Please Airbnb, don't ghost me...

[Silvia470]

So this guy one night decided to leave a hot iron face down on the carpet, leaving a very defined burned mark on it. A cream carpet, to be exact.

The next morning I am already on it, going around carpet shops asking for quotes.

I get a like per like quote of £678 for replacing the carpet of the room (it is a large room, 20 square meters.)

I get back to my guest, aking him £500 as the carpet wasn't new (but still in good conditions and I wasn't looking to replace it anytime soon).

He refuses to pay and I escalate the matter to Airbnb which still hasn't got in touch with me.

Problem also is that this guest left a very long review, saying that everything was fine with the room but that I asked him too much money for the damage he caused, adducing reasons like "I didn't burn the whole carpet, I don't want to pay to replace all of it", which to me is just pure madness; what am I supposed to do? patch it up??? But I am digressing.

Now, when tried to call Airbnb earlier, I have been kept holding on the phone for 66 minutes (why do they offer a call back service that puts you on hold anyway?) and then the line dropped. Great.

I am feeling stressed out and frustrated.

My question to all of you, hosts out there, is: do you think it is fair that this service which is making billions on our houses, private spaces and hard work, just leaves us, hostage of nasty guests that come in, damage our properties, feel entitled to not having to make it good and (cherry on top) also have the power to leave reviews that add long-term damage to our businesses?

Every time I get a review notification, I start shaking. Because I know that even if everything seemed fine, that guest might just be having a bad day and leave you 3 stars because "the bathroom mirror wasn't big enough" or "The host didn't provide courtesy sleepers, you know, like in spas" (this was a real feedbacks I had from my one and only 3 stars review so far and my rooms go for 23/28 per night...so not really spa/hotel prices). 

I think the bar is being set too high: guests have hotel expectations because they don't get what Airbnb is. The user base is now so wide and differentiated that seems impossible to educate every single one of them and having them understand the core Airbnb's concept.

I am talking about the "belonging anywhere", the Belo...This stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMITXMrrVQU

I worked for the studio that rebranded Airbnb, so I know very well what the manifesto of this company is, the principles it's built on. And are these amazing values that made me decide to become a host with no hesitation in the beginning.

But now I feel It just became a cheap hotel service that doesn't care about keeping its genuine hosts happy; It keeps us in fear, with no power over our own guest's tantrums and unable to demand respect for rules or payment for damages without suffering the consequences of the very much feared "bad reviews".

What made this company successful in the first place is being put aside and real hosts are slowly being replaced by faceless agencies, key boxes and cleaning companies that don't mind a bad review or a damaged carpet because it's not their home in the first place.

Distorted music in my ears, playing in a loop, for hours...please Airbnb, call me back, talk to me.

[Michele511]

Yes, it does. I hope that Airbnb would honor these things. But, I guess we can't count on that.

[Mrs--Donna0]

I would have find carpet to match and patch it, and keep it moving. I would also let him know about it.

[JuanJose18]

I found interesting how this is a grey area, so many different opinions and contradictions. There appears to be no consensus on who should be responsible to cover this damages. I'm in the middle of a dispute on the Resolution center because a guest broke the glass top of my stove. The guest didn't say anything and now went ghost on me. Silvia's experience gives me some hope that AirBnB representative will be able to sort this out. Does AirBnB has its own insurance and are we covered on that umbrella? 

[Maxine37]

Did you try your insurance for accidental damage..?

[Ace2]

I’m with you on this one Silvia... Airbnb boasts about its one million dollar guarantee, but as far as I can tell they do nothing to assist hosts when there is an issue. To date, I have lost just under $500 due to “small theft” and property damage (broken belongings/appliances, stained carpets, ruined curtains/blinds, etc., and Airbnb has done nothing to assist or even hold guests accountable, even when I have proven they are the culprits. Their one suggestion was that I increase my nightly rate so that I attract a “different type of guest” (because those looking for an affordable place to stay are apparently more prone to steal and destroy things...), and that I take stock of everything in my home after each guest... And for what? Even when I know exactly where something has gone, and guests admit to it, Airbnb does nothing. Instead they expect me to file a police report and take someone to small claims court over a $20-$50 loss...

Usually I am not even aware of what has been taken until I go to set out towels for new guests and realize there aren’t any left, or go to get an extra blanket for a guest (which I hadn’t used for a number of guests) and realized that my down blanket has gone missing. I eventually had to lock my room, linen closet, and a number of cabinets, but I can’t place locks on every door/cabinet in my home, or the refrigerator for that matter. Between stolen silverware, personal food items, blankets, towels, pillows, Tupperware, etc., as well as various damages, I sometimes end up losing more money than I make on a reservation. After contacting Airbnb early on and seeing what little assistance they offer, I gave up and counted it as part of the cost of offering travelers an affordable and comfortable place to stay.

However, recently I had a guest take my hiking boots with them when they checked out, something they even admitted via the message center and stated it was an “accident” (even though they had to go into the hall closet and remove them) and that they would return them in time for my upcoming three week backpacking trip. I agreed and messaged the guest occasionally to get an update, but they never responded. After a week of no response, and on the last day I could file a complaint in the resolution center, I alerted Airbnb of the issue and followed through with the proper procedures. It’s been a week since then, and I have already been forced to order another pair ($130) with still no help from Airbnb... That was the last straw for me! I have since blocked off the rest of my calendar and no longer plan to host once I have followed through with the last of my hosting obligations this month. The company makes billions off the backs of others and expects us to take/bear all the risks, all the while offering false promises of help and security. They are more than a platform which connects a room with a guest (as one person stated), which is why they have such strict policies regarding prejudice/racism/unfair hosting practices. They require you to host anyone who does not pose an obvious threat and meets your rules, but does nothing when those guests violate your home, or the law.

I started hosting in order to offer travelers an affordable place to stay, but it seems that as Airbnb grows, the quality of guests decreases. More and more I host guests who expect hotel amenities; they eat the free breakfast items I provide for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (sometimes costing me more money than they pay for their stay), they expect their beds to be made each day, to have new towels daily, they leave things a mess and assume some maid will clean up after them, and all for $25-$30 a night for what is essentially an entire apartment to themselves (and then threaten my superhost status by leaving a 4 Star review)... Airbnb’s lack of accountability/responsibility/host-support has caused me to give up hosting. In fact, every host I personally know has stopped hosting all together, or switched platforms, due to similar issues.