Hi Kathleen, I'm happy that I found this thread but also EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED in dealing with Airbnb customer service in Manila, Phillipines. It is absolutely UNBELIEVABLE and actually hard to explain to someone who hasn't dealt with it!!! Like you, I live here in Northern California in Vacaville where we have a guest house on the property that we've been renting for a couple of years and I own a condo in Hawaii that I've been renting for 12 years! before Airbnb was even around! Like you, I am SUPERHOST, just earned it fourth time in a row! and I've NEVER had a problem speaking with Airbnb customer service via phone or chat when I am dealing with someone in San Francisco or even anywhere in the USA (or even a first world country like Europe!) but my last few calls to Airbnb customer service in the Phillipines have made me want to pull my f'n hair out. It's an absolute joke! And I know EXACTLY what you are saying that the SIMPLEST ISSUE can take the longest amount of time to resolve becuase, quite frankly, these people DO NOT UNDERTSTAND US, OUR NEEDS, OR VALUE OUR TIME. I mean, honestly, how could you, if you lived in a country where the average salary is probably $100-$200 a month and your cost of housing even less that. How can someone in one of these countries then understand someone spending $100, $200, $500 or even a $1,000 a night on accomodations! Anyway, I could go on and on. In the last 2 days, I've called Airbnb 3 times (twice for a hosting issue and once for a booking issue) and A) it was either not resolved, B) I was not undetsood and it took soooo long to explain, or C) I got hung up on because the lady didn't want to deal with me. Funny, though, I did reach someone in San Francisco today and I resolved an issue in LESS THAN 5 MINUTES!!! Isn't THAT interesting...I've always thought of Airbnb as the premier platform that others are trying to copy, thought of them as 5 star service, and easy to deal with but their decision to farm customer service to the Phillipines...BIG MISTAKE...They can now join the ranks of many other big companies like Sprint, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Synchrony Bank (Lowes credit card and Care Credit), and I'm sure countless others who want to save money (at the expense of their customers) by farming out their customer service to India and the Phillipines. It makes me sick! and seriously considering of finding another company to host and book travel with. Shoot, VRBO website may not be as nice but I still get bookings with them and at least their customer service is in the United Kingdom...
Scott