Support....Airbnb support is a thing of the past!

[Robin4]

In the past week I have had two incredibly frustrating encounters with Airbnb support and I now feel, no matter what the problem, support are simply not worth contacting!

1/......I had a guest stay here, the reservation ending 12 days ago. They loved their stay, we got on like a house on fire and their desire was to leave a great review. They tried to submit their review and were hit with the Error 404 Ice-cream girl. I told them it was possibly a glitch in the system, wait 24 hours and try again.....same result.

At that point I contacted support and explained the situation. The support person, while being very pleasant said he could see an issue with the guests account and told me to get the guest to contact support!

Now previously that support person would have reached out to the guest and fixed the problem, not so now, the problem was thrown back on me to hassle over with the guest. The net result is, I have lost a great review all because support could not be bothered doing their job!

2/......This evening a guest who had stayed here previously sent me a message saying they would like to stay from 4th Feb to the 28th Feb, a nice reservation.

Fortunately those dates were available so I promptly sent them a 'special offer.' Next thing I get this message back.....

That's right, they want to pay, and they are directed to a South African hosts site that I have nothing to do with and did not know existed!

I get onto support and get exactly the same response as I got the other day. It took some time for support to even find the message stream  but after considerable phone hold she told me I would have to get the guest to contact support to sort this out.

I said, "Can you please  reach out to and speak to the guest and sort this out, if I get them to ring support they are not going to get you personally and they will have to go through the whole scenario again. Also I am concerned I can't block those 24 days from other bookings" She said....."I am not allowed to contact hosts guests"......I am serious, that is for real. At that point I asked to speak to a supervisor, or someone who actually had the authority to talk with both host and guest, or could I at least have a ticket reference to give to the guest that will get whoever they get onto the current state of support for this issue. She told me there was not a supervisor available and she could not tell me when would be available.....and no, she could not give me a ticket number!

The guest is now trying to sort this out, it's 1.00 am here and messages are going back and forth every few minutes. Support have asked me to send a new special offer which on their end showed the full price and I have now had to send another special offer. I am tired and I just want to give up and go to bed!

This whole Airbnb support thing is just plain comical, it does not exist any more. I will not attempt to deal with them any further, it's pointless, it has been outsourced to some crowd who have absolutely no idea how to do anything other than answer the phone. Training appears to be totally non existent and these reps fly by the seat of their pants. It has gone from being one of the worlds best company support options to being one of the worst.

To say I am disgusted is a mild understatement. We hear all these feel good statements from the top that keep on telling us how important we are, but the reality is we are completely on our own, we have no support whatsoever!

Am I angry.......Brian Joe and Nate, you bloody bet I am!

Cheers........Rob

[Robin4]

@Liv 

Thanks Liv, I know that you guys go in to bat for us whenever you can, but @Sarah977  has a point. I have been doing this for a few years now (as you know) I don't need other people to fight my individual battles, in most instances I can find a work around. Both of these recent issues have been solved, my guest was eventually able to leave a review, and the other guest was eventually able to book my listing......tranquility has come back to my hosting world!

My issue Liv is a general one.....we just can't get help any more. Let me give you a few illustrations.

In 2017 I received a reservation request from a couple who were 70Kms away sitting on the side of a busy highway. They had seen my cottage was available, and that I accepted same day reservations and they were trying to book but there was some issue with the payment method and their verifications. I got onto CX, explained the situation, the support person immediately got onto the potential guest on the side of the road whilst in contact with me and within 10 minutes the reservation was confirmed and I accepted the guest into my cottage an hour later. I got used to that level of support....instant and effective. Liv, we all looked efficient and good!

Fast forward two years:  I have a guest book and arrive for one evening! As soon as he entered he liked what he saw and wanted to extend his stay for another night using a voucher he had received for being mucked around on a previous stay. I told him he could not extend his current stay with a voucher, he could only use it for a new up-coming booking. I told him to contact Airbnb and see if they could help him.

