50% refund to guest for "slow wifi" - Hosts be warned!

[Tom2678]

After 6+ years I had my first refund experience in late-April during Covid-19.

The internet was "slow" but I have proof it was used throughout their stay. I attempted to get my ISP to resolve the issue, but they were not answering calls or live chat - due to Covid-19 of course. At the end of the booking, Airbnb reduced my payout by 50%!!!! How in the world is slow Wifi worth a 50% refund on a booking?!?!

I am a Superhost hosting for over 6 years. I have fought our city council on 2 occasions over the years, building local coalitions of hosts, to prevent short-term rentals from being outlawed here. But at this point, I have zero loyalty to Airbnb. I'll make money from my existing booking and investigate re-platforming to another service. I cannot risk the financial impact of another arbitrary refund, or worse.

As has been pointed out elsewhere, if you stay at a Marriott and complain of slow internet would you expect to see a cash refund? The policy is poorly thought out, and executed in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

To put it another way, what is my motivation to allow a guest to continue staying during a booking if they raise a complaint? With the threat of losing 50% of my income if Airbnb decides to cut my payout later, I'm in a better place to simply cancel the booking than risk losing 1/2 of my rate.

Airbnb chose not to resolve my issue in chat for over 6 weeks, and a call today resulted in a scolding on how the 'rules' worked. This company is hot garbage.

[Martina714]

@Anonymous that's a good thought, If I rent a place to work and internet doesn't work, it's reasonable to be refunded while I'd search for another working place.

[Tom2678]

@AnonymousThe reason why you should worry about it is because it IS a broken system that can easily be abused by scammers. Deciding arbitrarily that any amenity issue could result in a flat-50% discount, after the guest has already stayed in your home for days is a recipe for abuse. Anyone arguing it is in any way fair in these forums is not arguing in good faith.

[Anonymous]

@Tom2678 To be clear, I agree with you completely. It's totally unfair what Airbnb did to you here. 

[Colleen253]

Airbnb needs to cut the GARBAGE about just being a LISTING PLATFORM. They take outrageous liberties time after time after time.

[Sheila22]

ABB = SJW activists for Guests.

[Cormac0]

@Colleen253 

I've been advocating this for years Colleen, Hosts are Airbnb's indentured servants nothing more nothing less and the notion that we're self employed is just nonsense.

Another thing Airbnb's fee are outrageously expensive, I have an Microsoft office 365 business subscription that cost me $12.5 per month and nobody will convince that this service is not 100 time more complicate to provide then what Airbnb produces.

If I log a call with Microsoft I get a response within one hour with 100 % success rate.

[Inna22]

A guest stayed with me a month ago. Washer broke during her stay. I gave her access to another apartment immediately next door where she utilized washer and dryer plus that living room, dining room for folding and bathroom. The Landry in her place was in a bathroom behind the door, you could barely get to it. I also offered free daily laundry service and immediately ordered new machine which she declined  to be delivered during her stay. She kept the temperature at 84 degrees at the house at all times during her two week stay and self admittedly liked to wash every day, one item at a time. At the end my utilities were more than what I got paid for her stay. She did not ask for a refund at the time. I left her no review because I did not want to push her to leave hers (due to laundry issue). Plus I was not sure if host should be informed of excessive usage. Exactly a month later Airbnb reached out to me asking for a refund. I presented my side of the story and waiting for decision. Long story long, I did not get a chance to leave a review  that would include this new information 

[Mark116]

@Inna22  Is there no longer a time limit on when guests can ask for a refund?  30 days seems a little excessive, especially since the guest did not ask for a refund during the stay and a remediation to the problem was found.  Scary.  I'm terrified of these new cleaning protocols too, because I would guess any accusation that the protocols weren't followed will result in a full refund and a suspension.  Ah well, it was good while it lasted I guess. 

[Inna22]

@Mark116 I can only hope it took so long because CS was understaffed. Otherwise there is no hope for hosts- we might no longer have pictures or opportunity get evidence or proof of whatever is being disputed

[Ian611]

Hi,This is really bad to hear ,just taking the P**s really.

[Helen350]

I had a grumpy, touring, Californian/Denver resident book 3 nights in August 2017. He complained the internet was slow the first night, even tho' 3 others were using it OK. (I later discovered the signal booster in his room had stopped working, so he did have a point.) He wasn't prepared to work from the kitchen or dining room where it was a good connection.

At 6pm on day 2 he left without a word, & I got a phone call from CS, saying they'd found him somewhere else. CS said I'd still get paid for the first night. I pointed out that he'd stayed part of the 2nd night too, having left 6 hours past my check out time & 3 hours past my check IN time..... The CS lady said "Oh Yes, you're right, we'll pay you for day 2 as well then."

- But that was 2017..... Maybe things have changed even more towards the guest since then?

[Ann783]

With remote learning and work going on during the pandemic...there is a greater demand on  the internet. What is would be considered slow internet speed for these activities? I have an Eero mesh wifi system but I'm  mostly off devices and enjoying nature at our cottage.

[Robbie54]

Exactly my point @Ann783  Who are Airbnb to determine what a slow internet speed is? They can vary wildly from area to area, country to country. And, like you said, in these times speeds may not be as advertised by a broadband supplier due to unprecedented usage, which is no ones fault. Everytime I think Airbnb couldn't be any less helpful to hosts I read stories like this 😞 

[David6762]

This is really bad to hear

[Inna22]

I think we all forget that Airbnb can take out payment at any moment for any reason. We can have a no show guest who has been in the process of providing EC documents to Airbnb and they might not even cancel or clear out calendar until several days after stay is over. They can decide to suspend our account and it maybe a mistake but it would take weeks to clear it up. They may decide to change terms of service and include pandemic in EC so all guestS get full refund. They can give half off for slow WiFi and let guest move just because. I just saw a post elsewhere about a guest asking for a discount because host changed rectangular table for an oval. We need to remember that we will huff and puff but for some Airbnb is the only game in town and for others they are the best game in town and for a long time now there will be far more hosts than guests so we are totally expandable. We just need to be prepared that a portion of our earnings will be an unfair loss. The only thing we can do to help ourselves slightly is for our small print to include any possible condition or variation we can think off.