How to Start Fixing Airbnb CS and Many Common Issues

[Tony134]

Since the Airbnb customer service team is too busy virtue signaling to do any real work or solve any problems, I thought I would spend some time today doing what I believe is the ultimate form of trolling:  doing their job for them, and doing it better.  The following is a list of things that would make everyone’s lives involved with Airbnb better and would probably save them money when they didn’t have to take one angry cs call and BBB complaint after the other.  I think it has become obvious to most of the long term hosts that Airbnb’s cs policies are written by greedy sociopaths with no clue.  Also, everything here could be instituted in less than a week, so…

I.  I like to think I speak for all experienced hosts when I say: the Cancellation Policies and everything tied to them are savage bad. Keep it honest by keeping it simple. Policies should be:

1. Flexible – Cancel any time, receive full refund (including Airbnb service fees)
2. Moderate – Cancel any time, receive half refund (including Airbnb service fees)
3. Strict – Cancel any time, receive no refund, no exceptions

This ties into the next problem that has become rampant, unaddressed poor guest behavior.

II.  The majority of guests are great, but some just aren’t, and some are plain terrible.  In its race to fill a vault of gold the size of scrooge McDuck, they hope to take literally every single guest that tests out the platform.  This isn’t naïve, it’s predatory.  Not everyone in the entire world treats everyone else with respect, not even *gasp* under perfect circumstances.  Guest are called ‘guests’ because they are staying in people’s homes!  Any human with a basic modicum of common sense would read a host’s house rules and respect basics like cleaning up after themselves, or not turning house into a party. Guests that have not yet learned these basics of life, it is not hosts’ responsibility to nurture them to full personhood. I got five stars on every one of my over 20 guest journeys, it wasn’t hard! Airbnb, if you want to parent the whole world offer a free class, not my home!

With bad guests, this is how typical stay goes:

1. Ask guest to clean up their dishes or remind them they don’t have extra guests registered.
2. 50/50 maybe guest complies, maybe they totally ignore me.
3. Guest leaves me bad review for asking them to follow house rules (retaliation).
4. Some of these guests then ask for refund, and actually get them after admitting breaking house rules!
5. Guest knows how system works and wants cancellation, so they just start becoming 100% more obnoxious trying to push a cancellation from my end (OMG these are the worst)
6. In off season when prices are low, you get more less-than-stellar guests, then this situation snowballs out of control. One guest sees a dirty plate in sink, starts leaving their own dirty dishes, stops cleaning stove, etc.  I often then get left in some cases with house full of people who make me their servant for a month, then *best part* still leave me a review that says place wasn’t clean or I called them out asking them to clean.  Hilarious!
7. Some of these guests even sabotage your home, still get refunds. A man this week turned a tube in my toilet upside down, it ran water constantly all night until someone caught it.  Airbnb gave him full refund…
8. Worst possible scenario: guest does something downright icky, you tell them it’s a no-go. You leave them less than stellar review, then read they left you a great review because they didn’t actually hold it against you for wanting your home respected.  This guest actually improves behavior, but still gets left with bad review, hate this one the most because then I actually feel bad.

How do you fix this you ask?  You put more some more power back in host hands, where it belongs.  The review system just brings out the worst in human nature sometimes, I will say confidently after experience, it’s not good.  Guests already use it as leverage, and hosts get tired of playing judge, jury, and executioner.  You see all the time in forums host doesn’t know how to review guest.  Replace it with Endorsement system, you are already half way there and it would be easy.  Endorsement would go like this:

Prompt guest at end of stay: “Did you enjoy your stay? If so give the host a thumbs up!” On both listing and host page, have number of endorsements with all the shiny faces lined up like it is now in a stack, and the number of total stays right next to it.  You can calculate it into % if you like, I know Airbnb another company obsessed with metrics.

 

When a guest breaks host house rules, they shouldn’t be able to slander you in review in return.  This solves that issue by putting the appropriate amount of weight on one stay.  It also solves problem of host having to be executioner, there is a difference between having to disapprove of someone and just not giving them approval.  Guest accounts in the same way would show number of badges vs number of stays. 

