I had one with false ID at my place. Airbnb didnt want to know as far as they were concerned it was verified.
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Exactly! I have been asking myself the same thing, which led me to this website. I dont understand how a billion dollar company is laying off staff?? I recently had a 18 year old kid book my rental, admitted to me hes having a party, I have been trying to contact AirBNB for a week now to cancel this, they finally let me know the day before the checkin that they will cancel it, but I will get a penalty for it and the day remains blocked. How is this fair?
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Do you have a lot of issues with VRBO? I used to use them, then I found 25% of the bookings were doing chargebacks on me! VRBO did nothing about it. Then a lot of other bookings from VRBO would be parties with a lot of damage.
Do you use IB? If so you can have three penalty free cancellations if you feel uncomfortable with a guest. You can say you donât want to host the guest as they have said they are having a party (presumably against your house rules) @deltona5
You can do this through the platform.
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Yes, I use instant booking. That is why I am so confused! I am talking to someone called an ambassador and getting nowhere. He is trying to convince me that he is going to tell the guest to only have eight people maximum in the house and I am supposed to be comfortable with that to keep the reservation. Since when do the Airbnb workers stick up for only the guests. I have had no support as a host. Last month there was another party in my home, my home has an indoor pool so it is very inviting for parties, the people did $17,000 worth of damage. It has been a month and a half and it has been crickets. I have called, sent messages, no one is getting back with me and they close the ticket as soon as I open it.
As I said you can cancel penalty free yourself, you can do this by going into the booking confirmation and cancelling as you feel uncomfortable with the booking because the guest has said they are going to have a party.
I am sorry to hear about your damage. Where are you in the process for submitting your claim? Presumably you already submitted a claim to the guest who either didnât reply or refused to pay and you escalated it to submit a claim through the Airbnb guarantee?
Have you also looked at submitting a claim on your specialist home insurance for STRs?
You are only allowed to cancel penalty free three times a year. I have already used that up. I have one of those 95% high occupancy rate homes that is very sought after for parties. It makes me call when I want to cancel about a booking I am uncomfortable about now.
The party that happened a month and a half ago, they told me it was taking so long because there were a bunch of narcotics, strippers, and over 10 different types of drugs found in the home. Also neighboring property damage, and two people in the ICU. Yes I filled out the claim right away and it was immediately escalated to Airbnb. Then they had me fill out the host guarantee incident form. That was last month.
Ah you didnât say that in your original posts that you had already used up your three penalty free cancellations @deltona5.
Going forward you may want to look at removing IB so you can vet all guests before accepting their bookings.
All you can do is speak directly to Airbnb and insist they cancel because you are fearful of the guest partying and feel unsafe.
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I tried telling them that I am fearful and feel unsafe because of the partying, I even tried throwing the pandemic stuff in there, more than 10 people gathering, they didnât care.
The ambassador I spoke with on the phone, his name was Joy.
I was going to remove instant booking, but I was afraid it would decrease the bookings because some people want instant bookings
95% booked, with a significant proportion of bad guests? Raise your rates immediately!
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But thatâs my problem, I donât see any evidence of anyone dealing with the issue. Yes, thereâs bunches of us out thereâand you can call us grumps and curmudgeonsâbut ABB is not delivering. They raised a billion dollars from institutional investors at the same time they laid off 25% of staff! And sure, employees got some help but what about the hidden contractors? https://www.wired.com/story/airbnb-quietly-fired-hundreds-of-contract-workers-im-one-of-them/
And now, an IPO!
There are scores of complaints on this forum alone and Iâd bet many more not reported and many guests and hosts not aware there are forums. I took a brief look at one other forum/community and first topic I see, lousy or nonexistent support.
In two years of hosting, Iâve not gotten any assistance when requested other than the most basic of questions. And those were early on when I was learning the ropes.
Been hosting for five years (today). Had hundreds of guests. Have always found call centre staff polite, friendly and helpful.
There are two million listings on Airbnb and only a small amount of hosts complaining on this and other forums about service issues, even post Covid when resources have been cut right back.
What issues were you looking for support with have you not had help with? @
You are getting terrible guests- guests who want to IB. So what if there is a decrease in those types of bookings? Whatâs the point of getting lots of bookings if the guests are the type who trash your house and cost you money?
Think quality over quantity.
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I only get terrible guests once in a blue moon. I have well over 90% occupancy all the time with my home. If I remove instant book I am afraid my occupancy rate is going to go down
But you said your place is very sought after for parties and youâve had to use up your 3 free IB cancellations. If you take it off IB, youâll have control over who is asking to book, can decide whether to accept or decline, and wonât have to keep cancelling sketchy bookings or trying to involve CS.
Shutting off IB isnât something thatâs written in stone. You can always turn it on again if you find itâs significantly lowering your bookings.
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Why not then change your IB so you only accept guests who have three positive reviews @deltona5
Something is not working for you if you are attracting party types.
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Air CS Agents do not get to tell you the deal. You tell them. It is your house. Your rules.
They do not get a say unless they pay the mortgage and taxes.
The guest clearly expressed that they would hold a party, in writing. This violates your house rules. Tell the agent to either cancel it right now or get their supervisor on the phone. Be firm.
Good luck.
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So increase your prices 1-10% (minimum) and have a 1-10% (likely maximum, it could actually increaseâŚsome people get more bookings at a higher price point). Same (or more) money, less work, and likely fewer problem guests.
Thank you! I did tell them that I wanted to speak to a supervisor, he told me that the supervisor would take at least 48 hours to get back with me. I gave up and just cancel the reservation and got stuck with a penalty.
You can still call back, ask to have the penalty removed, and when they wonât, ask for a supervisor. Then tell the supervisor the airhead wouldnât cancel even though the record verifies that they would break house rules.
But you need to pay attention to what others have said. If you are 95% booked and having problem guests, YOUR RATES ARE TOO LOW! Itâ broken, and the way to fix it is to raise your rates and take off instant book. If demand is so high you are booked 95% you should be able to raise rates considerably and still stay booked. Better to be 80% booked with no troubles at a higher price and make the same money, no?
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