Airbnb not supporting the homeowners

[Kristen63]

I have a complaint...and since I can't find an "easy" way to get a hold of AirBNB...I'm going to put it out here and see if anyone else has had these issues.

I have it stated specifically in my renters agreement that if a guest smokes or brings a pet in in my cabin, they will be charge $500 for cleaning and inconvenience fees...as I usually have guests that come in back to back and it can be difficult to clean in that fast of a turn around.  I had a guest smoke in my cabin....I provided proof to Airbnb.  They informed me that they could not "enforce" my renters agreement (even though the guest had signed it)....they did however, provide me with $125 towards the cleaning.  I was satisfied with this and we all moved on.

Last week, a fellow home owner had a guest that trashed his place....they didn't break anything but they left a mess that included a stack of dishes on multiple levels, with food caked to them, and toilet paper lying all around...just to mention a few things.  This mess took about 2-3 hours to clean up.  When we charge  a "cleaning" fee this includes linens and towels (which by the way are very expensive)....washing those, dusting, cleaning toilets, showers, washing floors, vacuuming.....things that would take about an hour to hour and a half to complete.  It was such a mess that the homeower had to pay an additional fee to the cleaners to clean up after these guests.  The homeowner had pictures and contacted airbnb.  Airbnb states that because we charge a "cleaning" fee that he was not able to collect from the guest to cover the additional cost of the clean up.  

Where is airbnb when it comes to supporting the homeowners from guests like this?  They say that this home owner had to state to the guest that they had to wash dishes or they would be charged an extra fee.....however, I told the guest that if they smoked in my cabin that they needed to pay me $500....and that didn't happen...so obviously, it doesn't matter if you state it or not...you don't get it.  So I feel like I'm kind of at a loss.....the guest seem to be able to do whatever they want to do.  Airbnb told the homeowner the the deposit was only for broken items.....and it doesn't seem to matter that they homeowner was out extra money because he had to pay an additional cleaning fee...he obviously had damages.

So once again I ask....how do you protect yourself from guests like this?  Obviously Airbnb doesn't support the homeowner.

[Colleen47]

Oh no! Dishes and a chair turned on it's side! Sounds terrible @Kristen63

[Barry68]

Let's be blunt. Airbnb does not help any one or do anything that wold normally be associated with running a huge global business. Airbnb prefer to have no overheads or presence and simply enjoy the benifits that come form holding hundreds of milllions of dollars of other people's money, often for quite long periods of time and taking its slice of the revenue's generated from transactiosn on terms calculated to grossly favour renters over property owners. I could of course write an encyclopedia about how this plays out and how the Airbnb phenomena leaves owners accepting such low rates that we can hardly cover the electrical and other costs of taking guests, let alone sales taxes and teh like, but most people are not interestested in thos erealities. Yes. This home owners expectation of being paid $500 in the circumstances described sounds more like a penalty than compensation for loss but home owners are entitled to set reasonable restrictions like "non-smkoing", teheviolation of which should have clear conseqiuences enforced by Airbnb. Fpor example, when one of our recent guests trawled the local bars here in Bali and brought hooker sback to our Villa to stay overnight, we were not out of pocket except for paying the cost of fixing the bed they broke doing God only knows what, but their conduct was still a gross violation of our house rules and should have consequences!  Sorry, but your being in the wrong side of this issue makes me wonder what your motives are. 

[Brian913]

Hi fellow Prescottonian...I am glad you helped out previous host with input. Yes , the old saying business is business and we /hosts need to cover themselves. Airbnb doesnt give a dam about the hosts and with my 5 years with them 95% guests have been good but the 5% A holes and "tHEY GET MONEY BACK!"..are you kidding me! This last weekend of Sept. 28,2019..blew my mind. I live atthe large estate of course with my wife, we use many , many sites worldwide, then these "kids" 4 of them, check in at 8:15am..drop off all their stuff and a truck..(clock starts ticking) then by 6pm a Bque, showers, dinner using my stuff...trash all over, break my electric gate. Tried to get "others" to crash the party....then I arrive at 9:30pm..then..boom, boom pack up they all take off!! Then I get a "text" email whatever called..Oh guests want a full refund. I tried calling, asked for 3 call backs, clerks at airbnb at midnight now Saturday night..getting no where...then by 6:15am 48 hours later..by monday...I get "decision is final no refund" we are possibly dropping you from the community!" ---no crap really...my other sites make much more money...and no headaches and you work with real people whom care...not sure about my future with this company, but wow the support hosts get is ZERO. 

[David126]

Sounds like you need a conventional Security Deposit, something AirBnB does not currently offer.

[MaryJo2 · Accepted solution]

I don't want to go into great detail at all but I have learned this- Airbnb does not support the claims of the Host- they always side with the Guest, even if you have pictures and email them all within the 72 hour deadline!  They - the machine called 'Zelda' will say thru email only that they have concluded the discussion - even though there was not a response from her ever- and have decided to close the case- I spent hours and many days working on this - being told over and over by customer service that I would receive a phone call only to find out in the end that they - the higher stages of customer service - they do not use or operate with telephones- they will only communicate with email but they did not communicate with me after countless phone calls to customer service.

All I got was a lot of 'we are so sorry that you are disappointed with our decision'!

