Airbnb deletes reviews containing descriptions of terrible customer support decisions

Evan12
Level 3
Bangkok, Thailand

Airbnb deletes reviews containing descriptions of terrible customer support decisions

I had a reservation with guest Anthony. Guest had a problem with one of the amenities so he requested for a partial refund. A case manager Tarishi from Airbnb contacted me and guest and gave a guest refund of 144 USD without permission from my side, which were already deducted from my payout. The case manager did a rough calculation mistake so the amount was refunded to guest is a lot more than it actually should be

1.Even if calculate according to Tarisi calculations which I don’t agree with the refunded amount should be 73 USD not 144 USD!!!

2.Tarisi used 50% rate which she proofed with sending me this link airbnb.co.in/help/article/1

which does not have a specific amount I strongly disagree with rate of 50% as it will make my 200 square meters air-conditioned apartment cost per night as if it was a hostel dormitory I don’t mind to give guest partial refund, but I strongly disagree with amount, I agree to give guest 10% for two nights when amenity was not present of 15 usd in total

 

So i wrote the following review for the guest:

 

DO NOT TAKE THIS GUEST!

He is a complainer!

The first situation was that guest could not make it on time to the listing and the night before the arrival sent me an alteration request – which will move the arrival date 3 nights ahead.

Which I find just prudent. I explained the guest the situation and asked to make a cancelation instead.

So, the guest did cancel the reservation.

After guest realized he is not getting much of refund he did contact customer support to contact me back to recreate reservation in THE SAME DATES!!! – Actually if I kept the reservation canceled – I would get more money than I received after the rest of the story.

The guest told me that he is NEW TO AIRBNB in the message from 17 of October.

The guest did self-check in and after a while between 10 and 11 PM ON SATURDAY – told me that the hot water was not working.

OF course I didn’t read the message until Sunday morning when property manager had his day off.

To note that it took place in Bangkok – with average daily temperature of about 32C/90F. So the life necessary amenity is an air condition – not a hot water. As the water tank located on the roof, the water going out of the shower without any heating is already pleasant enough.

On Monday property manager reported back that the water is hot.

However, guest contacted Airbnb customers support and got refunded 50% of the ENTIRE stay. To note Airbnb customer experience were too lazy to count how many days actually guest was not able to access the hot water, and took his words as granted without taking any evidence. One of the messages guest sent to both: me and customers support was “I have 2 properties that my wife and I rent on air and this would be something that we would have fixed immediately” – this message was sent on October 22.

So for the period between October 17 and October 22 guest turned from “new to this” to an experienced host!!!

My unit is a beautiful 200 square meters apartment, fully airconditioned with 5 aircon units and amazing view, which I listed for nothing like 73 USD per night, and after guest got it for less than 35 USD a night!!! The price of a hostel dormitory at this particular location.

Dear hosts be aware!!!

 

 

And guess what?! Airbnb removed this review as it includes the description of how wonderfull the customer support works !!!

 

 

8 Replies 8
Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Evan12

yes, Airbnb remove reviews if any dispute or damage claim is mentioned. Btw, it is always better to keep reviews as short as possible without going into details.

 

Yes, Airbnb is very generous with hosts money ... but .... it is good to know that hot water during summer is worth 50% nightly rate... maybe you could install a shower in your back yard and list it on Airbnb.... and It seems WIFI is worth another 50%  so if you add a router by the shower you can list them together for the same price as your 200 m2 apartment :))))

 

  

 

indeed they were giving full refunds to guest who cancelled the last minute because of weather conditions or mother in law got sick

 

like if hosts are guilty in that, you want to be nice give them refunds from your own airbnb money!!!

 

just in that cases at least guest never stayed at the property but here i just felt airbnb used me ... 

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

I'm not really sure what you expect. I would be very surprised if Airbnb kept that review public. It's best to keep reviews short, neutral and to the point with as little emotion as possible.

well deleting reviews because it is telling how airbnb actually works sounds a bit of dictatorship for me

more like North Korea than USA

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Evan12

 

Yep, got to agree with @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Emilia42 That review was always destined to be a pain in the backside to you...it says just as much about you as it does about the guest.

 

I always advise hosts keep it short and generic, after all you want to warn other host and a removed review is useless!......."Some guests are just too difficult, and support can be problematic. I wish the guest well but would not host again and cannot recommend to other hosts!"

 

Two short sentences and that is all we need to know Evan....what you have done is tell us you have a property where there could be a maintenance issue, you are not an onsite host, and help for a guest in trouble can take a bit of time.....Not a good way to promote yourself mate!

I think CX have done you a favour!

 

Cheers......Rob

it was actually second long review i ever wrote last past 10 years i just feel its been a 6 months when airbnb customerr support becoming extremely host unfriendly , and their policies are host humiliating

Elena87
Level 10
СПБ, Russia

@Evan12

 

Hard to say without the full story.

 

It's not quite clear to me if you have a water heater independently available or just use only sun heated water - and how your listing describes it as.  Shower water is expected to be around 105f/40c for most.

 

Without the full story it is difficult to say whether the guest has a point.

They might be justified in complaining or you might be putting a tad retrospective spin on events. As for the review, the lady doth protest too much, methinks.

 

Jury is out on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

is a heater and it was broken, my point was that giving like 50% refund for that is not fair

i am in Bangkok it feels very different with all day heat and humidity