling my story. My listings as are all jacked up and Iāve been sent from case manager to case manager for the past 9 days with no resolution. Inquiries have been popping up and vanishing before I can respond. Called and air sees them but doesnāt understand whatās going on. Passing along the case to tech. Not 1 call from tech yet! 9 days Iāve been tracking this, but who knows how long itās been going on. My only bright spot in this was my ability to completely demoralize the case manager last night on my 6th follow up call. It was awful for them, but it made me feel a little better. Resorted to making duplicate listing of everything dumping a 4.8 star average over 300 reviews gained over 5 years of hosting with air just to try and recoup a little money so I can float my mortgage over the winter. Just opened up an account on HomeAway. Moving on I guessā¦
Iām more concerned with air being the downfall of us all.
Iām sorry you are having a bad experience all of a sudden. Iām not having that experience at all.
Sometimes it seems like there are two airbnbs, the bad one of which you speak and another one that I use. I havenāt had problems as a host or a guest. Letās face it, people go online to complain 50x more than they do to praise. Stories here and āreviewsā on trustpilot are not a random sample of airbnb experiences.
It is very risky to depend on Airbnb to pay a mortgage. There are so many things that are out of your control. You should consider a long term tenant as well.
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Thanks. I am considering LTR. I completely agree people tend to complain more often than give positive reviews. Iām just baffled since air completely depends on hosts to make their business work. They are selling a service, not brick and mortar places to stay. Without us, they are nothing. I would think they would bump thus issue to a higher priority rather than focus on experiances, racial concerns, and the open. I suppose the racial concerns is legit, but growing by introducing experiances when they are not geared to support what they already have is not sustainable.
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They could have a million listings but if no one books a room they make no money. I agree they need hosts of course but it seems like most places new hosts are beating a path to their door. I know each of us thinks we canāt be replaced but I donāt think Airbnb cares much one way or the other.
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I really think that it is time for AirBNB to consider curating the listings. I have seven AirBNBās within walking distance that are boarding houses. They break zoning laws, fire safety laws, municipal laws and they get terrible reviews to boot! For me the fire safety is a big thing. In the past two weeks we have had a 5-alarm fire, a 10-alarm fire that took out 16 buildings in less than 30 minutes, and just this morning a 6-alarm fire. This is New England, in the cities. The houses are old and wood and one spark can take out a whole block of tinder-ready homes. Fire-folks wouldnāt know to look for 14 people in a 3 bedroom, third floor apartment. Isnāt that what we all need as headlines? AirBNB Guests, Family of Four, killed in Morning Fire.
At this time, the hosts donāt trust AirBNB to do the right thing by them. And, I fear that potential and one-time guests donāt trust AirBNB to provide a safe place that matches the listings. This whole pyramid scheme is based on a three-way trust system. It is in AirBNBās best interests to ensure that the spaces being listed meet some basic standards.
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I agree and I also think that itās likely to happen at some time in the future. Airbnb bosses arenāt daft (I hope 
) and Iām sure that they realise that it is bad hosts and scammers who are giving the company and bad name and NOT those conscientious hosts such as the majority of members here.
Iām old enough to remember when only people who understood html were able to write anything at all on the internet but for many years now anyone can do so. Which is good because it gives everyone a āvoiceā. But review sites have been around for a long time and companies survive bad reviews.
There are plenty of webpages (and entire sites like that Airbnbhell malarkey) that are dedicated to maligning the service. Theyāve been around for ages.
All major companies get bad reviews. Look at the list of recent recalls and youāll see that prestigious companies have to recall foodstuffs, cars, toys, all sorts of products all the time. Businesses are never 100% infallible,
But I agree with @smtucker that it might soon be necessary for Airbnb to be a bit more active when it comes to curating properties. Bring it on 
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Iām not going to use the c-word (" %urating" ) because it annoys the %uck out of me and should only be applied to the clergy or museum business, but yes, I agree that some serious culling is badly needed. I believe they have started to do that over the past year. Hosts are warned when their star ratings fall below standard and that they will be de-listed if things donāt improve. Of course, they got it spectacularly wrong when anything under 5* was deemed as a FAIL. That seems to have stopped now. However, Iāve seen a few listings in my area that have eventually gone. They were an embarrassment to the brand, to the city, man, just awful. How anyone continued to book there was a constant source of amazement to me.
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@Magwitch [smiling here] And I canāt stand that brand word. So hip-corporate. However, I can live with culling though that does sound like we are farmers with livestock.
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Ha ha! Perhaps a more gentle gardening reference is called for: pruning. Itās necessary to get rid of the dead wood and to encourage healthy growth.
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Most likely because it was CHEAP. Thatās what people go for, especially those with limited resources. However, they want perfection and crab about it when they donāt get it.
Yes! And those are the types who bitch the loudest and write the crappiest reviews when they donāt get their way.
I glanced at a few of the one star ratings. The stories were suspect and the people looked like dipshits. That review site is dreadful because itās filled with these idiots and there is no way to hear the other side of the story.
Funny thing, though, they werenāt the cheapest. My lovely place was the same price! The only thing they had going for them was that they were near the airport and they were en-suite (well, one of their rooms). But almost all reviews mentioned no hot water, the filth, dirty bedlinen, hostile host, it was incredible to me that anyone would think about booking there.
Thatās the trouble with these sort of sites. As someone already said, the people most motivated to leave reviews are disgruntled customers. I have always had excellent service from Amazon (and I use it a lot) and yet it only has 2 stars on trustpilot. Ebay, Facebook (!), all of them have 2 or less stars. Itās just a place for pissed-off customers to be pissed-off.
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Could be they donāt read, but they were probably in a hurry. Wanted something close to the airport that would be cheaper than a scuzzy hotel. And they did get scuzzy, but cheap
Well there ya go. The ratings sites are useless. I do enjoy looking at Yelp or Google reviews sometimes. Oh the āgeneral publicā
I once left a scathing review. The only one of my lifeā¦ it was awful. Letās say there was sewage. Lots of sewage. That person never got another booking and is no longer posted on that site. It was warranted. I didnāt get a refund. I was just repulsed every time I entered the apartment.