The Truth, the Whole Truth and nothing but the Truth.

[Shaun69]

Hi Folks, i would like to share my day with you all, i will not express my feelings regarding what has occurred but leave it to you all to make your own minds up how you would feel and react to the following situation:

Tomorrow at 1100 UK time I was scheduled to have an AIRBNB PLUS photo shot and home visit. In preparation for this event and to ensure that the listing in question was looking at its absolute best my company carried out the following actions:

1. Calendar blocked for day of shot so no guests would be present IAW AIRBNB PLUS instructions.

2. Cleaners gave listing a deep clean and spent in excess of three hours on extra polishing etc.

3. Florist delivered two floral displays to ensure the correct ambience was achieved.

4. Gardeners planted out of season plants to give best season appearance.

5. I shouted at lots of people (which i never do) to ensure the work was completed on time and to the correct standard.

THEN AT 1409 TODAY LESS THAN 21 HOURS BEFORE THE SHOT AND VISIT WAS MENT TO TAKE PLACE  a person from an AIRBNB PLUS partner company phoned my office and cancelled to whole thing with no valid explanation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OVER TO YOU FOLKS HOW WOULD YOU FEEL!!!!!!!!!

Regards Shaun

[Shaun69]

@Victoria567 Hi Victoria, we have as a company opted out of AIRBNB PLUS because of this! 

Regards Shaun.

[Victoria567]

Hi@Shaun

Good ......vote with your feet.

Ive been asked to consider air bnb plus with the odd email from them.

Not going there as I will just stick with the usual version of air bnb.

If I was thinking as a visitor to stay at an air bnb plus, I would stay at a hotel for similar money!

[Susan17]

@Shaun0 You're not alone in being disappointed with Plus

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-you-should-think-twice-before-signing-up-airbnb-plus-lansdale

[Shaun69]

@Susan17 Thank you for that link Susan I found it very informative and it confirmed a number of my fears regarding the PLUS programme. The section regarding photographers and lack of vetting would clearly explain what has happened to my company!!!!!!!!!

Best wishes Shaun.

P.S I am still waiting for a reply to my complaint.

[Shaun69]

UPDATE

After about twenty messages, seven emails and three phone calls I received the following information from the department that is responsible for the AIRBNB PLUS PARTNER COMPANY that has let us down so badly:

Email one: Hi Shaun, 

!!!!!!! from the Plus team here. I was forwarded your case by my colleagues in customer service and can only apologise for the time it has taken to reach your email. We are small teams handling thousands of listings and timing is not as fast as we'd wish for. 

I sincerely apologise for the cancelled inspection and appreciate that you went to a lot of effort on the day to have your listing looking in the best condition. I can see from the system that you have deleted your Plus application and therefore I am unable to view who was scheduled to visit your home in early October however please note that I have forwarded all of your feedback to our program managers and home visits team. 

Email two from me:Hi !!!!!!!!!,

Please will you provided me with the name of the AIRBNB PLUS PARTNER COMPANY that has cost my business hundreds of pounds so I can review them to ensure other hosts cannot be taken advantage of like myself. Our community works on a review system that prevents abuse by unprofessional and unreliable operators, please do not allow this photographic company to operate with impunity!!!!

Many thanks Shaun.

Email three:Hi Shaun, 

I completely understand your frustrations however I am unable to access such information. In line with GDPR 2018 regulation once you deleted your plus application all relevant information associated with it was also deleted from our system and therefore it won't be possible for me to trace who the third party photographer was. 

Email four from me:Hi !!!!!!!,

I acknowledge receipt of your second email and can only say I am very disappointed if not cross with its information content. My company has been very loyal to the AIRBNB platform and we have never asked for help before, I expected better!!!!! My fellow directors and i will meet up next week to consider our position regarding the AIRBNB platform, it is clear to me now where exactly we stand within the AIRBNB community. Its such a shame because I have had a lot of faith in AIRBNB destroyed by this incident.

