Airbnb Complaint

[Anton5771]

We would like to share our complaint with Airbnb community.

COMPLAINT SUMMARY:

Airbnb:

Lack of safety and security regulations.

Poor to nonexistent outsourced customer service support.

Incompetent support ambassador team and its deceptive practices.

Impossible to escalate to U.S. based customer support.

Customer service returning calls from international numbers, not toll-free Airbnb system.

Unresponsive management.

Airbnb favors to protect its hosts more than its guests.

Cancellation policies are rarely flexible.

A host can cancel the guest and still remain within the policy terms.

A host can request to remove guest review without a notice.

Paying outside the app for extensions.

Fake damages.

Airbnb’s has loosely written rules and even looser enforcement.

Foreign investments in real estate and Airbnb for profit.

Company mission statement not aligned with reality.

Airbnb devalues your house and affects the community.

Airbnb does not provide a safety check or informs on crime in rented areas.

Airbnb's private army of secretive safety team exist to prevent PR disasters.

Northeastern University study indicates rise in crime in Airbnbs in the city of Boston.

Possible First amendment free speech violation for guest reviews.

Conflicting statements/promises and potential negligence and fraud.

Airbnb Host:

The Bait and Switch.

Unauthorized excessive fees and penalties.

Getting the guest to agree to move between apartments.

Booking the Airbnb to multiple people at the same time.

Money Scams and asking to use 3rd party website like guesty.com.

Getting a guest review hidden or pulled down entirely.

Not prioritizing guest requests.

Setting up wrong expectations.

Assuming things about your guests.

Running out the clock.

Excessive fees and penalties outside the listings.

Rental costs aren’t always savings if not for hidden fees.

Dishonest, deceptive business tactics and retaliation.

To Whom It May Concern:

On 3/21/23 we have booked an Airbnb accommodation for 3 nights (3/30-4/2/23) at (undisclosed location), Atlanta, GA 30308, USA, apartment # 1908 (19th floor) with ** as a condo host via Airbnb website in the amount of $701.54. I was traveling with my daughter (16 years old) to Atlanta who was participating in the Big South Volleyball tournament. One of the reasons we decided to consider alternative booking options with Airbnb instead of traditional hotel was that Atlanta was very busy with many hotels over booked for this event, hosting thousands of players and their families.

Initially we were booked at the unit 1702 (17th floor) of the same building but later the host changed it to unit 1908 (19th floor) without an explanation. First welcome message received from the host was instructional and lengthy. For example, the instructions in the message informed us that apartments have AC/heating units controlled by HOA to be HEAT or COOL only seasonally and unfortunately, guests will not have access to a thermostat. The message stated additional fees for early/late check-in/out. The message provided instructions to make parking reservation for the unit in question at luluhomes.com and asked to visit another 3rd party (non Airbnb) website at guesty.com to fill out additional forms to help with check-in process, according to host’s instructions:

Please fill in this to help a smoothy check in https://app.guesty.com/checkin-guest-form/641a3cdf00c144002979429f

We declined to use external guesty.com website as it requested for private information and to upload identification documents including driver license. Due to security reasons, we were concerned about such request and brought this to the attention of Airbnb. The building’s pool was closed for the off season.

Since we expected to be driving all day on the day of the check-in, for convenience, we asked the host to forward check-in information ahead of the arrival date. Host has declined to provide check-in details ahead of time siting dependency on door security code changes by the cleaning staff. We understood the reason for the hold on releasing the door security code but couldn’t understand what was preventing the host from releasing all check-in instructions minus the door code. Host could have still provided the door code later without obstructing the check-in process. 

Following instructions, we made parking reservations for unit 1702 at luluhomes.com and received a confirmation we printed to present at the building’s security desk. We made parking reservation ahead of time but once the host changed our unit number, the parking reservations needed to be reversed. Being on the road, driving to our destination, these changes are inconvenient and disappointing; there was no way to print out a new confirmation.

