We are leaving Airbnb and have never been happier!

Juan63
Level 10
San Antonio, TX

We are leaving Airbnb and have never been happier!

I can say with 100% certainty, Airbnb, the company, is why we are leaving. We have been very successful using this platform that we once loved so much, but your constant involvement in political issues, support for BLM(the organization), horrible leadership, and lack of host support, finally pushed us to the edge. You are a drowning whale. Hopefully new leadership comes in to save this once great company. We(hosts) are what made Airbnb special, remember that.

40 Replies 40
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Juan63  Good luck, Juan. You and I were diametrically opposed on many issues, but I have respect for those who refuse to participate in something they don't believe in, rather than complaining endlessly, but not leaving simply because it brings them money. If Airbnb donated funds to the NRA, or illegally withheld payouts that were rightfully mine, or took a guest's lies for the truth, ignoring the fact that I've been a good host with rave reviews, or any of the other unforgivable ways they treat hosts, I would pull out, too. 

 

Regardless of your politics, I know you were a good host with great reviews and attractive listings. Airbnb has lost yet another asset to their platform.

@Sarah977 @Thank you Sarah for your kind words. I take our disagreements as just that. They are not a reflection of what I think of you as a person. I would easily have a friendly cup of coffee with you.

 

Enough was enough. We have one week of reservations and we are done. Good luck in Mexico!

Ian-And-Anne-Marie0
Level 10
Kendal, United Kingdom

@Juan63 

You have a great place there. It, and you are a great loss to the Airbnb platform. The acknowledgement by Airbnb of the quality of your listing with them wanting it to be featured in their magazine is testament to your calibre and their loss. Good luck in moving forward, and I wish you every success. (20% of revenue can buy a massive heap of google advertising ) 🙂

 

You are a drowning whale.

This one now, is not only taking fees and spending them, but charging hosts the full cancellation fees they are refunding guests before even the hosts are receiving payment. La-La Land and Airbnb have a lot in common.

My listing is new, a 400 square meter Villa and swimming pool.

I still didn't get paid after a month and half despite that I have verified payout methods that are totally legit (I had five payout methods in three countries for three of my team members including myself) and despite wasting no less than 60 hours messaging, recieving calls from 7 or 8 CS representatives I am still not paid.

 

At this stage I am being ignored completely despite that I have fixed costs (wages, taxes, utility bills etc.) and despite that I rented out to my first guests at a rate that doesn't even cover my FIXED COSTS.

 

Basically Airbnb three me out of the bus and the only reason for this treatment that I can come up with is I voiced my anti democratic party and anti Joe Biden views openly in PRIVATE conversations with customer service representatives (!).

 

Those who think Airbnb is not political are welcome to buy a planet in the solar system from me.

 

I happen to own a few and I will gladly sell them Pluto, Jupiter, Saturn or Mars for only a few thousand dollars so I can cover my fixed costs and continue operation !

Helen350
Level 10
Whitehaven, United Kingdom

Good Luck @Juan63 ! - I will miss your alternative perspective in the CC!

Thx @Helen350, I appreciate you. Don’t let those woke Europeans and Brits push you around. 🙂 Luckily my alternative way of thinking is still at least 50% of America.

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

Aye @Juan63 I hear you clearly. Hosting is really but a chapter in our lives. No doubt, the Covid-19 event took a lot of the enthusiasm and innocence out of it and I also see Airbnb now in a whole new light because of it. I wish you the best of journeys.

Yadira22
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Good luck to you @Juan63 , stay safe. 

Erik-and-Keshia0
Level 2
Utah, United States

@Juan63 I have recently had a lot of issues with Airbnb and I used to praise this company. We hosted in Vegas for a couple of years and then sold our house and stopped for a couple of years. We are starting up again and I am trying to post my listings but they keep getting deleted...I have tried reaching out multiple times since 7/8 with NO help or even care from any of the Airbnb employees. I used to speak great things but now I'm having a really hard time. Are you going to use a different platform? 

The quality of the Airbnb assistance has gone worse in the last six months or so. By the way there is no longer any preferential service for superhosts. We are superhosts since the last 4 years, and until the end of 2019 we were finding a fast and competent assistance by telephone whenever we needed.

Our apartments in Florence are also on a competitor platform. With that (even if we have only 3 reviews) in the past months we got 3 reservations (consider that everybody has stopped after the virus). With Airbnb, in which we have more than 200 reviews with an average rate of 4.9 not reservation, and even no question. In the statistics page we are a just one or two views per day, also because we have about 300 offers before ours (even with lower rate and higher price). It is not that we want to leave Airbnb, but working in parallel with another platform, if the other performs better it means that Airbnb does not care to keep us as hosts.

Juan63
Level 10
San Antonio, TX

@Erik-and-Keshia0 We are getting out of the STR business. The bad guests were tolerable because Airbnb had good customer service. Now both are bad. We are going to stick with building/selling and LTR. You can see our direct booking site that we built before deciding to hang it up at https://www.bluecacthaus.com. This maybe an alternative for you.

@Juan63 Thanks for sharing your site! I am actually looking at doing the same...I don't want to relay on Airbnb or other sites like this...can you tell me what company or how you set up the calendar and booking directly from your website? I really appreciate your help!

Today there are some excellent DYI web builders (i.e. Wix) and companies that offer the reservation calendar for a small yearly fee to use with it. Kind of slick. I have been an Airbnb 60% / Direct 40% combo host since the very beginning, and it appears guests come from two totally separate pools, unaware of each other. 

@Fred13  Thanks! We've built our site, just trying to figuring out how people can book directly on our website. Right now when you click on the booking link, it takes them to Airbnb.