What in the world is wrong at Airbnb?

Kathy1031
Level 2
Massachusetts, United States

What in the world is wrong at Airbnb?

Cannot get support with a problem guest. All they can do is "open a ticket". It's been 48 hours and still NO SUPPORT. How in the world am I supposed to open my home if I am not supported? 

7 Replies 7
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Kathy1031  The sad reality is that Airbnb's so-called customer service has become a bad joke. We have to just consider them to be a listing and payment collection service and otherwise we are on our own.

 

Is your issue something other hosts here might be able to offer you advice on how to handle?

Kathy1031
Level 2
Massachusetts, United States

Thank you for your offer with assistance. Unfortunately I need a representative and that is the reason I posted. I no longer have the problem guest, but wanted to protect other hosts from he problem (police + party). A poor review isn't enough. If this was an emergency, it's apparent Airbnb isn't available for assistance which makes me concerned. I'm not whining, I just think you should all be aware that they are truly not available. Which is all fine, until YOU need them.

Hi @Kathy1031 

How many hosts does Airbnb have worldwide in 2021?

 

According to data analysis, there are 2.9 million hosts on Airbnb worldwide in 2021. Fourteen thousand new hosts are joining the platform each month in 2021.
There are over 7 million listings on Airbnb worldwide in 2021.You can imagine how incredibly the Airbnb rep needs to respond to the millions of the host in one day.

 

Unfortunately, at the moment, it's taking a long time for support to address these non-urgent tickets. It's happening for both hosts and guests. Unless the problem pertains to somewhere you're staying at the time you call, it's going to the non-urgent.

 

Hopefully, Airbnb will continue to hire more staff as time goes on. 

Happy Hostings 😊

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Kathy1031 

Kathy I am so sorry you are having an issue with a guest that you can't get addressed. If you can give us a few details it may be possible that someone here in the community centre will be able to help you in some way.

 

Since Covid-19 started to show its influence, Airbnb has let go about 1,200 of it's employed staff and much of support is now outsourced to a number of companies, the main ones appears to be called  Zendesk and another called Arise Solutions

https://www.zendesk.com/customer/airbnb/

These companies employ there own subcontractors who act as Airbnb agents. They can be based anywhere in the world and operate from the own residence. The level of support you will get will be directly related to the knowledge the individual agent possesses. It might be great, but equally.......it might be terrible!

Support results from the phone pool seem to have dramatically slipped over the past year and I would suggest you perhaps abandon that method of contact and instead use Twitter.

Airbnb seems to have dedicated staff who monitor their Twitter feeds, these staff may have a higher level of expertise than the phone pool and an enquirer will usually hear back from them within 15 minutes of posting an issue.

 

Step 1: Log into Twitter

Step 2: Search for @Airbnbhelp and choose "Follow" them.

Step 3: Send a Direct Message (DM) explaining your issue and wait for their response.  They will ask you for your personal information such as your listing for account verification, but always keep communication via DM so it is not public.

 

If I can give you a piece of advice Kathy, as @Sarah977  has said, don't rely too heavily on Airbnb for support! As a host you have to appreciate that guests make Airbnb money, hosts cost Airbnb money so, in many instances support will lean substantially towards the guest's side of any problem issue.

Best to take control of your listing and simply use Airbnb as a booking agency and don't expect them to be your fairy godmother. You may get help from them, but the chances of that do seem to be decreasing as this pandemic drags on!

 

Whatever your problem is with this guest Kathy, keep all correspondence in the message stream, and don't resort to contact via personal phone or email where there is no record of it should it be needed in the future.

I am sorry we can't be of more help than that. All the best.

 

Cheers........Rob

Kathy1031
Level 2
Massachusetts, United States

@Robin4  I appreciate your thoughtful response and thank you for the tip to follow Airbnb on Twitter, I only posted a message on Twitter.

 

I disagree that hosts cost Airbnb money, while guests make them money. How would Airbnb exist without hosts? We pay fees as well, it's an even-sum game. 

To be clear, my problem (guest) is gone. My purpose for reaching out was to prevent this from happening to another host -- looking out for the tribe. It's the only way this is going to work. When I couldn't get any help it made me realize if this had been a more serious situation, that I'm in this boat alone. I was not looking for a fairy godmother. You may be fine paying Airbnb a % of your profits and assuming all the risk,  but I'm rethinking the wisdom of that. 

Kathy1031
Level 2
Massachusetts, United States

@Robin4  @https://www.wsj.com/articles/airbnb-has-mo-money-mo-problems-1162094428

 

Timely article in the New York Times. Hosts are essential to Airbnb model, they shouldn't forget that.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Kathy1031 

Kathy I would like to have seen that but unfortunately the link does not work.....the page comes up but, the article comes up with the 404 error code!

 

What I meant by that comment Kathy, guests pay Airbnb money, which Airbnb then have to pay out to hosts.

Airbnb show a much stronger loyalty to the guest than they do to the host because, the more guests they can attract and hang onto, the more money they will make. The host is the step in the process which, to Airbnb, introduces risk into that money making by lodging claims, not accepting bookings, upsetting guests in some way. 

 

I get to use the world wide resources of Airbnb to bring a steady stream of guests to my property without me chasing them! In 4.5 years they have brought over 430 of them to me and we now have over 400 Airbnb reviews. I have never had to advertise for them and I have always been paid for them relatively on time. I have never had to hassle a solitary guest about money and as far as I am concerned that is worth something and worth giving a % away.

 

Everything we do in life involves a risk of some sort and when you invite strangers into your home you have to realise that what seems bleedin obvious to us because it's our patch, will seem somewhat alien to a guest, and there is going to be a risk involved.

 

I insure my vehicle with an insurance company for the risk involved with driving that vehicle on the road, I don't expect the company who sold me the car, to cover that risk, or the company that made it.

 

If we protect ourselves as much as we can and allow for these scenarios that are going to crop up from time to time we are going to be a lot more successful in the end.

 

Cheers........Rob