Any cancellations would increase stay count without increasing badge count (picture included for example).  This way hosts can see that guests have cancelled or at least not perfect track record, information they should be entitled to, but still, Airbnb should love this, nobody has to act in any negative fashion. Require hosts to choose yes or no to issuing the Endorsement/badge.  If a guest fails to choose yes or no on first trip, prompt when they try to book second time and remind them the hosts that run these listings are people who work very hard to provide them with a nice place to stay.  So many problems solved with zero money investment and zero negativity. (Let me put Endorsements on autopilot also, please and thank you.)

To wrap up cancellations, give hosts a button that says “This guest is not following my house rules.”  Pressing this button would have airbnb team follow up.  Call up the guest after first strike, remind them of this policy, ask them nicely to clean their dishes.  Remind them again that hosts are hard-working normal people and *Airbnb always supports them*. At this point button turns into ‘Cancel this reservation with no penalty.”  It is not fair to support abuse, it is enabling. When a guest is abusing host in obvious way and asked to stop, if host can provide *proof or pictures that behavior continues, the reservation should be cancelled without a refund.* Abusing my home is not an excuse to break the payment arrangement, the days have still been blocked so no one else can book them.

In that same vein: Stop. Asking. Hosts. To. Issue. Refunds. Against. Cancellation. Policy.  Stop, just stop.  You do this as your general policy to save money by relocating guest to another airbnb, at the expense of the kind hosts here and there that are inclined to say yes to be ‘agreeable’ but then are left with empty calendar. It is obviously in bad faith to do this as a general policy when the cancellation policies lead hosts to believe otherwise.  I’ll say it again loud and clear: THIS IS OBVIOUS BAD LEGAL FAITH.  If you had ever had a job where liability is measured in decision making, I think it’s absurd you’ve ran with this policy so long, it’s so obviously illegal, unethical, and an albatross hanging around your neck.  Stop.

III.  Finally, I’ve been ranting about this for two whole years with zero result, fix the messaging system.  When a guest books through the website instead of the app, messages do not populate in real time.  The guest must refresh the browser window to see if they have a new message.  I doubt most guests realize this as it is so archaic (we have had this feature since Aol Instant messenger and IRC, the tech sooooo old).  Again, hint for computer sciences team, Ajax and javascript can accomplish this ezpz.  This way if guest wants to ask a question before or during booking, or mentions something that means listing may not be the best fit, we can respond immediately!  Them checking their email days later or never at all means they just don’t even get some of the messages they are sent. Please just fix the messaging, you would have less complaints because communication would be improved. Do the fancy one where the bubbles pop us as someone starts typing on other end.

Require government ID for all hosts and guests.  This is required for car rental and of course should be required for home rentals. When guests are reported to airbnb for house rule violation, inform them they will be required to put down a basic $100 deposit to book in future.  This will discourage people that have no intent of being responsible without weeding out the responsible ones who made a small or tiny mistake.  If said house guests violates somewhere else, gasp, give $100 to the two hosts, split it, you love fairness.

Another easy way to cut down on cs calls and unhappy hosts/guests. Use the cleaning fee.  Make it a prompt they approve during booking, use color, it would go something like this:

Private Room $0 - $20, Whole House $50 - $100 – “This listing has a Low Cost cleaning fee.  You are expected to wash your dishes, clean up after yourself in the kitchen, and put your belongings away.  Guests who do not clean up at these reservations can be cancelled without refund*.”

Private Room >$20, Whole House > $100 – “This listing has a Full Service cleaning fee.  All cleaning will be taken care of by the host.  Please do not abuse host homes thanks!”

You could even allow hosts to offer both and let the guest choose one.  This would be key, *the guest making a choice and the host making a choice.* The overwhelming majority of hosts and guests WILL choose option one, and everyone will be better informed of their responsibilities.  Also potential upsells!  Also, again, problem fixed with zero negativity and practically zero cost.

While these are not All the Things, it is the probably the most important things that should happen.  The overwhelming majority of Airbnb problems come from Airbnb ignoring the concept of Consent.  It is what is missing in all their cs decisions and policies, and what is available in all these solutions.  This has already gone so far over the top, halfway measures are not agreeable or appreciated.  The thing with cancellations and guests just starting to run rampant over hosts with no recourse has gotten insane, and the number of posts in the forums about it should be telling to the Airbnb overlords, so I really just don’t get it.  Each of these hosts is your front facing customer service team, you want them all to be happy and appreciated, not filled with resentment!  How can you possibly expect that to work out in long run?

