I listed to Brian's address this afternoon. I appreciate the efforts to make us whole, if only partially. That said, he apologized in only the vaguest of terms, and didn't say nearly enough about how Airbnb would improve the host experience. It's about so much more than COVID-19 for me.
I've been hosting on Airbnb for just over three years. In that time, Airbnb has featured us twice on their Instagram account, and once in their magazine. We're Superhosts who have kicked over $100k to Airbnb in fees over those three years. For the amount of money they take from my guests and me, not to mention the marketing value we've delivered for them, I felt I had a right to expect a substantially higher quality of service than what I actually received over the past year or so.
Contacting the call center is brain damage. There might be humans on the phone, but it sounds as if they've been too intensely programmed and coached on scripting to listen, think logically, or even emote in any but the most robotic ways. I've all but given up on them--I'd rather just eat the $100-300 I might need to collect on a claim than suffer the long hold times, lack of follow up, and intense frustration of negotiating with a virtual robot. Far from a source of support and help, they're a drain on my soul, from the front lines right up to the supervisors.
The website and app are painfully slow, and the UI seems to get worse, not better. These forums are chock full of gripes about this, but we never see improvements. For several weeks, it's been completely impossible to just download an earnings statement for tax purposes. The ice cream error message isn't cute anymore.
I was somewhat reassured (if a little skeptical) that Brian had read every comment in this community forum. That's the only reason I've bothered to spend the time to write this post. I used to post here from time to time, in the hope that someone was listening, and perhaps they were. But I never saw that anyone was responding in any meaningful way to the very legitimate gripes and suggestions people like me were taking the time to share.
And finally, the waiving of our cancellation policies was understandable, but remains unforgivable for me. It was totally ham-handed, and treated every property and every situation with a broad brush. There was virtually no risk for guest or host at my super-rural vacation properties. In fact, my properties were precisely the places where people wanted to be in this crisis. But Airbnb made it possible for guests who were suffering financial hardship or just didn't feel like visiting, for reasons totally unrelated to COVID-19, to cancel without penalty, right up to the minute before their check-in times. It was a violation of contract that wasn't carried out with any consultation, and in seeming distrust of hosts' business and moral judgment.
We were exclusively listed on Airbnb until this event. Our experience for the first two years was fantastic. But something has happened over the past several months there, such that almost everything about our experience using and dealing with Airbnb has become intensely frustrating. Just weeks before this pandemic, I reached the conclusion that sticking with Airbnb just wasn't smart for my business anymore, and not least my sanity. Given the auspicious start, I was sincerely shocked to be feeling that way. It's hard to recall a time when I had ever gone from such extremes of hot and cold on a business or brand as Airbnb.
Since this event, we've all but decided to quit, cold turkey, and start taking reservations exclusively on an independent platform. Whether or not we actually go cold turkey, it's never been so clear to us that listing exclusively on Airbnb would be enormously boneheaded. Something extraordinary would have to happen for that to ever seem sensible again.
All that said, there's still tons of value and genius here that I hope can be useful for us again. I'd love to feel the way about Airbnb that I felt two years ago, again.
