Airbnb chat has no alert mechanism. Sit there and stare at the screen for a reply.

[Ali-and-Sade0]

When I try to chat with Airbnb support, 

I have to sit there and stare at the screen until I am connected to someone.

There is no mechanism that alerts me when someone finally responds at the other end. 

This mechanism can be as simple as ringing a sound whenever there is a reply, which is common in other chat systems. 

Am I missing something or this is really the way it is at Airbnb??? I couldn't possibly the first person who brought this up, but can't find other posts about this.

For example, right now, as I"m typing this post, I have to constantly go back to the chat window to make sure no one has responded yet otherwise I could get connected, not realize it and get disconnected because I didn't respond. 

I find this remarkable. Surely this was done on purpose. But why? Why wouldn't Airbnb want me to be able to do other things while I"m waiting for someone to respond? 

In the past, I have simply given up on waiting and abandoned the chat. The next day, I see someone responded after I gave up and said good bye, because I wasn't there. Just a tiny bell would've gotten my attention. But no, there is no such mechanism.

This is why I try to avoid ever contacting Airbnb support by chat. Is this why they didn't put in an alert mechanism - to discourage use of chat? 

Today I confirmed this with Airbnb support, during a chat that took an hour of my time counting the wait time. 24 minutes for this one question.

**[Private conversation removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]

[Emiel1]

@Ali-and-Sade0 

An alert is a common feature on a chat system, so you are right.

"sit there and stare at the screen for a reply" seems to be common on every option you use these days when contacting Airbnb CS ....

Best regards,

Emiel

[Sarah977]

@Ali-and-Sade0 It would definitely be a welcome feature, but I have never sat and stared at the screen waiting for a reply. I just go about my work and come back and check if there has been a response. I've never had them close a chat just because I didn't respond right away.

 I understand your frustration, but writing things to a CS rep like what I copied here below is totally pointless. Airbnb  CS reps don't make policy, they don't have any control over things like this and getting snarky or sarcastic with them is a good way to get them to stop helping you.

"Gosh, you surely would know I couldn't possibly the first person that came up with this feedback. There is a REASON for Airbnb not put in an alert mechanism. I simply can't believe more than a decade in business and still hasn't managed to put in a beep on its chat.

The question is why? Why does Airbnb want to make chat a time-consuming painful experience? To discourage use of chat?"