Airbnb does not protect you from damage or awful guests - Here’s what to do to protect yourself

[Heather1338]

We hosted the guests from hell who totally trashed our house, stole things, and broke every rule including having a party. We documented everything they did and got a cleaning quote for a deep clean, and submitted it on the last day possible because it took that long to get everything together and airbnb took 3 days to get back to me and said it was outside of the claim date when their poor customer service took that many days to respond. We took our listing down for many months as we were so mad but eventually put it up with some new protections of our own in place that airbnb does not give you tips for because they only care about making money.

Here’s what we did that has really helped not getting those awful guests and has worked for us in the last year -

Raised our prices

Raised our minimum stay

Lowered our maximum guests

Charge $10 pp for guests over 4

Turned off auto book and decline shady inquiries

Install a front door camera so you can see if extra people outside of the reservation are coming

Left a notice about $250 cleaning fee for leaving it in a poor condition

DECLINE ALL LOCAL GUESTS (these have been everything from prostitutes, drug dealers, and people looking for a place to party) 

And most importantly, check the condition immediately after the guest checks out and start a claim right away.

Air bnb doesn’t care it takes time to notice things are missing or find new damage, they care about themselves and making money, not you as a host or your place.

[Brian2036]

@Heather1338 

Those are all excellent suggestions and should be provided to all new hosts as well as anyone who is encountering problem guests.

[Dave1074]

Maybe @Catherine-Powell might like to chime in, as she is head of hosting ...

[Sarah977]

@Dave1074  Haha. I can't think of one positive change for hosts since her hiring was announced. She's even stopped putting out those feel-good videos full of promises that never materialized.  I wonder what she gets paid for? 

I think Airbnb just came up with "Head of Hosting" title to try to make us think someone cares. Such a joke.

[Katrina314]

Believe it or not @Sarah977 , Catherine Powell "earned" $14,816,727 for her "service" to Airbnb in 2020 alone. Yes, you did read that right - almost $15 MILLION.

Yet every single day there are countless reports of hosts (myself included) battling for months to retrieve thousands in payouts that the company refuses to release, guests fighting for large refunds due to them, service providers who haven't been reimbursed for their work, properly documented substantial damage claims being routinely denied and so on. 

It's extremely unlikely that Mrs Powell has any such issues with her payouts from Airbnb, despite the fact that very few hosts would rate her performance as Head of Hosting too highly

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-airbnbs-seniormost-female-executive-transformed-vulnerability-into-...

[Sarah977]

@Katrina314  "Believe it or not @Sarah977 , Catherine Powell "earned" $14,816,727 for her "service" to Airbnb in 2020 alone. Yes, you did read that right - almost $15 MILLION."

That's obscene.

[Katrina314]

@Sarah977 

Yes, it is. And all the more obscene when you consider that Brian Chesky spent that whole year bragging in every single media interview he gave, that his company had magnanimously provided an alleged $250 million Host Relief Fund, "out of our own pockets",  after his decision to override host cancellation policies and "refund guests in full" rendered countless hosts penniless and without any income at all for most of 2020, and beyond. (Turns out, majority of guests had no choice but to accept their refunds in voucher form while Airbnb retained the cash for their cancelled bookings, and according to Airbnb's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of the IPO, there was still almost 50 million of that 250 million "Relief Fund" sitting in Airbnb's accounts several months after the fund had officially closed) 

So basically, the almost $15 million that Catherine Powell alone picked up for less than 12 months' tenure was equivalent to c.7% of the entire amount allocated by Airbnb, ostensibly to ease the chronic hardships being suffered throughout that year by a substantial percentage of their 4 million+ global host community - many of whom had been loyal to the company for 8, 10, 12 years.

Meaning that, in their wisdom, Airbnb determined Mrs Powell's "worth" in 2020 to be approx 240,000x the value of each and every one of their lowly worker-bee hosts. (Presumably, her remuneration mustn't have been performance-based or results-driven)

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @Katrina314,

I am so sorry you have experienced payment delays and appreciate you sharing your experience. I'd like to look into this deeper. Someone from our team will reach out to you to discuss and investigate what's going on further.

Best,

Catherine

[Katrina314]

@Catherine-Powell 

Thank you for the response, Catherine. I must say, I am impressed - 7 messages from three different members of your Escalations Team,  2 phone calls and a reply from your good self, all offering help and assistance since I first posted here on the Community Centre only a matter of days ago. Smashing PR efforts! (Does tally, I suppose, with Brian's recent affirmations to investors that PR is "the most important channel to build the brand of Airbnb". Gotta make sure those optics are on point!)

What a striking contrast though, to the months on end of banging one's head against a brick wall,  attempting to get any coherent response whatsoever from anyone at all, to the dozens of utterly fruitless emails, phone calls, tweets and social media posts that preceded my musings here.

However, as per my response to the very first escalations agent who contacted me very shortly after I first posted on this particular forum, the situation was by then already in hand and contact had finally been established with a competent support agent who was in the midst of resolving the matter. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that contacting the guests who had all paid in full, dispatching a solicitor's letter and having a consumer advocate from a national newspaper on the case may all have had some bearing on the eventual successful outcome)

But cheers for finding the time in your busy schedule to reach out anyway - much appreciated! 😉

[Katrina314]

PS Do feel free to respond to my earlier comments upthread, if you so wish! Love to hear your thoughts and happy to stand corrected on anything you may have perceived as unfair or erroneous.. 😉

[Sarah977]

@Catherine-Powell  Are you having CS reps write your posts now? Because that sounds exactly like the robotic, pointless responses given by your customer disservice dept. 

[Katrina314]

Awwww @Sarah977 , now you've gone and burst my bubble! Must admit though, I did find it rather curious that "Catherine" posted a "personal" response to another contributor's comment on a different thread several days ago, that was word for word, exactly the same response that had been posted to two similar comments, on two other separate threads, by two different Community Centre mods (whilst simultaneously ignoring all the other much more pressing comments on the same thread) 🤔

And there was I for a hot minute, foolishly thinking I was finally receiving some of that fabled "special Superhost status treatment" that we hear so much about, but very few ever get to actually experience for themselves. Kind of like the Loch Ness Monster or that other guy, the Yeti.. 

[Elaine701]

@Katrina314 

I have to suspect that @Catherine-Powell  had little, if any direct contact with those replies. A senior executive typically has staff to manage public relations issues. 

[Katrina314]

I make you right there, @Elaine701 (and my earlier comments were somewhat tongue in cheek 😉) 

*inappropriate comment removed*

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @Sarah977 and all,

Agh! I'm sorry you feel like my replies aren't genuine. Doing my best to be sure to respond to as many comments as possible! I love seeing how closely you are engaged here and will be mindful of any replies that might not seem as authentic.

Warmly,

Catherine