Airbnb established itself with poor support for hosts, the main providers. It even violates legal rights in my country but I must assume very few hosts engage in legal actions. There is a lack of specific laws or regulations.
First point: instant book should only be available to more experienced guests. This option should not be available to beginners and the reason is obvious: less familiar people will take time to understand so many definitions.
We should be advised to check booking details before decide to accept it or not, whether for security or to protect ourselves from financial losses..but here you won't find not even an word about that, the opposite: there's a message encouraging you to "have more visibility" with this option active. Otherwise the application disadvantages you.
Even by checking "only allow people with a good track record", guests with just 1 review can reserve your place instantly and you will only find out when it happens, with no right to refuse. The same with cumulative discounts.
1.: When we have an urgent problem with an ongoing booking, support will take 3 days to respond, with no solution.
2.: AirCover is a fraud. You will always be directed to ask the guest for any loss and if they refuse to pay, guess what? you have no way to prove what happened.
3.: I personally got rude responses from the support team.
4.: If in the end the guest gives you the worst possible review (1 out of 100) you can't do anything but accept it and keeps answering questions from people who are suspicious for no reason.
The truth is: we are being exploited to speed up the booking flow as it is the most profitable strategy. For them.
In fact, you are discouraged from denying any pre-approval because the platform requires text with a minimum of characters and again: misleads people.
Everything is set up in such a way to subdue hosts and who steps out of line will suffer sanctions; retaliations: they will subtract money from your payments and you will be unable to dispute it. Even though you have disposed of your property, you have bills and expenses. Plus: there is also a blockage in the calendar forcing you to look for alternatives like duplicating ad or remain closed. It's the worst approach I've ever seen.
The higher tax is directed to guests so they don't have to justify for us/hosts, but here is the thing: we pay 18% and we're on our own.
It's ridiculous, outrageous and doesn't inspire loyalty. I have noooo intention of favoring this platform in any way and will take bookings off the app whenever possible.
