I am looking to find additional airbnbs to help co-host. Cur...
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I am looking to find additional airbnbs to help co-host. Currently I have been co-hosting a successful listing in Valley Spri...
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ABNB can and SHOULD enforce "No 3rd party bookings" which is as good as nothing now and use its legal resources to prosecute fraudsters
Did you read the post, @David8879? It has nothing to do with third-party bookings.
"Which I did and they informed me that under British law that they could not remove the squatters."
The first institution you should be appalled by is your own country government, not Airbnb who is no more than a glorified booking agency. The inability to remove squatters from your private property is of course the definition of insanity and it is at the core of this fiasco. Actually the thief with the phony contracts is at first base, the law facilitating him is on second.
The Airbnb CS Department on the other hand is poorly equipped to do much about it from afar, especially when the local police are not willing to interfere.
One suggestion, when on vacation take no bookings; who needs the heart attack.
Yes @Fred13 - that is similar to France's insane "You can't evict non-paying tenant during cold months" law.
Why would not French ruling elite pay to landlords for the time when owners are forcibly deprived from their livelihood?
In USA lawsuits started to snowball for shutdowns without compensation during covid lockdowns and eviction moratoriums
Yes, dear @Gordon0 especially the multiple "I love airbnb" parts. Anyone beside direct owner/listee IS a 3rd party.
Also - in THIS specific case ABNB is absolutely at no fault as they clearly state: "No communications outside of AirBNB before bookings" and the reason that situation even happened is because people did not book through AirBNB - so blame goes to unfortunate guests who do not follow the rules. But hey - some people think rules do not apply to them
Also - since you are, as usual, in the moode to criticize - my post was cleary two part:
1. AirBNB must enforce "no 3rd party... etc"
2. AirBNB need to use its legal ....etc..
I hope it makes it clearer for you as I don't think numbering was really needed...
If there’s a riddle in your response, @David8879, it’s gone above my head. Over and out.
The difference between this situation and a third party booking is that the 'squatters' as they are referred to are not guests. They do not have anything to do with Airbnb. They did not try to book an Airbnb. Therefore, they have not broken any Airbnb T&Cs. The only person who broke the T&Cs was 'David', the guest who booked and yes, Airbnb should ban him because what he's done is not only against Airbnb's rules, but illegal.
The people at the listing thought they were renting the apartment long term, had been given a (fake) rental agreement and handed over rent and no doubt a deposit. They were scammed. It really has nothing to do with third party bookings, because 'David' did not book the Airbnb for a third party guest. He booked the Airbnb to commit fraud.
While the police cannot evict the 'squatters' under UK law, they should investigate fraudsters like him. I agree that Airbnb really cannot do anything in that respect, but certainly they could at the very least suspend his profile and they could also have tried to help the host with the cancellations of future guests, but Airbnb CS can be a total circus.
First, I’m so sorry that this happened to you. Second, as a Community Leader for the club in Palm Beach County, Florida, I will tell you that you have help. You have a community club there. Join it. Contact the CL for your club. When Airbnb CS fails, which, unfortunately, has been such a problem that Brian Chesky, in his last conference call, with investors, vowed to put some money in to better Tier 1 support training, you need to get to someone who can escalate you as a demonstration to CS management that they’re blowing up again.
We have the ability to forward problematic cases of CS dropping the ball to our team leadership. I can say, based on experience, that about 95% of the time, it results in someone finally sorting out the mess properly.
Airbnb is a lot like Game of Thrones. There are many kingdoms behind the wall. Even within CS there are all kinds of communication snafus. Not by way of apology, for they should certainly do better, but by way of understanding, they are on a mission to grow rapidly on the host side. In doing so, CS keeps growing exponentially, rapidly. The level of Tier 1 support is appalling, as a result. Totally inconsistent.
Even when it doesn’t because of whatever sticking point, in your specific case, might trigger something that won’t help you personally, it does get the attention of people who really FIX THINGS. AirCover, is by and large, a lot of listening to those of us in the Community Leaders group. We’re volunteers, and hosts like you. They recognize that we can aggregate issues, and also sound out how policy changes are being received, so they can make adjustments.
Now, how to deal with your specific problem and get up to a Tier 3 support person fast:
Good work @Brian1613 . I always zoom to level 2 when dealing with Airbnb, for the base CS is too erratic. They have been nothing but helpful and consistent at level 2+.
A recent argument I just made with them is that their sacrosanct review system with the strict rank & file marching orders, that all reviews must stay no matter what, on many occasions doesn't serve the brand well. How is it possible that someone that stays in a place that has 300 ravings reviews out of nowhere the 301st guest experiences a stay meriting only 1's. It is illogical, it is almost mathematically improvable, yet Airbnb at times allows it, the troops at the base CS level that is. This is even more absurd when the 'reviewer' was just turned down hustling for a refund.
The 'Anatomy of an Airbnb Refund Attempt' goes as follows:
1. Do not say anything during your entire stay.
2. Right after bring up some tried & true 'incendiary' accusations (i.e. cockroaches, mold).
3. File for an outrageous amount (50%) and you will get in all likelihood at least a good-enough 'discount'.
4. If unsuccessful, count on at least a terrible review to follow.
Is Airbnb trying to be fair no matter how crazy some guest turns out to be? Why? They do not merit it.
