No response from Airbnb support

Charlotte495
Level 2
Sonoma, CA

No response from Airbnb support

I am having a terrible time getting questions about specific cases of occupancy tax that were (and were NOT) collected from my listing in late 2017 and early 2018.  I have submitted help messages and I have called on multiple occasions - each time I'm told someone will contact me.  When I finally got an email (from Jameela), she misunderstood my question and gave me a useless answer.  I have always had excellent customer service from Airbnb.  But I'm realizing now that it was always on easy questions.  Now that I have a difficult question, and one where I believe the answer is that Airbnb made a mistake, I'm getting mysteriously disconnected (with no callback) and hitting dead ends.  Who should I be contacting to take this to the next level?

3 Replies 3
Charlotte495
Level 2
Sonoma, CA

By the way, it has now been 18 days, 6 messages, 3 calls and 5 emails since I first submitted my question.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Charlotte495  You can try contacting them through twitter, which is said to get the best and fastest responses. They are known for never calling back.

One thing I've found when dealing with CS is that in order for them to understand your issue and address it, rather than send you back some nonsensical response, is to state the question or problem as simply as possible. If you write long paragraphs, or try to explain everything at once, it doesn't work. Use short sentences in bullet point form, in chronological order of the problem. Or don't try to state it all in the first message. Say something like "I have an issue with the Occupancy taxes that were and were not deducted. Please don't send me a link to the Help pages, I have a specific problem not addressed there. Thank you for your attention.". Hopefully you'll get a response like "My name is XX, what specifically can I help you with?" "My Occupancy taxes were not charged properly". And back and forth and so on. 

At least this is the method that's worked for me. Don't hit them with too much information at once. And it's amazing what a few nice platitudes will do. Always say "Thank you so much", or "I appreciate your help." They get bombarded with questions and problems all day and none of those guests or hosts are happy campers. They tend to work a little harder for the polite ones, who have a kind word to say, which is understandable.

Charlotte495
Level 2
Sonoma, CA

I tried through twitter and sent another message.  FINALLY got a response from the same Jameela - but she continues to misunderstand my question and give me the wrong answer.  It's very hard not to think that Airbnb is purposely playing dumb on an issue that I believe is going to turn out to be a mistake on their part.  A mistake that leave me owing back occupancy tax AND late penalties.  I'm just stunned how hard it is to get an intelligent answer.  And gosh, I've been pretty polite but I shouldn't have to send flowers just to get decent service!

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