So this guy one night decided to leave a hot iron face down on the carpet, leaving a very defined burned mark on it. A cream carpet, to be exact.
The next morning I am already on it, going around carpet shops asking for quotes.
I get a like per like quote of £678 for replacing the carpet of the room (it is a large room, 20 square meters.)
I get back to my guest, aking him £500 as the carpet wasn't new (but still in good conditions and I wasn't looking to replace it anytime soon).
He refuses to pay and I escalate the matter to Airbnb which still hasn't got in touch with me.
Problem also is that this guest left a very long review, saying that everything was fine with the room but that I asked him too much money for the damage he caused, adducing reasons like "I didn't burn the whole carpet, I don't want to pay to replace all of it", which to me is just pure madness; what am I supposed to do? patch it up??? But I am digressing.
Now, when tried to call Airbnb earlier, I have been kept holding on the phone for 66 minutes (why do they offer a call back service that puts you on hold anyway?) and then the line dropped. Great.
I am feeling stressed out and frustrated.
My question to all of you, hosts out there, is: do you think it is fair that this service which is making billions on our houses, private spaces and hard work, just leaves us, hostage of nasty guests that come in, damage our properties, feel entitled to not having to make it good and (cherry on top) also have the power to leave reviews that add long-term damage to our businesses?
Every time I get a review notification, I start shaking. Because I know that even if everything seemed fine, that guest might just be having a bad day and leave you 3 stars because "the bathroom mirror wasn't big enough" or "The host didn't provide courtesy sleepers, you know, like in spas" (this was a real feedbacks I had from my one and only 3 stars review so far and my rooms go for 23/28 per night...so not really spa/hotel prices).
I think the bar is being set too high: guests have hotel expectations because they don't get what Airbnb is. The user base is now so wide and differentiated that seems impossible to educate every single one of them and having them understand the core Airbnb's concept.
I am talking about the "belonging anywhere", the Belo...This stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMITXMrrVQU
I worked for the studio that rebranded Airbnb, so I know very well what the manifesto of this company is, the principles it's built on. And are these amazing values that made me decide to become a host with no hesitation in the beginning.
But now I feel It just became a cheap hotel service that doesn't care about keeping its genuine hosts happy; It keeps us in fear, with no power over our own guest's tantrums and unable to demand respect for rules or payment for damages without suffering the consequences of the very much feared "bad reviews".
What made this company successful in the first place is being put aside and real hosts are slowly being replaced by faceless agencies, key boxes and cleaning companies that don't mind a bad review or a damaged carpet because it's not their home in the first place.
Distorted music in my ears, playing in a loop, for hours...please Airbnb, call me back, talk to me.