The one thing I would say in their defense is that if you’re asking airbnb a question, it’s likely to be tricky, because I think you know airbnb better than 99% of the folks who work there.
Thanks for being so wise and supportive muddy!
Most hosts know more about Airbnb policies than the majority of their clueless CS reps. It doesn’t seem to be a difficult feat. 
Airbnb should hire all the hosts who’ve left the platform in disgust, at 10 times the salary they currently pay their useless CS- it wouldn’t cost them any more because they’d only need 10% of the number of reps they now have. Since the hosts would be able to resolve issues in one or two messages without pissing off hosts or guests, instead of not solving anything with 30 messages, and losing users.
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Yup yup,
Some of the CS people are fantastic. But a certain percentage seem to be very underpaid or something.
Documented on this site, a CS rep gave a guest of mine a refund (against airbnb policy), I reminded them of the policy and then I got all the $ back. I’ve assumed that in that case, the money had to come out of airbnb, rather than the guest. But I could be wrong. But if I’m correct, better training would have saved them a bunch of $ in that case.
One would think that folks on the safety team (far more than all other teams) would be well paid and well trained. And one would assume that for safety issues, it wouldn’t just change from one person to another every time. There was at least one person on the safety team who was great. But whoever made the final decision was, well, very wrong.
May your night be a good one!
-HostHost
Here is the explanation for Airbnb’s customer service, why we get passed from one rep to another to another, etc., which it would be a good idea for all hosts to be aware of. It’s a long article, but well worth reading. I read it a few years ago, when it first came out, and it’s why I always try to be nice to the CS reps, even if they are being clueless.
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WOW!!!
What a fully terrible insane way to save money on customer services calls. 
Thank you muddy
@muddy that was a very good article to read through, it really put’s ABB CS in perspective.
@HostHost ABB is kinda a necessary evil if you need to make money in STR.
I went back and ran my numbers for the year and ABB def accounts for 89% of my bookings, the “Direct” is through my direct booking web site, and “Manual” is previous guests that reach out directly (email, text, etc.)
VRBO has been nice to work with, good guests that tend to stay longer. Tends to be an older crowd.
I think I mentioned earlier that Booking dot com was a complete nightmare, full of scams and clueless guests, and their whole system is so buggy.
I signed up for Furnished Finder a couple months ago, but no good matches have come through that yet. I’m not sure I’m a good fit for that service, but I paid for the year so I’m gonna give it a shot.
I’m hopeful Google Vacation Rentals works out, I’m in the process of setting that up.
I guess what I’m getting at is to diversify your booking stream so you’re not so dependent upon ABB. When I first started ABB accounted for 94% of my bookings, so I’m making progress - LOL.
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Contract customer service can be OK if you have a common issue that fits in their scripts, but I assume all these employees are exploited for low wages.
I was helping a family elder with a bank account issue, and I was having difficulty understanding the CS rep on the phone due to background noise on their end. When I told the rep, she replied, “It’s not noisy, I’m in my bedroom!” I hung up.
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Because guests don’t get reviewed on Booking.com, those that have been booted off Airbnb can go to that platform. My friend who runs a small hostel tried them out for a brief time and said she got the worst quality of guests she’d ever had in 20 years- lots of no-shows, thieves and slobs. She normally advertises on hostelling sites. To top it off, she never got paid for the bookings and after arguing with them for weeks, just gave up.
The other reason I wouldn’t use them is that it’s all instant book, which I’d never use for my homeshare.
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WOW, THANK YOU justarock!
What fab info!
I have several rooms in my house, where I went to great extremes and expense to make them perfect for airbnb. My plan had been to do airbnb essentially forever, largely because I like almost everything about.
The main reason I’m considering changing is not just that I feel betrayed by airbnb. But rather that I don’t feel they are a safe bet for me. I have several rooms, and even though I have a nearly perfect airbnb rating with hundreds of reviews, I’m now realizing that it only takes one angry guest (and airbnb not doing their job properly) to shut me down. In other words, it’s about calculating risk.
My options are…
- Stick with airbnb - (has the issue I just mentioned)
- Use alternates to airbnb - (airbnb has a monopoly. I would likely get lower quality people)
- Rent out all the rooms to one family - (doable, but likely lower money, and less likely to give me the social aspects that I enjoy)
- Get housemates the traditional way - (could be fine, but less money, harder to kick out bad fits, lots of interviewing)
- Housemates, but more intentional - (look for a specific type of housemates. Have high standards. Make it clear what type of household we are and find like-minded people. Will still take lots of interviewing. Liking providing enough service to still call it lodging.)
I’m leaning towards the last one, but this is still in progress.
Housemates are often done in a very casual way. This would be different.
I don’t want housemates who can barely afford the rent.
I don’t want housemates who are only housemates because they want to save on rent.
I want people who specifically enjoy having housemates.
I suspect that if I can set up the right type of community, that I can also get a decent market rate.
This will take me doing some work up front and setting up something that might not work. But time will tell.
With airbnb, there are gaps. And you don’t make any money during the gaps.
There are also occasional problematic guests.
Despite having many guests who were fantastic and who were essentially good friends when they stayed with me, none of them have been people who continue to be important to my life.
I believe with more intentional housemates selection, that there’s a good chance of creating a community where we are supportive of each other long term.
But this partly has to do with running the numbers.
If in total it means me earning 80% of the money (as compared with airbnb), it’s probably worth it.
But if it’s 60% of the money, it’s not.
And if there’s a month of an empty room in between housemates, airbnb (or one of the other sites) might still be an option.
