How do I begin? I hope someone is paying attention.
I just went to a recent and lengthy Help session I had with “Eric” in the Support. His final message was that I had not responded to HIS message, and he closed the ticket. I wish I could again contact him to continue the conversation. I was not able to do so immediately because I'd had to spend so much time over the week trying to resolve the problem with Airbnb that I needed to take care of other matters that had been put off. But I have what I think is important feedback. I have, until fairly recently, been a very satisfied Airbnb host. But that changed, and I have deactivated my rentals because of difficulties that I attribute directly to a couple of things:
1. Changes in the way the Airbnb platform works
2. The way the Support Center does not work to actually help people and resolve problems
Typical of the second, there is no way for me to get back in touch with Eric — a supervisor — to have communication with him about this. But perhaps that is better. Maybe someone higher up will pay attention.
1. THE PLATFORM
When I started with Airbnb many years ago, I took our properties off the Homeaway.com sites because of pressures and practices that I felt were invasive and directed more at increasing corporate profits that taking care of renters and hosts, who are, of course, the generators of those profits. I loved working with Airbnb because the platform was simple, clear, and easy to manipulate and it was easy to manage rentals and feel fairly compensated.
It is probably important to state that I use Airbnb for both the rental of three apartments AND for my own travel needs. I the past, on the platform, I was able to switch between HOSTING and TRAVELING and have a clean experience in either one. Now, when I am attempting to find information, it will automatically switch back and forth. When I click on information about Payouts, for example, that comes up under “Traveling,” which makes on sense, because payouts go to hosts. So if I click on “Switch to Hosting,” all the information about payouts disappears. It’s an infinite (ineffective) loop.
This example is provided by my attempt to figure out how Mexican taxes are being applied to my rental income. A little history: The rental portion of my Airbnb is in Mexico and officially belongs to a Mexican Corporation, Tierra de Tortugas, SA de CV. I am the administrator and manage the rentals. All Airbnb payments go into a Mexican PayPal account which is directly linked to the corporation's Mexican bank account so that our accountant can make sure all income is reported and taxes paid. I gain no personal income from these transactions, so it does not in any relate to taxes in the United States, and I have no personal tax ID filed with Airbnb.
When a few weeks ago Airbnb began sending reports about Mexican taxes collected, I could understand that things were changing in Mexico for Airbnb. But I had registered our corporate tax ID in 2018, or so I thought. I even checked it out on my settings and it appeared to be registered. As it turns out, it had not been completed. That was so long ago that I have no idea what might have happened. And now is when the matter of your Help Center and Support comes in.
I immediately tried to read everything Airbnb provided regarding taxes. I spent hours on the platform and found very confusing or no information. I called for Support two times, and the first time was told that Airbnb would be charging my renters the 16% IVA (Value Added Tax) and 2% ISH (Lodging Tax) appropriate to Sonora but that Airbnb would pay that to me and I would be responsible for remitting it to the government. Seemed strange, especially since the messages I would get from Airbnb with new reservations said Airbnb would "remit this tax on your behalf." So I tried to find information about the taxes in the State of Sonora applied to Airbnb, but could not — lots of other states, but not Sonora. So I waited to see how it would work.
Then the messages about payouts began to get very, very confusing. With a new reservation request, there would be one amount given as "You will earn..." And at the bottom of the reservation, it would say, "Your guest paid $xxxx in Occupancy Taxes. Airbnb remits these taxes on your behalf." Well, Occupancy Taxes is a misnomer because the amount shown as "Occupancy Taxes" is always 16%, which is really the amount of Value Added Taxes. But trying to understand the tax reports was impossible. It was not clear 1) what my guest would be paying (which I think it is my right to know), 2) minus Airbnb's fees to me and the renter, 3) minus whatever taxes, properly named, were deducted, 4) where those taxes went, and 5) what would be my bottom-line payout. I'm not an accountant, but I've been running businesses since 1979, and I've frankly never seen such a mess.
Now, I'll again say that I understand that things can be difficult when you are required to address things like collecting and paying taxes in new ways dozens of different countries. It's understanding that it might take a while to sort things out. But now we get to the serious part about Airbnb's Support system,
CUSTOMER SUPPORT:
1. It is far too complicated to get in touch with a human being to ask a question.
Airbnb has many documents/information pieces/resources... But when I type in a REAL question and then must read through half a dozen offerings, that more often than not do NOT address my specific question, before I can get in line for a phone call or chat that may take considerable waiting before getting a human, it is just wrong.
2. You very nice Customer Support people try very hard, but too often they are no better at figuring out the problem than I am! They ARE good about thanking me for being a Super Host and devoting so much time to taking care of my guests. And they are good at saying that they will help me resolve my issue. But then it gets complicated and they can't. I can understand, again, that some things are very complicated. I greatly value honest communication, and that includes admitting when something is difficult or not clear, even to the agent, and that it needs to be figured out. And that might include digging into my listing and settings and account information to see if where a problem lies. A case in point: As I said, I thought I had registered my Mexican Corporation's tax ID in 2018. In all the hours I spent with Support people this past week, on the phone and messaging, I must have mentioned that a dozen times. No one ever checked and alerted me that my registration had not gone through properly. That would have been hugely helpful.
If a Support employee is insufficiently trained to handle complex issues and can't answer the question adequately, she/he should be allowed/required to pass it up to someone of higher authority and/or more knowledge.
SOME FINAL COMMENTS:
I'm taking time to provide this feedback because I care and want to be responsible. I see in the Community Center that I am not the only unhappy Host. That is really too bad. We hosts are the people who make money for you.
It seems like you are spending way too much time coming up with bright new ideas for new things you can do with Airbnb and far too little time must paying attention to the basic business that made you so popular. You are losing hosts. I have deactivated my listings and will totally remove them once all my reservations via Airbnb have been fulfilled. I will find another way to rent my properties that will 1) be more personally oriented, 2) cost my guests less, 3) bring me better income, and 4) do it in a way that is transparent and legally compliant.
**
I wish all this were different. You are spoiling a very good thing.
A FORMER SUPER HOST
**
**Duplicate content removed