It was such a horrible experience- but I did learn this:

If you have a request for a deposit on your listing- they will never release that to the Host - ever.

No matter what - so really the deposit must be worked out between the Host and the guest.  If they cause any damage they must agree to pay to bring the issue back to where it was before they checked in.  I speak to guests about this personally since Airbnb does not have our interest as Hosts as a part of this process.  That is why so many listings do not require any deposit at all, maybe because the Host knows it will be very hard if not impossible to be offered any of what the 'deposit' is supposed to protect you from.

I suppose they know that with over 1 million or more Hosts they can suffer losing a few but they do not want to risk causing guests to stop using airbnb.  Just my observation.

[Ellen12]

Sorry for your frustration.  Think we've all been there BUT at least with VRBO/HA, we have collected a security deposit and can keep it if necessary.  I would suggest maybe increasing  your cleaning fee a bit.  I have it worked out with my housekeeper that some cleans are just going to take longer than others and she's OK with it. 

I've been calling/e-mailing ABB for a month now regarding a serious tax issue - they aren't collecting enough lodgings taxes as promised - and I've gotten no real response from them at all.  There is no Customer Service with ABB, I've finally decided, so the heck with them.  I've unlisted, and I've reported them to the state Department of Revenue.  And, as it turns out, I'm not the first person to call to report their tax unreporting.  No wonder we read about their being at odds with states/cities all the time!!

I'm not a huge fan of VRBO anymore because of the change in their platform, but their Customer Service is good, and I think it's a better and more up-front organization than ABB.

[Susan285]

I think Airbnb also charges 3% fee on the deposit if I am not mistaken.

So the service fee we pay is higher the higher our deposit. They make money with that "service".

I have a small deposit and I keep it mainly to make sure the guest have this in mind and treat my apartment nicely.

Maybe some guest are so experienced to know that they can do what they want ... as airbnb now treats guest like king and host like s... 

I have't been to the forum since a while, and reading some replies (on various topics) make me realise how much the wind has changed 😞

But sooner or later airbnb must change their attitude since they are loosing out against Homeaway/VRBO big time. At least from my experience.

[Gisèle11]

Je prends une caution et demande à mes voyageurs de me fournir un doccument de responsabilité civile (RCS), ce doccument est gratuit. Les voyageurs le télécharge ou font la demande à leurs assureur et nous l'envoie.

[Chris519]

Hi,

sorry to jump in here, but I am relatively new to hosting and find it extraordinary that you cannot contact Airbnb!!!

You refered to 'emailing' Airbnb, where is their email please? Or their telephone number? I don't have a problem with them so far, (about 6 weeks), but would feel more secure if I knew how to contact them. Thanks for any response.

Chris

[Ali40]

Here are 3 possible ways to contact Airbnb:

1. Airbnb Community Experts
2. Twitter Direct Message @Airbnbhelp
3. Calling Airbnb

1. Contacting Airbnb's Community Experts

The easiest and quickest way to get answers to any issues is through contacting Airbnb's Community Experts at www.airbnb.ca/help/contact_us

From the bottom of the screen, choose either "My question is about something else" or "I have a different issue"

Follow the prompts to figure out what best describes your issues. Some things you choose will take you to specific information whereas others you can fill in the text box and submit your question.

If you submit a question, you can expect an answer back from a Community Expert quickly. If the Community Expert cannot help you, they can re-route your issue to Airbnb who will then contact you. Community Experts do not have access to your account information so if it is a question that can only be answered with account information, they will re-route you automatically. Community Experts are available 24/7.

1. Contacting Airbnb Via Twitter

The easiest way to contact Airbnb regarding any issues I have is by using Twitter. I usually hear back from them within 24 hours of sending a direct message .

Log into Twitter

Search for @Airbnbhelp and choose "Follow" them (you have to “foolow them to send a direct message)

Send a Direct Message (DM) explaining your issue and wait for their response. Include the email address associated with your Airbnb account and the reservation confirmation code if your issue involves a specific reservation, host or guest. Don’t “tweet” any of this info – use direct message so it’s not public.

1. Calling Airbnb's Customer Experience Line

***Please note that these phone numbers and any numbers below are meant for URGENT MATTERS so it is best to use the above two methods first***

Here are the phone numbers for Airbnb. If the area where you are hosting is not listed, check out the two ways below this list in order to find their number for your area.

United States and Canada +1-415-800-5959

+1-855-424-7262 (toll-free)

Argentina +54 11 53 52 78 88

Australia +61 2 8520 3333

Austria +43 72 08 83 800

Brazil +55 21 3958-5800

Chile +56229380777

China +86 10 5904 5310

400 890 0309 (shared-cost)

Denmark +45 89 88 20 00

France +33 1 84 88 40 00

Germany +49 30 30 80 83 80

Greece +30 211 1989888

Hong Kong +852 5808 8888

Ireland +353 1 697 1831

Israel +972 3 939 9977

Italy +39-06-99366533

Japan +81 3 4580 0999

[Marcus50]

what about UK England ?

[Marcus50]

there are not uk numbers on here ?

[Charie0]

How does one contact AirBNB in the Philippines?

[Barry68]

This is absurd. 

[Pamela183]

Try messaging on Facebook.