For me this would mean taking your ‘1% of Direct’ and trying for ‘98% Direct longer term’. And specifically trying for a high-class of human. Looking for the Facebook groups that are the best fit. Maybe Craigslist (ug). And there may be community websites that could be good. But it would be a new world that I’m still in the process of researching. In a sense, I’ll need to be doing my own marketing.
justarock - I VERY much appreciate the info you gave about booking dot com. I’ve been looking at furnish finder and it seems like one of the most realistic other options, but it still kinda of pathetic compared to airbnb.
Also, THANK YOU for pointing out ‘google vacation rentals’. It’s essentially just a search engine, but it should make it a lot easier for other sites to partly break into the airbnb monopoly. For me the big issue then is that there are ratings or a trust system for the people who want a stay.
How are you setting that up? My understanding is that you have to work with/through a Google Connectivity Partner, such as Hostfully or Hostaway. OwnerRez is in the process of becoming approved, but isn’t yet as far as I know.
Home share host with 1 room for guests and have loved it, for the most part. When I faced burnout, I put a day between bookings and blocked a few weekends to relax (I also have my own company, so I work a lot.) Take a break and look at your calendars on all platforms.
Getting long term tenants or housemates is worth it. Just have a lease!! Put the word out to family and friends that you’re looking for someone or a family or a group of friends to rent your rooms. Each room is less money than ABB, but you get your money directly, have clear House Rules, and a lease. My business partner lives in a suite in a mansion in CA and the owner has rented out the rooms as private suites. They have a great group of people, he and the owner have become good friends, and he’s also the de-facto property manager. They interview the potential new roommates when someone moves out and the long-term folks have to agree on the new person.
I’ve currently paused my ABB listing because during Hurricane Idalia back in August 2023, my daughter’s bridesmaid and her husband and cat moved in for “just a few weeks.” They’re still here, have become tenants, have my now-former office as well as the bedroom and bath and I recently performed their wedding on the pool deck by the canal in my back yard.
Rent is about 1/2 what I could get for an ABB listing like this, but “the kids” are great and they are house-hunting and working. We respect each others’ privacy and sometimes go out together.
Network for the people you want long term. Get your HR in order and your lease. Set a 6 month or 1 year rental term and see how it goes.
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If you can find good housemates, it also lightens your load and gives you time to pursue other interests or come up with other ways to make money. Think people who pitch in equally, sharing housecleaning, yardwork, shopping and maintenance chores.
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I have a lease that I’ve used in the past. And yes, I’ll be doing credit check and an actual lease and whatnot. I may still stick with it officially being “lodging” rather than “tenant”. But I need to research that more. If I got half the rent, that would not work for me at all. But it sounds like it makes good sense in your case, and I think for me it will be a vastly higher percentage.
I’m also potentially fine with a person staying for just 2 or 3 months, despite the overhead of interviews.
Thanks for being so wonderful casailinglady !
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Yes yes muddy.
And yes, I have a few other ways of earning money that I’m eager to peruse again, and having more time is very likely to help with those endeavors.
I plan on credit check and actual lease for sure! And actually a bunch more than that.
And yes, if the plan is to feel like more of a community, it can very much help in the ways you described. Though with the class of folks I’ll be aiming for, they would likely rather pay a bit more, and have me hire folks to help with most of the chores. And have a cleaner to come by once or twice a month.
I need to figure it out more, but the conversation here has helped a LOT!
THANK YOU!
-HostHost
I am going through Hospitable to set this up, actually tomorrow we are starting the process. I have little understanding on how it works at this point. Will know more soon.
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Housemates will overall be better for me financially.
I just finished running the numbers, and I’m now completely convinced that housemates will be a better way to go, even just from a financial perspective.
Given the gaps in a rooms (when doing airbnb) and that housemates are up for paying a % of the utilities, and that it will reduce my time/effort, I’m sure I will financially do better ditching airbnb.
Again, part of this working out better is that I’ll have more time to earn money in other ways.
I believe I can do things to help make sure this is a community of sorts that I’m building, rather than just a typical housemate situation.
Part of the reason I was loving airbnb is that it sometimes forms a temporary community. As poetic as that is, longer-term folks who are handpicked are are much more likely to be members of a community.
I’m very very appreciative of the wonderful folks here who helped me to explore the concepts and who showed real empathy when I was in distress.
I have made literally hundreds of friends doing airbnb. But I pretty much don’t stand touch with any of them. If I’m able to have a much more intentional way of having housemates (which I have done in the past), I’m much more likely to make friends that will stay in my life, even after they move out.
Thank you!!!
-HostHost
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Two summers ago, we had a guest say that the cabin had a spider infestation in the upstairs loft and she had to sleep downstairs during her three day stay. She said on the airbnb thread that she would not leave a bad review if we reimbursed her for her stay. I said no because 1) she stayed three days and waited until after she checked out to claim the spider infestation. 2) In addition to no communication about the issue, there was no evidence. She responded (on the thread) with the a compromise - one night free or she would write a bad review. I contacted airbnb and asked them to look at the correspondence. They did not allow her to write a review and told me that I was welcome to review her as I saw fit. BTW - there was a spider web in the corner of the eave of the loft. One spider web does not make a spider infestation.
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This has been my experience - outright ‘extortion’ is easily noted. However, the host response to something like this is also taken into account by airbnb - as well as the mitigating circumstances. Hosts beware - your eloquence is not a plus in these circumstances.
As noted earlier, a 1.5 hour ‘exchange’ with a guest after what might have been an obvious ‘extortion’ can be seen as ‘too much protest’ or even a ‘negotiation’ - which is also an airbnb no-no. In my experience, the best way to handle a guest who wants a discount due to a ‘problem’ is to immediately involve airbnb. Also, since breaking a house rule is grounds for immediate removal of the guest (without allowing for refund or review), I suggest that hosts use these avenues of remediation first.
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Very cool that airbnb responded in such a reasonable way and helped you. 