Gradually, the pattern emerged for all incoming instructions, there was always a catch and a reminder attached with associated penalties and fees, by the host. Here is an example of parking instructions:

You can book one parking space on luluhomes.com. Your unit number is 1702 (17th floor). We will pay the invoice for you as long as you booked one spot only. Extra parking spaces are to be paid by the guest. Do not park extra cars without paying as it's subject to towing/booting at owner's expense…

On the date of arrival, we have finally received our check-in instructions which were an encyclopedia of fees and endless rules where some were not reflected in the original listing, regarding:

• Check-in
• Check-out
• HVAC system
• Parking
• Extensions
• House Rules
• Quiet hours
• Smoking
• Trash
• Laundry
• Requests and more

Although some instructions were reasonable and necessary for successful check-in, the vast majority were overwhelming for someone staying only 3 nights. Most importantly that they were filled with hidden fees and penalties. For example, here is a non-smoking warning and fee:

Please be mindful that smoking is STRICTLY PROHIBITED INSIDE THE PROPERTY. Violation of this house rule triggers an extra cleaning fee of not less than $ 200 that will be charged. If you have an active reservation, this will immediately end your booking without refund.

Here is an example of late departure penalty:

Just a quick reminder that you check-out tomorrow. Check-out time is 10am or earlier. Late departure without our authorization will trigger a charge of $250…

Here is a reminder for early check in and late check out:

Early check-in and late check-out might be available based on availability and for a fee.

Here is a note regarding stay extension:

Please let us know if you wish to extend your stay the night prior to departure so we can check and guarantee availability. Do not try to extend over the check-out time as a trip fee may be charged.

Here is HVAC System statement:

The apartments have AC/heating units controlled by HOA to be HEAT or COOL only seasonally. Unfortunately, our guests will not have access to a thermostat. We check the weather frequently and try to notify guests ahead if we think it can be problematic, which may happen in transition seasons like the start of Spring or Fall.

Despite paid cleaning fee, instructions requested to dispose of our own trash:

Please dispose of all trash upon departure.

Of course, our favorite reminder was to leave a 5-star rating for our visit:

We would appreciate if you could leave us a 5/5 review in the overall category (even 4s would hurt our business). If there was one category where the property didn't perform, please let us know by sending us a message so we can do better in the future.

There was a fee for ‘everything.’ This begs a question of who is making all the rules and decisions: the host or the Airbnb? Who’s rules and terms are we to follow? For your review, please see all copies of Airbnb communications with the host and Airbnb customer service attached in an addendum.

There were too many rules and fees; some were not part of the listing. Although our host had good communication skills and communicated well via Airbnb messages, there is very little positive to say about our stay and experience at the unit. In addition to all the fees, surcharges and penalties outlined in host’s instructions, there were over $100 in booking fees including cleaning fee and 16% local tax. Whatever the lowest price host may have advertised in their listing and you thought you have saved, they make up in cleaning fees and penalties. We found the timing of these fees and penalties interesting as they appeared after the reservation was made. Once the booking was finalized and paid in full, it was too late to address/dispute the above-mentioned surprise hidden fees and penalties that were communicated in host’s messages.

On Thursday 3/30/23, after 11 hours of driving from (undisclosed location), Florida, we finally reached our destination at 11pm and parked on the assigned to us parking spot from luluhomes.com. As soon as we entered the building,  security informed us that our assigned spot ‘Front #14’ belonged to someone else and instructed us to repark the car at a designated location #89. Tired from driving all day, we complied. Once we unloaded the car, we drove to the nearby store to buy beverage and food. When we returned parking spot #89, newly assigned to us, was taken. We informed security and was given another new spot to park at #94. We did not appreciate this type of parking situation after 11 hours being on the road.

The moment we entered our unit, despite all the warning and rules, it was clear we entered a smoking apartment because of the way it smelled. It was unmistaken that this was a smoking unit and it smelled like someone been smoking here as recent as prior to our visit. I am a non-smoker. Immediately, at 11:18pm we have informed our host of the encountered parking issues and the apartment being a smoking unit via Airbnb messages. The host has apologized and reassigned us again to a new parking spot #132 but failed to address the smoking unit situation. It raised a question of safety and health which we have relayed to Airbnb and reflected in our review, which was later removed by Airbnb ambassador at the request of the host. More details on this topic later.

