Hi,
I have a number of properties that I manage. What I am describing has happened to me three times and Airbnb doesn't seem to get this or they do not wish to fix this. I have been (and still am) a non-stop superhost for the last 6 years.
User case:
- Let's say that a potential guest enquires about a property that I manage i.e. property 1 for 500 euros (enquiry 1).
- After 3 mins the same guest, enquires about another property that I also manage, i.e. property 2 for 300 euros (enquiry 2).
- In my email inbox I will receive two different enquiries as email notifications from Airbnb for two different properties.
- In my Airbnb host message inbox, both of the enquiries are unified into ONE thread, you can see both messages (enquiry 1 and enquiry 2), but you can only reply back on the 2nd enquiry which is related to the 2nd property for less money. There is no way whatsoever that you can reply back on the 1st one although you can see it as a guest message in the unified thread. You see both messages but on the right-hand side where it shows the reservation details (property/booking/guest details etc.), it shows only property 2, nothing whatsoever about property 1.
- In my email inbox, I see both email notifications about both enquiries but when I click either of them, I am being transferred to the same unified thread in my Airbnb inbox where I can only reply back on the 2nd enquiry (the latter).
- Same glitch both on desktop PC and mobile app.
This means that I am losing money because I cannot reply back on the 1st one which is for more money, and it also affects my response time as a host as I can never reply back again to the 1st enquiry. This also confuses the potential guest. It has happened all three times.
I have reported this twice to Airbnb customer support by calling them first and then continuing the communication via messages. All three occurrences happened about three weeks to one month from one another.
- The first time it happened I didn't pay attention because I thought it was a one-off thing.
- The second time it happened and I sent screenshots etc after a few days customer support locked the relevant thread saying that the tech team would look into this without updating me at all. They simply closed the relevant message thread.
- The third time (the latest occurrence of this glitch was on 27/04/2022), I have received the following messages from customer support (Ticket number is 2020039631226):
28/04/2022
Hello Nik,
Once again I’m really sorry you are experiencing this issue! Situations like these are rare, so I’d like to thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.
Upon further checking I can confirm that this is a technical error on our platform. We apologize for the inconvenience. I will be more than happy to report this to our technical team for you. They will be investigating the cause of the problem and will be working to resolve it as soon as possible.
We assure you that our technical team are working round the clock so they can take care of each and every request and will get this issue resolved in due course. I will update you once I get an update from the technical team.
I appreciate your patience and understanding on this matter. Please don't hesitate to get in touch as I would be more than happy to help in whatever way I can.
So, reading this message, Airbnb acknowledges that this is a system glitch.
And upon receiving the last update about 30 minutes ago:
03/05/2022
Hi Nik,
My apologies for the inconvenience and I hope that this message finds you well. We know that you've been waiting to hear from us, and the technical team already sent updates on this issue. If the guest is inquiring for multiple properties, there will only be one message thread if properties are under the same host. That's the reason why you only have one option to accept the inquiry because it goes to one message thread. Also, please be mindful of your response rate and response time
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/430/what-are-response-rate-and-response-time-and-how-are-they-ca...Thank you for the patience and understanding on this matter. Please feel free to let me know if you need further assistance.
They are practically saying that this is normal.
NO, IT IS NOT NORMAL. This is a system glitch and must be rectified because it is causing problems for both the hosts and the guests.
Is there anyone in here who can actually take this to the tech team and do something about it? This is ridiculous.
Thank you Airbnb for (ΝΟΤ) taking care of your superhosts.
Since COVID started your customer support hit rock bottom.