Vrbo vs Airbnb customer service

[Inna22]

I had a guest who due to some sort of glitch was able to book my place for $60 a night instead of $300 on Vrbo. I decided to honor. 10 people. She raised a huge stink about my ID requirement and left a one star review trashing everything, from quality of pillows to lay out and of course mentioned IDs.

I decided to be funny in my reply and said something along the lines of that she rented at a rate of $6 per person due to glitch and if my future guests want to know what a princess on a popper budget looks like, I have her picture ID. Apparently she read my response and called Vrbo complaining that I was supposed to delete her ID. Ridiculous request as it was send though the Vrbo messaging system so there is no way to delete; of course I was not going to show it future guests; I can tell her I deleted it but how would she ever know if I did.

Airbnb would have definitely sent me a message telling me how I wronged the guest, most likely would have asked me to give a discount and maybe even suspended me for some breach of privacy or some other reason. Vrbo sent a message: this is what the guest wanted, call them, have a good night. I know Airbnb is the more popular of the two however I have never heard of anyone picking it for the reason of more involved customer service on the guest side.

I think if Airbnb stayed out of the guest/host relationship more, it would not have affected guests negatively (most hosts will do the right thing!) but made hosts happier.

[Sarah977]

@Inna22  Wow, sorry you had such a bad booking, but as usual, you managed to make it funny.

Airbnb's attitude of treating hosts as if we are wayward children who need constant monitoring and chastizing, and are almost always assumed to be in the wrong in any host/guest dispute is so annoying and disrespectful. 

[Elaine701]

Sorry this happened. It happened to us once (pricing mistake...guest paying ridiculously low price of 4€ per person), but we were lucky and they turned out to be nice guests and left a great review. 

It's not surprising that your near-zero-paying guest was unhappy. It's the ones who pay the least that tend to complain the most... about everything and nothing. As if they're somehow entitled. 

But it's surprising that you received any message from VRBO. I've yet to receive any reply or other communication from VRBO about anything. It's as if they don't exist. 

But yes, you'd probably be shut down by Airbnb by now. By some clueless CS rep exercising police like moral authority. Good job that didn't happen on Airbnb. 

[John5097]

@Inna22 I like learning more about other platforms. I haven't had any issues with Airbnb customer service but agree it was good that VRBO service rep recognized you were joking, and maybe even appreciated your humor. Also the host having to verify and vet the guest, is the real problem. I read that VRBO doesn't verify with government issue ID, and with Airbnb host have to field all booking request including new ones with no reviews, incomplete profile, and not verified, and have to accept a certain percentage. Not exactly confidence inspiring or even ethical business practice especially for female host. I'm a guy so can take more risk, get higher placement in listing search, but at times hosting on Airbnb feels more like picking up random hitchhikers. 

[John5097]

PS.. Wanted to add that I'm just now experimenting with different booking settings and in my post above just trying to point out some of the conflicts. My intentions here are to collaborate with other host and guest to help improve the policies and share information that would help other host. My listing is unique and my approach right now is to book far in advance. I'm intrested in the post because using other booking platforms may be necessary to help insure guest are verified and lower risk. To me its not a competition. As a host the additional task of vetting and verifying guest seems very daunting to me and hopefully can't find the right approach.   

[Colleen253]

@John5097 “….at times hosting on Airbnb feels more like picking up random hitchhikers.” 

Nail, meet hammer. 

[John5097]

Thanks @Colleen253 !! Looks like we cross posted. I'm glad you understood! This whole vetting process seems quite daunting! 

[Inna22]

@John5097 I think Vrbo does not vet any more or less than Airbnb. At the end of the day it is on us to ask the right questions and to check IDs. Love your hitchhiker comparison!

[John5097]

@Inna22 That's' good to know about Vrbo. Mine is just an attached apartment so don't have to worry so much about parties. Although the more requirements means it may not be booked in advance. I want to select the goverment ID required for IB but I get a lot of guest with great reviews that haven't verrified their ID yet. For now new profiles with only phone number email and very vague in the first message, I just decline. I suspect other host encourage them to finish verifying ID, and I've created a saved message already, but don't want a guest like your last one that leaves bad review simply for requesting them to provide ID. I'm like you, though, and just try and find some humor in these situations. For your listings I can appreciate that host meets them and checks ID. For a lot of others it wold be so much better if both ABB and VRBO verified IDs. 

[Inna22]

@John5097 I do not automatically decline anyone. I give everyone the benefit of the doubt. We were all new to something at some point.

[John5097]

@Inna22 Using IB guest can be required to verify ID to make a reservation, and if they don't host still gets a booking request. If they also choose to not follow my very simple request for first message, I don't feel any obligation to host them. I am already giving them the benefit of the doubt with self check in and not checking their ID at check in.  I also wouldn't joke about sharing their ID in my own reviews but that's just me.  

[John5097]

BTW I host a lot of first time guest, probably more that most. But if they expect to check in at 8m while on spring break, or only say, "college graduation" in the first message, and don't verifity their ID which I require in my settings, that is their choice and I think I would be doing other host and the community a disservice to accept the reservation. I'm very polite and encourage them to follow host requirements in the future. A lot of host would prefer to also not get booking request from unverified guest. I'll likely be even more restrictive going forward, as this is part of my house. 

* Its the guest option what info to include in their profile and if they want to verify. If they choose not to do that most host with halfway decent listing won't consider them. I also don't plan to keep relisitng same property in different family members names and likewise don't want to host guest who keep keep creating new accounts. Like I said it would be much better for most people if ABB just verified people's accounts. Also not letting the same host keep relisting the same place, erasing all their reviews. 

[Elaine701]

No, it's not a competition, and neither provide exemplary support.

But while VRBO support is, in my experience, often benignly nonexistent, Airbnb often gives misinformation or reacts inexplicably, causing damage. But VRBO also has a fraction of the market reach.

So, there's upsides and downsides to both. As long as you don't naively believe that any of them will cover your back, then you're at least better prepared than most. 

[Normen0]

On the negative side, I have poorer communication, more cancellations and more difficult guests through VRBO and their customer service reps have been harassing me lately with repeated phone calls trying to get me to use IB and want to review my whole account.  I originally listed on VRBO to tap into the European travellers market.  I'm not extremely pleased with VRBO but I will keep it for now as it looks like they are putting a lot of money into advertising in North America.  

[Inna22]

@Normen0 you are in charge of your cancellation policy. Mine is strict for various reasons so I do not deal with cancellations a lot. As for difficult guests- yes, I agree, they are needier. However you can not keep all eggs in one basket. There are pluses and minuses to each platform