Dealing with party help line - reporting about my experience

Inna22
Level 10
Chicago, IL

Dealing with party help line - reporting about my experience

Yesterday at about 4pm  I received an alert from Party Squasher that I have upwards 30 guests at one of my properties. The reservation was for 5 and they been staying a couple of nights already without any issues. I called the guest who said that he was having a few people over. I told him it was not allowed and that they should take their gathering elsewhere. He promised to do that. Since this was early evening and there were no other red flags from this guest, I wanted to give him a chance to peacefully disperse. An hour later the number creeped up a little bit instead of going down so I called and messaged him again. This time he did not answer. I called Airbnb. I would’ve normally just gone over there, but I was at a family birthday with my kids and I didn’t feel this was a home trashing rager but rather an unauthorized gathering so I thought I will give this whole party line a chance to take care of this for me as per its intended design.

 

After being on hold with the original customer service agent, I was transferred to somebody else. That person's role was to just gather information. Another half hour later somebody else called me back and went over everything yet again. I assumed this person would jump straight onto dealing with the situation and then call me back to discuss. However, I never heard back from anybody and the counter was still showing a good number of people so I decided to head over to the house. On my way I called Airbnb one more time and was told that I have a case manager (the last person I spoke with) and that person communicates by email only. The only way to get answers to any of my questions was for either me or this representative on the phone (who by the way was lovely) to email him and wait for him to email back. Clearly an extremely unproductive way of doing anything. My main question at that point was if I have the right to remove the entire group or only the unregistered guests and what the consequences would be to me as well as what action if any he took so far. The rep on the phone emailed the case manager and was hearing back regularly, but they were generic answers and not specific to my questions. When I parked, I started to exchange emails with that person myself and was getting really vague responses – quotes from various policies all having nothing to do with the questions I was asking. By the time I arrived, the party was over. This was about 7:30 PM. The guest was extremely apologetic and claimed he would pay for damages if there was any. Visually I could only see some splashes on the walls and I could faintly smell smoke in one of the bedrooms.

 

I was still not given a clear answer on what would happen if I ask the guest to leave. The person on the phone could not authorize anything without the case manager and the case manager was not answering the questions asked. I made a decision of letting the guest stay. I’m not a big fan of kicking people out on the street. The party was over. There was nothing to gain for me at that point by leaving these people outside to freeze at 8 PM. Yes, maybe that should be a punishment to them but hopefully karma will step in. I also didn’t want to have a cancellation and loss of income on my account at that point when everything was said and done anyway. Also I thought by letting them stay I felt I was keeping the door open to getting the guest to pay if anything major is discovered at departure.

 

I emailed the representative one last time but never heard back until midday today. His message said he was closing the case.

 

To summarize: the party helpline is a farce. Most importantly, there’s absolutely no sense of urgency. If a naïve host relies on them for help, it will just never come. The problem may be is that some host will call them thinking that something will be done and waste precious time instead of taking their own action. There are also no policies in place. I should’ve received an email outlining what is going to happen, what my rights are, how to get in touch with customer service through a priority line and what the next steps would be. Ideally they should have a security company or retired law-enforcement in big metropolitan cities or areas on retainer to come and help. Prior to them establishing this line, what would’ve happened was this: I would’ve realized there was a party, I would have either kicked them out myself or called the police without relying on anyone but me; then I would’ve followed standard process to get reimbursed. Now all the regular steps are taken away from me but there is nothing to replace them (if you choose to engage Airbnb).

 

 

47 Replies 47
Lawrene0
Level 10
Florence, Canada

Wow, @Inna22 . Thanks for posting. My "like" is because I like the way you handled it, not because I like that the party helpline is more hindrance than help.  

@Lawrene0 I always feel that when I like a post it is more of a thank you for posting rather than approval of what transpired 

@Inna22 , just wanted to be clear that the thumbs up was 100% for you 🙂

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Inna22  I'm not surprised at all.  And I mean AT ALL.  The whole party hotline was always dumb because in the event of a major raging free for all, the smart thing will still always be to call the police.  Given that airbnb's MO is 1) bureaucracy, 2) vague doublespeak  3) failure to follow up  4) inability to make decisions or improvise.....this is exactly what I expected from this shiny new 'service'.

