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@KKC Correct. I didn’t have separate STR coverage 2 weeks ago…but I sure do now! Again, I was under the wrong belief that airbnb had host protection in place… protection that they would actually enact. I will be conducting business as an independent operator moving forward. I now consider Airbnb to be nothing more than a platform that assists with bookings. ALL the rest falls on me.
Yep-every booking has been an illuminating, educational experience, and I have learned and grown from each one in some way. This one was certainly by far the the most painful. I hope I’m all grown up now. Lol
I’m in my 7th year of hosting. Every day is a new experience. Because it is a changing environment, hosts are a bit like Peter Pan, we don’t ever grow up.
It seems no matter how long people have hosted, when a situation goes south and Air is not there for them, people are in disbelief that it works this way. I am in disbelief just reading them.
I read what guests post in the complaint section, and it’s the same. No one likes or trusts what Air does any more. Guests hate hosts and Air, hosts hate guests and Air.
OT, Air sent out a short survey, I’m sure because I’m not a super host yet in this rental. It was about Super host perceptions, are you aware of super host, what do you think is the most difficult part to become one? blah, blah, blah.
For me, so far it’s not been difficult, but some of the choices were, 1 It’s hard to know what guests want, 2 some guests lie in reviews, 3 two bad reviews and you’re out of the super host category. There were a couple others to rank, but once you finished the survey, it disappeared and you couldn’t read questions again. If I’d known, I would have copy and pasted as I went.
Looks like they’re aware of the “bad guest reviews”.
You are aware that what you read here or elsewhere is not a random sample? It’s a self selected sample of pissed off people. The majority of hosts and guests are satisfied with airbnb and that’s not newsworthy.
How can you trivialise the experience of rape victims by comparing your experience of having to supply information to airbnb twice regarding a claim with the devastation and pain rape victims face when having to retell what happened multiple times @Virgyoung
Nest alarms are not sensitive enough for cigarette smoke - or candle smoke, for that matter. Your Nest alarm is for kitchen fires etc. Source: I own seven of them. Also, Nest does not claim to be that sensitive.,
I understand, empathize, and pretty much agree with the reality you have just now discovered. But please I wish to warn you that, … there are no “other booking platforms that are honestly looking out for good hosts.”. There are platforms where you can control your listing and income, bookings and payments, but otherwise they all have flaws and the only focus is the bottom line or stock holders.
That’s a harsh judgement. I didn’t read what she wrote like that at all and I thought it was a pretty good analogy.
It isn’t the retelling of it that she was comparing to a rape case, it is the fact that she as the host, and her home were violated, trashed, damaged, and as if that isn’t awful enough, when you tell the people you expect should help you, they don’t quite seem to believe you, and instead of helping you, demand that you tell the story of what happened again and again, trying to find some hole in the story that can be seized on to show that, in fact, this never would have happened had you done or not done this or that.
We’re all still staying if a host consistently gets guests like that, the HOST has a problem. Something is attracting the wrong kind of guests. Location, type of property, host’s attitude, poor marketing of site, mediocre reviews, pricing… all of them can attract problem guests, or not. Something needs to be changed.
Please pause. We don’t know the Ops prior experience. My knee Jerk reaction was similar to yours but then introspection triggered the thought , “she would feel this way if been there done that” so I left it alone. After this thread calms we can revisit this if needed
@KKC I’m aware and I don’t have the dramatic complaints. But, I sometimes read guests/hosts complaints on Site Jabber and Trust Pilot and it’s one after the other of bad news.
@Helsi@Annet3176@muddy
My analogy was exactly as Muddy described. It was also intuitive of Annet3176 to consider btdt. Perhaps it was insensitive of me to openly express my triggered feelings in a way that might trigger others.
@Helsi So far, I’ve been asked 6 times by different support staff to retell and resubmit the same supporting docs, not twice. I know what it feels like to be violated, abused, disrespected, taken advantage of, manipulated, etc. It’s unfortunate my feelings negatively affected you.
What motivates someone to post good news? All I’m saying is that Airbnb claims to have millions of bookings annually. And how many complaints have you read? Dozens? Hundreds?
A couple of years ago we had someone post here for about a month who claimed to be an Airbnb case manager. According to them the stat was “under 6% of hosts/guests call or write in for any issue related to Airbnb.” If that is true it’s easy to see why Airbnb is so dismissive of complaints.
BTW, their posts were very detailed and interesting and if you have nothing else to do you might search the forum for their posts. They went by TheInsider.
Oh yes. I guess they knew what they were getting into when they started posting but I kind of felt sorry for them. They were deluged and they answered with patient detail.
Keep in mind he or she claimed to be a case manager. Not the first stop CSR. I think they were based in Denver.
I haven’t called Airbnb in years but I usually seemed to get a US based agent. As I already said, if people get an agent based in their country and can’t make a disparaging remark about the nation in which the agent is based they probably aren’t going to post about it.
BTW, @kkc, I have some great guests here now. They surprised me and booked for a week about a month ago. Didn’t think it was going to be a favorite, think I prefer 2-3 days, but had a great conversation in the yard yesterday. They’re birders/outdoor/traveler people and that’s me. After they leave I have another birder/outdoor woman coming that may be looking to live here. Anyway, I’m starting to attract like-minded souls.
Excellent. I think you are going to do well. For one thing, you aren’t new. For another thing, you were already looking to be the best host you can be by reading this forum. The folks who land here after problems and only post or comment when they have problems are going to continue to have problems.