A few hours went by and an IB came in for the next night from another guest! I went to the current guest and asked him if he had abandoned the idea of staying the extra night and he told me, it was all attended to, CX in Manila was extending his reservation. At that point I got a phone call from the CX person in Manila and he told me he was in the process of extending my existing guests booking when he noticed another booking slide in and grab the next night. He asked if I would let him cancel the IB and let that booking be relocated! I told CX I would not allow an existing reservation to be cancelled....Airbnb's policy is, first in gets the booking and that is that. CX assured me it would not be like that, the IB guest would be offered other accommodation with no out of pocket expenses, it would all be taken care of as a neutral cancellation so, I reluctantly agreed. CX told me he would keep me informed and the next morning phoned me and told me the IB booking had been relocated, all was taken care of and I was not to worry about it any further.....great. 6.00 pm that evening the IB booking walks around the corner looking for the accommodation he had booked the previous day. I stood there dumbfounded, here I was with two confirmed Airbnb guests on my property for the same evening. IB guest had a wife and two grizzly kids in the car and wouldn't take no for an answer. I got onto CX in Manila to explain my current situation and to find out what had happened, and I guess his mouth moved but, nothing coherent came out of it....at least not on my end of the phone. It was up to me to whip around the Airbnb hosts I have a liaison with in my area and I was able to relocate the IB guest to another local property. 

It appeared CX just left a message on the IB guests phone and thought that was the end of the matter, problem solved.

I realised then, the support I was used to was just not there any more, the entire strategy behind Airbnb support had become one of hand-balling  problems.

*

Liv, the other night I asked for a supervisor, I was told one was not available but one might be available in half an hour. Twenty four hours later after spending 4 hours the night before trying to get a simple issue fixed I got this message..........

Liv, I didn't need Lexie to state the bleedin obvious to me 24 hours later, and this is where my issue is, support has to be prompt and effective, otherwise.....what's the point in having it.

There is a certain minimum standard that is required of any employment position and many of us here Liv do not feel that Airbnb are providing that minimum standard.

But thanks for you reply and offer to look into my situation, but as I said, all is solved now.

Cheers........Rob

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Robin4 ,  This is becoming a tired situation, it deserves more attention and less promises @Catherine-Powell!  Promises made but not kept are going to continue to weigh down the Airbnb Mothership and those of us that have hitched our horses to your wagon.   Much has changed for all of us in the last year, most have jumped through every hoop held out by Captain @Brian  and his fellow millionaire co-leaders, our warchests are shrinking not growing and we dont have any IPO's planned for Bearpath Lodging that can refresh those emptying coffers. 

We are blessed to have @Liv and friends to help us out in a pinch but it seems their is way too much pinching going on due to a help line that is ill equipped to support hosts or guests in a timely manner (24/7/365, nothing less than that is useful when thats the same hours we host guests you refer to us).  Hosts are dinged if they don't respond to an inquiry fast enough (<hour) but  the Helpline rarely responds in an hour or a day even if the widget says someone will answer within 5 minutes.  

Its time for the management to fix the problem, its not covid or discriminationor a broken widget or cleaning routines, its a management issue that allows unacceptable customer serve to become a norm (and yes, we are the customer in this situation), we arent partners or we would be able to fix it ourselves.  We are very invested in this platform even if we dont own stock or collect pay and benefits from it (only payouts for bookings).   If this continues, we will be forced to find another wagon to pull, as you know, there are a few out there.   Fair warning,  Stay well, JR

[Kayla245]

WHY IS AIR BNB SO HORRIBLE AT REPLYING TO PROBLEMS?!?!?!?!? WHY ARE YOU GUYS EVEN A SERVICE IF YOU CANT SIMPLY HELP YOUR CUSTOMERS?!?! THIS COMPANY IS A JOKE 

[Liv]

Hey @Robin4, 

I'm glad to hear you were able to fix the issues! 

I understand where you are coming from and I really am sorry to hear about hosts' recent experiences when looking for support.

We have been updating the team on this and it helps a lot that you guys are keeping us posted, I'll definitely continue to pass this on. We have been working hard to make sure your feedback is heard.

I also genuinely hope things get better soon! The first example you gave is definitely what we want to be aiming for.

@Sarah977 @Melodie-And-John0 

[Robin4]

@Liv 

Liv, I know we sound like a bitchy lot but if we shut up and say nothing ....nothing changes and things just go from bad to worse! Airbnb's entire motivation is to make money, and toes they might tread on along the way are simply collateral damage!

We have to bring these issue up Liv, we have to make pricks of ourselves and sound like we are ungrateful for all this business that Airbnb brings our way!

I just want to make this company great, I love it when I get to hug the guest goodbye and see the lovely comments they have left in my guest book, the little present they have left behind.....it all makes me feel like a worthwhile person! It makes me feel like a winner, not a loser!

But when Airbnb frustrate what I do, I am going to tell them, I am going to make derogatory comments here in the hope that it will stir others into agreeing and adding some weight to what I have to say!

