Does Airbnb 8 ball?

[Dorothy122]

I know that Airbnb sends guest that are really quality control, to check that your place meets five star standards. To many things have happened that lead me to this conclusion. Make Airbnb unhappy for some reason. I think they also 8 ball you by sending a lot of bad bookings that not only do bad things to your property but give you bad ratings. Some of the complaints are outright lies or some extra you would not give them. If you don't get five star ratings they put you at the bottom of their booking list. You lose bookings and benefits.  I will know for sure this is what is happening if my current booking turns bad. This will make three in a row. Maybe time to find another booking company.  

[Gordon0]

An interesting conspiracy theory there, @Dorothy122. What makes you so certain Airbnb send quality control guests?

[Dorothy122]

I complained to a guest, that the guests were not using coasters so please use them. For two months coasters were stolen. Cleaning like inspections, were the drain stoppers were pulled out of the sink to show me how dirty they are. All the window blinds pulled up or taken off to show how dirty they are. Furniture moved to show any dust underneath. Now they are mad that they can't use the new wood burning stove year round. So they mess with the heaters. Running them on high with the windows open, throwing the circuit breaker this has happened three times so far. Angery that they don't get to use the whole back yard. My backyard garden is not even on the listing. 

[Denice0]

I know they have employees who travel a lot.  Had a Sr. Operations manager book my place last minute, with over 70 reviews (5 star).  Then he said he would be late, then he was a no-show.  The next day he cancelled and he got a full refund (with my strict cancel policy)!  I looked him up and sure enough he was an employee.  Was he doing QC? It was early this year, and the first time I had my strict cancel policy over-ridden.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Denice0 , thats odd, was it before the EC declaration?  Did they give any reason for overriding your cancellation policy?

[Dorothy122]

I am going to toughen up my cancellation policy. But this is on going before and after EC. Live and learn. 

[Denice0]

@Melodie-And-John0 , Yes, this was a new years reservation - Pre-Covid-19 extenuating circumstances policy.  Back in the day when it was just an EC policy.  Air actually paid me according to my strict cancel policy, but then Air reversed their decision, and refunded their employee (probably themselves). 

The reason the case manager told me for refunding was - he had EC documentation.  I contacted the guest / Air employee - he  then admitted working for the company and said he was sick with the flu.  I finally figured out he was an employee because he had 70 plus reviews, and I did a search.  In 7 years I've never had a guest with that many reviews, and never had my strict policy over-ridden.  So some Air employees travel a lot, they can cancel the day after check-in, and get fully refunded.  Was he doing QC work, or just free travel?

[Dorothy122]

Thank you, I feel vendicated. It's funny how people don't want to consider the truth.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Denice0 

'Flu' an Extenuating Circumstance?  I thought nothing short of a death would be an extenuating circumstance. How does that work?!

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Dorothy122 , I've had nearly 400 bookings and never experienced anything that would lead me to think either of those situations is occurring but I live in a pretty rural area. I would more chock it up to freaky times across a wide spectrum of hospitality services.  I'm not sure significantly changing our hosting business models at this moment is a great idea for something that likely will be history soon, Stay well, JR

[Cormac0]

@Dorothy122 

What has come to my attention on these blogs, when a bad news story gets traction, all of a sudden out of the blue, people whom i never seen post before, come on  praising Airbnb.

The most  recent post praising Chesky handling of the covid19 pandemic is a good case in point, its was posted by a Host that I've never seen before on the these blogs and I post almost every day, it was interesting to note most of the commentators on this post came from the administrators, you can draw your own conclusions.

[Dorothy122]

People are ignorant about how corporations work. In this case Airbnb is using you to be their motel. They push for you to provide as much extras as possible to push their bookings. But keep your booking cost as low as possible. Lower than a cheep hotel room. Those extras are out of your pocket. Like "have fancy coffee on hand" . That gets expensive and leaves a big mess. They will have PR to take care of any complainers. 

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Dorothy122 , Dorothy, I am guessing you know most of the push is robots and as of now, even in the state of Washington, you don't have to do what robots tell you to do (unless its DMV), if you dont wanna do it, you dont have to.  In the end, the more you book, the more they make, its that simple and thats why they prompt us to lower our prices, its not evil, just business.

I dont think the metrics they use to show listings in searches is simple at all, Im sure its got more twists and turns than a mountain road.  We have had the same experience as @Helen350, only one of my 3 listings is 5* and it books least because its seasonal, its generally on the second page, my other 2 are 4.9 and are always either first listing or at least first page, and often above many 5* super-hosts, they are also the most booked out of 50+ in our local area (100 square miles +/- ish). 

[Gordon0]

I'm confused, @Cormac0, what's that got to do with this post; have I missed something?

[Dorothy122]

8 ball is a term used when a company or union puts you on the bottom of the list for jobs or desires to ruin you. In ths case controlling the ratings by sending guests that will deliberately damage and give you a bad rating.