Oh well, get this. This summer I was away for a weekend with my children, and while I was on the flight this man, no photo and his profile Said nothing. And he says, I’m booking this for a colleague . So I am on a flight, is ready to take off, and I say sorry, you cannot book for someone else please cancel. Because, and I do not say this, but I’m tired of Airbnb penalizing me, telling me OK you can cancel if you’re uncomfortable, which let me know now I am a four-time super host which means that I haven’t cancelled anywhere near what I am allowed. So he does not accept that this is against the rules and it is against my rules, but more than that I say it is against Airbnb rules. And I am not comfortable with it. So I am on a five or six hour flight. When I get home, I am taking my two kids, and putting them to bed. Now it’s overnight, and he still doesn’t want to cancel. So I say OK I will need to do it for you. So I try, but now it is in progress so I cannot. And I am at work, and I’m not going to sit on hold with Airbnb. This guy has not provided any information about this person he wants to book in my house. He doesn’t have a photo on his profile and he says nothing about himself on his profile. Nope, now he does.
So now it’s the next day and packing for the next trip and I phone Airbnb To try to cancel for this guy, and the rep hangs up on me. I have to assume that somehow the call was dropped - would the rep really hang up on me?
So now I’m on my holiday, and I get a call. I am cooking for my kids at a campsite and I get a call. The person who identifies themselves as my case manager says xyz about this case with the “guest” and I say , He can’t book for somebody else. I don’t know who is booking for. He doesn’t give me the guys name, I don’t have his photo, I don’t have even the booking perdkn’s Photo or any info. But the point is I said no and said he should cancel and then I tried to cancel. And (here’s where it gets good)- I say, I don’t know this person, he says it’s his colleague. For all I know it’s his friend who works at 7-Eleven and has no credit card and can’t get his own profile or has terrible reviews and can’t book himself.
So now the worst thing I have done is said that people who work at 7-Eleven don’t get paid enough . My point is, if you say somebody’s your colleague, it sounds better than if you say it’s my buddy at my job. And I don’t know the difference, and I don’t care, and nobody asked me to care, and nobody said if somebody send you a note and says I’m booking for my body, that I am supposed to let them in my house even if I know nothing about them.
And let me be clear, I did not know then and I barely know now even reading about it, what the booking for business arrangement is. But this was not that. This is somebody who sends a note and says simply, this is for my colleague. I mean how much nerve does that take? So now back to the conversation with my “case manager”.
He launches- lunges- and says, “Are you making a racist comment? !” And without waiting- but believe me my mouth was already hanging open- he continues “because we take these things very seriously! We don’t put up with that!”
Then what hat happens is a series of interactions where I say, I DONT even KNOW what you are SAYING.
I said, I don’t get what you’re talking about. (The booking persons name is Varinder and that’s all I know. I can guess about his ethnicity but I DONT CARE.)
i say hey maybe where you live Indian people work at 7-11 -( I am a professional, I hear what he’s accusing me of) but here it’s all kinds of people and I don’t notice what their skin colour is actually but if you do then YOU have a problem!! And how dare you.
(And also, quite seriously, is this how airbnb trains its staff, to accuse hosts of being racist? This is SO FAR from reality it is absurd. )
Then I said, you need to give me a supervisor. He says, no no one is available.
I say, yes you will and now.
He says, you do not make demands.
I say that’s fine, I will deal with this when j am off holiday.
Oh, now he can get a supervisor but I have to wait. I wait. My children are waiting for their dinner. I am on hold. 10 minutes into the hall, he comes on and says sorry my supervisor is on car with someone else. He is now very nice. I think, either they have a lot of problems there, or they are chatting about the situation and trying to decide what to do. I agreed to go back on hold. At 12 minutes of holding, the line goes dead.
I have my own thoughts in my mind, but I think that is fine, I will deal with this when I am off holiday. No I am not happy that is true. So I sent a note and I said the same thing, you do not want to talk to me now but I will communicate what happened here and people will know. I’m a four times super host and this is how you treat me. So the supervisor did not want to talk to me and that is OK. I will deal with this. We I have my own thoughts in my mind, but I think that is fine, I will deal with this when I am off holiday.
Well this is what happens next. I get a phone call… Yes I’m still trying to cook dinner for my kids at the campsite and I have bacon grease all over my hands but I take the call. It is… The supervisor. Who asks me for “my side of the story “. I say no, I am not going to be under interrogation, I am not being investigated.
There is what he will tell you, and there is what happened. And eventually I decided to tell her what happened. And I said to her, how dare you? She said I did not accuse you of being a racist. This I could not quite believe, so I informed her, no you did not call me a racist however your staff did And they are on your payroll and they are your problem.
I said to her, I have people from all over the world, come to my house. And I put up with all kinds of things. Looking for another person who I do not know is not OK. I was clear and communicated this. The individual refused to cancel and I tried to cancel for him. Your guy hung up on me. Now I am on holiday. Yes he can cancel the booking without penalty, I already said that. But now you have called me A racist and I want an apology.
She had not even listen to the caLL.
All that time and she had not even listen to the caLl. I said, listen to the call
and you’ll see . She said she would, she said she would get back to me, and she has not. And so I am waiting for my formal apology from Airbnb. Because I have made this company thousands and thousands of dollars. And they have a nerve to call me or four times super host and yet not apologize for calling me a racist. My personal activities are not their business but I did add to the supervisor, I just spent the weekend with 2000 Indian people at a retreat. You’re going to call me a racist?
