Hi all,
Does anyone else feel that Airbnb always favours the guest and makes unfair decisions against hosts (AKA their money makers)?
Here's my horrifying experience with the case manager under the name of "Courtney T".
Back in April 2018, I was messaged by a nice young woman called D. D was very interested in using my apartment in Tenerife for approximately 2 months to get away and see family that live locally. D then booked my apartment and all was well. D was initially meant to check in on the 30th of June, however a few weeks before decided that the 29th would be better for her, so of course, I accommodated to this and altered the reservation. Having asked for D's inbound flight number multiple times, I received a call from Airbnb on her arrival day advising the guest would be arriving at the apartment at approx 10:00pm at night and was concerned that she wouldn't be able to get in. I was now left at last minute to try and arrange for someone to meet her to give her access to the complex (they lock the gates at 8pm so only guests with keys can access). I managed to sort this luckily and all was well again. 5 days after D's check in, I received a message at approx 10:30pm advising that the ceiling in the bathroom had some damp (from the flat above) and that it was breaking away. I took immediate action and spoke with my management company (I am based in UK). They sent their contractor round the next morning to have a look at this issue to see a quick and sufficient remedy. All was fine again. I then received a message from D on the 4th advising that she'd like to shorten her trip from 2 months to a month. Now normally I am happy to do so, however as she had started her trip, I was a little hesitant due to the fact this would now leave August completely unbooked as it had been blocked off for the past 3 months. I contacted Airbnb to discuss what my rights were and whether I would have to accept D's request or not. They advised that they would look in to it and get back to me that day. This is where it starts to get interesting.. I never heard back from them. I called and was hung up on by an advisor (more than likely a mistake, but did not receive a call back). I then sent them a support message advising that I was available for 30 minutes to speak, but I would be unreachable after this until the following morning. I did not receive any communication back until the following day at 3:00pm. This is where "Courtney T" comes in to the equation. I was at a family gathering and was unreachable from midday up until late at night (the guest was given my management companies number to assist with any issues/questions). During this time, Courtney T had tried to call me 3 times. Obviously I did not answer as I was away from my phone. After the party had finished and I returned home, I checked my phone and was greeted by a cancellation message. I read through and was advised by "Courtney T" that due to me not responding within the 5 hour time frame, they have cancelled my guests trip and given a full refund. I thought to myself, what the hell is going on! At this point, I called but was put on hold, so then messaged. Courtney T had advised me that the guest spoke with her earlier in the day and advised of Bugs being under the sink which was putting her health at risk and due to this, they cancelled my trip. I thought, hold on a second. At no point had this been reported to me and I phoned my management company and it was the first they had heard of this, what is going on!! I fought this decision immediately and was rejected very quickly. I have yet to be sent any evidence of bugs and my management company are yet to find any, however they were greeted by the flat being trashed. After all of this, I decided to put in a formal complaint against "Courtney T". I chased and chased and chased for some information on my complaint, just to be greeted with the following update "I can't speak to the specifics of the action taken for this agent. However, I will inform you that this issue was addressed properly and the correct action has been taken." Now that is all fine, but they gave D a good week free at my apartment which had lost me money and then I had to pay extra to rectify the state my property was left in and no further action could be taken against D!!
After all of this, I am very put off by Airbnb. I have quite a few properties I manage on here and I feel as if they don't deserve the business from them.
Has anyone else experienced a very prejudice situation with Airbnb at all?
All the best,
Matt
