@Stephan-And-Skye0
I have to agree with the basis of your positivity. It's true. To a certain extent.
Airbnb has facilitated a means to generate a certain degree of wealth that didn't exist previously.
We are of the same mindset. In our case, the vast majority of the funds generated are reinvested into the business and the property. It's not just a living, it's a business. A small one, but we view it that way, for obvious reasons.
And in doing so, we've learned to identify the opportunities and risks, with a view towards taking advantage of the opportunities while avoiding the risks.
Yet few hosts are operating this way. Many make their basic living from it. That's it. They're dependent. And with any big corporate entity, that's always dangerous.
We all depend on the platforms to generate that income, yet in reality, we hosts assume the vast majority of the risks. And increasingly so, since it's inherently not in the platform's interest to assume those risks.
Airbnb in particular, consistently markets their product to hosts with the illusion that they mitigate the risks on the host's behalf. And that's true in certain circumstances. For example, collection and disbursement of monies.
It's a good programme. They collect the money, hold it, manage the bookings, cancellations, and so on. And then disburse the money only when the booking has been (reasonably) realised. I prefer this method to being paid prior, since a lot of things can happen between the time the guest books and when they arrive. I for one, prefer not to have to manage that.
But it's Airbnb incompetence in supporting those hosts that incubates the dissatisfaction. Some people don't get paid, sometimes Airbnb will refund guests on the basis of false premises, plus many other inexplicable behaviours, and naturally tends to favour the guest in virtually all aspects, whether in disputes or common everyday issues.
And that doesn't mitigate host risk, it exacerbates it. Despite whatever illusions Airbnb likes to portray.
And that's the source of the negativity.
My stump is simple. I've been victimised by it, as well as many others. So, we've (been forced to) looked at it from a risk/reward perspective. As all hosts should.
First, all hosts should use Airbnb for what they're good at: generating bookings. The rest needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Relying on Airbnb's policies and host support is not only frustrating, but can actually make issues even worse. Perhaps unwittingly, but it's a very common result of Airbnb intervention.
So, be clear ...it's all on >you<, the host. >You< must prevent/avoid bad situations, because within any platform's circle, the fault never lies with the guest, even when the guest is irrefutably the source of the problem. The guest is the buyer. Not the host.
This view doesn't sit well with Airbnb for obvious reasons, but they certainly won't be inclined to rectify bad situations for hosts, unless it's predominantly in their interest to do so (e.g., the millions paid out to a rape victim to avoid publicity).
Don't be fooled. It's just a booking platform. Like all the rest. A big one. They're the dominant player in the industry right now (by orders of magnitude), and so you either live with it and take advantage of the opportunities it offers, or leave it and suffer a different set of headaches.
Either way, you still have to watch your own back, and mitigate the significant risks that come with the rewards. And to successfullly achieve that sometimes requires working a bit outside the Airbnb regulatory framework.
