The easiest Airbnb Customer Service Hack

Betty-B--M-0
Level 10
Nairobi, Kenya

The easiest Airbnb Customer Service Hack

Hey community! 

 

(Long posting ahoy!)

 

I just wanted to share something about Airbnb's Customer Service that I hope may be useful, especially to us hosts. 

Shout-out to Simone for being a truly wonderful agent and for allowing me to publish parts of our interaction.

 

The other day I accepted a reservation by mistake. It was not a big deal as the guest and I had been messaging and I told her that I was going to take a little time before accepting. The pressure of the ticking countdown clock and my misunderstanding on the way pricing displays for longer-term reservations led to my accepting too fast.

So there it was, reservation on the calendar, guest charged and me not quite ready to accept the booking at that stage. As soon as I did it, I messaged the guest to let her know I had made the mistake and that I'd do everything I could to fix it.

I then called Airbnb and explained the situation and I am NOT joking when I say that in approximately 7 minutes, no being placed on hold, no penalties that should have applied, no issues, the reservation was cancelled, calendar freed up, guest refunded in full, and there was no impact to host rating and reviews (no dreaded "The host cancelled this reservation X days before arrival). 

 

I realise that lots of times (though not always) we post on the forum after having had a poor experience with Airbnb customer service and I'm not discounting difficulties that have been experienced. However, I can say that for me,  almost every time I have called, Airbnb have been VERY helpful and I have come away feeling supported.

 

While this particular customer service agent was fantastic (especially impressive was how fast she grasped the situation and how fast she rectified it), I do not believe this was agent-specific or that it's hit-and-miss depending on whom one speaks with.

 In fact, following her permission to publish this, I would like to quote what the agent mentioned as being instrumental in my case:

"For transparency, your spotless history with Airbnb, immediacy with which you contacted us after realising the mistake, and consideration of the impact to the guest put this cancellation within our parameters for making a unique exception. "

 

Please don't see the above as me blowing hard on my own horn.  Rather it is merely a suggestion for all of us hosts, and I do include myself, to consider that : 

- our past behaviour with Airbnb, including as guest, host, and voice-on-the-other-end-of-the-line;

- our being on-top of things, and;

- our genuine concern for guest well-being;

could go a long way towards expediting a resolution, especially when we are the ones at fault, as in my case. 

As requested by Simone, I must add that every situation is handled and judged on a case-by-case basis so what may have applied to me, won't always apply elsewhere.

 

Still, I think it's worth remembering that people (including Airbnb people and the community) notice when we're considerate of others and try to genuinely do things the right and transparent way. The same is true when we're the opposite. Of course catching a customer service break is far from being the only reason to be this way. The truth is, far and away, it's just easiest to be a decent person. (Can I get an A-to-the-men up in here?!)

Again, things are on a case-by-case basis but for today, I serve all this up just as a point of reflection, especially if ever you've had a run-in with Airbnb customer service.  

Now is that an easy hack or an easy hack?

I'm now ready to have a strip ripped off of me for this. 

 

Thanks for reading, happy weekend, not-so-happy ripping, happy hosting to all! 

 

Betty

70 Replies 70

@Bruce43 - you said it, brother. 

I'll see you those days off and raise you 5! 🐵 

Happy Hosting. 

@Betty-B--M-0 How did you get in touch with Airbnb? What's their customer service phone number or email address? I cannot find it on their Contact Us page.

@Kristin80 - Hi there! There's a lot of really useful information in the forums and if you look around, you're sure to find something about how to contact them.  Here's a paticularly awesome guide done by @Dave & Deb: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Community-Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165/h...

 

That's because ABB does not want you to call until you are a superhost and earning them lots of money.  I got an email congratulating me on being a superhost and the number to call if I needed help.  Interestingly, Betty did not share that number!  Perhaps I can message you some how?  I am willing to share but am leery about any possible reprecussions from ABB.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Susan10

The procedure for superhost contact varies around the world Susan, and what is applicable to you in the US differs from other countries. You are correct in that in the US you are given a specific Superhost number! Here in Australia and in many other countries Superhosts who have need to call on ABB help dail the regular contact number for that country. If the Superhost calls from a phone that is not registered by ABB then the call gets put into the queue like everyone else! But, if the Superhost calls from the number that is registered with ABB....the one they send notification on, the system recognises that number when it is dailed and an electronic voice says, "Welcome Superhost, someone will be with you shortly" and within a minute or so a consultant somewhere in the world will be talking to that Superhost.....It is that quick.

The reason Betty did not give out a specific number is because she doesn't have one in Kenya. She simply does what I have described above.

