How Do You Rate AirBnB for Customer Service?

[John1574]

Perhaps AirBnB should set up a ratings system for themselves so their clients can see, for the sake of transparency,  how effective their policies and their how effective they are in customer service as rated by their clients.

1. Communication
2. a) did they listen well?  did they understand your complaint?
3. b) did they respond in a timely fashion?
4. c) did they communicate their decision accurately in the context of their policies?

1. Resolution
2. a) did they resolve your problem satisfactorily?
3. b) if they did not did resolve your problem satisfactorily did they explain it adequately?

1. Policies
2. a) do AirBnB policies adequately support their customers?
3. b) is AirBnB doing their best to protect both guests and hosts?

I’m sure better minds than mine can come up with supporting ideas and suggestions.

What I’m not looking for here are long dissertations about specific incidents:  but rather to hear from people who have dealt with AirBnB customer service and can relate their experience to the rest of us.

The Good, the Bad, and the  . . . (Ugly)

[Cormac0]

@John

Did you ever wonder why posts like yours get so little traction when you consider the number of Hosts that complaint on a daily bases about the very point you've made?

from Airbnb's perspective, the more fragment the posts are the better, I wonder why post like yours don't galvanise hosts into action can they not see it?

[Vladimira2]

Guests can be registered without a photo and no personal description at all, inqueries without reviews, the only info is the first name and location.

Before I confirm a reservation,  I ask the guests to tell me something about them, they feel often offended. I have received answer, what do yo want to know? Why should I show my photo?

This is not correct, they know everything about me and my property and I should accomodate a total stranger?

[John1574]

@Vladimira0

I totally agree.  O kist receioved aninstant booking form a new member with no photo and two verifications:  an email address and a phone number.

Is that how AirBnB vetts people.  that looks like inviting disaster on to hosts.

[Vladimira2]

Concerning Communication and Resolution, I have been couple of times in contact with both, you have to write your complain and call them, it takes sometimes too long time and too many phone calls.

I have also good expierences, fake reservation, booked for family of 5, including two children, instead of family, 5 guys, turned out when the guest wrote by mistake that his friends will be coming from different destinations during the day. I have clearly stated in the House rules that I don't accommodate groups of friends. Resolution centre cancelled the booking within 15 minutes and took care about the communication with the guest.

I had guests which booked for 4 people, but they were in the end 6 people in the flat, it took time to solve it and it was very unpleasant, I got some help from Resolution centre, but I had to deal with it mostly my self.

I have very extensive House rules, I have been updating them after all kind of experiences I had with the guests, the guest is confirming that he has read and accepted the House rules and I still have the problem when something happens, they will tell me "we did not know". 

Airbnb should emphasize more clearly/strictly  to the guests that they must accept and follow the House rules, in the case that the guest is breaking the House rules, they should be more supporting and active when the host need help.

[Tom201]

Abnb doesn't really care about the host., They just want get their commission.

[Tetiana0]

John what an excellent idea, and truly, what a basic expectation that I think most of us have come to have; the right to leave feedback, and the right to file a complaint when customer service was horrible.  I am reposting here a summary of the issues we recently faced.  

One issue - unfair review. 

Terrible review we received from one client.  All prior and following reviews were either 5 star or 4 star, this one review was 1 star.  Airbnb refused refund to client (I guess they didn't believe him much), but would not delete the review.  What a wonderful idea it would be to be able to delete one/two reviews per year or per every 100 reviews.  

Another issue - client cancels at the end of the reservation period and gets a full refund payable from OUR payout.  So this client boyfriend had a medical issue, the client communicated this to us prior to check in date, however did not request to cancel or to refund the reservation.  On day 3 our of 5 they cancelled and airbnb gave them a refund citing medical reasons.  Question; if this client knew they have the issue, and they had the option to cancel on day one or prior, why does airbnb refund them the full amount from our (the hosts) money for a reservation that the client kept for three days (the client that booked had access to internet and was not sick during those three days).  That took 5 days out of our calendar and revenue out of our pocket.  