Airbnb, stop being fake, do these things.  Looking at you Laura, new CS team lead, do something honest for your hosts, a "Celebration of Superhosts Week" isn't it.  You could do all this in a week, it would cost little to nothing, and all your hosts would be happy again(mostly).

[Tueykay0]

@Tony134

I'm impressed with your ability to articulate the situation.

If you are planning to do something in the near future, I'd totally support you. 

Please keep us all posted. 

[Sarah977]

If there were a new platform for small time hosts, one of the criteria to list I'd want to see is on-site hosts only. This doesn't have to mean a shared home, it could have a broader interpretation- that the host lives in another building on the same property, in the same apartment building, next door, or across the street, or at least in the same neighborhood not more than a 5 or 10 minute drive away.  Hosts like this tend to get way fewer major guest problems, from all I've read here over time. Guests may leave it messy, might not respect some house rules, might act entitled, etc, but no one's going to be able to have a major blow-out party, or manage to create thousands of dollars in damages, if the host is around. And I'd want to see hosts limited to one or two listings (multiple bedrooms in the same house would count as 1 listing, even if they listed the bedrooms separately), which would mean one or two separate dwellings. So a host might have a room or two available in their home, and a cottage or house they rent out on the same property, or next door. Not 5 houses they bought up to Airbnb, even if they live nearby.

[Susan17]

@Tony134

Excellent suggestions, but this is what happens when Airbnb attempts to "fix" things... 

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolineodonovan/why-airbnbs-cost-more-extra-cleaning-fees

[Susan17]

Just one example... 

https://abnb.me/MYjy705MQS

1500sq ft loft in London. Price showing as €9 per night. 2 night booking for 10 guests, 30Dec - 01 Jan, works out at €2170. Even a more modest booking, 11 - 13 Jan, for 4 guests comes to €1234. That's a long, long way from €9...

Yet these listings - including the duplicate ones - are all coming up at the very top of London searches. (Interestingly, there is one date (Jan 6) on the calendar marked at €9, but when one tries to make a single night booking for Jan 6, price jumps to €517)

[Ramzi2]

Amazing post @Tony134 I can add many things to that, i agree the website is not user friendly at all, and the customer service is very bad, not to mention unfair at many times. 

The whole algorithm was good, but with the growth it seems it is so absurd now, the pricing tips are stupid, and i do not understand how they suggest prices these days, totally out of logic. I have a room with its own toiler (includes a jacuzzi) and they compared it to other listings in the area (40$) BTW the other listing was mine, and it is just a room with a shared toilet that i rent for 40$). 
I have been having problems syncing listings via calendar, not all my listings show and i sent a complain, they replied saying they are working on it, 4 days passed, and nothing yet. 

I honestly think that airbnb do care, in the end this is their business, and no want wants his business to fail, however they lack many things to fix our problems from their side, and we lack many things as well, one of which i PM u about, being many. 

We should unite, and form a source of a union, when a group of hosts gather online (not here) and tackle many issues, prioritize them, and then contact airbnb with a plan, they will definitely listen. I would only assume that is hard for them to fix our problems when they are receiving so many, from different people at the same time, it is not organized. 
If we are many, we can do wonders, in the end, this platform lives because of us. 

[Felicite1]

@Tony134 Hi Tony,

I’m very new to the business. I wasn’t aware of all these potential issues I might be facing... I’ve learned quite a bit reading your article and you have some great ideas! Thanks !

[Gilbert70]

I haven’t had a bad experience with the guest, he sent me a money request, stating that he had noise and lengthy power outages that he never complained about when he was staying in the property. I also went and checked In with him and he didn’t say anything about the situation, and the day after he left he was urging me for the request using the platform Airbnb gave that  situations like this will result in shutting down my listing. But Airbnb never contacted me about this issue it was done through the money request part of the system. Be on the lookout for these types of guests. But if we have a problem we have to show proof of the situation to try to get any money from a guest .

[Nikolai12]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write about all this. I so agree with you on everything! Airbnb does not have the hosts back! I certainly hope that someone at Airbnb will read your. Posting and all the responses you’re getting. We need to have a stronger voice.

[Mark116]

The worst thing about all of this stuff, is how EASY it would be to fix most of it, so, so easy.

I would just add that it's truly insane that airbnb is constantly changing the platform and the rules and never notifies the hosts.  The only way I ever know of new changes to how the listings show is from this forum.  Never from airbnb.

