I have found myself calling and texting client support way too much recently. No wonder they are overloaded, if everyone is doing like me.
Why, I asked myself yesterday, do I need to involve CS in everything? I concluded the reason is: current Airbnb policies remove all empowerment of hosts.
As a 52 year old multiple property owner, I've been managing short term rentals for 27 years and certainly know how to deal with 95% of the issues that can arise.
Yet airbnb :
- does not let me help a guest cancel for valid reasons, refunding 100% (vrbo lets us do this)
- does not let me enforce my cancellation policy, when I know a guest is being dishonest
- does not let me zap a small percentage of outlier bad reviews - I am sure a huge number of CS calls are due to the unfair review system
- does not let me change dates at the guest's request for a mutually agreed price (airbnb forces the price for date changes)
- discourages me from meeting guests in person, getting ID, refusing bookings of guests who show signs of trouble from the start - all of these things would reduce problems and reduce calls to CS - pushing self check-in, no ID collection, strict statistics on accepting bookings even if they clearly violate house rules..
- hides important information from hosts such as, how many hosts gave thumbs down, how many times did the guest get a refund, how many times did the GUEST cancel last minute
If hosts were empowered and able to take control over these things, a huge number of calls to client support would be avoided.
Any host knows that earning superhost and staying on the platform for multiple years takes hard work and dedication. You can't fake your performance, it's all there written in stone. It would be very easy for Airbnb to determine, which hosts have the experience necessary to take control of these things. Maybe after one or two years? Maybe after 50 reviews? Any criteria would be fine.
People get frustrated, when they feel (1) something is unfair and (2) they have no control to change it.
To improve host morale, changes could be made to either or both! Empowering hosts will improve morale and free up client support. And probably make for fair treatment all around.
I hope this post gets some attention, empowering your excellent hosts will be a win-win for everyone. Give us back some control, and you will see we will be fair to guests.
Thank you for reading this!