Improving customer service with more agents and dedicated Superhost support

[Airbnb]

You may have heard us announce recent improvements to our Community Support team: more customer service agents, who would have greater empathy and a more tailored response, working from refreshed, simpler policies. We’re also committed to reinvesting in dedicated Superhost support, so Superhosts get exclusive access to highly skilled customer service staff to resolve issues quickly. Dedicated Superhost support rolls out to all Superhosts in our six most commonly spoken languages, including English, by the end of the year, and we’re wondering:

Have you tried dedicated Superhost support yet? What did you think?  

[Leslie0]

You're new to hosting. Good luck when the honeymoon period wears off!

[Barry346]

Does this mean that superhosts won’t be suspended until proven innocent which has been the crazy logic of Airbnb recently. Suspending all listings because a guest put a fake review, or said we had cameras where the listing clearly states cameras are present. 

[Leslie0]

I was recently videoed by a guest without my prior knowledge or consent in the ant dispute noted in one of the comments above. The guest also offered to give me a good review if I would refund them for their remaining days.  So--we have to tell guests if we have cameras, but guests are allowed to video and record us without our knowledge!  We are not allowed to "bribe" guests with the promise of a good review, but they can try to bribe us! Way to go Air! P.S. I replied  go ahead and give me a bad review! I have hundreds of five star reviews, so it won't make much difference.

[Hello6]

Our experience with the Customer Service help we have requested (normally by calling the telephone for Spain and then asking for help in English) has been quick and very helpful.  Our x2 main concerns we call Customer Service about are: 1. Asking Airbnb to contact guests on our behalf as the booked guests have not answered any questions from us or have not completed their Verified ID or have sent us relevant Covid Travel Proof Documents and it is getting close to their arrival dates and the guest usually has not responded to any methods of contacting (Airbnb messages, emails, sms, calls or via a call service like WhatsApp) them direct or 2. Reporting no-show guests and asking Airbnb to contact them on our behalf as they do not respond to any methods provided to contact them (will they show up, do they want a refund etc. etc.). 

The solution we usually ask contact customer service for is for them to assist to cancel a booking from a non-responsive guest who has not shared required legal paperwork or a guest we feel should be flagged for a poor display of attitude etc in their messages.  In every case we have had contact with customer service our concerns were heard and the issue was resolved.   Note: The majority of our concerns that we do raise to customer service are normally around issues related to new guests on Airbnb having problems navigating the system; understanding how to add documents or pictures to an Airbnb message or to use the translation button; how a guest may cancel and if they qualify for a refund; that a guest has issues logging into their Airbnb once they have left their country or they have forgotten their passwords or have issues accessing their emails.  We think the customer service has been great so far and we highly recommend Airbnb for hosting.  Thanks to the Airbnb for the help and for of course all the amazing guests we have had the chance to host.  Sure their are a few bad ones but the majority are great and now with the Verified ID step the chances are even better that the guests we get will be great people. 

[Misty66]

So far our experience with customer service has been a nightmare. One such agent mishandled a case and didn't follow ABB policy, and we ended up stuck with a terrible review which we're still recovering from. I have very little faith that customer service will improve, whether there's a "dedicated" agent or not.

[Austin-Of-Toss-Walker-Farm0]

As a superhost with 245 reviews I am vigilant about handling my guests issues personally with promptness and generosity. I've just never wanted to involve CS unless absolutely necessary and today I learned just how glad I am to have been doing that. Since hosting in 2011 I have only had to call customer service twice. The first time was around 2013 and it was one of the best most pleasant customer service interactions I've ever had. Today the experience could not have been different. With as much as air b&b charges in fees to guests and host they should be providing a superior customer service and in fact it's the most aggravating and incompetent that I have had from any business, let alone a company that's in the HOSPITALITY and hosting industry. Oh right, they're a "technology" company. What a shame. I strongly suggest all hosts do everything in their power to handle issues independently as it seems contacting customer service will now just frustrate you and possibly make things worse. 

[Eddie-And-Sandi0]

This is awesome is great!  more assistance to the superhost wow but it the superhost don't

get guests at least not like before? What is there to talk about?

Again bookings went from 15-20 a month to 0

what agent can give me the answer to that? all they can say is keep complaining the 

more complains the sooner change will be made. This is a new way to keep us quiet.

The platform has changed for everyone. Bookings are totally down and views forget it none.

Airbnb is no longer what it was again quantity not quality more and more and more

which amount to nothing Superhosts might have all the tools follow all the suggestions

strategies but if you take away the main ingredient GUESTS we have nothing.