SUPERHOST REWARD DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

[Carol302]

As a UK Airbnb host I can claim very little financial support from the UK Government to compensate me for my lost earnings during the pandemic. There is little available for free lances/self-employed and we are eligible for help only once we have spent all our savings apart from a remaining sum of 6000 GBP. I would like Airbnb, on the occasion of the next superhost reward payment to give us CASH rather than a voucher to spend in another Airbnb listing. The cash I feel would be of real practical help and also show us that Airbnb does actually care for us hosts in a practical way - rather than the underwhelming emails and notifications we have had which are cursory and not particularly helpful. What do you all think? Sorry about the capitals - I am not shouting, merely for emphasis. Stay well folks and do NOT accept ANY guests into your personal home from ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME until this pandemic is truly over. xxxxxxx

[Catherine2252]

@Carol302 

You can sign the petition: 17 230 hosts signed

https://www.change.org/p/airbnb-airbnb-breach-of-contract-class-action-lawsuit-violate-cancellation-...

[Mika8]

@Carol302.. if you like to have money .. 'exchange' your voucher with another Superhost .. of course, airbnb will have some fees of it .. but that's how the bonus anyway works .. (and of course, that it is money they'll receive and don't already have in the bucket)

[Carol302]

The way I feel at the moment after the way  Airbnb has dealt with this vis a vis hosts I do not wish to re-invest that cash reward back into the Airbnb business to be perfectly honest.

[Huma0]

@Carol302 

I feel exactly the same way. I would happily spend my voucher on another host to help them out. Doesn't matter that I won't make the trip. 

However, I am not prepared to put any more money into the Airbnb coffers after they have stolen so much from me. And I do mean stolen, as I am not even talking about cancellations covered by COVID-19, just money I was due outside of that policy. That is theft.

[Huma0]

Actually, given that we can't travel right now, what is Airbnb going to do about existing host travel vouchers that are going to expire soon? Will they extend the dates, or will those hosts just lose them? 

[Susan17]

@Huma0 

I once used my 100euro SH bonus as part payment for a booking in London. The booking was cancelled by the host - I was refunded the amount I'd paid, minus my SH voucher amount. I possibly could have gotten it reissued to me if I'd had the fortitude to phone CX and jump through all sorts of ridiculous hoops, but I couldn't face the thoughts of that and just let it go.

[Huma0]

@Susan17 

Yes, it's certainly not the biggest challenge we are facing right now and dealing with Airbnb CS right now is near impossible, so I personally would not waste time on it either.

I was just wondering...

Also, if a lot of Airbnb hosts are not cashing in their travel credit, I wonder what that amounts to? Probably not so significant in the scheme of things, but an area where Airbnb would be saving something. I wonder if they would consider putting that money towards helping the hosts during this crisis (I'm being sarcastic here)...

[Susan17]

@Huma0 

Doesn't take a pandemic for hosts and guests to lose out on cashing in their vouchers, coupons, referral bonuses and gift cards on this platform! Below is a comment I posted some time ago.

Both hosts and guests being cheated out of referral bonuses, travel vouchers and even gift cards is not an occasional slip-up or an aberration - it's rampant practice on Airbnb, and has been for years. Just some examples of the multitude of ways in which users are being screwed over...

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Host-referral-fee/td-p/333888

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/I-referred-a-host-and-didn-t-get-a-referral-payment/td-p/21...

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Host-Referral-Program/td-p/138425/page/4

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/I-am-not-given-travel-credit-for-a-successful-host-refer...

 https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Referring-Hosts/td-p/296726

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Didn-t-receive-my-travel-credit-though-one-of-my-referrals/...

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Travel-Credit-not-given/td-p/353564

 https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Coupon-lost-after-cancel/td-p/559221

[Huma0]

@Susan17 

I have had my own bad experience RE Superhost rewards. It is something I have thought of posting several times as I feel I was treated so unfairly by Airbnb, but I never did, because it might have had serious consequences for someone else who relies on Airbnb income. I could not tell the whole tale without potentially getting that person in trouble, so I let it go...

[Carol302]

................. as we are obliged to let so very  many other things go in the Airbnb world. Well as hosts anyway. A whole different story for guests..................

[Carol302]

That is disgusting. How rotten for you. xx

[Martha704]

I had $300USD worth of Superhosts reward coupons that expired during the travel restrictions. I reached out to Airbnb and asked if they would be able to extend the expiry considering that there was no way I could use them before they expired and with travel restrictions in place for a while, no way I could even book a trip with confidence 6 months from now. They said no.

[Linda108]

@Lizzie   Any chance we could get some response from Air BNB about the usability of the SH voucher?

[Carol302]

None so far.................................