Does Airbnb send undercover quality control?

[Maria11831]

I think that Airbnb send these quality control people  at least once a year -they are really similar  and you could tell that there is something off and that  they will downgrade and undermine your rating but it is too late once he is in  your property. The platform actually exploits your efforts and hard work by undermining your rating thorough such undercover guests because then you have to compensate these negative scores with much more bookings and positive reviews - you drop prices, you add extras but nothing is enough. There is no conspiracy here- pure capitalism. I am furious because this happened to me last year but now my last guest made even more damage to my rating without any explanation or complain. I was always available and was waiting for him an hour before the official check -in -then he gives me 3* check-in rating; he used a 30% off promotion in a 160sq. m downtown apartment and put 4* on value and location. He gives me 4* communication, when I was always available.This has never happened to me before (except of a similar but not so brutal case last year) and I am sure that this guy was a profecional saboteur. I recognized the trouble once I layed eyes on him. I wrote to the airbnb support but surprise, surprise - nothing happened. I am truly disgusted. 

[Anonymous]

@Maria11831 So you think Airbnb is flying covert agents on an expense trip out for no purpose but to undermine the ratings of a humble listing in Bulgaria?  You actually think they care this much about a host with just one listing in a city that's not even in the top 100 markets? Please share whatever you're smoking.

[Maria11831]

Hi, Andrew, I know that is sounds hilarious and a conspiracy and yesterday when I started digging in this community (I write here for the first time), only few people asked similar questions and had similar doubts., due to unlogical bad reviws. That is why I am still interested in the topic. I have had picky guests, that` s normal, but this time it was totally different, my gut told me when I saw this guy that he will be a big trouble and my instincts turned out to be right-  without any logic, arguments or complains just undermined my rating. You will ask why? - Well, to make your property even more cheaper than it is. But actually this practice is not unusual in big U.S.corporations, companies, Non-profit organizations etc.  - They send a fake customer to evaluate you. Even in the small provinces and silly markets like ours in Sofia, Bulgaria. For them, it doesn`t cost a thing, they are given vouchers, whatever and one such a guy can be quality control for all the Eastern Europe, whatever.. I wish i had smoked something, but no :)) 

[Anonymous]

Airbnb doesn't care about individual hosts' pricing, they just want to have the most competitive aggregate pricing in each market. Some portion of hosts will elect to use the Smart Pricing algorithm and let the bot undervalue their listings to that effect, but it's entirely your choice whether you want to race them to the bottom.

Seriously, you can relax. You're severely overestimating how much this company uses actual human labor for quality control. This is a Silicon Valley tech company - their hubris is the belief that virtually any function can be automated and trained to self perpetuate. 

[Maria11831]

@Anonymous  Yes, yes, I agree to your remarks. The problem is that we have to rely on some bots for support and that is not so comforting haha.. Due to Covid crazyness, here the market was dead for months and I had to compensate with reservations and made big promotions which now I consider a  mistake. Lesson learned, now I raised the prices to almost what they were before the crisis. My oservation is  that when I drop prices- then the guests become more critical and give you less stars,  what @Ann72  mentioned.

[Elisabeth40]

I actually found couple listing myself last year as I traveled and needed a place to stay in Panama, which had reviews from "Airbnb quality controllers". I don't know how much it's real or fake, but I saw this type of reviews from guests on other hosts's places, titled as "I am an official quality controller from Airbnb and I stayed at this place." It never happened to me and I personally think this are maybe just a friends of the hosts who wrote this type of reviews. I was encountering those "Quality controller" reviews as I was looking at places in Panama.

[Anonymous]

All the responses in this thread apply just as well to your question: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Does-Airbnb-8-ball/m-p/1296423#M13520

[Maria11831]

Yes, I found this topic yesterday, thanks! It compeletely corresponds to my opinions too but so what? When I wrote to the support service to investigate my issues, nothing happened... This community center acts more as sublimation of our frustrations or complaints, because the support team does not care.. It is funny how kafkaesque is the whole thing.. to find here some comfort because the big boss does not care. It is totally meaningless. 

[Ann72]

@Maria11831  It's not Airbnb, it's the guest who got a 30% discount.  The guests who receive discounts almost always mark the stars down.  I asked a psychologist I know who is also an Airbnb host about this and here's what he said:

"Many of the most entrenched complainers are entitled people who, among other things, believe they are entitled to discounts and to paying less. They are over-valuing their own needs and under-valuing the needs of the host. It’s a kind of selfishness, or it could issue out of the profound self-centeredness that is related to Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or it could just correlate to the narcissism of a person with inadequate feeling development or ability to put themselves in anyone else’s shoes.

"If people are wiling to pay full price or a higher than average price to stay at an Airbnb, this in itself indicates that they understand they are willing to pay to get good value. It shows that they have an understanding of the host’s need to be compensated for all the things they are providing. The worst complainers are likely to be people who don't think they should have to pay to get value — so they will be seeking discounts and less expensive stays."

So it's neither illogical nor a conspiracy, in my opinion.

[Helen350]

Yep! - The only guest I hosted who used a coupon - or the only one who boasted of it triumphantly, as soon as over the threshold, gave 3* overall, and tanked other ratings too. "We usually stay in the Premier Inn, but we've got the dog with us!", " I find Airbnb listings are cheaper on Booking.com!" Her ONLY subject of conversation was getting a bargain.  It was early days for me, so I gave her (& thuggish looking, sullen partner a 5* review, for leaving things clean & undamaged....) These days, I'd dock stars; not 5* guests! - The thug would not even respond to direct small talk.... gave me an icy stare! 

With you @Ann72  on the NPD....

[Ann72]

What a miserable pair, @Helen350!  

[Christine615]

@Ann72  That explanation nails it! Thank you!

It's why I don't discount. The people who book have said "Wow, this place is larger than I expected!" The ones that wanted discounts early on when my prices were already low - just complained and wanted more.

I value my place. People who don't can stay somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

@Ann72 This insight seems entirely reasonable to me.

@Maria11831 I don't see how of all the possible explanations for why an occasional guest gives you a 4* rating, you decided the one that best fit was that Airbnb conspired against you. The truly crazy thing here, though, is the idea that 4* constitutes a "bad" review that you must undervalue yourself to recover from. Wouldn't it be more suspicious if, despite having a diverse array of guests with all their own quirks and expectations, you never experienced an imperfect rating? 

[Ann72]

@Anonymous  I like your logic.  And @Maria11831 when I read your statement, "you drop prices, you add extras but nothing is enough," I thought, Why do you drop prices just because one whiny person gives you a lower star for value?  You know what I do when I get a 4 for value?  I raise my prices.  If I'm going to get complainers no matter what I do, I might as well get well paid for dealing with them.

[Elisabeth40]

how is your pricing at the moment? Can you get at least the actual rental price per day? I am asking because I am experiencing absolute devaluation myself here, not in terms of complaining guests, just missing guests. If I would ask for the price of a regular rental costs, I won't get guests at all, so ending up lowering the pricing until getting the guest. Do you get the pricing at the moment you think pays at least your rental costs?