 

Whatever happened to the drunk cleaning woman?  LOL

@Mark116 those four points just summarizes what I was trying to say in four big paragraphs 

Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

@Mark116 , she was probably at the party .

@Mark116  exactly my thoughts as well

Rowena29
Level 10
Australia

@Inna22 

Thanks so much for posting  - seriously - and for helping to make me even more cynical and disappointed in this company , if that were possible.  For me, the most concerning thing is as you  point out 'The problem may be is that some host will call them thinking that something will be done and waste precious time instead of taking their own action"

it really really INFURIATES me that airbnb pretends to be helpful when they have absolutely no intention of offering any kind of useful information or support.  The fact that there is no real support is bad enough, but putting these ludicrous  non policies in place which effectively exacerbate and prolong an already potentially dangerous situation is  despicable IMO. 

People are getting such mixed messages. You have to know when you absolutely must call CS if you want things to go your way and then you ALSO have to know when to take no notice at all of company rules and regulations and take action yourself.

I cannot stand duplicity and misdirection and airbnb seem to be masters at both.

I'd hate to be working for the company. they must be an absolute nightmare.

I'd rather clean toilets.

Oh that's right, I do.

 

@Rowena29 

Staight to the heart of the matter, as always. 

 

This is not about Airbnb's empty promises, or their shady PR stunts/damage limitation exercises, or even about their rank stupidity and incompetence. This is about Airbnb cynically and deliberately putting the safety, security and lives of their hosts at risk, by lulling them into a false sense of security with all these farcical, non-existent measures and safeguards that they pretend are in place to protect hosts in times of crisis. And all for the sole purpose of making already obscenely rich people, even richer. 

 

By far the most dangerous, insidious part of this strategy is that so many vulnerable, gullible hosts do actually swallow the bs myth (perpetuated by the company itself), that Airbnb will come charging in on a big white steed to rescue them when things do go awry - or at the very least, have their backs - so they have no idea that they absolutely must  have adequate back-up plans and emergency measures in place to deal with all  eventualities. The fact that so, so many hosts passively and willingly place their trust in Airbnb to protect them when trouble or danger rears its ugly head, is truly chilling. 

Sharon1014
Level 10
Sellicks Beach, Australia

The simple solution to the party house problem is to state in your listing that you live next door or on the premises (even if you don't).  Guests who want to party simply won't book with you because they know you are right there watching (or think you will be).  End of problem.

@Sharon1014  yes, but then they are 3 hours late without letting you know because they think you are there next door

A coded key box or coded door handle fixes that.  Do you want a trashed house or party central going on at your property or not?  As a host, you just have to think smart, protect your own best interests and style your listing to deter unwanted elements from booking in the first place.  I so often read about hosts having bad experiences with the party crowd, but this is always going to be a high risk thing when you are not resident or immediately nearby the property (or if guests think you are an absentee host).  Better to safeguard yourself and your property before it gets to the party stage.  We live upstairs to our bnb downstairs, and so eternally thankful that we make this clear in our listing.  Zero problems with party guests (thus far).

@Sharon1014 @Inna22 has 11 listings. She can't believably claim to live next door to all of them. 

Sharon1014
Level 10
Sellicks Beach, Australia

Seriously? Are guests going to be bothered to look up other properties that the host may have listed?  Doubt it very much (unless of course the host has multiple properties in close proximity and the guest happens to be shopping around before booking).   As we have found out, guests can barely manage to read the info on the listing they are looking at booking, which is why it matters to shove as much "critical info" into the photo captions on your listing as possible.  If you have 11 listings where you are non-resident, then you take the risk that comes with that and cop it on the chin.  Or you mitigate your risk to whatever extent possible, through whatever means possible, including for example, mentioning that you have relatives/friends living next door (even if you don't) if you can't physically be everywhere yourself.