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?  

[Lindsay-and-Nikki0]

Yes, we have a ongoing question with "Superhost support" !! So far it's been 12 days, via the message system, so far we have lost count of the number of agents we have been passed on to. Response time vary from 1 hr to three days, one agent told us he was finishing and would get back to us in three days when he came back to work !! Seriously.!! We appreciate the time delay we understand they may be busy but there is still no excuse for the appalling lack of "support" we have received. We are still waiting for answers, what is going on? 

[Nick]

Hi @Lindsay-and-Nikki0, so sorry to read you have received poor service from Customer Support. I will forward your comments to the team, but in the meantime, I wanted to clarify that the dedicated Superhost support for the UK isn't live yet, but will be by the end of this year. Thank you

[Lindsay-and-Nikki0]

Hi Nick. I've just checked the "perks" you quote within the email we received only two days ago from Airbnb, you'll know the one, it congratulates us and confirms another term as a Superhost.  I quote:- "As a Superhost we get priority assistance when we contact Airbnb Support."  No mention of UK support, it may well be that UK Superhost support isn't live yet but are you implying that we are not entitled to any support until it is live? Instead of passing the bucks on to another one of your "team" how about taking the initiative getting yourself involved and answer some of the questions we have. I am sure most of us would rather that than you spend your days sending out endless empty apologies and excuses.  My issue is still live as far as I am aware, I have sent a number of messages asking for help but to date I'm still waiting.   

[Stephanie]

Hiya @Lindsay-and-Nikki0 ,

Just to clarify, the online community management team including @Nick are not customer support and this community forum is not a customer support medium. We are here to facilitate host to host conversation and provide a space that encourages uncensored discussion about what is important to Airbnb Hosts, whilst keeping it respectful and constructive. 

However, when possible, we do try to elevate Host questions and issues internally, whilst also trying to get more information where possible. 

That being said, I'll check in on how the support line is looking to roll out, specifically for us Brits, and come back when I have some details.

Thanks

[Mike-And-Jane0]

We have had occasion to use Customer Support. Easy to get through to BUT the general attitude is that there isn't a problem even when there is. Eventually we found someone who would listen to the issue and it was solved within days.

[Leslie0]

In my  experience, Air's support is hit or miss.  Many of the agents are difficult to understand and/or dismissive. Recently an Air customer support agent refunded two days to scammers who wanted to get out of their reservation because it was raining. Originally they had claimed there was an ant infestation and wanted their entire reservation refunded! My licensed pest control tech didn't see one ant! The customer service agent the guests talked to believed the guests and without getting my side of the story, refunded them. I had previously talked to a support agent who was extremely supportive, so Air's decision through me for a loop.Not only that, as soon as they left before I had time to  adjust my calendar,  someone else grabbed the open days with a last minute booking, to be  arriving in a few hours. I had to scramble around to locate my housekeeper who thank goodness came on short notice with a helper to get the place ready and whom I paid double. If there had really been an ant infestation I would have been in trouble with the people who were checking in that same night. I also paid my handyman who had came right away and did a light spray. As he left his comment was "well, that was a big nothing." After the next guests left, I have  had back to back bookings with so far no complaints about ants or anything else. The following day after the scammers left and the new guests checked in,  my licensed pest control tech showed up and didn't see one single ant. So "thanks Airbnb."  So glad you're not my sole source of income. Suggestion: instead of outsourcing host support overseas, make it local. And support your hosts if you want our loyalty and support such as when local governments try to ban you

[Debra300]

Yes, I've used Customer Service recently, and was provided information that was totally incorrect.  When I asked the rep to provide documentation to support what they said it couldn't be provided.  Hopefully, Airbnb will invest in training the reps to better understand the policies, and how the host dashboards and listing pages function. More importantly, they need to have critical thinking skills to understand what's being reported to them, and reasonably make decisions or take immediate action to resolve an issue other than report it to the next level.  Also, Airbnb needs to focus on actually following up on open cases, and contacting people during the business hours of the host's listed location. It will be of little help to hosts and guests to just have additional talking heads that pass the buck, and close cases without resolution.

[Anonymous]

@Airbnb   I'm familiar with the way "dedicated Superhost support" was promoted as a benefit of ticking off your boxes and getting the little badge, but my few encounters with customer service were not in any way improved by achieving the coveted status. Thanks for the performative empathy, but personally I would have preferred competence. 

Anyway, could someone please explain to me why a "Superhost" would be more in need of "highly skilled" support staff than your newer or lower-performing users? If Superhost status is supposed to reflect hosts' competence and professionalism, I'd think it would be reserved for people the hosts who are best trained in how your system operates and most capable of resolving issues without the intervention of whichever contractors your customer support is outsourced to. Of course, a seasoned host with a real problem doesn't want to be stuck in a call queue for hours behind nitwits begging to get a refund or have a review removed, but it shouldn't have to be an earned status to get the appropriate kind of support. You just need better triage on your end of the ticket.

And anyway, why should any of the service operation be handled by people who aren't "highly skilled" and "able to resolve issues quickly"? What does it say about your brand that this doesn't apply across the board, the way it used to?  If Skittles was offering a new line of candy for its premium customers, saying "for an extra $1, now with EXTRA FLAVORS and LESS ARSENIC!," you wouldn't expect people to just blow off what was left unsaid, would you? 

