Customer service updates, payments, and more in the latest Host Update with Catherine Powell

[Airbnb]

The past few months have been a tough time for all of us, especially hosts and guests. We’ve been listening closely to your feedback in all its forms and working tirelessly to create solutions because we know that encountering delays—especially when it comes to customer service or payments—is incredibly frustrating. 

In the latest Host Update, Catherine Powell sits down with Tara Bunch, our new Global Head of Operations, to offer transparency about how we’re strengthening our customer service team and to explain more about our payment process for hosts. Once you’ve watched the video, we’d really love to hear from you. Please let us know what you’d like covered in future Host Updates with Catherine. As always, thank you for sharing the topics that matter to you.

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[Gino16]

@Catherine-Powell  On the weekend of August 22nd of 2020 southern portions of Florida had a storm pass by named laura. This storm was the root of my now worst feedback ever.  Our tourism board in the county stated no evacuation order for hotel guests, but did order evacuation for R V camping guests to the county. Let us start at the beginning. The guest booked on august 19th for a stay the night of the 22nd.We received our first tourism update to be aware of the storm as of mid day on the 20th.  This notice simply listed the storm as something to be watchful of.  Our guest "A" was coming from within the near region and would have had similar warnings and forecaster notice as us.   At 11:41 am on the 22nd we received notice of  "

• A mandatory evacuation of campers, recreational vehicles, mobile home dwellers and boat liveaboards is in effect for Monroe County and should be completed by noon Sunday. There are no other general mandatory evacuation orders, including those for visitors staying in hotels or conventional lodging structures.
• Keys visitors staying or planning on staying in Keys hotels should be fully cognizant of impending hazardous weather conditions. There is a potential for power losses and other minor-to-moderate infrastructure impacts in areas of the Keys closest to the center of the storm.

 " 

At 9:36 am on this same day of the 22nd "A" began messaging every minute to two minutes asking to cancel and wanting a refund. I asked the guest to be patient as we expect a mid day update, and as far as we knew everything was open and operational in the region for hotel guests.  She continued this on until 11:18 am Needless to say she was not our only guest.  And she was the only one asking, and at that forcefully.  We had no direct guidance to restrict or accept cancellations(from the local tourism board) and as a host with strict terms, we do not offer same day cancel on arrivals, nor will the Airbnb system permit without calling customer service to make the cancellation.  As "A" had become clearly volatile we attempted to contact airbnb for assistance in canceling of the booking  (as the system will not allow for a cancel on day of arrival online).  We were put in queue for arrival under 72 hours and were told some one would reach out to us. About an hour later with no response we also started a chat thread on the matter.  4 days later we finally received our return call from airbnb.  This was now 3 days after the guest checked out,  As they were to be a 1 night stay.  At this point we expressed grave concern for the feedback the guest would leave and were told by Customer support to contact them when she did. And boy did she.  The weather was lovely and beautiful to be outside with only a light breeze for swimming from our on site beach  and what little rain we received did not come until night.  The weather next morning was lovely as well and the guest was a listed departure.  We were fully open and operational for all of our guests, not just "A". And from that Saturday she was apparently the only one who had negative things to say.  When “A”’s feedback posted I was devastated. So I then reached out to Airbnb to explain thru no fault of mine we had the most absolutely horrid feedback. Largely due to the inability of customer service to even begin to deal with the matter.  Needless to say the response from Airbnb is you must take the feedback and that was it.  Even though it was due to them not responding.  This provided absolutely no consideration for the failing of systems meant to resolve matters like this.  Any assistance on this matter is appreciated.

[Katie]

Hi @Gino16, thanks for posting here, and I'm sorry to hear about the problem you've had with this review. I've just sent you a DM with more info 😊

[Gino16]

below is the thread of the end of my messages on the matter, note there is still no willingness to be responsible for a policy that forces one into a corner with Absolutely no way to meet a guest expectation in a satisfactory manner.

**

**[Private conversation removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]

[Katie]

Hi @Gino16, just a heads up that it's not permitted to share private messages publicly, as per the CC Guidelines, so I've had to edit your post above. Please do have a read to make sure you're up to date on how things work here 😊

[Gino16]

@Catherine-Powell   apparently  the staff working on this matter have been equally disappointing.  They seem to not be the people who can actually help!  That leaves a host to still to suffer the direct results of your customer service system failure, with no corrective action available.

[Allan299]

I am a returning customer but can not log on as I don't have my old phone number any more. Verification to a mobile is stopping me from login on and there is no option to use a email account. I can not find a email or phone number to contact for help and spent a hour reading pages from the help centre with no solution. @alsweeney

[Katie]

Hi @Allan299, welcome to the Community Center, and I'm really sorry to hear that you're having trouble logging in. It looks like you are logged into an account here (which will have a related Airbnb account), so I'm guessing you have created a new account? If you still need to access the old one then you should be able to get in contact with Support here. I hope this helps 😊

[Theresa458]

We recently joined this platform  and had our first renter arrive on Friday at 330 pm.   Based on the information provided,  We expected to receive a direct deposit into our bank account in 24 hours.  It is now  30 hours and no payment.  In addition, there is no means to reach a customer service person to help.

WE were very excited to get started but feeling extremely disappointed. 

Theresa 

[Roberta2]

Hi @Theresa458 

the 1st payment is not in 24 hours.

