We have hosted a house through Airbnb and given them business from our home for 4 years. We have recently seen customer service declining due to it being outsourced. We used to be able to call an agent and get actual, good help. Now, it takes forever to speak to an agent, and once we do, they don’t speak fluent English, do not fully understand our situations, and frankly do next to nothing to help.
Why are we as hosts being so abandoned and not given the help and backup from Airbnb, when our homes are how they get their income?
Recently, for some reason after Covid, we have gotten 3 guests in a row who have either thrown parties at or trashed our house. It has taken hours upon hours to try and communicate with Airbnb customer service and received very minimal help. All we have asked for is the actual cleaning costs and replacement value for damages incurred. Nothing more. Airbnb will not assist us in recovering these costs, keeps telling us we need to justify it prove it even though we already have with pictures. We have asked for $50 from one guest for our extra cleaning fee, then Airbnb responded they wouldn’t and couldn’t reimburse us that cost because the guest closed their account. So now the deposit taken from guests is for nothing? And all any guest has to do is close their account to avoid paying for damages they made? This completely abandoning the hosts and the “guarantee”.
Most recently, we had a guest throw a party (against our house rules), destroy the bedding in every room, broke a book shelf, and even stole items from our home. Unfortunately for us, we had another guest checking in 4 hours after this one left the house in the condition it was in. We wanted to do everything we could to get the house clean, fixed, and ready for the next guest as they had a reservation for a while and were depending on it. We chose to focus on getting the house clean, buy new bedding, repair the shelf, and get it ready to rent to this guest and be good, responsible, loyal Airbnb hosts. Only 5 hours after checkout, we reported these issues and damages to Airbnb. What was customer service at Airbnb’s response? They told us since another guest had already checked in that we could not submit a claim for ANYTHING. Are you kidding me? So our choice was to either cancel last min on the next guest who was not at fault because of the damages and taking hours to submit the claim - or, be good hosts and work our butts off to scramble to get the house ready for the next guest as they expect a good product and house from Airbnb. Because we chose the latter and to be good hosts, Airbnb’s response to us was that we forfeited our right to make a claim, and that they would do NOTHING to help go after the previous guests for their damages, vandalism, and theft. This is the kind of support that Airbnb is giving hosts now? Absolutely have to be kidding me. The customer service has disappeared, and Airbnb caring and supporting its hosts is a thing of the past.
Has anyone else had similar situations lately, where we can helpfully raise a collective voice to someone who will listen?
