Airbnb completely threw their hosts under a bus regarding Covid-19 - REVIVE

Dylan-and-Lizette0
Level 5
Scottsdale, AZ

Airbnb completely threw their hosts under a bus regarding Covid-19 - REVIVE

Reviving this thread as it needs to be brought to the attention of everyone within the community and addressed by AirBNB. The thread was closed by @Stephanie in London, GB as she sees the discussion as a violation of the community guidelines, however clearly trying to sweep our testimonies under the rug and censor our opinions.

 

The original thread is listed here. https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Airbnb-completely-threw-their-hosts-under-a-bus-regardin...

 

Please feel free to continue the discussion, post your experiences and share how Airbnb completely threw their hosts under a bus regarding Covid-19.

43 Replies 43
J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Thanks @Stephanie 

You Stephanie, Quincy and Lizzie are a great team!
We look up to you all !

Susie0
Level 10
Oakland, CA

Hopefully Airbnb can use "big data" to realize how many different and lucrative hosts are furious and / or will be destroyed by their COVID policy.

 

For everyone's info - the original thread has almost 500 responses on 40 pages. https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Airbnb-completely-threw-their-hosts-under-a-bus-regardin...

What they should do at this point is allow guests to reschedule with the same host and then pay out the deposit to the hosts. Keeps the booking with the host, with Airbnb and provides hosts with some needed cash flow.

 

This would be the fair thing to do and help keep everyone solvent. I'm not optimistic Airbnb will do anything fair for the hosts, but who knows.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@James207 

James, your original post has been popularly received, and I can fully understand why, but personally I didn't agree with it! You were angry and lashing out at the system.....once again understandably. But James, you post was destructive rather than being constructive.

 

But mate, you have turned the corner, this is good constructive comment you are now making and I support you 100% with it, good on you!

 

I would possibly go a bit further James and offer the guest a 20% bonus if they choose to defer the reservation to a later date when this pandemic has been contained, rather than simply cancelling .  There is an old expression in life....'50% of something is better than 100% of nothing' !

There is also another old adage in life....'Everyone loves a bargain'  and I feel many, who's purpose for travelling no longer was relevant would say...."Hey, that's a good deal, who don't we accept that"!

That will keep the money in the company system, a deposit could be passed on to hosts and I would see it as a win/win all around.

Once again, thanks James for putting your mind into a solution rather than compounding a problem!

 

Cheers......Rob

@Dylan-and-Lizette0  @J-Renato0  @Sarah977 @Sheila22 @Stephanie @Ange2 @Helen213 @James975

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Dylan-and-Lizette0Threads get closed here when they descend into personal mud-slinging. It has nothing to do with "sweeping testimonies under the rug" or posters not liking anyone disagreeing with them and has happened forever, long before coronavirus. This forum has never been censored as far as the opinions users can express, as long as it doesn't get personal, isn't profane, and isn't discriminatory. The original post has not been censored or deleted, it is still all there, along with the other coronavirus posts in a section of the forum just created for them, so that they are all in one place and the posts on other topics don't just get buried. Check out the main page and look for the COVID section of the forum.

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

@Dylan-and-Lizette0 , as @Sarah977  says, if we were trying to censor messaging we would have removed the thread in its entirety. I'll restate what I said in closing comments:

 

 

"You are more than welcome to post a new topic or take part in some of the other existing threads. Also, this thread is not being removed or deleted, only no new replies will be able to be posted. "

 

Which you have done 🙂 however, I can see the same issues are arising here so can I restate:

 

"This is an incredibly emotionally charged topic and we appreciate the sharing and discussion of opinions, so long as they remain respectful of individual opinions. We can attack the subject but do not attack each other. I urge you all to read the community guidelines before you post. As you can see, this community allows all sorts of posts both negative and positive so long as they adhere to those guidelines."

 

I will speak to individuals separately as I'd rather not have to keep closing topics for the same reasons, and I'm sure you all feel the same. 

 

Thanks,

 

Stephanie

 

-----

 

Please follow the Community Guidelines 

I have four luxury top end properties with each booking being over $7,000. Airbnb without my permission has refunded 10,s of thousands of dollars and this is not going to stop for some time unless the community makes a loud enough voice to let Airbnb know that taking away 100% of our income will only lead to us going bankrupt or moving to other platforms. 

 

Please wake up Airbnb and realize, as the other platforms have done, that we are part of this community and at the very least should share the loss with a guest who choose not to pay for insurance (see post on this forum about guest who got paid by insurance in full and because Airbnb told them they could got a full refund from the host so they made 100% profit on their booking). VRBO is telling hosts and guests to expect a credit for a future date or at least a 50% refund which the host will decide. 

 

What can hosts do? Take Airbnb to court or if you are in the USA for $200 (Airbnb pays all the other expenses) take them to the AAA for an arbitration as it explains in the Terms of Service (TOS). If enough hosts start an action with the AAA maybe Airbnb will see we as hosts are not happy with what they have done to us. 

