Update of my 'Anatomy of the Airbnb Guest Hustle'

[Fred13]

This is really an update to my recent "Anatomy of the Airbnb Guest Hustle" post concerning how scammers & hustlers are gaming Airbnb's well-intentioned refund & review system.  I am also bringing this to Airbnb's attention direct, maybe it will prove helpful and make them aware how careful they must always be with guest claims.

Last month, for the first time in 7 years, we had a guest file a claim for a refund (50%).

1. The guest (who made the reservation) stayed the whole time, all smiles. The other 5 companions appearing to having a great time.

2. The leader didn't utter a word about any issues. Upon pick up the leader was quiet, the others laughing and even tipped the boat captain handsomely.

3. The leader within 1 hour files for a 50% refund (of course citing the classics: mold & cockroaches), and received silently a 20% refund at the end. In essence she stayed for free.

The guest however followed those tricky moves with a scathing 1* star review for good measure, which was taken down after 5 days after I took up the issue with Airbnb. My point with was Airbnb -  what is the likelihood that a guest (with a mere recent 3 reviews)  making the most absurd claims are remotely true against a place run by a host in his 7th year and after hosting 700 Airbnb groups all leaving smashing reviews? Mathematically that is 1/700 or .001, logically that is zero (0). It was taken down based on irrelevancy.

Now for the real kicker: The other companions just became aware of the leader's clandestine refund moves and are writing to us wanting to see her review.  They all have e-mailed us that none of the leader's moves makes any sense and that under no circumstances any of them are part of these moves and that they had indeed a fabulous stay.

In the scheme of things this barely hurts us, but I can well imagine how these guest scams are so damaging to others. Airbnb needs to remind whomever they use for their CS department to be absolutely fair towards hosts and to not encourage fraud of their well-intentioned system by being too flippant with refunds, otherwise they are encouraging an abuse of it.

[Sudsrung0]

They should let me takeover CS, Nobody would be getting a refund

[Kelly149]

I've often thought, that some experience as a guest or a host would make for better CS outcomes. How often have you talked to CS and thought 'have you ever owned a home?' or 'do you know anything about hospitality at all?' It's such an easy idea, it must be true that abb is not interested in having a knowledgeable CS staff OR that the pay rate is so abysmal that you wouldn't be able to get hosts/guests willing to take the gig

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Kelly149exactly my thoughts as well 🙂 Ex host who was also a guest sometimes would be the best CS agent

[Jane3748]

Incompetence stems from the top. When you receive bad CS support, it's a reflection of company culture. 

[Fred13]

@Kelly149Come to think about it, I always assumed a CS would have experience in host or as a guest. if not how would they know what we are talking about? Hmm, it can't be...

[Huma0]

@Kelly149 

In my last interaction with CS, I actually asked the rep if she had any experience of hosting. She said she did, but I am not convinced that is true. Her flippant attitude towards the problem suggested otherwise.

[Helen744]

@Sudstrung0 ha ha

[Anonymous]

@Fred13   So the primary guest got a group together for the trip, they split the cost between them and each paid their share to her, and she then maneuvered a refund worth more than her share without distributing it out to her companions. Not only did she stay for free; she made a profit.

From Airbnb's point of view, I guess the grifters and cheaters of the world are too big of a market to ignore. But keeping them in the fold will always be at hosts' expense. 

[Fred13]

  Exactly @Anonymous and initially she went for the Super Profit (50%) but was turned down after my first objective of any refund at all. Then was given a 20% ($1095) discount without my further participation with the usual, 'case close' statements.

  Then the scathing review followed as a result. Well, not so fast, an Airbnb supervisor immediately did intervened to his/her credit.

   I had left a "Guest came, stayed the entire time, never brought up any issue during her stay and then filed for a 50% refund' review;   just the facts but enough to make any host very nervous. The group just happened to stumbled on that review, thus their e-mails.

   I am taking the whole matter with Airbnb once again,  with the spirit that this is a good case to demonstrate first hand how some guests can scam hosts for a refund and how easy it is to fabricate the reasons for one.

  Perhaps with this classic example they will appreciate the dilemma their hosts do face with this issue and improve the situation.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Fred13  and of course, CS didn't and couldn't show you any proof your guest submitted, right? 🙂

My first scammer came last year after 5 years of hosting. Classic story - new member, no reviews, no photo, claimed bedbugs 3 days after checkout (6 days after check-in) and asked for 100% refund. Their proof: the photo of their bitten legs (God knows where they were bitten before their arrival, they came with a camping van) and some photo of some distance, blur fluff on the bedsheet (I enhanced their photo and it didn't even look like any kind of bug, more like cigarette ash). Airbnb declined their claim bc it was sent after the 48 h deadline and bc I sent proof from the exterminator. But it cost me time, exterminator bill, 1* review which I didn't even bother trying to remove, and of course SH status (it happened soon after a year-long covid+earthquake pause so the effect was significant )

So, the question is not IF, but WHEN we will host a scammer, which brings us to the old question: What happened with 1% of outlier review removal idea presented a few years ago by Airbnb?

[Fred13]

Good question on that 1%. When you deal with humans, you must account for the occasional lunatic  because inevitably one of them will come knocking on your door eventually.

[Huma0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 

I've yet to experience a scammer, but I feel like it's probably just a matter of time. The thing is though, even when the guests are not scammers, the incompetence and sometimes baffling decisions made by CS can sometimes turn good guests into scammers. That is how bad it has gotten.

Twice now, Airbnb has wrongly refunded my guests when the guest had no complaint and never even requested a refund.

One example is the long term guest who decided to leave two weeks into her stay due to a change in her work circumstances. She said she understood the long term cancellation policy and said it was fair and that she would pay accordingly, but then asked for an additional refund, which I agreed to. However, Airbnb somehow overcharged her. Although I told her I would sort it out, she went ahead and called CS. The next thing I know, CS has refunded her not just for all the unspent nights, but for the two weeks she already stayed.

When I called the CS, the rep could not give me any justification for the decision and simply told me that I should collect the money owed directly from the guest. When I asked the guest why she had accepted a refund for the two weeks she had already stayed, she said it was what CS has suggested, and that she would pay me back at a later date, but had lost money on theatre tickets, a flight her husband had cancelled, another cancelled Airbnb etc. etc. so she couldn't pay me now. Of course, I never heard from her again.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Lesson learned @Huma0 , never agree to any refund

[Huma0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 

Yes, lesson learnt. I was trying to be a good person. The guest had been lovely up until this point. She said that she had lost so much money overall and it was too expensive for her to pay the whole amount according to the long term cancellation policy. I agreed to charge her a bit less than this. It wasn't a huge amount, but significant enough, and she seemed happy with that.

It's when CS got involved that everything went t*ts up, as we say here. They put temptation in the guest's path and she grabbed it with both hands! Because she had seemed like a decent person, I was totally shocked, but maybe I was being naive. 

I did eventually get paid back (by Airbnb, not the guest), but I had to fight tooth and nail for it  and pester CS constantly for a month. They kept telling me that the refund was according to 'our policy' and I just repeated the policy back to them over and over. Where exactly does it say in any Airbnb policy that guests should be refunded for two weeks worth of accommodation when they have not complained about a single thing?