I’ve had too many experiences where I’m harassed by a guest and airbnb does nothing to help, forcing me to chose between losing the reservation and payment or accepting the harassment. This is not ok.
I’ve received threats, name calling, telling me how to run my business, property damage, etc… it’s been years since I’ve been properly supported by Airbnb.
The most recent experience was a guest harassing me for FIVE (5) hours until I called airbnb to ask them what to do, they told me to ask them to stop communicating with me and, if they continue to harass me, to report their profile. They did not stop harassing me so I reported their profile. The next day, the guest was issued an “alteration approved by host” based on “cleanliness issues”. I was not informed of these issues, I was never contacted by guest nor by airbnb rep, and I certainly did not approve an alteration request.
Now this is where it gets interesting…
I called back to overturn the case, they decided that the guest’s proof of cleanliness issues was “flimsy” and they didn’t agree with their case, however, they UPHELD the refund to the guest because - you guessed it - I asked them not to respond to me. They said I “essentially cancelled the reservation when I asked them to stop communicating”. I explained that I was told to do that. Their answer was “I’m sorry that the airbnb rep didn’t inform you of the consequences of saying that”. This is highly concerning.
So; after five (5) hours of being harassed and the guest NOT mentioning “cleanliness issues”, they then get a refund for LYING about “cleanliness issues”, then I was told that there were NO cleanliness issues by airbnb reps, then the guest still gets a refund because I did what airbnb told me to do.
The result is that airbnb has created a situation where a guest can lie and harass a host WITHOUT penalty so then the host needs to decide between:
A: Accepting harassment and constant messages, phone calls, and texts from guests,
or
B: Lose a reservation/payment.
This is very unhealthy. Furthermore, AirBnb has created a loophole on how to circumvent a cancellation policy. All you need to do as a guest is harass the host until they ask you to stop harassing them and then you can cancel for free…