When did it become ok to complain about Airbnb?

Ann10 · ‎07-05-2018

I think I came over to the Community Center around 2014 after a guest attempted extortion against me. Airbnb knew what was happening blow by blow and implored me not to give her the money. They said they had my back. In the end, they didn't. They basically manipulated me, and then did the Airbnb disappearing act and let the extortionist follow through on her explicit threats of giving me a review that would ruin my reputation and decimate my business.

I came over here to try to talk about it and every room said, no complaining about Airbnb. The "thought police" were at work. I came over here for some reason and now I see that people are complaining about everything that is wrong w Airbnb. Of course there are helpful and inspirational posts about hosting, but I see a lot of honesty and transparency happening. Does anyone know when things changed? Did some media organization get wind of the 1984 like situation at the Community Center at Airbnb? That would reflect badly on a company that says they value honesty and transparency. Anyone know?

David126 · ‎07-05-2018

Well i have been here since 2016 and it has always been open and frank.

David

Kimberly54 · ‎07-05-2018

Hi @Ann10, I'm relatively new (August last year?) but here is what I've observed:

1) Grumpy people (justified or not) complaining in the wrong place/to the wrong audience.

There is only so much any of 'us' can do--none of us work for AirBnB!

2) People who are giving of their time and experience

3) People who just enjoy the camaraderie; sharing nice experiences and philosophies (goofing off and having fun.)

Open and frank, as @David126 said, is correct. This is not a forum that holds back.

I pretty much pass by the #1's now. I tried in the beginning, seemed to have some effect, but there's a surge now. We have a 'culture.' If you speak German and go onto their site, you will see something completely different. They are mostly VERY nice, and SUPER supportive, while unless 'we' have an interesting bit of philosophy here (which can be a TON OF FUN!), this community can be quite troll-ish.

?

Thoughts?

Kim

David2403 · ‎02-06-2018

Take a look at the community help guides? That sounds like you are an employee of Airbnb. This is what Airbnb says to people when they do not want to use manpower to resolve an issue. "look at the community help guides". That is undoubtedly also the reason that the helpline number is nowhere to be found on the Airbnb site. They want people to use their own time to resolve issues, not get help from Airbnb.

However, the helpline must be the most important function of airbnb. The only other thing they must do is software maintenance and keep track of the billions of dollars they are taking in. Which is also mainly done by software.

Linda108 · ‎08-05-2018

I think the current form of the Community Center replaced what you experienced sometime in 2015/2016 when I started to participate @Ann10. At first I thought I was being helpful and I learned a whole lot, but more recently, I find a high degree of complaining, often related to lack of understanding how the platform works. Sometimes the complaining is about guest behavior and I have seen host support to talk the host down from being so upset they want to quit. That is a good use of the forum. Sometimes more experienced hosts will give very specific feedback about a new host's listing to help them be more marketable.

The complaining, whether host or guest, is at times tedious, but it still can be valuable feedback. At times I see postings from one of the Air BNB administrators that support that some of the complaining does filter back to the Air BNB team. Forum is not perfect and some host postings are down right mean, but that is the public part of this.

Air BNB does adhere to it's Content Policy, so posts can be edited or removed if the policy is violated, e.g., advertising posts might be removed.

Hope your finding your way back to the Community forum is good for you as I am sure your perspective is valuable to us all.

Fred13 · ‎08-05-2018

I came from another Airbnb forums, where 'group think' was the norm; not here, in fact the opposite. (Arrived 2016). There is also something else I like about this forum in its present form; hosts hold each other responsible, unlike many forums who become in time nothing but blind 'support' stations, serving no one much good.

Ann10 · ‎08-05-2018

Fred13 · ‎08-05-2018

@Ann10 Most boards take the personality of its present primary participants, especially when the moderators stay out of the way as Lizzie and Quincy do. A chancy approach really for it could go either way. If you notice, there are many mature genuinely kind-hearted people here, who are no fools.

Ann10 · ‎08-05-2018

@Fred13-In the past the same policy pervaded FB groups. That's why I think it was an ABB policy not to critize ABB, similar to Chinise government policies, and something must have changed because now I see that 100s if not 1000s of people were threated the same way I have been. I have never said anything negative about the quality of people here :). I know Lizzie is wonderful. I have never heard of or met Quincy.

Fred13 · ‎08-05-2018

It is a common phenomenon. Happens also in most boards I have been, even in other subjects like gaming, etc. I took your observation as you noticing the change, was just wondering if the present primary participants have made a difference.

Ann10 · ‎10-05-2018

Fred- I really don't know. When I came over here in 2013 or 2014, I found everything to be fake and artifical. For me it reminded me of the book 1984 because of the "thought police". I don't like people telling me that I can't talk about the truth or my truth especially if it's a company that says it values honesty and transparency. I really think there must have been some change in the Terms of Service. I'm sure that it would reflect badly on ABB if the outside world found out that people were not allowed to openly discuss their truth or the truth. I asked the question because I thought someone might have been around long enough to know how and when the changed happened. I wasn't going to stick around for that disingenious nonsense. I wanted to talk about the truth.

Ann10 · ‎10-05-2018

@Kimberly54- I think my post makes it sound like I'm complaining about people complaining. No, not at all. When I came over here in 2013 or 2014, the rules were that you couldn't say anything bad about ABB. I was justifiably upset w them at the time and wanted support. I think many people are justifiably upset w them now. I'm happily surprised that people are now able to speak their truth and the truth. Honesty and transparency are now allowed here and that's a good thing. My guess is that the outside world found out about the draconian policy and ABB had to change it. Having 'thought police" would really reflect badly on them, in my opinion.

@Kimberly54

Kimberly54 · ‎10-05-2018

@Ann10, from what I've seen AirBnB has grown so incredibly fast that they are chasing their own tails.

That's no 'excuse' to be sure, but it is what has happened, and weathering through it isn't always ideal.

I don't know about 'thought police.' I don't think anyone in this CC is of that mind.

This site is very open, and pretty supportive.

Thanks for your comments. We do need to keep open minds!

Best,

Kim

Fred13 · ‎10-05-2018

I think the 'Thought Police' will have a tough time with this present lot. 😉

Hey Kim. <wave>

Ann10 · ‎10-05-2018

When I say "thought police" I mean the rules of the board at that time. I don't mean the hosts who were commenting on the board. I'm sure that no one on the current board is of that mind and the rules are different. Who would want to have to edit their thought, words, and the truth?

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