Hi there,
I am an Airbnb host since 2019 but also did hosting about 4 years in earlier days of the company. What i experienced earlier was by doing hosting, i was meeting with amazing people and had almost no issues with any of them. Last 2 years Airbnb started to promote and expanded their guest costumers.
Of course it's a company and profits would be main focus but i believe there's some lack of preparation and here's the main issues i've experienced lately:
P.S: I studied tourisms management in college for 4 years and had many experience in hotels and agencies so i believe i can make a point here.
1- Lots of new users don't have any idea what Airbnb culture is. Most new users expects a hotel-like experience which is weird cause neither we hire staff like a hotel, what they pay is MUCH LESS than a hotel (at least in Istanbul) and that's a major issue cause no matter how you prepare, it won't met the expectations of a guest, and that brings unwanted situations with them.
2-The way Airbnb support deals with such situations is also not host-supportive. They have a weird policy for comments which is also annoying me. Let me give an example. I have an apartment in the most expensive and popular area of Istanbul and i had 17 guests with almost all 5 star ratings. At 18th guest we had some issues and guest rated full 1 star in his review. I contacted support and they didn't make any changes. They thought 1 star for every single category was fair and not malevolence. I am not defending any side here. Even one side is fully responsible for an issue, using review mechanism like this wouldn't be allowed. Cause this is obviously not accurate and right. Even a malevolent would do something right, but it's impossible to explain to Airbnb support.
Those issues will be a challange for Airbnb in the future cause another brand definately will arrive by solving those.
Have a great day