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Ok so has anyone been able to get support from Airbnb? They have completely removed the ability to call them from the website, the chat option goes silent, and they respond with a canned message 72 hours later basically stating the problem has been escalated to the highest level. I have managed to solve my problems on my own, but my son and a friend of ours have properties with actual issues that will not resolve without assistance.
Son: he has been attempting to contact Airbnb regarding guests that stayed over the allowed amount in his home, they have refused to respond to him and when he went over there he spoke with them and they agreed to pay his fees if he sent them if they could stay, his initial thought was to have them leave, but they traveled from 10 hours away and had 4 children with them, so he agreed to his normal fees, offered them some more towels and an extra set of sheets for the pull out couch. He documented the interaction and sent the guests an amendment to the bill (which they never accepted as promised) they are now gone and he has been trying to resolve this for almost 2 weeks and keeps getting canned messages.
Friend: a guest has over flowed a tub, it has caused damage in the kitchen ceiling below, she needs to cancel the next two reservations to get the damage fixed. She has been trying for 4 days to get some help for this, one of the reservation is the holiday weekend and she fella really bad, but she can’t rent the home with the ceiling pulled out. She has contacted Airbnb repeatedly and has now contacted guests as she wants to give them the opportunity to find another place to stay. Her initial contact with Airbnb was to report the damage well over a week ago, it has been determined that there is no leaking pipes in that area and it appears to have resulted from their huge jacuzzi tub being over filled or kids playing in it and water splashes over.
Where is the support in an emergency, right now is all they are doing is collecting their share of the money and we are left to flounder? They crapped on host during this pandemic, and we are well into it now, they need to figure out how to provide support or lower fees if we are left to do everything on our own.
I will also note when my friend called the number programmed in her phone it ask the 72 hours question and transfers you and then immediately hangs up on you…
We have been able to solve the issues we had with guests booked through Airbnb but not with their help. Pretty much the same experience, called and got to a message center where I was promised my issue would be elevated. Nothing after that. The only way I have been able to get an answer after I could not get in touch with a guest was to take to Twitter. After a couple of tweets and retweets I actually got a human being to get in touch with me. Good luck
Horrible experience at the moment with an unresponsive support, I have a guest who is blackmailing me, asking 200€ or he will write a bad comment (it is written exactly like this in the conversation).
I opened a chat with the support with no answer from a week, and the chat has been automatically closed for the reason that it has “been solved in another conversation”, which it hasn’t.
I have opened a new support chat, but I feel like their support is entirely brain dead.
There is no help at ABB. They had layoffs and I believe they let go anyone with any intelligence. It was really just as bad before the layoff though the wait times were not so long. I fought for a year to get them to collect the correct rate of tax and finally had to give up and just tell guests they were being overcharged.
There is anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half wait time on the phone and you’re more likely to be disconnected. VRBO is the only solution. There’s a reason they charge more. I’ve called recently, had a four minute hold and my issue was resolved. It was minor but I still spoke to someone in very reasonable amount of time.
Below is a sample of some help I got recently.
Airbnb Support4:55 PM
Thank you for your reply. We are apologized for the confusing. When login there is no option of going to hosting.
Therefore, I hope that I could take this opportunity to get some valuable advice and opinion from you.
Improving our quality is not just to make Airbnb better but we want to provide our valuable user with greater experiences and improve better. Hence, we will take your feedback seriously.
We are sorry for the inconvenience. If you would like to provide us feedback, please submit it here:
It is our great honor to be able to listen to your voice and provide you with solutions.
I wish you all the best and a good day. Please do take care and stay healthy during this difficult time.
Do you still need help?
Yes, I still need help.
Message from Airbnb Service󱜄
We’re forwarding you to a team that can better assist you.
Donald & Frank8:53 AM
Please send me to someone that can read! You know reading? Where someone has put words together to convey an idea or question.
Airbnb customers services are currently overwhelmed due to the corona virus and cut backs in staffing so resources are limited. Fortunately i haven’t had a need to call or contact Airbnb since last autumn so haven’t experienced the difficulties other hosts have encountered.
Unfortunately for your son didn’t manage things well; he should never have allowed someone to stay beyond the check out date, without making sure they accepted the amended booking date before he left the listing. If they didn’t accept the amendment for the booking, he should have gone back and evicted them as they had no booking, rather than letting them stay.
Presumably he has now put a claim in through the Resolution Centre for the money for the additional stay.
Hopefully your friend cancelled her up-coming bookings under extenuating circumstances?
As always there are options if you don’t like the way Airbnb operates in terms of taking direct bookings or using one of the many other alternative local, national and international listing and rental companies.
CS jobs could be handled remotely by folks working at home and there’s plenty of those available. The two thousand that ABB laid off would probably be happy to help. I am tired of companies “due to Covid” we can’t do what we’re supposed to do and what we get paid for. Are they dropping fees because they are not providing product. No, you bet they’re not. It’s not a matter of not liking how ABB operates. They are NOT OPERATING as they’re supposed to and they’re still getting their fees!
Most of their call centre staff already do this @casitacresta. Bottom line Airbnb has cut back massively due to Covid and aren’t likely to be employing them again soon. You may be tired of companies saying this, but many are hanging on by a thread and many have closed their door. It is a terrible unprecedented time for many.