Here's a thought:  instead of promising a two-tiered customer support system that supposedly gives your "Superhosts" an unnecessary privilege, get to work developing tools for them that will eliminate the need to make a customer support call in the first place. I'd like to think that Host Advisory Board which may or may not exist has been keeping an active list of those tools we've asked for over the years...

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Anonymous A few points and a question

1) The Host Advisory Board does exist. You know it exists. Sadly it's only function appears to improve Airbnb PR not to actually represent hosts.

2) I love your desire for competency but 'performative empathy' is so much easier to train

And my question. Do Skittles contain arsenic?

[Leslie0]

Years ago my friend,  was an Airbnb activist and hosted in South LA, a mainly black and Hispanic area, and was featured in one of their commercials that played so incessantly that she would be stopped on the street by random people who knew her from "somewhere." She was asked to be on a former iteration of the host advisory board. She was flown to San Francisco along with some other hosts from all over the globe for a meeting. Apparently Air didn't like what they heard, and this "host advisory board" never met again. Through the years she had so many problems with Air's lack of support, that she finally gave up and no longer hosts for Airbnb. Many of her problems had to do with white people who would book, show up, and find she was in a black neighborhood, and cancel (she had a strict policy), or she would get bookings for an extended period of time from people who would end up damaging her place. She also had a house in Las Vegas, that being a hotel dominated town,  restricted Airbnb hosts to bookings of 30 days or more. The last straw was a travelling nurse who booked her Vegas house with her dog and her child. Between the dog and the child her place was trashed, walls were defaced, furniture was ruined, thousands of dollars of damage.  She used to do well when she got mostly tourists from mainland China. They were generally friendly, polite respectful of her property but when tensions heated up between the US and China, the Chinese, who for the most part weren't prejudiced about staying in a black neighborhood, stopped coming.  In fact she bought her Las Vegas house because she noticed the Chinese would go between San Francisco, LA and Vegas, but once that pipeline dried up, she couldn't handle the type of guests she was getting coupled with Air's lack of support. It was doubly sad because when LA was trying to ban Airbnb, she was one of the strongest, most prominent leaders in the effort to oppose that policy.

[Kajal1]

Agree with the prior posts on this thread. I recently called the dedicated Superhost support line and the "assistance" I received was completely useless. As a Superhost, I would've expected some recognition for the time and effort I put in to attain that designation. Boy was I wrong. Personally I really haven't seen any benefits to being a Superhost.

[Clara116]

@Airbnb @Anonymous You are spot on. I have a suggestion for Airbnb Customer support....take about 20 super host those of us on here that know the platform, are hosts and understand what the hosts in need is really talking about in their claim and direct those CS superhost to help for a couple weeks....compare satisfaction with those knowing the platform and the nuances involved in hosting against what is the typical CS we keep reading about. I feel sure it would prove a very valuable onsite for Airbnb and where they must focus their attention.

It's been a long time since I needed assistance...and my memory reads exactly like what is written these days ...CS apologies and says they will help....and then the emails begin. First is the CS help is off for 2 days and the next email comes days... multiple....later and another CS starts the claim again....oops ...they are on vacation immediately....and so it goes. This pass it on for time .. until suddenly the case is closed. No questions asked. Crazy way to do it. But this method is repeated time and time again. 

If your Csupport teams could have half the skills that most hosts have and develop by hosting the customer support would be working productively. 

There are those of us that will say: wanna get a big thing/ job done- hire Chic fil A and they will get it done quickly, with respect and grace- why? training and respectful employees. 

Airbnbs top hosts are like those chic fil A employees, understand the platform, what's required and work to thrive. 

This is my take on the bus C S struggle! I can give you a list of lots of hosts that understand...like Andrew, Ann, Sarah, Cathy, Christine,Lawrene, Till, Blanka and Silvia, Jessica and Henry, Rob, myself and many more.

[Douglas353]

We the customer service agents to training and knowledgeable and give the authority to resolve problems?  Or did Aribnb just hire more untrained agents with who do speak of understand the English language? 

[Katarina162]

I'm new to hosting & just recently received my superhost status. I've contacted the regular customer service twice via live chat. The first time the agent was fantastic - responsive, knowledgeable, empathetic, competent & helpful - she worked with me until we fixed the whole situation, took maybe 45 mins altogether but we were going back & forth the whole time - I felt very supported. Second time I got someone who really didn't grasp the situation & pasted links to help articles I'd already read while trying to resolve the issue myself... After repeating myself patiently a few times, rephrasing for added clarity, he asked if I'd like to speak to a higher up. Once the chat passed to the higher up, they read the chat history thoroughly to understand the issue, asked me what my ideal outcome would be, & made it happen - again I felt very supported, both by the agent who ultimately solved the issue, but also by the agent who didn't have the skills to help but volunteered to pass me along to someone who did. I understand that customer service is a difficult & usually thankless job, & I try to always be patient & understanding of that. Also sounds like using the live chat feature is the way to go, judging by other comments I'll avoid requesting help via email. Personally I've been very impressed with Airbnb's customer service, & would like to say thanks for being so responsive & supportive. I hope others have more experiences like mine.