AirBnB Guests - Pure **

[Trevor243]

Some AirBnB guests are pure **, thinking they can trash a property and get away with it.

Thing is ..... with AirBnB policies on damage deposits and the sheer amount of time and effort required to claim on a damage deposit, yes, they almost certainly can get away with it.

AirBnB want evidence of the original cost of the property, invoices for cleaning and repairs etc - the endless list of evidence that AirBnB wants is ridiculous.

Property condition before damage is clear from the photos on listings.

Damage is clear from photos submitted as part of the damage claims.

Yet AirBnB are NEVER satisfied.

AirBnB prefer ** guests to decent hosts with decent properties.

[Laura2592]

Wow. 

This host had previously said he was just delisting and putting up a new ad on Airbnb because of a poor review. So I guess that didn't happen. 

We have all had our share of complicated experiences with guests. But calling people "scum" is probably not a great way to endear yourself to the mostly reasonable people who use this platform. Airbnb customer service is famously terrible. Yes you will have to jump through hoops to get any money. They prefer that you handle these issues by speaking directly to the guest and working it out. But as this host keeps touting his long experience in hospitality, I am sure that no guidance we try to give will be anything he doesn't already know. Perhaps there is another platform that is a better fit?

[Trevor243]

**[Inappropriate content removed - Community Center Guidelines]

[Laura2592]

Truly, @Trevor243 your responses both to your guests and your fellow hosts (who have given you great advice and are trying to help) are telling. I would really re-think my strategy if I were in your shoes. Best of luck to you. Not everyone is cut out to deal with the public. 

[Trevor243]

**[Inappropriate content removed - Community Center Guidelines]

[Laura2592]

@Trevor243 please review the forum rules on appropriate behavior. Thanks and good luck. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Trevor243 You have said many times that Airbnb is a fraction of your business. Why don't you make it 0% and de-list? I really can't understand people who complain but don't actually take action to correct their situation.

[Trevor243]

@Mike-And-Jane0  Some people love the fluffy world of AirBnB reviews and they live in a wonderful, fluffy world of AirBnB.

We're in business to make money for ourselves and the owners of the properties we manage. We do this by providing a bloody good service to our guests and to the owners of the properties we manage.

When you manage a large number of properties across multiple channels, you really do see the difference between AirBnB and other channels. We get great thanks from many non-AirBnB guests, repeat bookings, etc etc. AirBnB is a different story. When you take a very large number of bookings acoss a large number of properties on multiple channels, the differences with AirBnB really stand out.

The way AirBnB treat hosts is an absolute disgrace. I stand by my right to state this and to fight for the rights of hosts to be treated fairly by AirBnB.

And yes, there comes a point for each property when it is delisted from AirBnB. But this should be our choice, not forced on us by AirBnB inviting guests to complain, nor by AirBnB protecting guests that trash properties.

[Laura2592]

Then go to other platforms. Problem solved. 

Whinging on here and name-calling is no way to remedy your situation. The hosts who have responded have managed to figure out how to deal with guests while still keeping their businesses intact AND getting high ratings. They are offering you advice and you are grandstanding and trying to make it seem that you are fighting for some kind of cause that helps everyone. But you are transparently angry that you got called out on poor amenities and service. You respond with invective to people who are trying to give you the benefit of their experience.  We all know that this platform has serious faults. Many of us are still managing to make it work despite the frustrating experiences we are sharing. 

So if you know of a better place to go, go there. You say you have been successful elsewhere. Go be successful elsewhere. 

[Dolores227]

Thanks for your advise (good for nothing) No one  needs your permission to go somewhere else.

It is clear from this posting and many other postings that Airbnb is siding with the guests and undermining the hosts.   It is my opinion that Aibnb has more supply of hosts than guests, yes, they need more guests and not so many hosts. Supply and demand is the base of all business, Airbnb is a business, not necessarily a fair business. 

[Robin4]

@Trevor243 

Possibly being an old thread Trevor may have moved on, and may have even given Airbnb the heave ho and is now listing on another platform. But just in case he is still about I would like to have my tuppence worth.