All 3 nights we lived in the unit that was a smoking unit and had a strong odor throughout all rooms, despite the rules strictly prohibiting smoking and the smoking penalty of $200. We were concerned about second hand smoking and we felt awful breathing/sleeping in such smoking environment for what should have been a smoke free unit, according to the host’s rules.

After 11 hours of driving and an unpleasant check-in experience on Thursday night, on Friday morning at 8am we woke up to what appeared to have been a construction in one of the units nearby. The noise was so loud that it was impossible to sleep or rest. The noise reminded us of a saw used in cutting construction materials. Same day at 9:45pm we sent a message to the host informing them of construction noise that did not stop until late afternoon.

Despite the cleaning fee and a reminder to take out our own garbage, we found long black hair in bed and in the restroom. Same day, Friday, at 12:39pm we have informed the host about the hair and cleanliness issue inside the apartment. Unfortunately, the cleaning lady who was cleaning the building units did not speak English but matched the description regarding the hair.

The entire building had a feel of a college dorm and a smell of weed permeating throughout the floors. Old elevators with an expired certificate and construction throughout the building. After what we witnessed in this condo the building inspection needs to verify compliance with the minimum safety standards set forth in the local codes. This inspection is necessary to ensure that zoning bylaws, residents' health and safety, and building standards are properly followed.

After a while, it became clear that a 3rd party company FHS Partners, LLC (Lulu Real Estate One LLC), property managing these condo units as motels under luluhomes.com by utilizing an Airbnb platform. According to our investigation, it appeared that Lulu Real Estate One LLC and its owner Yali Lu owned several units inside this condominium. Unfortunately, today we live in such political climate where foreign investments including China are buying out American land, farms and real estate and utilize platforms like Airbnb for profit. We can only hope we are mistaken.

According to the Airbnb listing for this unit by the host “ATL DOWNTOWN | 2BR KING BED|POOL PARKING | MULTI-DESIGN:”

Located in the historic Condominium building, this newly upgraded apartment is perfect for exploring all the major ATL attractions. You’ll be within walking distance to great restaurants, public parks, and fast transport options including the nearby MARTA Station.

The only walking distance attraction we could remember was homeless tents located two blocks away under the highway passage at 269 Edgewood Ave SE. These type of places were not unique to Atlanta and present a potential safety issues if not properly disclosed ahead of time. While driving at night through this tent city the driver in front of us almost hit a lady standing on the curb side with a ‘help me’ sigh. Another attraction was the RaceTrac gas station, located at 120 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30303. Apparently, a famous local hang out with an excessive police presence including inside the store. On Saturday night, there was a major incident between two racing cars involving injuries where one of the cars flipped over and backed up the traffic for several blocks. This is an example of illusion of public safety around the building.

To alert future guests to the above-mentioned issues at this location and the property management company utilizing 3rd party website, hidden fees, cleanliness, parking, smoking, dorm like accommodations and potential public safety issues; we have posted review about our stay. To our surprise, without a notice or dispute, our review was taken down by Airbnb ambassador. We would have never known if we did not check. According to Airbnb Support ambassador Joshua, located in Philippines, he responded to our inquiry as follows:

Upholding the policies and standards that protect our community is very important to us. We’ve given your case and its details careful consideration, and we determined that your review was taken down.

We understand that this might not be what you’d hoped for, but we came to this outcome because High level of intimidation occurred while interacting with your host and with the content of your review.

Our review is complete now, and we won’t be able to offer additional support on this case at this time.

Then he added more to his response:

We understand that this might not be what you’d hoped for, but we came to this outcome because attempting to influence a review through intimidation, extortion, or incentivization, or using a review to try to influence an outcome or harm competition, are not allowed under our policy.

We have reviewed Airbnb policy and none of the above for the exception of “influence an outcome or harm competition” (we were not a competing business) was listed in the policy although a common sense suggests that items like extortion were already ‘criminal’ acts by its nature. According to Airbnb website:

Reviews are critical to help build trust on Airbnb—they’re an important way for Hosts and guests to give each other feedback, and help our community make informed decisions and understand what to expect when making plans. We believe that a fair review system is one that respects and protects our community’s genuine feedback, and we have a number of safeguards in place to help build trust in our reviews system.

