What exactly is this?!

[Suzanne302]

 

 

As I prepare to open my new room to AirBNB I research existing rooms in the area. I come across a “room” for $787/night and another for more than $1300/night. There are pictures of hotels in the area in which rooms are NOT that expensive. 

This “host” has more than 12,000 listings around the world.

What is going on here?

[Stephanie]

Hiya @Suzanne302 ,

Blimey, thanks for the nudge, have shared internally with the right folks 🔍🔍🔍

Thanks,

Steph

[Suzanne302]

Thanks @Stephanie ! Definitely something the right folks up the chain should be aware of. The "host" seems to be adding properties by the minute and new reviews show some unhappy guests.

[Alba160]

@Stephanie 

With respect, there's little to be gained from sharing this internally. 'Team Gospodin' is just one of innumerable "hosts" on Airbnb's platform whose profiles are similarly swamped with hundreds/thousands of multi-duplicated 'listings', some showing regular prices, but most displaying astronomical rates at which the listings will quite obviously never be booked. (Coincidentally, a few years ago - just prior to a major Airbnb funding round - countless thousands of listings appeared on the site overnight, all priced at $9999)

You can be assured that the 'hosts' and 'listings' that are operating in this manner have been reported directly to the very highest levels of Airbnb - ad nauseum - by numerous sources, including hosts, guests and members of the media. Occasionally, some of the questionable 'listings' will disappear for a period, but they'll invariably reappear in one form or another.

The one question everyone *really* needs to be asking is how/why a $90B tech company has resolutely failed to put an end to - or apparently, even attempt to deal with - such nefarious, misleading, widespread and fraudulent practices on its platform. It would be the easiest thing in the world to create a simple system to detect and delete the masses of blatantly scammy listings plaguing Airbnb's site (and reputation).Yet despite the *super*-generous wages awarded to their 'top talent', the company can't seem to employ anyone with even the most basic fraud prevention skills. One would have to wonder what the talents are, exactly, that Airbnb's 'brightest and best' designers and engineers are being so handsomely remunerated for.

[Alba160]

Some more  examples to add, this listings all show exactly the same thing happening, with different "hosts", in different cities. Making it crystal clear that "Team Gospodin" far from the only account doing this on Airbnb. It's rampant, all over the site.

Stockton  is not that far from Berkeley, but I can assure there is nothing happening there that will justify more than $20008the night. 

[Alba160]

This listing has a greyed-out silhouette as a host profile picture and  is been a member since 2018. And no reviews for any of 17 rooms. I know Carmel has a heavy upper class tourism and  back in the day Clint Eastwood was a Mayor there (that's  some of thr allure of Carmel).  It's impossible to understand how in earth the above listing CAN exist in Airbnb site. 

[Suzanne302]

No matter what's going on I really hope Airbnb makes this right. More reviews are coming in from people feeling they were ripped off. (They were!) Even if Airbnb is aware of these listings and using them to "pad" the number it's making them look really bad and we all know they don't need any more bad press.

Oh, and they're up to 12,600+ listings now. 

https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/175128252

[Elena87]

@Suzanne302 

More brand tarnishing reviews

Cute And Cozy Suite Standard At Dammam

June 2021

Last week booked a suite from this team and when arrived i chocked because it’s a hotel and my rate was very comparing between the reception prices and their price!! At least 30%

Trendy Studio Standard At Bayswater

June 2021

Nice team, great location, amazing value for money but didn't exactly look like the photos on AirBnb. We had a basement room which obviously lacked natural light and the original photos were most likely of 1st, 2nd floor rooms which would have been nice to know. Like I said, for the money we paid it was everything we would need for a short stay where we were out of the hotel most of the time.

Enormous Room Standard At The Strip Area

June 2021

Make sure you read the fine print at the very bottom of the description! This is a casino and you are staying at the stratosphere. You will be charged 45$ on TOP of what you paid Airbnb when you check in for some resort fees! Part of the fees is the valet parking but when we arrived with our car there was no one there to even valet.

[Elena87]

@Suzanne302 

July round up

1. We had to go find someplace else to stay. Filthy pillowcases that hadn't even been laundered. Sent photos to Team Gospodin repeatedly but they "never received them."

2.The hotel was dirty and felt uncomfortable. Extra unknown charges required at check in. Ended up paying more than what we paid for online. Not worth the price. Some of the furniture was molded. Don’t stay here if you want a quality stay

3.Low rent motel room that is marked up above and beyond the regular price. Stay away from this place at all cost

4.Arrived at the location and their card to pay for the room did not go through so we where stuck outside for 30 minutes and the problem didn’t seem like it was going to be solved until Airbnb support came in to help. The hotel claimed that the same thing happened to someone earlier. I was given a fake confirmation number for the room that matched the one a different person was also given. Please avoid this host.

5.At the time of purchase the Team Gospodin (thru AIRBNB) charged me $315.45. My invoice bill from hotel was $172.45. Unfair. But the hotel was nice.

6.Rain water came dripping down through the celing. on us the first night, there’s never any cups for coffee or creamer. The Keurig coffee machine sure was pretty though. When we move to the second room there’s no towels and part of the ceiling was coming down. The staff had not fully finished the room which I understand because they were extremely busy running from one section of leaky roof to another emptying trash cans of rain water. Large section of the exterior of the building fell off and almost hit my car. I think it did damage some cars nearby. The bad storm damaged other nearby buildings and trees as well. The staff is very friendly and they were doing the best they could with what they had to work with

On the flip side, a handful of chaps were happy with the middleman's middleman.

[Suzanne302]

@Elena87  Very disappointed to see they are still allowed to operate like this. I mean, it's a great scam anyone could do. Just copy/paste hotel room descriptions and photos, jack up the price, pretend it's a "B&B", book it for the guest, then watch the money roll in. It's a shame Airbnb is allowing this to continue as it is NOT a good look for the platform, as is evidenced by the reviews.