Primary issue - for the above issues, and any other, we have been unable to speak with a single manager on the phone.  We also were unable to file a complaint or to even receive information how a complaint can be filed with airbnb.  We spend more than 5 hours on the phone, waiting, talking to first line customer service, answering their security questions, getting hung up on, waiting on hold, and after all that not one airbnb manager bothered to speak with us on the phone.  After multiple requests to get the specific policies, airbnb employees communicating through the platform messaging system did not provide anything more than 'help centre' (aren't they supposed to by law to provide those?).  After multiple requests for the procedure as to how to file a complaint, no response to that effect, just another reference to 'help centre', which, of course, does help much.  

Overall terrible experience for us as hosts. 

We are very glad to see that community is coming together and bringing this treatment of hosts to light in the threads, perhaps we need a union 🙂

[John1574]

@Tetiana0

What a sad case.  Thanks for writing.

We can only hope that documenting the horrendous treatment some of us go through with AirBnB Customer Service will be a help in the long run.

It is very discouraging as a new host to read these horror stories of how poor and ineffective their customer service really operates.

I am already looking at options other than AirBnB:  it would be difficult to believe that AirBnB can't find a happy medium, a balance, between rewarding good hosts with good customer service and keeping guests booking.

A union or an organization of hosts is not a bad idea.

[Ann10]

You are the 1st person besides me who has mentioned the word union. We do need that. I've had many horrifying ABB stories. I had to take legal action to get my money. I'm going to have to do it again. This company is morally bankrupt.

[Bernadette82]

I am still waiting to hear from customer service with several questions regarding instant book. It has been 2 full days and no responce from them at all. I requested a written instead of a phone call but now I think I need to call since they haven't responded. I think there is a loophole that they are aware of but have not yet fixed but I'll never know since no one has contacted me. Can I rate them a zero in this custtomer service issue?

[Lydia94]

Hi Bernadette, we need to give below zero. For 5 years I was a happy host, the system was working for me perfect, small problems with guests, but it is part of business. But with all the new changes by AIRBNB, all in favour for the guests, I am catching hell for the last few month. I can see the writing on the wall

Airbnb collected millions of dolllars from investers, this investers now like to see a high return on there money, and Airbnb need losts of hosts and lots of guests

1. the supply is higher than the demand and Airbnb on a daily basis ask hosts to reduce the price for our services, Airbnb need to stop telling a host how much to charge for the service we supply

2. new guests are not properly screen and informed about the rules

3. the strict cancellation policy is taken away, so guests have nothing to loose only the host and with everything in favour of the guests, in order to bring in money for Airbnb to pay the investers

4. the guests have no more respect, destroy your home and airbnb avoid to solve the problem and pay for the damages

5. the instand book, is not for the host, it is for the revenue for Airbnb, and to make matters worst, if a host don,t accept every guest, for Airbnb to make money, the host is punished with the rating - I believe it is called BLACKMAIL. I had to take the instand book of all my 8 listings. Guests book a room, but in the communication ask for something I will not supply - no dogs and no babys. How can I accept this guest, I am inviting problems in to my home. Now my rating is going down every day, when I am not willing to accept.

6. CC has changed, all young people with no clue, but talk to me as a host, like I am a 2 year old, I am the person not knowing what I am talking about.

I saw a threat from another host asking to buy stocks, because Airbnb is going public. How can a company with no assets go public. Our homes are the assets, are we missing something. 

Without our homes and our service, there is NO AIRBNB.

Before Airbnb I got my guests from Craigs list, I send the invoice for rent and deposit from my PAYPAL Account and I had more protection than I have with Airbnb now. Paypal will never return money paid for rent. Deposit, yes if there are no damages.

Somebody need to tell Airbnb - WHAT GOES UP ALSO COMES DOWN

As hosts, we have to protect our homes and ourself, Airbnb has taken the fun out of hosting.

I am very sorry, but at this point I am a very unhappy host

[Ute42]

.

Hi @Lydia0 ,

Airbnb has taken the fun out of hosting because we are no

longer considered to be homeowners but employees.

To our misfortune, unlike other employees, we still have to

carry all the risks.

A very regrettable development indeed.