Cheers......Rob  

[Dorothy128]

I have to say that I have had excellent support from Airbnb Customer Service. The site was 'down' last night and that's the first time I've ever experienced this. Apparently Google was also 'down'. Airbnb support called me the very next day (today) to make sure I had managed to access the site and resolve my issue. He was lovely and most helpful. Granted, I did have an issue when a 1 night booking for 1 person turned into a party and damage was done and no compensation gained, but I have read the update from @Catherine and much has been done to address such issues. Please have a little faith, fellow Hosts. I avoid Instant Booking and one nighters and so far so good. P.S. I have been an Airbnb Host for over 2 years, so not a newbie by any means. Best wishes to All, @Dorothy

[Robin4]

@Liv  @Melodie-And-John0  @Bronwyn38  @Kayla245 

Well folks, it's happened yet again!

I received an enquiry a couple of hours ago for a booking for the night of 30th December. My calendar shows the night of the 30th December is available so I pre-approved the enquiry  but, the guest could not book! I once again contacted support (who I must admit are very quick to answer) and after explaining this most recent situation the response was ......"You list an entire guest house and Airbnb will not allow a booking on NYE for an entire listing, you understand this is to protect you from a party booking"!

I said ...."That's fine but I have just lost 4 bookings over this period due to a COVID-19 outbreak for travelers from another state, the night in question is the 30th which because of other cancellations is now open for booking, not NYE, which if you look at my calendar is blocked, and although the listing is for an entire guest house it is an adjacent part of the  main residence, so this listing and this date is not subject to the Airbnb party booking  alert and should be free from any booking restriction". 

To that she said......oh dear God here we go again....."You will have to get your guest to contact Airbnb support to arrange the booking!" I once again asked her if she could reach out to the guest and facilitate this booking.......and once again, the answer was no!

Why is Airbnb making it so hard for me to run my business, all I want to do is be a good host, but this company is screwing me to the wall, week by week! 

Cheers........Rob

[Emilia42]

@Robin4 Try having the guest book a different date in the future and then adjust the reservation to the night of the 30th. 

[Robin4]

@Emilia42 

Could try it but Emilia we have got it sorted. You can only bang your head against a brick wall for so long. When things get taken out of my hands I introduce a strategy to restore the balance of nature.....my guest is booked, lets just leave it at that!

Cheers........Rob 

[Bronwyn38]

xx

[Colleen253]

“Airbnb will not allow a booking on NYE”. Right, and yet the booking in question was NOT for NYE. Makes perfect sense, per a ‘Support’ response.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Robin4 , Rob, they are trying to fix their poor vetting with blanket policies that they don't have the algorithms correct on.  They need to do more about creating policies that root out the party people and scammers before they try to book anyone 365 days a year, not just holidays.   Also speaking /texting with CS folks that are powerless to help you when you need it most is not a good support plan.  This business is fluid and they are like a bowel blockage after a cheese party. when they consistently hand the issue off to customers or hosts to rectify without relief, it call into question things that hosts nor guests don't need the aggravation over.    Sad you had to institute your own solution to make this happen Rob, its not right to leave us hanging like that.   JR  

[Robin4]

@Melodie-And-John0 

John I am as loyal to Airbnb as any user here.....Airbnb have been wonderful to me  over the past 5 years ....they don't hassle me, they just keep sending me guests and paying me on time. But maybe the guests are getting a bit more difficulty.....although I don't think so, there just seems to be more 'road-blocks' put in the way for the host these days.

I am finding it harder to conform with what Airbnb decrees should be the host guest relationship, and that is hard for me to digest! I am at the point where  I will work with the guests requirements first and foremost and Airbnb's second 

Does that give you any hint John

Cheers.........Rob  

[Katie]

Hey @Robin4, sorry you're still getting this issue - sounds like a pain in the bum! I've sent a message to the tech team to see if they can work it out. I'm not sure the full team are around over this Christmas period, but as soon as I hear anything back I'll let you know.

I know you've already found another solution to this booking but hopefully we can fix it for future ones 😊 

[Bronwyn38]

I'm guessing they bkd direct when all else failed.... it seems the only solution and why on earth Airbnb would take it upon themselves to assume you would stuff around interminably on their behalf just to secure their booking fee.... well.... no! Hospitality is a matter of courtesy and convenience, not money handlers sniveling over their takings while would be guests wait for them to count their shekels! for shame....