I'm stunned at how badly Airbnb support treated me. I'm a longstanding Superhost w 148 reviews, average 4.9. I rented a bedroom in my house for a week to a woman w no reviews, and sent her 5 messages via Airbnb, trying to arrange check-in and mentioning that on the night after her arrival, I would host a house concert. She never replied to any of those messages.
Finally, though I prefer to communicate via Airbnb, I texted her on her cellphone. She said she hadn't received my emails and messages. She agreed on a time to pick up the keys...and then asked about the concert...so she was obviously lying about not having received my messages. She wanted to know whether the concert guests would have access to her room. I told her no, not at all - concerts take place in the living room (it's a monthly series that many of my other guests have greatly enjoyed, and no one has ever complained about them) and no one goes upstairs. She asked if she could lock the bedroom door, and I said yes, certainly. I also invited her to attend as my guest, and said I'd be happy to answer any other questions. She said he expected to be out during the concert.
A few hours later, I noticed emails from an Airbnb support rep, Kyle, who said his role was to moderate between host and guest. She had called him and complained that I would be having a 'party' of which I had not notified her when she booked. He gave me *ONE HOUR* to reply. I was in a work meeting during that hour so Kyle cancelled her entire reservation and gave her a 100% refund, overriding my strict cancelllation policy. The fact that he let her cancel amazes me, since of course although there is no Airbnb rule forbidding hosts from having gatherings in their homes! In one more vicious detail, Kyle canceled in my name, so the dates were blocked and it would have cancelled my Superhost status. (I have never actually cancelled a reservation.) How can this possibly be understood as moderating between two people?
In my view, the Airbnb rep instantly took the side of a would-be guest with no reviews, who didn't reply to several days of messages from me (as Kyle could see in our message thread) over that of a longstanding successful host. (Kyle told me he set a one-hour limit for my own reply since her issue was 'urgent') I love Airbnb, but this isn't the first time that I've felt no support from Support. On the rare occasions when I have trouble with a guest and ask for help, it's not there. This is the first time that I felt thrown under the bus, though.
I emailed Kyle to express my amazement and disappointment. He replied to say he would call me and try to work out something. In the call, he did not. All he did was to try to justify his decision, and in many cases wouldn't even let me finish my sentences. (Before calling me, he had changed the cancellation so the site no longer falsely indicates that I was the one who cancelled. That automatically unblocked the dates. I relisted the dates at ridiculously low 'price tips' - about half of the normal price - and got rebooked).
Is there anything I can do, either to get this incident resolved better, or to get Airbnb support not to do this sort of thing to me and other hosts? Warm thanks in advance for any help from the community...
