Interesting article about ABB complaints on Twitter

[Laura2592]

https://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-trending-twitter-customers-complain-host-cleaning-fees-rules-...

So, people don't want to pay a cleaning fee BUT ABB charges additional "service fees" that are not explained.  Responsibility is put back on hosts when the cleaning fee is just one part of that package. 

Guests don't like host rules. Again focus is shifted back onto hosts instead of explaining that this is an alternative form of accommodation and is NOT a hotel. 

Also interesting about the percentage of corporate rentals.  

[Dave52]

@Colleen253 My guess is they never booked a hotel in their life. 

If they did they'd know by now the nightly room rate is only part of the Total price.

[Chris-and-Jan4]

I just raised my daily rate 10% because AIRBNB keeps offering 10% promotion for non-cancellable reservations.  Last year I had strict cancellation policy but that is no longer an option.  When AIRBNB limits my options, I will respond accordingly.

[Colleen253]

 "Last year I had strict cancellation policy but that is no longer an option" @Chris-and-Jan4 That's not true. Strict is still an option.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Chris-and-Jan4 

you can choose STRICT  instead of STRICT OR NON REFUNDABLE

[Elaine701]

https://news.airbnb.com/fee-transparency-on-airbnb/

[Suzanne302]

One way to solve this would be to place the total cost bigger and bold and the nightly rate smaller. It's currently listed the other way around. At least when I look. They are always changing the layout. Of course that won't work when a guest is just browsing without putting in dates.

As a guest, the nightly rate becomes irrelevant once you add the cleaning fee and makes it difficult to look for a property in your budget. And I'm all for cleaning fees. I don't see anything wrong with charging a cleaning fee, but it would help to see it displayed up front to make searching easier.

As a unique host, this is what saddens me: "At the same time, Airbnb's increasing popularity has attracted hordes of corporate real-estate owners and professional property managers to its platform, many of whom own or operate dozens of listings within the same city. Skift reported in March that, according to the analytics site AirDNA, just 5% of hosts own or operate nearly a third of all Airbnb listings, reflecting the massive power wielded by corporate and professional hosts."

[Laura2592]

@Suzanne302  corporate hosts are attractive to ABB because they typically have standard rules and practices across a large number of units....sounds like a hotel, which ABB likes  

ABB have painted themselves into a corner with their brand. They started out with "live like a local" with unique stays and shares but guests (not all guests mind you) have pushed for a more hotel-like experience. They want to be able to pretend they own the place for their stay and not respect that this is someone's home.  As you see now, there's public pressure.  So ABB would be wise to rebrand....ABB Hotel.fir corporate rentals with a hotel-like stay, ABB Unique for a whole place unique individual owner stay, ABB Share for a home share stay. A simple categorization would help guests to understand what they are getting. But like so many easy fixes (ie, the option to say you are bringing a pet)  it will not happen and the confusion and frustration will continue. 

[Dave52]

Obviously anybody with a brain will look at the TOTAL before booking a stay, and compare the TOTAL for a hotel room/rooms to accommodate the same number of people. 

Cleaning:  cleaners charge a flat rate per clean, and I pass the cost to the guest with no markup.  There is no option to change because cleaning is required after every guest stay.

The longer you stay, the lower the cleaning cost per night. 

Hotels have lots of rooms, their own staff, amortize across all those rooms and include it in the room cost. 

Hotels add local taxes and other fees into the TOTAL.

It's called MATH.

Basing decisions on twitter threads, never a good idea.

[Ann783]

The more complaints I get about pricing, the more I'm inclined to raise my rates. Everyone operates with a budget. If something is too expensive, you don't buy it. The collective whining is too much. When I've stayed as a guest at the vast majority of airbnbs I've rented, I have left feeling like I got a good deal… a full kitchen, 2 full bathrooms, individual bedrooms for the kids...

[Anonymous]

@Ann783  I read so many remarks about complaints regarding pricing, and I just wonder - where in the transaction do these occur?  Do guests complain about the room rates during their requests? Do they Instant Book but complain after the fact about prices they've already agreed to? Or are they deciding after the stay that they'd like to have spent less money on it?  Your ratings are through the roof so I'm guessing the last one isn't something you don't experience much.

[Ann783]

.@Andrew0 the complaints are in the inquiries. Most realize we aren’t a good fit and never book. We are on the lower end in terms of pricing for our area. I like hosting families and members of diverse communities- and strive to a fair and generous host. But, I’m starting to feel unappreciated.

[Anonymous]

@Ann783  It's a shame to hear that, because your cottage looks awesome and the price seems like a great value. I get the impression that one of the radiant after-effects of the pandemic is bizarrely distorted expectations for travel, and heightened interest from people who wouldn't be your expected target customers. This is part of the reason I'm not in a hurry to open back up - I guess in the next months you'll accumulate some wild tales like Laura and other great hosts of the eastern seaboard.

[Waybridge0]

Well I had a guest that 10 days in with a 2 month reservation tried getting a full refund after cancelling despite me having a strict cancellation policy. YET he managed to get his money back because AIRBNB allowed it. The guest had only one review, (I have 44 good reviews and im a super host) he ran away from his previous place also accusing previous host of being dirty and non-responsive, he ruined my toilet, made charges to my account and AIRBNB ALLOWED IT (or got conned) and airbnb also adjusted his reservation without my consent to benefit HIM despite the guy having only ONE REVIEW.

To supposedly resolve the issue, Airbnb put me on to like 8 customer service people that sounded like they were from India and NONE fixed anything. Just a bunch of back and forth trying to sound helpful and professional and waste my time. It's the day of today and I have $1500 in damages which have NOT been covered with the airbnb insurance nor from the guest. Airbnb tried sending me $950 for the toilet damaged, but since the guest charged ME $800 because HE left early at his own will, the money went back to the guest - did I mention I have a strict cancellation policy?! The guest threw a brown powder down the toilet, ruined it and accused me of having illicit drugs inside the apartment - most probably HIS DRUGS!

Airbnb has tried sending me paperwork to sign which states in a very sneaky way that I can't sue them. - of course I didn't sign it. I've been dealing with this problem since January 2021 and its May 2021 and still the airbnb hasn't covered the damages - instead they put me on to many different departments which have been useless. 

I am so angry at the guest, and this guest WILL PAY somehow because he has robbed me and he ruined my travel plans at the time because he threatened me while I was away accusing me of having illicit drugs inside the apartment (I think they were his supply and he just shot pictures of his own supply and foolish employees of airbnb bought the lie) he disturbed my neighbors with loud music breaking one of my rules, he threw down brown powder down the toilet and who knows what other paraphernalia he threw down the toilet because the toilet doesn't work as well as before - he conned airbnb and stole part of my money that airbnb sent me to fix toilet. AIRBNB ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN! TIE-LUR PAAA-TRICK MOOORE is the guest name. Beware - do NOT rent out to this guest. 

[Inna22]

Did you see the GA listing in that article? 16 people in one bedroom, floor covered in mattresses 

[Pamela955]

I think I ABB service fees and charges are disgraceful. I have just gone to book an apartment for 25 nights £90 per night and ABB is charging me and extra £400  in fees. So now I will not use Air BNB ever again ... they are disgraceful. Onto Twitter and Facebook I go now with a screenshot of their charges ...  and will hopefully turn all my followers against Air BnB.. greedy people!