Is it to show the opinion of 1 individual (but a potential harmful one) is just as 'valuable' as that of 300? If it is with ill-intent, which is usually quite obvious, it isn't.
When a 'loose cannon' review that makes no sense is allowed to be published it throws their entire review system into question: to guests it is hard to just dismiss and thus harmful to a host. To potential hosts, it shows Airbnb has an inability to make fair decisions and also that such abuses are not only tolerated, but rewarded (by a refund).
But how does one access level 2 or 3?
Surely, when we contact CS, we are not given a choice. We get to level 1 and then it's up to them who they 'escalate' it to or if we get passed around from one rep to another who feeds us platitudes but is, Oh, shock surprise, out of the office for the next few days...
The power of the pen and to get the letter to the desk of the right person.
There are many good CS supervisors in Airbnb, but probably not enough of them to go around.
thank you for explaining – you are one of the few here who I pay attention to (some people are only here to showcase their “superiority” or to troll) - the longevity of the post of OP made it impossible to read it for free (there were about 7,000 characters more than needed and my ADHD kicked in on 500 (that possible the reason why ABDB limits original property description to 500. I hope ABNB rep was not as disoriented as I.
It is truly unfortunate for the guests indeed, I stand corrected. And, if so, there is not blame on the guests, but rather on the host – let me explain why.
You will all be laughing.
On the back side of the entrance door of all my rental properties there is a bolted in metal frame poster attached to the door with the leveled screw heads so it would be impossible to remove without special tools, with small picture of myself, my phone number, my rental license number (if such exists in that location, and plus some locations, such as my Portuguese property require AL license to be displayed outside of the front door) and REQUEST to confirm with me if not welcomed by ME. (that takes care of multiple scenarios, including scamming associate (G-d forbid) if they get tempted and try to squeeze in some people I do not profit off.
Also ON the laptop sized safe which is locked on arrival there is my phone number and request to call ME for the code which I (or my associate) changes after each departure (you all do that – don’t you?).
That is not to mention that there is a numeric lock on main door only my associates and I know codes for – and you guessed – they get changed on each departure as well on arrival when it set to the last 4 digits of new guests main phone number.
And combined with CCTV in hallways of ALL properties...well - I think this pretty much solves any similar problem.
Not to mention all of my rentals are in the gated communities (yes, I am not a slumlord).
Yes - I "inconvenience" myself by having to personally great people (hence "no 00 to 8am check-ins) or to pay associates to do the same. And I pay people to clean properties and I do not refill plastic water bottles. Business comes with the price, one of the price is security - that costs money. And no, I do not ask paying guests to "start loundry" - I just set my prices accordingly (if price per person is low enough to buy a hamburger - I do NOT need neither this kind of place nor that kind of guests) and do not discount to the bare minimum to get place booked and THEN complain that I have to pay to the cleaners. How misguided is that?? (Got nothing to do with the topic or OP - just venting)
So, being as stubborn as I am let me rephrase: it is still an illegal “3rd party booking” from POV of the owner and ABNB regardless of the origin and nature of scam since "3rd party booked with intent to pss proprty to other party".
Owner needs to take steps to prevent these kind of things happening. It is life and *this* happens.
I bet “u’al” stopped reading after first 500 characters … because that is all it takes to GUARD YOUR property. (My long departed father was always saying “the things closests to you are the ones you put far-far away” – some people will get the point)
Cheers
P.S. Sorry for misspellings - autocorrect, fat fingers and ... I need thicker glasses
I do think the the host has to spend some time vetting guests and not taking every booking that comes along. As. homeshare host, it's easier for me as I know what is going on in my property. I am there (most of the time). But, that also means I want to be even more cautious about which guests I accept as I have to live with them.
However from what I understood from the OP's post (and I could be wrong), is that he simply rents out his own apartment when he is travelling. He is not a 'professional' property manager with multiple listings. He only has one listing.
He does not have a team of people working for him (would make no financial sense in his situation) and had to hire a freelance property manager to go there to try to sort out the situation. Most small time hosts do not have the same resources that hosts with multiple listings do. If they did, well there would be no profit in it whatsoever. You would probably be making a loss!
Anyway, I do agree that in order to avoid these kinds of situations, you have to be very vigilant, which is why I personally always do in person check ins (or, occasionally in the past, had someone do that for me if I couldn't be there), but if you are specifically letting out your place when you are away, that's a bit tricky.
The thing is that the kind of person who perpetrates this scam is not clueless. They know full well how to get past the host's vetting process and can do so easily so it could happen to any one of us. The fact that Airbnb seem to have no interest in banning these scammers is a big part of that problem.
"When Airbnb CS fails, which, unfortunately, has been such a problem that Brian Chesky, in his last conference call, with investors, vowed to put some money in to better Tier 1 support training,"
I thought the whole point was to put as little money into anything as possible to make money, no?
On a serious note - @Brian1613 - this is the best kept ABNB secret I've heard about