Airbnb customer support 2+ hours on hold! I am already closing my business should I close it now?!

[Mary593]

DId airbnb fire their customer support staff? There is no support on the phone anymore?  I am getting booked up for the summer and now I am worried!!  was calling with a guest and then they hang up after an hour on hold?

[Matthew285]

@Mary593 what were you trying to get help for?

I often prefer to work with AirBnB customer support via Messages, so that I don't have to wait on hold.

If I really need to speak to someone on the phone, I use the call-back option offered by the Contact Us page.

Calling on the phone and waiting on hold is the worst way to reach them.

[Marzena4]

And even better it is to try to solve problems yourself - I've heard from hosts that the call center may be located somewhere is Asia and the support available there is poor.

[Jeff158]

@Mary593 if you are closing your business you should close all available dates after your closing date, Alternatively you can snooze your listing and still have access to existing bookings.

[Mary593]

 Matt, Marzena and Jeff,

Thanks for chiming in. @Matthew285 my concern with messages is the 24-48 hour response. @Marzena4 That Quote! so appropriate! of course we always do so, however it is not easy to do when it involves Airbnb website abuse.  @Jeff158 already had the dates blocked.  We were going to keep it over the summer months. not feeling so great about it now.   

[Matthew285]

@Mary593, yes they do say that with the Messages (the 24-48 hour thing). I use it anyway because

1. Like you, I would rather not spend a hour or two on hold, just to be hung up on
2. They usually respond much faster than 24-48 hours

You didn't mention trying the call-back option. This has the benefit of much faster response, and you don't have to wait on hold. They usually have called me within 20 minutes (sometimes within 2 minutes)... and no hang-ups.

[Helen3]

@Mary593 As a superhost Airbnb will have given you a special number which gets answered quickly, normally I get anwered in 2-5 minutes. Are you using this?

[Mary593]

Thank you Helen,

Yes that is the phone line I am refering to, the special superhost number which gets answered quickly has been an hour plus wait with the phone dissconnecting.  It seems to kick over to the hold music to the old line after 25 minutes or so.  I did finally get through early last week about another issue.  We had to move on from the oiriginal issue as the time window closed. so we let go of it.

[Sheryl130]

Hi Helen, we are Super Hosts as well but have no special number. Could you share please? Cheers!

[Linda108]

Here is my trick, @Mary593:   I call at 5 AM 😛  Of course I am usually awake by 4:30 AM and since, like you, I am on the West Coast, I am in the same time zone of the CS.  Always, always get a message greeting SH then a message that I will get an email requesting I confirm that I am calling and a quick pick up by a CS rep.

I also have used Twitter for some less time sensitive technical issue.  I never send an email.  BTW, is your issue anything another host can help with?

[Mary593]

Thanks @Linda108  I did finally get through on another issue as the other one had passed... O'dark early helped for sure.

[Mary593]

I was told I am not getting through because our property has been invited to the Plus program (even though I am not, nor will I be signing up to be Plus) and their CS group is low on staffing at this time?  Anyone else encounter this?

[Sheryl130]

In the past I have had no trouble at all getting support by phone, but now I'm told I'll have a 25 minute wait time on hold. I wonder what happened???

[Sarah977]

@Sheryl130  Coronavirus happened.

[Heather1042]

on hold myself - now over 2 hours