I have worked in support, I spent a year trying to equitably sort out issues just like this one and I can tell you Trevor, hosts are not as pure as the driven snow when it comes to claiming property damage.

Many times I had to deal with a host claim that looked legitimate but was in fact downright fraudulent!!

A host puts in a claim for $2,500 for an outdoor furniture setting that a guest has damaged with cigarette burns to one or more of the settings cushions. The host has documentary evidence that it will cost $2,500 to replace that outdoor setting and provides timely photos of the damage.

What the host does not disclose is, he bought that setting from the local op-shop for $350 and is now claiming $2,500 for its replacement !!!

Airbnb do not and never have offered 'new for old'.....but hosts expect them to. I knew of one host who made many thousands of dollars through claims for damage that was possibly created by himself in order to up-scale his furniture inventory.

Trying to strike a fair balance here is hard and Airbnb have become very defensive when dealing with these claims because they have been screwed over by unscrupulous hosts in the past.  

The other thing is CX are sick and tired of having their heads ripped off by angry platform users day after day. The fastest way to get your ticket closed is to bounce CX the way you have done here on the Community Centre. If you are pleasant and ask for advise and help, you will get it.....start demanding and, it's....... hasta la vista baby!

You are the architect of your misfortune mate.....simple as that!

Cheers.......Rob

@Dolores227 @Huma0 @Sarah977  @Debra300 

[Huma0]

@Robin4 

I agree. It's better to stay calm and polite at all times and say thank you as much as possible too. Sure, it doesn't always work like a charm, but throwing a hissy fit is definitely not going to work.

I am not sure how I feel RE the new for old question. I can certainly see how some hosts could try to take advantage of it. I know one who was delighted when some guys trashed her flat because she got to have the whole place redecorated and furnished but, to be fair, that wasn't her intention. The place was really trashed.

If someone damages something in my place that was in perfectly good order and condition, I would expect to be covered for the cost of replacing that item (including labour if that is needed), not some erroneous sum calculated by Airbnb based on the age of the item. I am not talking about wear and tear here (I don't bother putting in claims for something like spoilt bedlinens or towels or small breakages).

An example is when a guest broke a perfectly good front door lock. I have no idea how old that lock was or what it originally cost because it was installed by the previous owner. However, from what the locksmith told me, that lock was expensive, built to last decades and did not simply break by itself. The guest had really abused it, despite my clear instructions on how to use it.

I would therefore expect to be covered for the cost of a new lock of the same quality, with the same number of keys as I previously had, and the locksmith's labour to boot. That is what it is going to cost me to replace something that would not have needed replacing for probably another 20 years had it not been for that guest. I think that's fair. Why should I have to fork out a big portion of it just because it was not brand new?

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  There's also the situations where guests damage something that you may have picked up second hand for peanuts, then spent days revamping. I know you've refinished a lot of furniture like this. So not only is the piece a one-of-a-kind, what's your time worth that you spent refinishing, not to mention the paint, etc? How do you place a value on that that Airbnb will consider?

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Yes, that's a good point. I have picked up some vintage furniture at not so high prices on Ebay etc. but have put days into upcycling it and it is therefore even more upsetting when someone damages it then if it was a new piece. It's not like I will ever find the exact same piece again anyway.

I discovered only yesterday, when cleaning a room for a new guest, that the previous guest had damaged either the locks or the keys on the vintage bureau in that room that I had very painstakingly painted. Okay, so the bureau is still there but now the top and top drawer don't lock and the bottom drawer, which he left locked, now doesn't open. So annoying, but how do you calculate a cost for that?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Robin4 The OP still has 17 properties listed with Airbnb so I guess he isn't too unhappy with the bookings  he gets from them.

I find it bizarre that people whinge incessantly but do not take the simple actions open to them (such as de-listing their properties) if they are so upset.

[Laura2592]

@Mike-And-Jane0 exactly.  You can tell a lot about the way people communicate by what they post here in the "nonsearchable" forum. Guests aren't inanimate objects.  They can read between the lines just like the rest of us.  Thats why responses to poor reviews are so important.