No support from Air BNB

[Brad-and-Amanda0]

My wife and I are extremely upset and disappointed with Air BNB to the point we have blocked all further dates indefinitely.

We have the most black and white listing that makes everything so clear a child would understand it.

Over 80 reviews with the majority being 5 star on all criteria. until recently we only ever get the odd 4 which is also upsetting as is only ever a reflection of a bad experience generally where the guest has been caught out  or clearly over looked something that was very clearly specified in the listing. things like giving a 4 for value when you charge excess fees for guests they bring over and above what was booked and paid for or the had to climb stairs when its says numerous times that guests must climb stairs even the exact amount. Or the location was to far far from somewhere they want to go when all times and distances are clearly noted and all bar the gps co ordinates to where our apartment is so guests can make an informed decision if its right for them. Some of you might say 4 is pretty good but when its 1 4 to every 50 or more 5s   you see it coming due to not being walked over by the guest, it  is pretty offensive.

in 18 months of hosting We have had continuous superhost status on each and every assessment and are at 90% booking capacity and are actually making less than when we first listed. 

We have unlimited high speed internet Foxtel netflix and Stan plus Telstra TV we give gifts of food chocolate alcohol our cupboards are stacked with food. 

We provide spare linen 2 towels per guest plus have spares of everything,  Air cons that are left running 24/7, a 7 person hydro therapy spa which is a lovely 38.5 degrees 365 days per year which with lack of respect costs us a fortune in unnecessary repairs and maintenance and also puts a nasty  6 digit figure on  all power bills. 

this is all fine until we are prompted to lower our prices or someone states over valued. when we do nights for a little as we could get for it as an unfurnished rental with no extra expenses.

Now to our gripe right now. We had  4 Chinese girls stay which was the nightmare you have all heard about. due to every booking we have had with guests under 25 we have issues whether it be damage, late night calls and complaints from neighbors or what have you, we clearly ask and state that no one under 25 is to instant book with out contacting us prior or they will be canceled These girls booked with a dear head for a profile pic no communication at all, the name was in Chinese which I could not understand (not really a problem) but I ask guests to leave a brief introduction of them selves and  who we will be accommodating. I sent numerous messages  and many more question and requests for contact over a 3 day period with no reply,  the phone number given was disconnected.  We informed them with no communication or contactable number we had no option but to cancel the booking which we did. they

re booked immediately and still failed to communicate  or honor any of our requests.

with out a detailed explanation of the entire experience they broke every rule we had and failed to carry out any cleaning or requests asked of them.

They left my wife waiting for 1.5 hours on check in and over two hours past check out time as she was to timid to go in and kick them out, the place was filthy, smelt disgusting, damage in to the thousands and  am now still receiving abuse and threats from them.

They only left a review after we made a claim against them which was  1 star and low in all criteria Which as stated previously we only ever get the odd 4  and have had a consistent rating of 4.9 This review stated lies and unfair ratings on all criteria which clearly showed contempt as retaliation for us billing them. We gave them the exact respect and kindness we show all our guests and Air BNB let this review drop our overall rating low enough to jeopardize our superhost status and consistent 5 star reviews. The moral of the story is no matter how much time and effort you put in Air BNB will let guests kick you in the guts and walk all over you and your still at their mercy.

I find it equally as disgusting as the guests mentioned and if we were not as kind and thoughtful to all of our guest as we are, we would cancel all further bookings spread  well in to next year but as most guests respect us and appreciate what we do we will honor all future booking but take no more through this site until we feel we are getting the support we deserve. not holding our breath hoping on some support from the community.

Regards 

Brad & Amanda   

[Alice595]

@Brad-and-Amanda0  I feel your pain because I have been through more than once. To some extent you have been lucky to receive all good guests till them.

The review left by the guests is not very negative.  Here is what I quoted after the translation to English by Google.

"The door downstairs is not easy to open, it is neat and tidy, and it is not comfortable to get on and off."

You might have not read many posts in this forum and probably are new to this forum. There are a lot of posts about how to respond to a bad review. Your response to the review may cause much more damage than their review written for you.

Their 1 star rating probably is more irritating than the review itself. It would be hard for this review to be removed according to Airbnb's Content Policy. The good thing is that you have more than 80 reviews. One 1 star rating needs to have 19 5 star reviews to bring your rating back to more than 4.8, which is the requirement of Superhost. Therefore, your superhost status will not be in jeopardy due to this review.

Hopefully you can calm down soon and continue your hosting because there are still more than 98% great guests whom you have received.

[Brad-and-Amanda0]

thanks Alice,

I to translated it and you are correct the review it self is not so bad but is still unfair they are the 1st guest to mention ever having issues getting in to the building and what they tried to say was the bed was difficult to get on to as it was a bunk bed that was not intended for their use and they actually broke whilst staying. We had 4 separate beds made up and they chose to sleep on the bunk with bedding from the cupboard as it was not made.

It was  the low star ratings for communication that upset us which if Air BNB read through my many efforts to communicate with these girls they would see they received the same 5 star efforts we put in to making all guest  comfortable and feel welcome. 

Low rating for check in when they were well informed of the easy check in procedure.

Also low rating on value as they have now stated we should clean up after them as they were a paying guest.

Low stars for Location when it could not be anymore transparent where our apartment is located.

Low stars on cleaning when we receive  the sparkling clean comment from pretty much every guest 

it should be very clear these ratings  are vindictive opposed to all previous reviews and ratings. the only other 4s we have ever got for cleanliness was stated due to the guest getting fluff on them from brand new towels and after we had a door damaged and knocked off we replace with an unpainted which was stated as the issue.

One would assume once you have superhost status and so many great reviews with not one negative comment  we would be inundated with bookings when actually we are down by over 50% from last year when we started and our prices have  dropped substantially. The majority of our bookings now come from other sites.

Maybe its due to our extensive rules we ask to be acknowledge but this has only grown to combat each and every issue that has arisen in our time hosting but we feel this is our safest option to have protection against these issues. 

 We have had multiple bad guests but they generally are apologetic and comply with any concerns and requests not pursue us as the bad guys.

 We furnished the entire apartment brand new costing us about $30,000.00 along with beautiful items, photos and ornaments we have acquired from all over the world which a lot  are irreplaceable and did not come with purchase receipts which I realize can not be covered or protected,  absolutely every item in the apartment has some form of damage in one way or another.

I feel we have every right to feel disheartened with the entire situation.  

My reply is only the truth and I feel future guests should be informed of the kind of things we have to put up with.