As I am not an ABB host in America I have no idea how many Superhost numbers there are, and giving out one particular number that you may have Susan may not be of any use to some other hosts, and if it was, I am sure there would be repecussions from ABB giving phone details to those not entitled to them. I would think that could be a fast track to loosing that badge!

Cheers.....Rob

Bob, you sound angry.  I'm not sure what I said to rile you up.  I do think you are missing the point.  Betty listed numbers to call for all countries.  So, I am going to assume you did not check her link before replying to me.  Having different numbers to call for different countries is not relevant to treatment by ABB to different hosts.   Plus the poster I was responding to was indeed a host from America, yet the number listed is not the same as what a superhost would get. 

 

I agree that ABB can do business any way they please and it's not for me to try to circumvent that - hence my comment about being leery of posting the number.  I will guess that you do not understand my vernacular.  I still stand by my humble opinion that all hosts should be treated the same and not a tier system of treating superhosts better.

 

And last, perhaps I should not have volunteered that information.  I am not trying to be the cause of negative threads. 

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Susan10

I am certainly not angry and you did absolutely nothing to rile me up....it was one of my lasts posts for yesterday so I was maybe a bit over it by then!! 😉

Maybe your teaching me something here Susan. I have been lead to believe by US hosts though the forum on many occasions that when they achieve Superhost status in the US they are given a special contact number and you seemed to confim that '' I got an email congratulating me on being a superhost and the number to call if I needed help". So all I was doing is saying, 'yes I believe that is what happens in the US', but it doesn't work like that in the rest of the world! We don't ring a special number, we just ring our ABB regular contact number for each country which is what Betty posted...the regular contact numbers, not Superhost numbers!

You then went on to say you didn't know if you would get into some sort of trouble if you quoted to others the number you had been given when you turned Superhost. Why would you consider it not appeopriate to post on the normal regular contact numbers that have been posted on a daily basis here on the forum....yesterday just happening to be Betty who posted the link to them by Dave & Deb!

So, as I am now saying you are teaching me something. Is what you are saying there is no special number for Superhosts in the US after all? Is it the same there for all the rest of us, you just ring the regular ABB contact number and the system registers that you are a superhost when it compares the number of that incoming call with then ABB registered number?

Thanks Susan, I may be learning something here.

Cheers.....Rob

Andrea9
Level 10
Amsterdam, Netherlands

@Susan10 @Robin4

Here in the Netherlands we have a single 'local' number which is switched through to Ireland. 

There is no special # for Superhosts here, but they have caller id, so can see on their computer if they're talking to a SH or not.

My assumption is that the system identifies SH and puts them on a shorter waiting cycle.

Can't say for certain though. Even in the period that I was not SH the wait was always quite short.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Andrea9 Yeah Andrea, that's the way it happens for us too, and for nearly all other countries we read posts from. It's just that superhosts  from the US give the impression they have been given some other special number that they call rather than the regular contact numbers the rest of us use!

Cheers.....Rob

@Robin4 , as a superhost in the US (for the last 3 quarters) I can only affirm that I was never given a special numbr to call. Cannot say anything about a possibly faster service for a superhost when calling the general Airbnb number as I never had the need to call them.

Well, this part right here certainly sounds like a lecture:  "may not be of any use to some other hosts, and if it was, I am sure there would be repecussions from ABB giving phone details to those not entitled to them.  I would think that could be a fast track to loosing that badge!"

 

Why would some hosts not be entitled to them?  And it sounds like a threat to me. 

 

But I trust your post saying you didn't mean it that way.  Perhaps I am being too sensitive.

 

Premium SupportPremium support: We’ve assembled a dedicated support team just for Superhosts. To get in touch fast, call (+)18883265753

 

This is not the number that Betty listed for U.S. and I do interpret it to mean Superhosts get better treatment.  I do interpret it to mean that if you call that number and you are not a superhost then they probably will not answer "fast"

 

 

@Susan10, what everyone else said.

@Betty-B--M-0  What does that mean????

Hello, I'm trying to find a number to call as well, and haven't been able to do so.  Please share if you find one.

Thanks,

Patrick

Patrick,  Here are the only tel numbers I have.  Good luck.  

 

https://www.airbnb.ie/help/contact_us

Our 24/7 phone lines are:

US toll free: +1-855-424-7262

US local: +1-415-800-5959

 

I only have these because I am yet to attain "super" status.  That's fine with me.  Frankly I think an organization should equally support all their clients, and in fact, the greenhorns probably deserve the fast track more than vets simply because they need more hand-holding in the beginning, IMHO.  

 

Thanks!

Mark.