Internal communications.  Stakeholder communications.  It's a thing.  There are entire agencies who are devoted to doing this.  Professionals write book length plans on how to engage and interact with a company's internal audience.  Not airbnb, though, nope.

[Huma0]

@Tony134

I’m going to be the first one to disagree with you. I disagree with the title of your post and your opening statement because I regularly call CS about one issue or another and have found that 95% of the time they have been helpful, proactive and have quickly resolved the problem. That includes having a retaliatory review and ratings removed and, another time, accepting my damage claim with no fuss, even though the guest was refusing to pay.

I think what you are talking about here are the problems with Airbnb policy, not the people on the front line (hosts and CS reps) dealing with all the fall out of that policy on a regular basis. And your views on Airbnb policy, I AGREE with wholeheartedly. Your ideas are brilliant - simple but solid.

Power to you. If you do set up an alternative platform, show me where to sign up!

[Huma0]

PS @Tony134 I deal with bad CS from other companies all the time and it’s something I can’t abide. This week I had to tell one at my phone company to transfer me to his supervisor after he started shouting at me for no good reason. Maybe he was having a bad day? The same evening, I had to complain again, this time about the supermarket cashier who wouldn’t serve me (seems like I had the wrong colour of skin).

Believe me, Airbnb CS reps are angels compared to a lot of folk. It’s just that there are so many RIDICULOUS policies they have to try to justify. I wouldn’t want their job!

[Tony134]

I agree with you 100% actually. When I describe the above described agent behavior, it's not to point out how each is being individually bad, it's to point out how it's systematically bad, how the agents are being directed to make these decisions by policy. If agents could issue refunds out of airbnb's pocket, they would do it all the time.  If they were all making judgement calls on an individual basis, it would always just come down to who played customer service better in a dispute, not who was right.

Airbnb probably doesn't like that idea, and I don't blame them, so they have pretty tight guidelines for how these issues are resolved.  I totally agree with having tight guidelines,  just not the guidelines they keep choosing and pushing so shamelessly. Their accounting department doesn't include our space vacancies in any way in their calculations like a normal business would have to. That's their big edge: they never have a vacant property, that's always on us.

In a similar vane, Airbnb doesn't have to account for bad guests in any way like a normal business does. It isn't their property that is used or abused. It isn't them on the retaliatory side of weird guest interactions. It again isn't them with a vacancy if a guest is bad enough to need to leave. It's not Airbnb who does the extra cleaning for free.  When the Airbnb accounting department calculates the cost of guest / host issues, they never include our share of those problems in its calculations because again it mostly doesn't have to.

They know these things, they just choose to ignore them.  They made billions of dollars last year, totally in the black, there just isn't a good excuse for the extreme policy measures they keep taking at our expense. 

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  I have gotten good ones and useless ones. What is not their fault is that they don't seem to be trained well in Airbnb policies, I imagine their salaries are a pittance (why else farm it out to the Phillipines?) so it's not like they have the incentive to bone up on Airbnb policy on their day off, and it's not their fault that Airbnb assigns them to deal with hosts in a language they may not be super fluent in.

And yes, customer service in many arenas has become customer disservice.

I'm somewhat flabbergasted that you get racially discriminated against in a diverse cosmopolitan city like London. What a world. So far to go.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977

I was trying to simplify the comment about the supermarket incident so probably made it sound more dramatic than it was. When I say he refused to serve me, what I meant was that he turned me away and told me to use the self service machines, even though there was no queue at his till, just me, so I assumed he was about to close it.

I then watched as he served some customers and turned away others, regardless of how much or how little shopping they had. There was no logic to it, until I realised that he was only serving ladies with the same colour skin as him and telling everyone else to use the machines. I don't think he was even aware that he was doing it!

Perhaps it wasn't racism. Maybe he was just serving ladies that he fancied and couldn't be bothered with the rest. Either way, it's still bad customer service as it's not for him to cherry pick his customers!

[Sarah977]

I think that one thing that's so irritating about Airbnb CS is that while they are often clueless about Airbnb TOS and policies, and have to be directed to, corrected, or quoted the pertinent info by the host,  they seem very well trained in placating phrases, platitudes, and condescending language and suggestions. When some 19 year old on the other end of the conversation is telling a 60 year old, experienced host that maybe the reason they're not receiving their text alerts anymore is because their message Inbox is full, that's just galling.