[Ange2]

John:   you could do a survey via a free service like survey monkey , think it would get more people replying as they just need to check a box. I have seen a few on here.

My experience is 50/50. Some support staff are great and some are so obtuse, uncomprehending and ill-informed that it drives me nuts.  I have noticed that it comes down to the problem that needs addressing.  The 'great' is usually when Airbnb do not lose out and less labor can be spent in resolving the issue.  The obtuse and mind-boggling is when it becomes labor intensive and involves investigation like a claim against host guarantee – time is money, or it requires some judgement call on the staff's part  (not sure how much leeway they have  and whether there is a drill down list they must go through from  No, to maybe, to okay, to a reversal, but you have to keep calling back to get to the reversal).   I always have the applicable policy at hand, many support staff do not know what the latest variation on the theme is. Although many of us are also blindsided – we find out about changes from posts in the forum,  and some policies use particularly nebulous language so interpretation is myriad.

But I rarely call them, preferring to limit my risk by covering every angle and issue I can think of and have learned about in the forum before the problem arises. And I never claim for damaged  items that are less than a $100.   Although it is easier for me because I share my apartment so there is always oversight and I can usually n.i.p. problems in the bud and/or address them in person.  (n.i.p. with dots because it was bleeped out last time I used it, I have no idea why). 

To play the devil's advocate, Airbnb like many other companies has a support budget and probably train their staff to stone wall and be obtuse when addressing a problem that is not in Airbnb's best interests to address, and support time is probably constrained by goals that have to be met, the clock is ticking! 

All that is to say that supporting the host is most likely a second to supporting the company and meeting their goals.  

A word of support for many of the support staff I have spoken to.  As I see it they are squished between the same rock and hard place where Airbnb puts hosts – a do as ruled or disappear  – so I do have empathy for them.

[John1574]

@Ange0

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.  I might try that survey thingy on another post as this is down the road a ways.

I wish to quote you here as I think you made a very important point about covering your own derriere:

But I rarely call them, preferring to limit my risk by covering every angle and issue I can think of and have learned about in the forum before the problem arises. And I never claim for damaged  items that are less than a $100.   Although it is easier for me because I share my apartment so there is always oversight and I can usually n.i.p. problems in the bud and/or address them in person.  (n.i.p. with dots because it was bleeped out last time I used it, I have no idea why). 

I personally intend to do everything in my power to avoid problematic guests.  I'd rather lose bookings, lose a super-host designation rather than lose control of my business and let AirBnB run roughshod over me.

You may be too compassionate toward customer service reps, for my taste:  many are on a carreer path that may take them to middle or upper management:  and many share one over-riding central trait -- passive aggressiveness.  It is a tough job, but it can be done well.

The overarching problem remains . . . POLICY.

[Deborah175]

In general, CS has been a useful resource. But as others have said, that’s generally limited to cases where all I need is information. When it’s actually support I need—honoring my strict cancellation policy, for example—I feel I’m being strong-armed by CS agents working off of scripts intended to distort policy and convince me to offer refunds to guests who cancel the day they’re scheduled to arrive, regardless of the reason. I’ve also had no end of problems with same-day reservations when either payment cannot be processed (host gets calendar blocked for 24-hours—effectively paying for a guest’s financial issues) or when the guest cancels a few hours after making a same-day booking (Airbnb calls to urge me to offer a 100% refund—AND guest is invited—despite cancellation—to leave a review—obviously a blackmail scenario, as the guest never stepped foot on the property).

My guess is that there may be a lot of really marginal properties/hosts (ab)using the platform (granted, there are clearly some bad apple guests, as well), and Airbnb has had to really become more guest-centric. Hosts may be the product, but guests pay the bills. I’m betting there are plenty of properties and hosts Airbnb wouldn’t mind dropping, in favor of those among us most amenable. Sometimes that’s going to feel like a serious lack of host support. 

[Wren3]

Airbnb customer service reps should absolutely be rated by us. I find most customer service now asks for ratings.  Since ratings are all important to Airbnb for us,  why are we not expected to rate our experience with them.  Do they not believe in the rating system?