why is it so hard

[Raymond360]

why is it so hard for airbnb to keep its hosts updated on damage claims!

You deal with a different person everyday and there is no where that I can see as to where my claims are at or how far they've progressed

[Ian505]

does it matter you deal with a different person? so long as they can access the claim details and update you surely thats all that matters. 

I had a car claim and never spoke to the same person twice regarding it..

not unless I'm missing your point ?  

[BenkaandKeith0]

Yes, it actually does @Ian505as involves repeating the same story over and over and over again (we do this in our spare time and we are not getting payed for hanging on the phone, repeating, as they can not be bother reading and crosschecking the facts). Ability to access the claim and ability to resolve a matter are two different things. We, old hosts still remember the days when Airbnb solve the claims with one person in matter of hours. Long gone, unfortunately... 😞

[Ian505]

wow that really is ridiculous. It would be all reported on a claim so why repeat !! 

I agree that clearly they no longer have the staffing levels. It took them 7 days to respond to  email of mine and by that time I'd sorted it by contacting the people by phone. 

  the service AirB&B offer to hosts is very poor now 

[BenkaandKeith0]

Sure it's hard @Raymond360 because:
- they do not have enough people to handle the cases
- they have support "specialists" who are specialists only in creating more additional problems
- the personnel who is handling the cases too often doesn't understand the problem, so solutions are even further
- there is no more supervisors, but so called collective or team solving problems. For instance: when x can not come to the conclusion by himself/herself, he/she will consult the people on the same level of expertise to help.
- the distance and time zones. Let's say you report the problem from the USA. Your support specialist in fare away lands are snoozing then. When they wake up, they will deal with you (or not) and if they are not sure of the answer, will take several more days to get back to you... So hence, days, weeks, months are passing.... We often feel that they deliberately stretch the process hoping you will give up as it will become too time consuming for most of busy hosts 😞

[Elaine701]

@Raymond360 

First, don't make damage claims on Airbnb's "host guarantee". It has too many undesirable aftereffects, such as lazy, inaccurate, misleading, or nonexistent responses, denied claims, and almost always, retaliatory reviews.

Contacting support can also occasionally result in severe penalties on >you< for guest damages or bad behaviour. Its just not worth it. 

Instead, demand a real security deposit from guests who exhibit suspicious character or are high risk groups like young males before they book. If they don't agree, then you're probably better off without them, and will just go away. 

If they agree to the security deposit, you can be about 99% sure they'll pay acute attention to avoiding damage of all kinds, including smoking in an expressly nonsmoking accommodation ...which Airbnb doesn't consider as "damage".

...because they want their deposit back. Otherwise, there's no reason to worry about it. No penalty. 

"Host guarantee", even by Airbnb's own written definition, is not a "guarantee". It has no guarantee at all. It's too often just an exercise in futility, which will almost always add insult to injury when the guest writes a fabricated retaliatory review. And worse, if Airbnb inexplicably decides to refund them for having been insulted by being asked to pay compensation for their damages. 

Avoid Airbnb support wherever possible. 

[Susan4255]

How to get a "real" deposit from guest? The deposit set on airbnb isn't even real in California. Not sure about other places. 

[Elaine701]

@Susan4255 

I only impose it on "no profile, no history" inquiries, who, after some dialogue, understand that they're in a high risk group who must explicitly agree to all house rules and penalties for violations, and agree to the deposit.

About half of these are scared away by this, or end up being advised to go elsewhere due to  their odd or inconsistent responses. That's ok, I don't need that type of guest. And there's always another inquiry in the queue right behind them. It's airbnb's greatest strength. 

But for those that pass this gauntlet, I'll preapprove their booking, and they book it. Then resolution center -> request money -> amount of deposit.

They pay it. If not, I'll ask them to cancel (this hasn't occurred yet, but could, so I'd have to cancel them if they refused, and suffer the consequences). 

When they check in, they're reminded of the house rules, and what is expected in order to get their deposit back. 

At checkout, we have the deposit on hand, in cash. And a printed receipt. If all is good, they get the cash, and they sign the receipt. And as an added bonus, they'll also receive a good review, which will help them the next time the want to book something on Airbnb. 

Everybody wins. Everybody happy. 

Naturally, we deal with "regular" guests in a simpler, more friendly, personal, and accommodating manner. Unfortunately, it seems they're the exception nowadays.