AirBnb Worst Customer Service Ever - Looking for an alternate host platform

[David-And-Neyah0]

Wow i had a renter that broke all my house rules, damaged my unit, smoked illegal drugs in my unit and refused to pay for anything and Airbnb Customer service is making me run around for 2+ months, by bouncing me back and forth between atleast 10 different agents, multiple emails, crazy amount of communication and seems like everyone takes 2-3 days off evey week !!

I am appalled, never seen a company like this with such poor support for Hosts !

so frustrated, asked for an escalation to speak with a manager and again : no reply ! been 2 days now.

such a mickey mouse operation

I'm pretty new to Hosting - started in March and this is my first issue : how do you guys deal with this ?

[Jillian115]

@David-And-Neyah0 Marriott has a new service but I don't know a lot about it. I keep meaning to look into it. 

Yes, it's host at your own risk these days. They say they offer host protection, but that's not the case. They seem to accommodate the guests but not the hosts. You have to protect yourself. I used to feel secure that they would protect me with the liability insurance, but I hear case after case of Airbnb being unresponsive to host claims.

Airbnb laid off 1900 employees in May 2020 mostly CS, and since then CS has become horrible. I've been yelled at more than once, I have had unresolved cases closed, but most of the time, they provide incorrect information or bad advice.

Even worse, they seem to have a "Black Box" team that covers up crime and safety occurrences to prevent bad PR. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-06-15/airbnb-spends-millions-making-nightmares-at-live-...

https://www.the-sun.com/news/3091915/airbnb-tourist-rape-black-box-team/

What I do is try my hardest to detract potentially bad guests from staying. 

1. I only rent to two.

2. I let them know that they will be charged extra if more people arrive.

3. I require a government ID and require their profile picture is of them not something else.

4. I also require that the person staying is the one booking.

5. I ask questions at booking. Why they are staying etc. 

[David-And-Neyah0]

Thank you for that - I did read the articles and while it makes sense in the context of that illegal act, I don't know if it would apply to me. I think my-case is just pure sloppiness as I am going after guest for only $850. So sad about that Australian tourist though.

Have you ever charged anyone extra for more people ? what is the process for that ?

My house rules are 10+ pages long - put together by a lawyer - so I think i got that covered.

thx again.

[Jillian115]

@David-And-Neyah0 No I haven't after a guest hosted guests at my airbnb I had a really bad CS experience and I think someone recomeded this video to me and took his advice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvjH_bxkC78

I didn't think you were in the same situation as the "black box" just pointing out the Airbnb only cares for image and profit. Hosts are left to fend for themselves.  It's scary.

But if you search the forum for claims you'll see several hosts are in the same boat as you. Airbnb seems to cut off communication when a host has a claim. Since PR is what concerns them you may try contacting their press department. lol

[David-And-Neyah0]

Update : they outright denied my case stating that it was my fault that i didn't provide them with the right docs when they admitted that they didn't ask for it to begin with : Ive been ccing Catherine Powell, @capow14 (https://twitter.com/capow14) hopefully she can help  

@Catherine-Powell Please help 

Resolution Center 24613502 Escalated

Paradise A, Wed, 28 Jul 2021 00:33:56 GMT

Hello David,

We’ve given your case and its details careful consideration and determined that

In this instance, we won’t be able to process a payout.

We understand that this might not be what you’d hoped for, but we came to this outcome because within thirty (30) days after you have incurred a Covered Loss, you must (i) complete and file an Airbnb Host Guarantee Payment Request Form and (ii) deliver a signed and sworn proof of loss to us, unless we provide a written extension of such deadline.

Our review is complete now, and we won’t be able to offer additional support on this case at this time.

Best,

Paradise

[Trevor313]

I'm exhausted after dealing with CS today, 10am to 17.15 pm and still going round in circles over a very simple matter .

I was wondering how they would deal with something a little more complex and from reading all above, my fears were confirmed.

Customer service, was fantastic when I started hosting a couple of years back but I'm seriously considering removing my listing after my experience today.

🙄