Hi
I am sooo frustrated with Airbnb right now. At the beginning of the year I decided to accept their invitation to upgrade to 'plus' status.
This is what has happened
The photographer arrived to take the new photos and an inventory - I told him to ASK if there was ANYTHING he needed to know. He didn't, but he should have.
Eventually I got a list of fixes that needed to be done which were mostly the removal of marks on the wall and removal of stains from carpets. the marks and stains were in fact shadows cast by the light and makes me think that the photos had been analysed by a computer.
There seemed to be an obsession with the number of bowls in the kitchen cupboards - there were, in fact, four in the photo they sent me, but again the computer didn't recognise two of them.
An obsession with having boittled water available - I am in London; the water is perfectly drinkable and what about all that plastic in landfill - do we really need to add to it?
I was told to upgrade my wifi speed to more than 5mbh. I did a speed test and it came in at anywhere between 54 and 72!
Once I had sent explanatory photos of the shadows and extra bowls and bottles of water and my 'fixes' had been verified I received an email saying my listing had been approved and that they were really excited to show me my new look.
The photos were dreadful
My listing title had been changed and I hated it. Also, I get quite a bit of repeat business - how would people find me again??
Any personality had been removed from my listing
However, there is an invitation to review and edit - I tried to do this and it would not let me.
I could not reply to the email as it has a 'no reply' address
I rang Airbnb, but of course the girls on the phone can't do anything except say that they will send an email to the correct department. In my experience getting a response from anyone this way can take three weeks or longer and as I have only one week to make the changes (that the site won't allow me to make anyway) before the listing automatically updates I can't afford to wait three weeks for an answer and risk the new listing going up. The girls on the phone are not allowed to share the secret email address that they use.
The only solution is to press the 'Leave Airbnb Plus' button.
So I'm doing it
What a waste of 149 dollars