Missed out on Superhost due to glitch on Airbnb

Missed out on Superhost due to glitch on Airbnb

I recently sent a pre-approval to a booking request, and then had to retract the pre-approval due to being notified of some building work commencing at my home. I quickly (within a few hours) drafted a message as I always like to send a personal message to all bookings, along with either a confirmation or decline of booking. I wrote to the guest and then pressed "decline"  and the Airbnb system sent me back a message "unable to perform this request at this time" message. I persisted over about an 8 hr period and still got the same message. Finally, I was out of time to respond to the guest and now I have lost my Superhost status. 

 

I cannot see any way of contacting Airbnb to address the problem, all I have received is an email advising me of my demotion from Superhost. 

 

1. Has anyone else had this problem recently?

2. How do I contact Air bnb so that I can have my issue examined and dealt with? I dont want to get an automated reply or be pushed aside as "too bad". 

 

Thanks. 

10 Replies 10
Sandra856
Level 10
Copenhagen, Denmark

Hi @Sam208 🙂

I can see you have a cancelled reservation on your listing? Could it be the reason you lost the superhost status? Is it that reservation you are refering to? If you cancel an already confirmed reservation you will loose your superhost status for a year. If something should happen that you cannot control which makes it impossible to host you should contact airbnb and they can cancel an already confirmed reservation so you won't be penalized and loose your superhost status. You must never cancel a reservation from your side. Always contact airbnb. You can call airbnb on this Australien number 

Australia+61 2 8520 3333

Kind regards, Sandra

Hi Sandra, 

I canceled a 2-night reservation because I was advised by builders that they planned to start some work on my house during that period. Air bnb just gave me a warning about that but did NOT penalise me. 

 

I then had a reservation request for different dates and I sent a pre-approval. I then contacted the builders to inquire if the building works would be completed by the date of the reservation request and they were not sure. So I decided it would be best NOT to accept the reservation. 

 

I therefore notified the guest immediately via message and attempted to decline the pre-approval - this is where the system could not perform the action. Time lapsed, and then I am unsure of the process here but I received a notification that I have lost Superhost status. 

 

Is it because I issued a pre-approval and then withdrew it? Or is it because time lapsed and I did not confirm the pre-approval? If it is the latter, then it is the fault of the glitch in Airbnb system that made it impossible to withdraw the pre approval within time. 

 

What is the purpose of pre-approval if you are not permitted to decline it without penalty? I dont understand. 

 

I have hosted many guests for several years, have always had excellent reviews, have only just had to cancel due to builders notifying me of their dates and now I have lost Superhost status. Its crazy. 

 

 

Sandra856
Level 10
Copenhagen, Denmark

Hi @Sam208 🙂

One of the criterias for becoming a superhost is that you can't cancel a reservation. If you do that you won't be able to become a superhost for a year. You must NEVER cancel a reservation from your side. Always call airbnb and tell them about any upcoming construction work. Airbnb penalizes EVERYONE if they cancel. In your case any upcoming guest will see that you cancelled on a guest and it could make them uncomfortable with booking with you because you could cancel on them aswell. Also you wont be able to become a superhost for a year. 

If you weren't penalized I wouldn't be able to see "Host cancelled" on your listing. 

I'm sorry but it is the reason why airbnb took away your badge. Call airbnb and explain you didn't knew and just wanted to help the guest out when you found out about the construction work. They might help you with deleting your cancellation.

If you want to see the criterias for becoming a superhost and your stats go to your dashboard then press *progress* then *opportunities* then press the Superhost box and you will see this : (this is mine)

 

Screenshot 2019-01-13 at 01.17.38.png

@Sam208 btw you can reply to the cancellation note on your profile explaning why you cancelled. Write it in a way that will make upcoming /potentiel guests feel safe about booking with you. You only have a small timeframe to do it. Just wanted to mention it in case airbnb can't/wont help you out and remove it. 

Sandra856
Level 10
Copenhagen, Denmark

@Sam208 we all receive an email from airbnb these days if we lost or got our superhost status. Every 3 month all of our ratings are calculated by airbnb and if we met those requirements stated above we will get the badge. 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Sam208  Your cancellations would have not been penalized if you had contacted Airbnb to explain before cancelling or declining. Construction, or construction noise would fall under "extenuating circumstances" and you could have asked Airbnb to cancel on that basis with no penalties attached.

As far as the second one- your terminology makes it confusing to understand. Inquiries are either Pre-approved or Declined, but you actually don't have to do either- if it's an Inquiry, simply messaging back the guest with 24 hours, without clicking on either of those, will not affect your stats. Booking Requests are either Approved or Declined. You do have to perform one of those actions within 24 hours or you'll be penalized.

When you pre-approve an Inquiry, that means you have accepted- the guest is then free to continue with booking.

BTW, although it didn't cause me to lose Superhost status, about a year ago, Airbnb simply stopped sending me text alerts. That resulted in me missing the 24 hour deadline to approve or decline a booking request, which I wasn't aware I had gotten. It was definitely an Airbnb tech glitch, which it took them a month to rectify. And even though the guest did end up booking when I got back to her after 25 hours, my response rate went from 100% to 86%, even though it was their fault. Unfair, but it's a frustrating company to deal with.

Steve2888
Level 2
Haleiwa, HI

Airbnb had a glitch in their system that was telling them I had not responded to an inquiry when I already had, well within the 24 hour window. I was told there was nothing they could do and that my superhost status would not be denied over that one incident anyway, but then it was. Once again, no recourse for something that should be quite simple to verify with their own records. Very aggravating!

@Steve2888  I find it hard to believe that if you regularly answer inquiries and requests in time, that one inquiry being missed, albeit a glitch, would lower your response rate sufficiently to lose Superhost status. It's your Overall rating that isn't high enough for Superhost- it has to be at least 4.8. With over 400 reviews, I'm surprised you don't know this.

Never really paid it that much attention. Superhost or not, I always seemed to have plenty of bookings, so whatever, right? Something about an autogrant for superhosts caught my eye and got me going again about it. There are probably other benefits I'm not aware of, like the $100 bonus for four straight (years?) of superhost status. It's a little harder, I imagine, working on the lower end of the economic scale, to get those 5-stars. Oh well. Thanks, Sarah!

@Steve2888  You're right- way too many hosts get all stressed out about attaining or retaining Superhost status, which is just a behavior modification tool to keep hosts hopping. If you enjoy what you're doing and get bookings and guests are happy that's all that matters.

 

Yeah, you get a $100 voucher (not cash) for travel if you maintain Superhost for a year. My last 3 have expired without me getting a chance to use them 🙂

 

That grant I think you're refering to was something they did way back last spring to supposedly help out Superhosts who lost all their bookings due to COVID. That ship sailed long ago, and very few hosts got any grant money. It was more of a PR stunt than anything.