1st payments can take up to 30 days. 

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/d/financials

When can I expect to get paid?

Airbnb typically releases your payout about 24 hours after your guest’s scheduled check-in time. The time it takes for the funds to arrive in your account depends on the method you choose to get paid. If your guest is staying for 28 or more nights, Airbnb typically releases the payout for the first month about 24 hours after your guest’s scheduled check-in time. Additional payouts for that reservation are released monthly. If you're a new host, we may hold your payouts for 30 days after your first reservation is confirmed. If your first reservation is more than 30 days away, your payout will be released 24 hours after your guest’s scheduled check-in. This will apply to any payouts scheduled to be released during those 30 days.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Theresa458 Whilst the first payment can take a long time subsequent payments, whilst released the day after check in still take about a week to actually get to your bank account. Paypal is, I believe, quicker.

[Maureen49]

@Catherine-Powell  Thank you for reaching out through your videos. It seems like you might be our only hope. After being a host (and guest) with Airbnb,  even serving on focus groups, etc. since 2012, I am beside myself over a mishandled issue. We had a guest in our downstairs apartment (part of our house) for a 6 week stay. I told them during checkin that there is a common area that we sometimes need to access (a pantry, storage, heater, water heater, etc.). About 3 weeks into the stay I realized that they were hyper vigilant (as we are) about privacy. While they were out I entered the space with a mask, walked 12 feet to get a large folding screen from the corner and placed it between their private space and the common space. I did this solely for their protection. When they returned, they packed up and moved out. I explained that while I was sorry that I had not notified them, I did it safely and was only doing it to protect them.  After all, I had explained that the common area was needed by us at the beginning of their stay. They not only left the place a complete mess but they (a lawyer and IT person) had managed to convince Airbnb to give them a full refund. Over $3000. Not even covering all the household products, utilities and cleaning fees (not to mention loss of income) they had used during their stay. Note: we provided wifi so they could continue working while we were, in essence, prevented from making an income. We were funding their stay. This is devastating to our family in this time where we (both pastors) have had no other income since closing in March. They even moved out and then didn't cancel the reservation so that no one else could book. I wrote to him to remind him that he was still booked as a kindness to him so that he wasn't charged the extra days. I now see that he was probably keeping it so that others were prevented from booking. This is theivery.  Ever gracious, I even found a mitten they left and asked if I could get it back to them.  (Note: their parents live close by, they moved in with them and it is entirely possible that they were looking for a way to get out of the reservation.) I have been on the phone with airbnb and also had a service rep writing to me and the end result is that I have no rights and the matter is closed. Perhaps the (lawyer) guest wrote some threatening letter to get his refund? Surely someone sees the injustice. I have been the biggest cheerleader for Airbnb and made a lot of money for them. So hard to believe this is how we would be treated. Please read our reviews. We have always been exemplary hosts. I am in tears over this. We are devastated and can't even cover our expenses. Please help! Thank you for any consideration. Maureen Freshour

[Katie]

Hi @Maureen49, I'm really sorry to hear about the issues you've had here. I have just had an update from Support, so I will send you a DM now with more info. 

[Monica-Hisano0]

We are going into our 7th year with Airbnb and the ongoing issues with your billing system continues for the lack of an itemized list of charges for each and every charge to our guests.

Also, it it extremely frustrating that hosts are placed with the burden of adding pet fees and charges for additional guests AFTER a potential guest makes an initial inquiry. When people put in all of their information that is requested by the website they expect an accurate quote! The first time!!

Currently when a guest makes an inquiry we have to recalculate the entire invoice if they are bringing a pet and/or going over our guest limit that we set.

When a guest instant books this opens up a huge issue because the entire booking needs to be cancelled and started over because Airbnb does not allow hosts to make any modifications.

We have talked to your customer service reps and written complaints to the support team ad nauseam since the 2014. All to no avail! We are so tired of getting the same auto-reply verbiage and email messages that state, "We are always working to improve our website....blah, blah, blah".

The current booking and billing system is inefficient and misleading. Where's the transparency? It makes no sense to us why this practice continues and is extremely frustrating.

It seems like your company would gladly add these features so that your hosts can have a smooth transaction with their guests and your service fees would increase in revenue.

Katie, we appreciate the service that you provide in this platform to some of your participants. Our hope is that maybe, just maybe you might be the person to finally get something done for a situation that is very problematic. Please, please consider this correspondence as a plea to fix these ongoing issues that have plagued our relationship with Airbnb.

Thank you for your time and consideration!

[Katie]

Hi @Monica-Hisano0, I hope you are well, and thanks for sharing your experience here. I just wanted to check if you had shared this via the Feedback page at all? This sounds like it would be a better avenue for you than Support in this instance 😊

[Sandra1925]

@Catherine-Powell  I am shocked that there are so many hosts that have not been reimbursed. To date Support staff has failed to follow up on my open ticket . Reservation #HMMRCCK8H from the month of May that has has not be resolved. Each time I have had the opportunity to discuss this with support staff via telephone or messaging they forward my inquiry to a member of your team who can better assist me yet they have not been able to reimburse me or do not follow up on the call they promised I would get. Maybe someone in the correct department can be assigned to my ticket sometime soon. Last communication was July 6, 2020 and no follow up by Airbnb staff since. Thank you for your attention in this matter.