The easiest Airbnb Customer Service Hack

[Betty-B--M-0]

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

[Betty-B--M-0]

Thanks for the positive story @Tim-and-Holly0

Happy hosting.

[Love1]

AMEN!!!

[Betty-B--M-0]

@Love1 :oD

[LaVerne0]

I can say as a new Airbnb host I was completly taken ack when I calld in a problem at 8:00am and the matter was resolved by 12:00 pm. I did relay to James and Matt that they gave the best Customer Service I have in years.

[LaVerne0]

Question, how dangerous in it to give out you WiFi password.  My husband does not agree with sharing the modem password.

[Tim-and-Holly0]

@LaVerne0:

Most guests will expect internet to be provided. You will need some way for them to access it. Wireless is the easiest but will require you to provide the password.

Most modems have a guest access mode where you can set a different password that can be provided to guests. In fact, you should have three passwords for modems used by guests. One password for you, one for the guests and a third administrative password used only for accessing the administration area of your modem.

You should also include in your house rules that are provided to the guest on arrival (you can simply include it in the house information book) that the guest may not use the internet to perform illegal activity such as hacking or downloading unauthorized files or movies.

[Susan10]

@LaVerne0Most Wifi only work in close proximity to your house.  Even if they have your password, once they leave the covered radius - they can't access the WiFi.  It won't be in range.  Having the password will not matter, they still won't be able use your WiFi.

[Carole160]

how do I call airbnb

[Andrea9]

@Carole160

If you'd gone back to earlier messages in this thread you'd have seen the two message containing the link:

page with link to contact ABB

[Amy38]

@Betty-B--M-0   Good for you.  However, the experience varies from country to country.

everyone in Australia has reported excellent service, like yours.  This is not the case in the US.

my theory is that the calbre of the service people in these countries is much higher than that here.

All we get is that they will pass the problem on and someone will get back to us, which they don't.

it is a hard job and probably poorly paid and I am sure they get a million questions that could be answered by reading the Abnb policies.  When there is a real problem, we get little joy.

[Bruce43]

@Amy38 nobody reads the small print.that is bad writing ie: getting the point across in 2 or three sentences.

and I try to talk to the guest with the app 2 times at least before I book.

the best requests are right on the money as you can feel they read about your listing and ask intelligent questions.