3 dissapointing guests all in 1 day

[Sean433]

Guest 1:

Booked for 2 but seemed to have at least 3 guests, maybe 4. We charge $10 extra for every guest after 2.  This is for a listing I co-host for. The main host told me they not only had at least 3 guests but there was urine on bed, they were banging doors when closing them while all other guests are mindful of how they treat the place. So I left a review only mentioning the extra guests, not mentioning the urine or the banging. Airbnb then calls me and says I need proof and if I don't have proof, there needs to be a trail of me messaging the guest to address the extra guests. I said i did not confront because often times it leads to retaliatory review and how do we provide proof if the listing doesn't have a camera. I also asked how come I don't get this level of support if I call in to review an unfair review of me? How come airbnb does not ask guests for proof? He kept talking to me like a robot and i just had to hang up or lose it. 15 minutes later, review of guest is gone.

Guest 2:

Partied until 4:30 am and received complaints from tenants downstairs. Apartment smelled like weed when cleaner came. I confronted the partying because it was yesterday but not the weed because we only found out after the cleaner came. So if i leave a review, good chance I will get retaliatory review. Also, by the logic of the customer service rep in the above example, can my review be removed because i did not confront guest of the weed and if so, how to confront if it is after the fact?

Guest 3:

Check-out time is 11:00am. Cleaner came at 3:00pm because she was busy cleaning the apartment the guest smoked weed in (guest 2). They tell the cleaner they need 30 more minutes (after they are already 4 hours late in checking out). I message the guest saying she needs to enter immediately because we have new guests coming soon. He did not reply yet (it is 3:32 pm now).

I am used to guests breaking rules but 3 in 1 day is unusual. If I leave guest 2 & 3 review, good chance I will get back to back retaliatory reviews and not the same level of support Guest 1 had.

@Branka-and-Silvia0- this one was for you !

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  I know CS gets a bad rap and totally deservedly much of the time, but I also can't imagine dealing with irate or distraught hosts and guests all day long, many of whom I'm sure aren't good at explaining their issue succinctly, or the outcome they are looking for, while trying to follow the script you've been handed. So many of their responses are so similarly robotic that it's obvious that they are being instructed to respond like this, rather than it being their personal style of communication.

I tend to get pretty good responses from CS although that might require several back and forths to achieve. But I've never had them simply not respond, or take days to do so, as many hosts report, nor had them close an unresolved issue. I stay polite, thank them for their time, and have even on occasion mentioned that I don't envy them their job. It seems to turn them more human if you show some appreciation and empathy.

When they apply for the job, they probably don't antipate people yelling at them all day, like new hosts don't anticipate getting nightmare guests.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977 

and then there are many countries, Croatia included, which don't have a local number and Airbnb CS on their/our language. I have to explain my problem in English and if I get CS rep with a foreign accent like Indian then it is really difficult to understand each other  🙂

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Yes, that's one of my pet peeves and happens not just with Airbnb but with all entities that outsource their CS phone lines. I just don't understand the concept of hiring people to answer calls whose accent in whatever language they are supposed to be communicating in is so heavy they can barely be understood.

I just went through this with my Canadian bank the other day- the first 2 agents they put me through to had, first a very heavy Indian accent, the second sounded like she was speaking Chinese, although I caught enough words to know she was actually speaking indecipherable English. After hanging up and calling back a third time, I finally got a rep in Columbia, who, altho he had a slight Spanish accent, spoke totally clear English. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977  If you can't understand them then how could I ... or someone whose English is even worse than mine 😄

Ones I've called ABB CS and asked if they can connect me with someone who speaks Croatian and the rep said: Sure! 

I was totally surprised ... until I've heard female voice from the other side: Здравствуйте, чем я могу вам помочь? 

They connected me with Russian CS rep 😄 😄

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  I even once got a native English-speaker Airbnb rep who was actually in SF, Calif, but he insisted on speaking so fast, and slurred his words together (quite common in some areas of the US and Canada) that I had to keep asking him to repeat himself. I can imagine how frustrating it must be for someone whose first language isn't English, to try to carry on a conversation with these people.

What- all Eastern Europeans don't speak Russian? 🙂

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

hahahaha  @Sarah977  😄 😄

I once got an Italian rep... he was great, so polite and patient, spoke perfect English... and he was singing canzone italiane while trying to fix the problem 😄

ah... Italians... who wouldn't love them :))))

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977 

haha, yes, mother Russia and her kids 😄 😄

Russian, Chech, Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian... are all Slavic languages so if we try really hard (and use hands ) we can partially understand each other, at least we can get a sense of what the other one is talking about :)))

For example

Croatian: Dobar dan, kako vam ja mogu pomoći?

Russian: Zdravstvuyte, chem ya mogu vam pomoch'?

But that's not enough to be able to communicate with CS :)))

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Same with Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. There are some similar words so you might be able to get the gist of what someone is trying to say. And it's always easier to understand someone when you're face to face, as there is body language and expressions to help out, but over the phone it's nearly impossible. I can communicate fine in Spanish in person (not to the extent that I could carry on an in-depth political discussion with an educated Mexican, but adequate for everyday conversations) but they speak so fast on the phone that it's really challenging. I also find that if you explain that you're not that fluent in a language and ask them to please speak more slowly, there's only a few who will. The others say "Oh, sorry" but then say it again exactly the way they said it the first time.

[Allison2]

It's 14 days to the minute from the e-mail first notifying you to review.

My Ring doorbell catches video and audio. $3/month. Worth it's weight in gold. I mostly use it to let my cleaner know guests left early & she can clean, but have used video and stills from it to prove unauthorized guests.