When will Airbnb implement verification and quality control?

[Christine615]

Publicity like this is not helpful: https://thepointsguy.com/news/airbnb-issues-problems/

I ran into a similar issue in Atlanta.

[Christine615]

Not sure why Airbnb, which made us fight to

get it legal in Kansas City now doesn’t require compliance with local laws. https://flatlandkc.org/news-issues/unlicensed-short-term-rentals-overwhelm-some-kc-neighborhoods/

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Christine615 

There is a program called Host Compliance which cities and counties have the ability to run periodically. It reveals any non permitted hosts/properties. It is to everyone's advantage to have legal properties, of course, to keep standards high and for TOT payments to the government's always struggling general fund. It is all we have, all they have, and it is a good tool. 

[Christine615]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 @I have been trying for a year to get Airbnb to consider doing compliance and verification in Kansas City. I think we’ve gone from 70% to 90% now unlicensed. Plus two units on the news in a building that wasn’t eligible fir occupancy,

But what worries me most is Catherine Powell told me a problem Airbnb I booked in LA was removed. It wasn’t even after CS admitted the problem was valid. The address was fake but it kept racking up glowing fake reviews. (not one guest had a reciprocal review). 

I figured it out and stayed at a hotel but how does a regular guest who doesn’t know how to dig into the system details know? They assume Airbnb does it.

What was hilarious was CS claiming to the journalist that they are just a third party booking platform. Funny they say that but then dictate how the transactions including guest identity is handled. 😢

I wish this platform would walk its talk.

[Anonymous]

@Christine615  Interesting that the author of the article went to great detail about the condition of her milk, but she didn't say a single word about the listing's prior reviews. 

[Gillian166]

@Anonymous When she admitted she has never used ABB before, instead had a realtor find places for her, I really had to force myself to keep reading.... 
"where I trade character for clean and controlled environments." she literally just admitted: Guest is Best Suited To a Hotel. 
 
"If something seems too good to be true — in this case perhaps too cheap — let it go."
This woman is 50, and she hasn't learned this lesson yet? She's a travel writer and editor, and has never stayed in an airbnb before?? wow. She's an apparent expert in African travel (and a parent) but is grossed out by rib bones? (yes, that's a gross story, but i also have to say, I don't think clean bones would smell that bad)

We have a mirror with a very, very small chip in it too. Some people love to posture about how environmentally friendly they are (oh yes, i'm sure this woman does all the "latest thing" icons on her sm) but these types would also demand i throw away a perfectly fine mirror.  Ok, the curtain is terrible, the sofa could be patched, chipped paint happens, and yes, socks, rib bones and a lip balm is unacceptable for a cleaner. We do look underneath our dresser and move it aside once a week to vacuum, this is unacceptable.  I would have demanded at the very least, full refund of the cleaning fee. 

This has a vague feeling about being a hit piece with advertising for paid sponsors. 

[Kelly149]

I don't know @Christine615 I rather like this story... it seems to me to say 'if you book a place bc it's cheap and available when nothing else is, and you don't bother to notice if your host is a real person or a mysterious shadow landlord, well then things may go quite bad'.

The reason why I like this is bc I'm a real host, with a property that I personally take care of, with, to @Anonymous 's point, excellent reviews. I think this story justifies a) plan ahead and b) if you're booking a place that looks like it has its stuff together, then pay the higher rate.

Everything in life has a risk/reward calculation. Booking a cheap place, at the last minute, in high season, and then being disappointed that it has "issues" seems to me like showing up in Vegas and being surprised that there are naked people and you lost money at cards.

[Anonymous]

@Kelly149  I kept waiting for the story to turn into a full-on nightmare, but a broken fridge and an inadequate cleaning job are pretty mundane luxury problems. The food remnants behind the dresser sound gross, but I must confess that I don't pull every piece of heavy furniture away from the wall each time I clean house. The blogger comes across as someone who thinks a sense of entitlement is currency in and of itself. 

That said, a lot of people seem genuinely surprised that Airbnb has no quality control procedure for its millions of listings in 220 countries. I don't know what kind of house inspections they imagine Airbnb employs thousands of people to conduct, or where the money comes from to pay for that program, but I guess they haven't thought it through. The "journalist" who wrote that story usually just posts ads for cruise ships and airfare discounts, thinly disguised as blog entries, so it's probably no coincidence that she name-drops a couple of Airbnb's competitors in this piece.  

[Emilia42]

To be honest, I thought the most shocking part of this article was when I read: "The agent called me. They do that, by the way. She was very sweet. She was worried about my safety, she said. Was I OK?" Seriously? A chicken bone under the bed discovered as the guest is on their way out? Safety? Are you okay?! Where is the physical harm?! Good lord. Process a small refund and move on.

[Debra300]

@Christine615,

IMO, the host did just about everything that he could have reasonably done.

1. He notified the guest before her arrival that the unit wouldn't be available at 3 p.m. due to a late checkout.
2. He offered to have the cleaning staff return after the guest reported a cleaning issue.  
3. He responded quickly to the guest, and I have some unconfirmed ideas why he stopped responding to the guest's phone calls, but he should have at least sent an Airbnb message. 

I also probably wouldn't have offered a refund or discount for the rib bones, because her complaint sounds suspicious, and I already know that she's leaving a bad review.  The guest initially refused to let the cleaning staff to return soon after checking in, and claimed that they cleaned the space themselves.  Then after not getting an immediate replacement for the broken refrigerator she reports finding rib bones at the end of their stay, and requests a full refund of the cleaning fee.   