 

Also post, post, post and keep saying it is not good enough the way we have been treated. 

 

Thank you

Adriano78
Level 10
Seville, Spain

WARNING

HI,I had a reservation for April 20, the reservation was canceled on April 11, I am in strict condition so I must receive 50%.


Today I received a message from Airbnb telling me that the guest has made a claim and is requesting a full refund.
Guess what? Airbnb fully reimbursed it !!!.

 

This is the E mail i sent to Airbnb :

 

HI

- Reservation of "Brianna" ( HMJKXE5ST5 ) : This reservation has been CANCELLED on March 11th, so BEFORE your new (illegal) Extenuating Circumstances regarding Covid-19.

At the date of yesterday, Brianna does not have any reservation with me, as it has been cancelled on March 11th : so this reservation is NOT an EXISTING reservation.

Your new Extenuating Circumstances regarding Covid-19 applies only to EXISTING reservation, as stated on March 14th :

What reservations are covered Reservations made on or before March 14, 2020

Existing reservations for stays and Airbnb Experiences with a check-in date of April 14, 2020, or earlier, and with at least one night occurring between March 14, 2020 and April 14, 2020 are covered. This means that guests who cancel will receive a full refund, hosts will be able to cancel without charge or impact to their Superhost status, and Airbnb will refund all service fees.

Existing reservations for stays and Airbnb Experiences with a check-in date after April 14, 2020 will not be covered under our extenuating circumstances policy except where the guest or host has contracted COVID-19. The host’s cancellation policy will apply as usual."


So YOU CANNOT apply it to an old reservation yet cancelled : the reservation, as an agreement, is closed and you cannot legally make any retroactive change.
You already know that as you change the term of "existing reservation" by only "reservation".

I recall that you new (illegal) Extenuating Circumstances regarding Covid-19 cannot be retroactive.
As published on March 14th, they cannot apply for a cancelled reservation on March 11th.

For this, I ask you to refund me the 86,73 euros corresponding at the 50% of the initial amount, in accordance with my cancellation policy.

If Brianna want a total refund, she has to contact me directly and I can offer her an arrangment.

If YOU want to refund her, please do it with your OWN FUNDS, not with the fund of other people.

I am sure you will able to act as profesionnaly as VRBO or booking.com platforms.

Regards,

Adriano

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Adriano78 

 

Good luck with that. I am not confident about getting anything back from Airbnb, even when there is a clear breach of their own policy.

 

I have a similar situation, in that Airbnb refunded two guests whose bookings fall outside of the extenuating circumstances policy, which clearly states (twice):

 

"If a reservation has already begun (the check-in has passed), this extenuating circumstance does not apply."

 

1. Guest had checked in back in early January. She was still refunded according to the extenuating circumstances, not the long-term cancellation policy that should have applied, even though she told them she was happy to pay for the 30 days as she was getting refunded by her university, and threw in the last night of her stay for free! They told her to make a new booking in order to pay me. She didn't because she said Airbnb were then double charging her fees. Guest is still willing to pay if Airbnb will sort it out and ensure she gets the correct refund, but they are not dealing with it.

 

2. Guest had checked in two weeks before cancellation. She also said she was willing to pay according to the long-term policy. Yet, Airbnb refunded her the entire stay, including the 13 nights she had already spent here. They told her she could pay me any money she owed me herself! Then the guest decided she no longer wanted to pay the 30 nights (which she should have been charged according to the policy) and would pay me for the 13 nights at a later date...

 

When I protested loudly to Airbnb, they agreed that the refund was a mistake but said they had no authority to take money from the guest without her permission. I explained they did not need to. They just needed to alter the amount of the refund that was still processing. No response. By the time they get back to me (if they ever do), the refund will have processed and they'll say, it's too late now.

@Huma0  I phoned this morning to Airbnb French support to have explanations why Airbnb refund  100% Brianna and i told him that it was illegal in relation to French laws (EC can not be retroactive) and the operator was very confused, he could not give me a valid answer and that he could do nothing because he had no authority.
I have never seen such incompetence.

Airbnb they are very intelligent and they know that here in Europe it is very difficult and expensive to take legal action.

This company is just a SCAM

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Adriano78 

 

The last person I spoke to admitted that the refunds should not have been made. He understood completely that I was entitled to some of that money back. However, after calling one of the guests, simply came back with the answer that, as with your rep, "he could do nothing because he had no authority". That is the last I heard. No further response to my messages.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Dylan-and-Lizette0 

 

Now I know I am probably going to be categorized as an Airbnb apologist but, I would just like to set the record straight here

@Stephanie  did not shut  @James207 's thread down because of any political comment. Steph shut it down because it was becoming too personal with insults being thrown from one contributor to another......People, that is not what we are here for.