Your only choice if you don’t like how they are operating is to vote with your feet.
What is it with folks who appear to want Airbnb to run their business for them.
They are a marketing channel, no more, no less. They also charge hosts the least amount of commission, I mean 3%, its pennies and if you expect 15% service for that amount then you’re deluded.
Slagging off minimum wage CS folks, in messages just ain’t cool either.
Airbnb charges guests a 14% service charge, which effectively comes out of hosts pockets since without that fee we could charge more.
Airbnb is far more than a marketing channel and has always claimed to be a more full service company - they vet the guests and handle payments, among other things.
But you are right, we can’t count on Airbnb right now and must be extremely vigilent as hosts. The days of trusting Airbnb to take care of us are over.
The service fee on my listings has been closer to 20% for quite a while now, and I am tired of being pinged for value! Returning guests who have been invited to direct booked are always amazed by the difference in their pocket.
For the fees being charge to hosts and guest, I expect ABB to do what it’s supposed to, support and protect both hosts and guests. That includes maintaining the portal and providing decent customer service for both parties. They’re not doing that.
I am the first one to thank any CS rep that does their job. Send me a survey and I’ll give top marks if they’ve done their job. ABB doesn’t even post any kind of identification of their reps and I’ve never received a satisfaction survey. Why is that, do you think?
But they don’t do their job anymore than ABB does. It seems to be corporate culture.
Yes, CS can be an impossible job. But, if you have any kind of work ethic, you’ll do the best you can and not just shoot out canned responses, disconnect calls or ignore requests.
I still remember my first entry jobs nearly 60 years ago, horrid low-paying things but I would not have dreamed of not doing my best.
And now, a secret IPO filing? What are they thinking? Maybe a bunch of host should think about buying a share or two and gain a real vote. I’m certainly going to take a look.
I’m quite sure they are instructed by Airbnb to do that. First send out a canned response, then if that’s not enough to get the host to go away, they’ll actually have to deal with the issue.
Both my friend and my son are relatively new, I have been mentoring my friend, and that is exactly what I told her to do, I also looked up alternatives for this group in the area and sent them to her so she could recommend them to her guest. The damages appear to be caused by her last guests over filling the jacuzzi tub as there are no leaks in any of the pipes, but of course they are denying that… she has put in a claim, but has gotten no response (of course).
For my son, my recommendation was similar to yours, but his strategy sometimes doesn’t align exactly as mine does after several years of doing this… he is new and his focus is solely on reviews it seems, I have placed a bit more focus as I have advanced forward in this to the property, if I allow people to take advantage of the property and the rules of the home I have problem after problem. I have tried to explain to him a guest must accept and respect your house rules or they cannot stay there. The ones that lie and try to cheat are ALWAYS the same ones that do not respect the home and cause damage. I do the cleaning and this case was a perfect example, the home was a mess, checkout instructions not followed, door left unlocked, two missing glasses presumed broken. He’ll learn!
I get what you are saying and I try to engage Airbnb minimally in my business, but there are areas that they encourage that you reach out, one of them being damage to your property and the cancellation required after that damage has occurred. In my friends case a jacuzzi tub was over filled and took out the ceiling in her kitchen. The plumber verified that this was due to overflow and not pipes. She has to cancel a months worth of reservations and needs Airbnb to help collect for the damage, we do not have access to guests credit cards. She has made the cancellation on her own but has been waiti g for two weeks now for Airbnb to return a call on the damages.
Frankly I don’t want to hear about laying off due to covid, my guess is that Airbnb is busier than ever with alterations, refunds etc. why did they lay off so many? I have actually been busier this summer than last, I have a rural Midwest log cabin on a lake and 5 acres, sleeps 13. This seems just the place city folks want to be during covid. I have to assume others have also been busy as well, if they are going to offer a service, and advertise the support they are obligated to provide it.
I use other platforms, and VRBO use to to be only 10% of my business, but recently I have seen an uptick in VRBO, 3 of my last 5 reservations for summer 2021 are VRBO. The disparity of the service from what it was to what it is is discouraging, they appear to be a company in trouble, this is really sort of scary to me, I have reservations through Christmas 2021, are they going to be around to fulfill these?
They really don’t vet guests… they require an ID, and if they have trashed prior homes they will be banned, but they just get a friend to rent it next time. I had one like that and asked the group to leave when I noticed they were the same group that caused $500 In cleaning damage, left drug paraphernalia by our fire pit, someone pissed in an upstairs dresser and broke a toilet seat and a a mirror in our bathroom. Luckily I was there at check in and I immediately told them that they will have to leave and I would refund the stay. I told them after the damage last time I am not willing to even consider having them in my home.
I vet the guests myself, I try to take a look at all social media, if I have questions or concerns I call them to talk about it. I am clear on my rules, Airbnb never has vetted a guest…
Unfortunately airbnb customer service and support of hosts has fallen off a cliff.
When you called just a year ago you got through to a call center in San Francisco but I read on reddit from a poster who used to work at airbnb that they plan to outsource all of their customer service agents overseas.
They already have and most call centers are in the Phillipines, something they are very secretive about, but you dont have to be sherlock holmes to realise and that they dont know how to deal with issues.
