Bad experience with resolution centre and case manager (hosting in London)

[Pauline588]

 I had experienced really really poor case manager support in resolution centre. 

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Problem: Waited for 2 weeks, no one called me or replied in airbnb chat room. Case got closed by the manager without resolved.

I had hosted a guest 2 weeks ago, the guest Media had a party of more than 20 people at my flat, causing chaos and noise to the neighbourhood, and safety issues with smoking. Neighbours tried to stop the party but failed, in the end they called the police to come at 1AM mid-night.

They also caused huge damages to my flat.

I submitted a case in resolution centre, and chase every single day multiple times as it's super urgent with safety issue and police involved. But unfortunately there is no case manager contacting me by phone or chat in airbnb app. They said they work in different way from support team, it's not transparent system in such way, does not make sense.

Up to today, the case is still not resolved. I have been host for 3 years+ with airbnb, really really sad with airbnb this time. I am not sure if I will continue to host after this case, and I can see airbnb quality is reducing A LOT these months, don't recommend others to start hosting their homes.

**Personal information hidden due to safety reasons - Community Center Guidelines] - Please note that it is not allowed to share any personal details publicly for your own privacy

[Anonymous]

@Pauline588  Yes, unfortunately Airbnb service times are incredibly slow now and no host can safely assume that they can rely on Airbnb to be of any help with an urgent safety issue.  

That's why it's more important than ever that offsite hosts have measures in place to monitor and secure their properties, and prevent parties and other incidents of excess occupancy from happening in the first place. 

I hope you're able to get reimbursed in full for the damage, although people are reporting 4-5 week waits for any action to be taken on that. It's a sad state of affairs, especially for people who bought into Airbnb's "Trust and Safety" jargon, but fundamentally it's just a listing site and only safe to use if you're able to maintain control over your property.

[Suzana29]

Pauline,

I am so sorry that you are going through this! I am too! Since the shutdown, the quality within the guest pool has gone down tremendously! I had 3 guests in a row who did not respect my house rules. One of who completely trashed my bnb! It took Airbnb over 2 weeks to respond to me and they denied my claim. When I tried to call, it said the wait time was over an hour.  It seems like Airbnb is severely understaffed. This is so frustrating. Good luck to you. Keep pushing. I hope you get it resolved.

[Pauline588]

Hi Suzana,

Thanks for reply. I had exactly same experience as yours. 

Before lockdown, airbnb reply was prompt and helpful. But nowadays, it becomes super slow to process any hosting problems. I am sure the lockdown changes the industry and business flows. I am doubting if airbnb is still competitive versus hotels, because hotels have more security / staff support / formal process for both owners and guests.

I hope airbnb can learn from this situation and improve the system and service, it will be good for the long run when scaling up or IPO. 

My airbnb has been totally destroyed by the guest having 20 ppl party in it, I've lost all the reputation in the neighbourhood. But airbnb has not helped to ban the guest ID or provide further help to host with loss from guest security deposit. The resolution centre issue is still "In review with airbnb" status. I wish I can get good support from there.

Thanks.

[Pauline588]

You are right that offsite hosts should monitor and secure the properties by themselves, especially during lockdown period with more people tend to do crazy things with bad results.

But in reality, when renting whole property, the host can not stay together with guests and monitor their behaviours. And hosts can't install camera to watch them, how can this be improved?

My suggestion is holding guests security deposit, when any problem happens, deposit should be sent to host. That's what I asked for £80 deposit from guest, but I have not received the deposit from airbnb so far, I don't know how it works in the system.

The guest walked away with nothing to pay in my case, I don't see any security for hosts from my experience. Neither the guest has been banned.

[Anonymous]

@Pauline588 The "security deposit" is a misnomer and a myth; Airbnb does not charge this to the guest. The amount you specify as your deposit has no impact on the compensation you might be granted in the event of damage. It would be an incredibly bad idea to assume that the fake deposit is some kind of protection, so please throw this notion in the garbage.

The fact is, Airbnb is not assuming the responsibilities of a property manager - it is merely a listing service that happens to oversell the idea that it's "safe" to rent your home out to strangers from the internet. If you can't find a way to keep control over your property and prevent abuses like this from happening, your best options are to either get out of the short-term rental market or enlist a co-host who can actually get in there and keep your place safe. 

[Colleen253]

@Anonymous  It’s remarkable how incredibly heavy handed Airbnb is in micromanaging the business of hosts, considering it’s just a listing site. 

[Pauline588]

Hi Andrew,

Please help to explain how deposit used or involved to protect hosts?

In general term of renting market, deposit is held by middle man, if anything wrong happens to guest and cause loss to hosts, deposit is charged and transferred to hosts to cover the loss.

If you are saying airbnb deposit works in different way and not charged guest, why and how can we have deposit there to help?

[Anonymous]

@Pauline588  I recognize that this is your understanding of how deposits are supposed to work, and Airbnb itself is pretty misleading about it.  But Airbnb does not charge the guest a deposit at the point of booking, and in the event of damage they are the sole gatekeeper to any further charges - you have no control over how much you'll be reimbursed, if anything. 

So while it's quite reasonable that you'd want a real deposit that can be remitted directly to you, this is not the way it works on Airbnb - you'll have to list on a different platform with a more owner-oriented payment system and damage policy. 

[Colleen253]

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/140/how-does-airbnb-handle-security-deposits

@Pauline588 

[Pauline588]

It looks the host-required security deposit does not work as it's intended to be for my case.

I asked a security deposit of £80 from all guests to protect myself from rogue guests and damages. But in such case, I have not received any coverage from deposit yet after 2 weeks of issue happened.

I really doubt how/why security deposit is being involved from middleman airbnb to provide more protection for hosts. So far, it looks no difference of asking extra host-required deposit from no deposit. End up with same result or loss.

[Colleen253]

“And hosts can't install camera to watch them, how can this be improved”?

Is there some law where you host that says you can’t? It’s allowed on Airbnb, and is extremely helpful. @Pauline588 

[Helen3]

There are no laws in London or England that says you can't install CCTV. In fact London has one of the highest numbers of CCTV's that operated publicly and on residential buidlings anywhere in the world 🙂 @Colleen253 

@Pauline588  sorry to hear that your guests trashed your place and upset your neighbours.

Can I ask what sort of vetting you put in place when accepting guests and why you don't have a ring bell or similar so you can monitor guests when they arrive and leave to make sure they aren't bringing in those not on the booking/hosting a party.

[Pauline588]

Hi Helen3,

My flat is located in zone 1 central London, inside a townhouse building.

Based on UK law, it is not legal to install a private CCTV camera facing public road or people, for sake of privacy issues.

In such case, it is impossible to enhance safety or monitoring by installing camera in central London, where has the biggest amount of airbnb listings in the UK.

Thus, I assume airbnb can provide more support or protection to the hosts while making commissions from hosts.

That's exactly what airbnb business relies in long term.

Thanks.

[Debra300]

@Pauline588,

Airbnb is only a reservation booking platform.  It is the host's responsibility to ensure that guests are adhering to house rules and local laws concerning their properties.  Also, Airbnb has no authority to remove anyone from someone else's property.  Thus, if you need to vacate a guest and/or others from your property, you will need to engage the appropriate authorities.