I have been an AirBnb host with hundreds of guests over many years.
I want to bring to your attention a problem about the way we hosts are treated by the “customer service” department.
A guest made a cleanliness complaint.
Without informing, consulting or giving me a chance to fix it, Airbnb canceled the reservation and gave the guest a full refund.
When I asked to see the pictures that guests gave as proof, I was told they are confidential.
When I asked for specifics that was confidential too.
To sum it up, I was accused, tried and convicted without being given chance to defend myself, give my version or even see what I was accused of!
Other hosts in the forum have called this very Kafkaesque.
Many have had similar experiences to mine.
To add insult injury, the cancelation was listed as “Host Cancelation” even though I did not do the cancelation.
This carried the pushment of blocking off the week from my calendar and that i am ineligible for Superhost status (Which I have held for the vast majority of the time i have hosted 100 plus guests.)
In my attempts to get relief from customer service, twice i have been contacted via messages, when I replied right away the person was going off their shift and did not address my issues. The last time they actually told me to start the process all over again instead or replying to my questions
"
Hi Eric, this is Jaydee again from Airbnb. I am following up to let you know that my shift is about to finish. If you need further assistance, feel free to give us a call with the help of this link: airbnbcom/help/contact-us. Have a good night!"
In addition, when i asked the customer service rep on the phone if airbnb thought I worked for them he said yes. Check the recording of the call.
If hosts are independent contractors we should have the right to set our own cancelation and refund policies and control our own calendar.
If we are employees we should have unemployment benefits and SS, etc all employees benefits required by law.
This is the kind of situation we need this new this new Host Advisory board for.