Steph, Lizzie, Quincy, Anna and the other moderators do not work for Airbnb.....lets get that straight. I hope I am not talking out of turn but the moderators of the CC works for a British company called 'Standing on Giants'. 

Airbnb have different levels of support. Firstly there is this community centre where all Airbnb users get to talk amongst themselves....and many issues that would potentially end up with Airbnb CX are resolved here taking a lot of pressure off the company. Standing on Giants have been outsourced by Airbnb and their employees have a totally neutral perspective on how Airbnb is run.....they are simply here to be the conduit between you users and the company and to make sure that conversations don't get abusive and personal. The whole idea of this CC is to stop a certain percentage of problems from ending up with CX .

In other words we users solve our own issues!

 

*

The second level of support is outsourced to a company called 'Directly' who handle all the email traffic which comes from Airbnb users. This company's  support staff are not employees of Airbnb but are all experienced users (of which I in the past have been one) and are paid by their results in satisfying customer issues, and their customer satisfaction rate averages around 94%. As you can appreciate this also takes a lot of the pressure off the Airbnb's phone pool!

 

Please understand, you are not being company censored, or policy censored, you are being censored if you violate advertising or communication decency standards.  

Please lets not give the moderators a hard time, they do a wonderful job in keeping this Community Centre running smoothly and in times like the present I would not want their job for "All the Tea in China".....oops, did I just say the wrong thing?

 

Cheers......Rob

 

@Adriano78  @Sarah977  @Helen350 @Sheila22 

@Robin4   Thank you. That is actually very interesting and informative.  I appreciate your transparency.  I I also appreciate your perspective, just as  have the perspective to appreciate how difficult a waiter's job is having worked as one.  It is obvious that you have the talent for customer service, so this makes sense.  However,  I am definitely not convinced that we are not being censored on this forum for speaking the truth about Airbnb:

 

1) By your own explanation these moderators are indirectly paid by Airbnb  because they work for a service for which Airbnb is a very large client.  It is obvious where the allegiance would be.

2) It is also true that the moderators are artificially pushing down posts which are unquestionably the natural "TOP" posts  to the extent where these posts are no longer on the TOP posts list at all.   The timing of that happening was before Donald (don't remember his member name) started yelling at the Hosts on James's post ( @James207  "Airbnb threw Hosts under the bus,"  which is now the excuse we being given for the censorship).

3) The Hosts  that Donald was antagonizing were justifiably venting and sharing their awful experiences and supporting  the other vicitms of Airbnb's random and every expanding EC policy. The post was written for the purpose of these abused Hosts to express themselves about Airbnb's treatment of them, and their anger towards Airbnb.  These Hosts were also there to share information and ideas for how to handle the situation.  Given the subject-matter of this post, the comments were completely on-topic as they were all related to this subject matter.

 

THE FACT IS: James's post was critical of Airbnb and getting a tremendous following, and so the moderators artificially pushed it out of sight.  Call it whatever you wish, but I'm calling it censorship.

 

In the end you should be happy because we are conforming to the moderators' desired outcome and moving James's "Airbnb threw hosts under the bus" discussion elsewhere:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/861430217655400/

 

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Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hiya @Sheila22 ,

 

Just to clarify what posts go on the front page. The newest and most engaged with topics go to the front page automatically, and kudo amount also is considered. The keep new conversations flowing, at a same time each day other popular posts will move to the front page. As community managers, we can choose which topics can go in the feature boxes on the front page and 'sticky' (make appear at the top of the list for everyone) important topics like community updates and such. 

 

Referring to James' post, it is a pity that it devolved into a "slanging match" but my priority is protecting the user that are on the forum above all. This is why I did not delete the thread so those contributors that were respectful to each other could still access that conversation, and invited it to be recreated with hopes we didn't have the attacks again. 

 

Let's please focus on discussing the original posters content and discuss it effectively. And thank you @Robin4 for sharing an explanation. 

 

Thanks,

 

Stephanie

-----

 

Please follow the Community Guidelines 

I understand it.  @Robin4  gave a thorough explanation already. I get it, but I'm not buying it.  I already responded with my clear reasoning of why I am not buying it. The indisputably most popular post was moved from the TOP, and other very popular posts on this subject matter were also removed from the TOP (and pushed completely out of sight from the TOP list).  It is obvious that Hosts are being censored.  And it is obvious that this forum is run by people who have a vested interest in protecting the Airbnb corporation.  We get it.  None of the Hosts following this conversation are believing you are not censoring them.  They are not naive, and certainly they are way less naive than ever before as they have been burnt very badly by Airbnb.

Hosts, please continue your conversation on the private FB page I set up just for Hosts who have been destroyed by Airbnb:  Airbnb Hosts United  https://www.facebook.com/groups/861430217655400/ 

 

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