Returning to the above made statement by the host asking to leave 5/5 review rating:

We would appreciate if you could leave us a 5/5 review in the overall category (even 4s would hurt our business). If there was one category where the property didn't perform, please let us know by sending us a message so we can do better in the future.

Based on our experience and communications with the host, we have timely informed the host of at least 5 issues in writing during our stay and the 5 star host review was not going to happen. However, we felt strongly to respond to the host’s remarks: “If there was one category where the property didn't perform, please let us know by sending us a message so we can do better in the future.” We sent the following response to the host:

If you wish to connect and speak to me to address any issues you wish to improve PRIOR to my review, I will be happy to speak to you at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Thank you.

We have not heard from the host and they never followed up. After removing our review from the host’s listing, the host has posted the following review on my profile:

** is one of those guests who will stay the entire reservation without mentioning a word. On check-out date, he will bring an endless lists of complaints to try to get a full refund. As we didn’t agree, he threaten us with a bad review. See his message: “If you wish to connect and speak to me to address any issues you wish to improve PRIOR to my review, I will be happy to speak to you…” but again, he stayed without mentioning a thing. Unfortunately, this is common practice by some smart guest who are incredibly damaging the Airbnb community.

The only ‘intimidation’ we could see from the communication was when host asked for us to leave a “5/5 review in the overall category (even 4s would hurt our business).,” they said. According to the host, we stayed without mentioning a thing and without mentioning a word. Then the host baselessly concluded that guests like us damaged Airbnb community; nevertheless, we sited at least 5 examples of direct and immediate communication with the host about the issues in question via Airbnb messages. Airbnb review policy asked for honesty and this host is not being honest about receiving no mentions of any issues during our stay. By doing so it’s the host who was actually damaging the Airbnb community.

We have made many calls to Airbnb at (844) 234-2500 to address the issues described. We have opened the following tickets with Airbnb customer service: **. We have spent excessive amount of time communicating with Airbnb over the phone and via Airbnb messages ranging from customer service agents to resolution team and to ambassadors. In response, customer care service spammed ‘template responses’ in message after message promising to assist with all our issues but delivered none. Like a seasoned Politian, customer care continued to deflect, spin, twist and provide slippery responses to our questions. We have discovered that Airbnb customer service was outsourced to India and Philippines. This was a horrifying discovery as the received support was of the poorest quality and we had experience to compare. This was the most “do nothing” but don’t worry “we will help you” support that was absolutely useless and delivered no results, only disappointments. Time was simply waisted on hold, waiting in queue and unqualified staff to service its customers.

For example, when customer service answered the call, they took your name and email then put you on hold claiming they needed time to verify the account. Then they took your question and put you on hold again. Hold after hold the call gets out of control and it became clear the agents were unable to resolve the issues. All they could offer was to transfer our call to another department. When we asked for a supervisor, they were never available. After being pressed, they clarified that it was against Airbnb policy to escalate call to a supervisor. When we asked for an escalation to the U.S. based customer support or an executive office, they didn’t exist, according to Airbnb agents. Agents were often confused and simply did not know the answers to the questions.

On 4/27/23 when we called to look for a missing review, we spoke with **. She was unable to answer any of the questions. She constantly had our call on hold and finally admitted that she did not know the answer. She was unable to escalate the call to the supervisor.

On 4/27/23 we spoke to ** to ask her for Airbnb corporate office contact information. She was unable to provide the details stating that they were not allowed to do so due to policy. Is Airbnb preventing its US based customers to receive support from its US based offices?

Also, on 4/27/23 we spoke to ** to ask how to find our review. ** had no idea how to assist and put us on multiple holds. She declined to escalate a call to her supervisor.

On 4/28/23 we spoke to **, a support ambassador from **. First ** stated that our phone number was not linked to our Airbnb account. That turned out to be incorrect. He apologized. He confirmed that our review was taken down but did not know why even after we gave him time to investigate while waiting on hold. He admitted and apologized that we should have been notified and informed of our review being taken down. We asked ** to investigate and provide a repose to our 3 questions. He promised to follow up through messages on Airbnb website. Just like in all other support cases, **’s investigation and support took excessive time but failed to produce any positive results.