I think that the author of the story thinks that Airbnb listings are like large hotels which have spare inventory that can be quickly changed out or in-house maintenance staff, and did not take into consideration that her rental was just an individual dwelling.  If her refrigerator at home in New Jersey had broken I doubt that she would have been able to get a service technician to come to her home within 24 hours.  Also, I believe that she thought that the host should have dropped everything that they were doing, and gone out and purchased a replacement refrigerator for her.  Even if he had been an onsite host, there is no guarantee that another fridge could have been obtained and delivered within 24 hours.   Hosts have lives and responsibilities beyond their rentals, also.

The guest's expectations were incorrectly amplified by Airbnb's marketing language.  Once again, Airbnb has published something that is totally contrived from the viewpoint of someone who lives in a highly developed country that has several retail options and extended business hours.  Had the problem with the fridge happened in a developing country it's very likely that it wouldn't have been resolved within the three days of the guest's stay.  In many countries, stores close at 4:30 - 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, 12:30 - 1 p.m. on Saturdays and are closed all day on Sundays.  It may take days before a technician or repair shop answers their phone or returns a call.  Even if the technician/shop did respond quickly, it may take several weeks before a necessary part is shipped from overseas, or the host just may not have the funds available to purchase an intermediary substitute.  Especially, if they are a local resident who is not renting out their second/vacation home.  There are very few available options, and whatever is around costs a lot more than where most vacation travelers are coming from.  For example, mini-fridges are not readily available in my area, and this is the smallest refrigerator that can be purchased at my local furniture/appliance store for approximately $790 USD.  This is almost double the cost of a slightly larger refrigerator that's offered in the Home Depot online for $399.  The HD stores are ubiquitous throughout North America and are open seven days a week, usually from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. /9 p.m. (weekend/weekday hours).

For years, I have had in my listing details and house rules that it may take more than 24 hours to fix a problem, because I know how things work (or don't work) on the island.  Now, it appears that other hosts will have to take steps to adequately set their guest's expectations.

[Christine615]

@Debra300 

I’m usually the first person to defend hosts on unrealistic guest expectations. And I’m usually vocal about us not being hotel equivalents with 24 hour concierge. But this one gave me pause. 

I had guests once leave chicken bones under the bed even though we have a breakfast and dining room. I had to change my house rules to say eating in the bedrooms was not allowed.

In Atlanta, I private messaged a host about the moldy socks in the washer gasket, trash in the water overflow pan under it, and broken items throughout the house. I even put away and straightened game items in the living room, It was clear his cleaners didn’t really clean well (I didn’t ding his rating and kept the observations in messaging.) I’ve also stayed at places where the hosts admitted they were doing it to help with expenses and were winging it and s bit overwhelmed. 

If you book a place with a working kitchen (or other amenity) and something major fails Airbnb is supposed to rehome the guest even if it’s a hotel if it can’t be fixed quickly. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.

[Debra300]

@Christine615,

I hear you, but I can see why Airbnb doesn't go down the path of relocating guests to dissimilar spaces or to a hotel, because it may solve one problem, but opens up the barrel to other conundrums.  For example, the guest may be reimbursed for food and beverages that spoiled due to the broken fridge, but when given the hotel option she claims that she needs to be compensated for all meals, because they were planning to cook all of their meals, and don't have the funds to purchase meals for everyone for the remainder of their stay.   It's just easier to offer a partial refund.

I do honestly think that the guest may have been plagued by the summer enhancement, and the listing links that she was provided by CS actually were results from the 5 day availability default search filter, and not a search based upon specific dates.  The situation didn't work out the way that the guest desired, but I still stand by my mantra, "Always purchase travel insurance when traveling away from home regardless of the destination, duration and distance of the trip."  This is especially true when crossing borders.  

The article does remind me of a Dave Chapelle skit about ribs as a sleep aid.  

Hit me up the next time you are traveling to Atlanta.  I'd like to meet you if I'm also in town.

[Anonymous]

@Christine615   Actually I think it would be much better if Airbnb stopped pretending that they can, will, or even should "rehome" guests. This sponsored blogger is a case in point: she chose her cut-rate listing rather carelessly - in all likelihood one without good reviews to back it up - but when the stay wasn't working out, she seemed to believe that customer service should act as her personal travel agent to place her in a better place, in high season, at the last minute.  The prospect of rehoming creates a perverse incentive to book the crappiest, cheapest listing you can find, just to use the inevitable problems as leverage to get booked into a hotel or a costlier Airbnb.

[Christine615]

@Anonymous 

I don’t disagree with you. I’ve experienced and reported on the same failures here on the host board. I’ve also been reporting them privately.

But everyone here is missing the point. It isn’t about whether or not the person is a blogger. Airbnb has been actively promoting AirCover for guests and hosts and then not following through. 

Airbnb wants to control everything but doesn’t bother to verify listings exist let alone are qualified to be rented to strangers (properly cleaned and equipped.)

They need to just act as a pass through and quit pretending they are anything else. Or there need to be standards to join. It’s not Rocket Science. With millions of users they can’t suddenly claim they have no control and are only a third party while constantly tightening the TOS screws. 

They need quality control audits on new users (guests and hosts).

[Gillian166]

@Debra300  if you look at the photo I don't think it's suspicious. there's 2 loose socks, lip balm, rib bones and dust under that dresser. I think if the smell was so bad she wouldn't have been able to sleep for 4 nights, certainly i would have investigated.

You are right about the fridge thing, nowadays with supply chain issues and whatever is still going on in China, you are lucky to be able to find things like fridges available for delivery/pick up on the same day. I can't speak for Montreal of course, but the host might have done the best he could manage (and cheapest i suspect, given he'd want to inspect the fridge).  the guest definitely has Hotel Guest Expectations. 

She didn't say how much she paid, I know that's not an excuse for poor cleaning and some shabby but i'm really curious now. She also didn't mention what the reviews were like.   In the end she broke her own rules "I trade character for clean and controlled environments."