Regards Shaun Revell

(MD GEER & SON LTD) 

Folks I will not give an opinion on what has happened to my company, all I will say is "fellow hosts beware do not make the same mistakes as I did".

Regards Shaun.

[Ange2]

@Shaun69    Ah!  it's the fault of the " third party photographer ".

[Zappa0]

@Shaun0 Airbnb should be fined, have their Superhost status taken away, be left a scathing review, have threatening messages sent to them about the penalties, refund what you paid,  find you an alternative photo shoot company, and have an automated message appear "Airbnb Plus cancelled this meeting 21.hours in advance"

In all seriousness, they suck.

[Shaun69]

@Ange2@Zappa0 It would be very easy  for me to throw my toys out of the cot because of this incident, however that would play into the hands of certain unprofessional departments who protect their own and will not take reasponsibility for their actions!!!!!!!!!! My company will accept what has been said, we do not believe it but at the end of the day we do not matter!!!!! I hope that the AIRBNB PLUS PARTNER COMPANIES will not play this trick on other hosts now that their actions have been made public, but without the ability to review them i think i will not be the last host to get s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Regards Shaun

[James179]

Well thank you @Shaun - I'm so glad I decided to look at these forums this evening! One of my four Airbnb listings here in Brighton (just a few miles away from Shaun) was today chosen for Airbnb Plus out of the blue. No idea why the others weren't included as they are all in the same building and of a similar standard plus we are generally always fully booked and get 95% great reviews. I've also managing to cling on to my Super Host status which is not always easy when juggling four apartments with all that entails *round of applause, takes a bow*. 

I should probably add we’ve been doing this self-catering lark here for over 6 years after we converted the building into self-catering apartments and for a long time all our bookings came from a local agency. Then about 2 years ago Airbnb seemed to suddenly take over and bookings dropped off almost over night. So we ditched the poor agency and moved everything to Airbnb and HomeAway. This has been an excellent move for us and I must say up to now we have been very impressed with the whole Airbnb model. It works for us because we do everything ourselves - including all the cleaning and laundry which the guests seem to really like (we have tried agency cleaners but we always get complaints when we do). 

So I looked at what was being offered and I was immediately pleased to see that we already ticked all of their boxes (in terms of number of loo rolls provided and the fact we offer luxury wooden coat-hangers instead of wire ones which apparently Airbnb despise….) So at first it seemed like I was simply being rewarded for all our hard work with some sexy and free professional photos along with a premium maybe even preferential online listing. So I clicked 'accept' and within a few minutes an appointment was set for this coming Sunday.  

Then came the list of things we had to make sure were "just so" in order to win favour with the inspector/photographer and this list started to really irritate me (eg: "Open window coverings when possible" or "Put food and dishes away, clean countertops and remove clutter"....) because, well because I am a Superhost aren’t I and this, according to Airbnb, means I am "an experienced host who provides a shining example for other hosts, and extraordinary experiences for their guests". By now I wasn’t feeling very special at all and the alarm bells had started to ring in head. Then I read that I couldn’t change the photos or the wording on the listing (which is something I do very often…..) so I slammed on the breaks and came over here looking for guidance. 

So thank you for all this info - especially you @Shaun  and you’ll be pleased to hear that I have already cancelled Sunday’s shoot. A lucky escape I reckon - that’s if they turned up of course! 

[Shaun69]

@James179 Hi Buddy, I have read your post with interest, your points are totaly valid and I can only agree with your final actions. It is such a shame that a potentialy good idea is being destroyed by using sub contractors who fail to deliver! My anger for want of a different word is aimed at the AIRBNB PLUS TEAM for protecting the identity of this thrid party company. As you are fully aware I am sure, this community is built on trust and the ability to review both individuals and companies, so you can imagine my disgust when a "cowboy" outfit is protected by the host platform. Anyway, water under the bridge now, I wish you a great XMAS and a very happy NEW YEAR.

Regards Shaun