On 4/8/23, after multiple back and forth messages, we have received a call back from ** with resolution team located in Philippines. ** was not calling using toll free Airbnb phone system but using a local number. This has resulted in triggering an international call rate for us and excessive phone charges on our phone bill. Fem made a lot of promises on the call but none of the promises were fulfilled. This was when we knew to lower our expectation dramatically and look for other ways of resolving our issues.

On 4/7/23 we spoke to ** . When asked for U.S. phone number for US based headquarters or executive office, she provided 415-800-5959 which was simply a local number to avoid dialing toll free (844) 234-2500.

Airbnb is not a military agency nor a bank yet it is asking for dual login authentication into their website. It is asking for dual authentication when calling toll free number via text confirmation and asking customers to upload their driver license. Even banks do not have such extreme authentications measures. There must be a reason for such heightened security. Why is Airbnb asking for dual authentication and driver license?

Airbnb has nearly 8,000 complaints in the past 3 years registered against them with Better Business Bureau. Airbnb has excessive number of known scandals, scams and has a troubling history according to reporting by Olivia Carville at Bloomberg Businessweek. In her article retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-06-15/airbnb-spends-millions-making-nightmares-at-live-... she reports that Airbnb managed to grow so big and so fast by essentially circumventing the law and avoiding regulations. Also, a study published by Northeastern University in July of 2021 established rise in crime rates in the city of Boston due to increase in Airbnb presence: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253315

Airbnb has dealt with a number of high-profile incidents over the years, including its first major scandal in 2011 after guests trashed a host's home and a fatal shooting in Orinda, California, in 2019 that forced the company to crack down on party houses and ramp up efforts to keep guests and hosts safe. Of course, most infamous story dates back to 2015 where a 29-year-old Australian woman who arrived in Manhattan to celebrate New Year’s Eve was sexually assaulted in her own Airbnb apartment near the Times Square. The incident occurred due to the policy absence governing key access to the apartment as a set of keys was left at the counter of a nearby bodega for Airbnb renters to pick up. At the time, the apartment had been advertised on Airbnb even though most short-term rentals were illegal in New York in 2015. Relative to this story, we predict that neighborhoods with most crime, tent cities near the rental area and uninformed guests are the Airbnb’s next major challenge. The burden should not be solely on a renter to do a safety check to research local travel alerts and warnings. Airbnb should do better to inform its guests on local crime by pulling recent data from government agencies.

Some localities have outlawed or put restrictions on Airbnb hosting for several reasons. One is that it takes away tax revenues normally paid to lodgers, or takes away business from traditional hotels or bed-and-breakfast inns. In neighborhoods that are close to tourist destinations, residents who do not own their homes often face inflated rental prices that force them to move because landlords are choosing to convert their long-term rentals into Airbnbs. This can also make it more difficult for people to buy a home in these areas.

Airbnb devalues your house and affects the community. If short-term rentals provided via Airbnb create a concentration of what are effectively unsafe hotels, upsetting quiet residential neighborhoods with more traffic and persons who don't care about the neighborhood, they may generate a local concentration of externalities that might be expected to depress property.

According to an article in VICE by Anna Merlan about former VICE senior staff writer Allie Conti shared her story of a disastrous vacation to Chicago, where she tumbled into a nationwide scam run by a prolific grifter, which exploited Airbnb’s loosely written rules and even looser enforcement. Conti’s investigation revealed a platform with serious problems policing itself, and sought to uncover the people who’d figured out ways to profit from that disarray. Article retrieved from https://www.vice.com/en/article/epgvm7/airbnb-scam-how-to-tell:

Scammers all over the world, it seems, have figured how best to game the Airbnb platform: by engaging in bait and switches; charging guests for fake damages; persuading people to pay outside the Airbnb app; and, when all else fails, engaging in clumsy or threatening demands for five-star reviews to hide the evidence of what they’ve done.

In the aggregate, these emails paint a portrait of a platform whose creators are fundamentally unable to track what goes on within it, and point to easily exploitable loopholes that scammers have steamed their way through by the truckload. After Conti’s story, Airbnb promised to “verify” all 7 million listings on the site…

Airbnb will hide or pull down reviews in certain situations—and, again, there are several guides available online for how hosts can get reviews pulled down, sometimes for good reason (if the guest never actually stayed there, for instance, or is clearly lying). But several people told us they felt that system had been weaponized against them, used to keep their accurate complaints hidden.

Reading the ratings and reviews is no longer realistic and feasible on Airbnb as hosts work hard to suppress negative reviews through Airbnb ambassadors or simply retaliate as it was in our case. And, Airbnb lets them. So, Airbnb reviews are no longer to be trusted. This could potentially be a major First Amendment (freedom of speech) violation by Airbnb leaving review decisions to its outsourced customer care team. In addition, Airbnb provides very small and limited number of characters, only allowing a few sentences, to be used in a written review. Airbnb limits overall review response time set to expire relatively quick, in 14 days.

Listings like this are not unique on Airbnb. There has been number of recent scandals exposing scammers, criminal activity and 3rd party operations on Airbnb platform. We are asking Airbnb to respond to our questions below.

QUESTIONS:

Why is Airbnb asking for dual authentication and driver license to be uploaded into its system?

Does Airbnb policy allow the host to refer its customers to a 3rd party platform like guesty.com?

Is Airbnb preventing its U.S. based customers to communicate with the U.S. based offices including HQ?

What is the escalation process available to U.S. based customers wanting to speak to executive office?

How was the decision made to remove our review?

Why Airbnb review field has limited number of characters and set to expire quickly?

Why the outsourced customer service is dialing out from its local number triggering international call rate?

Airbnb business models is based on strangers trusting one another. We must say that our trust in Airbnb has been shaken after this stay experience and the extreme response by Airbnb mishandling our case and related tickets. Airbnb should be ashamed with a poor customer service they provide. We will be referring this matter to the agencies that we believe are best suited to address this matter.

After exhausting all our resources, unable to speak to management, we believe Airbnb should stand firm behind its platform and deliver a proper solution which they have failed to do. We strongly believe that some of the actions taken by Airbnb and the host may be considered as negligence and possibly even fraud. We ask that Airbnb reinstate our review and remove a dishonest review placed by the host on our profile.

We ask for Airbnb corporate office based in US to respond to our complaint in writing and to our questions outlined in section “QUESTIONS.” We ask that full investigation takes place for the issues reported and outlined in our complaint. We ask that the host be suspended while investigation takes place by Airbnb and proper disciplinary action taken if our claim is substantiated.

Furthermore, we ask for the overseeing government agency to kindly look over the Airbnb terms, policies and our correspondence evidence with Airbnb to determine if company is holding true to its promises, using fair practices, follow the local laws and acted ethically. We ask that the city investigates and performs a building inspection and will be alerting the Zoning Department to any violations.

We are asking for this matter to be thoroughly investigated. Shall our claim proved to be accurate, we are seeking full stay refund, plus monetary recovery options including settlement, compensation and disciplinary action.

**[Name hidden due to privacy concerns - Community Center Guidelines]

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hi @Anton5771 

I will start off by saying that I only had a chance to skim over your post as there is a lot here.  I would say that this really is not the platform to raise these issues but I would suggest a couple of things to help get the help you are requesting.

First, I would recommend you make a claim if you wish to receive a full or partial refund.  It does sound like many of the things that you posted here are likely house rules that would have been shown on the listing and when you confirm the reservation, you need to accept the house rules as part of the confirmation of your stay.  Hopefully you read these before confirming and paying.  This is what you would have agreed to:

If you wish to make a claim, you can do so here: https://airbnb.com/resolutions.

You can also provide feedback to Airbnb here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

I hope you get the resolution you are seeking.

Cheers

David

[Helen744]

@Anton5771 all I am picking up here Anton is that your accomodation was bad. Fair enough , but you picked it . Maybe look a little closer and read the listing and check out the general area next time, read the reviews and communicate with the host beforehand, that always helps . Guests are asked for ID often by the home owner as well . Many Airbnb owners operate just one listing not a range of units or condos or whatever this was. you indicate that your review was removed but the hosts stayed , not possible Anton because reviews do not work like that . Hosts cannot charge all of those extra fees so report that , report the cigarette smoking , report the carpark mix up, report hairs in the bed but dont imagine you know where they came from . That is not really possible without dna tests and Anton , in future really look at what you are booking BEFORE you book.... H