No host support from airbnb

[Raffaella324]

Hello everyone, 

I have been a user of airbnb since 2014 as a guest and I only have 5 stars review. Because I loved the platform, I have decided to become a host 3 month ago.

I became a super host and yesterday I was surprised to see that my listing got suspended. On the app it says: Review the feedback bellow for improvements you can make. 

Basically I have one person review that gave me 5-4 stars on everything, recommended my place in written public review but decided to give an overall 3 stars review. 

Another one is a guy who gave me 4-5 stars in everything, gave a 4 stars overall and gave a 2 stars for check in because he did not like it was not a key but a pad. Btw he was helped immediately since I was in the apartment and let him in. 

And finally I had a 1 star overall review that it was obviously a mistake by the guest since the guest gave me 4-5 stars in all other categories besides cleaning. On the cleaning part she said she was bothered by the food smell. Even though she rented a room in a shared apartment where people can cook, she has decided it bothered her. NOT A PROBLEM. 

However, I reached out to her and asked if she meant to give me a 1 star overall review and she promptly replied it was an error on her part. I asked her to call airbnb and she did. She also confirmed in the Airbnb messages with me that she had called them and they would disregard her review. 

When I talked to the support today, they said unfortunately they cannot do anything about it. EVEN THOUGH SHE HAS CALLED AND SAID SHE DID NOT MEAN TO LEAVE A 1 STAR REVIEW. Also, when I asked how could I "Review the feedback bellow for improvements you can make" since none of the guests actually had a complaint.  They "support"  said they understand the frustration but there is nothing they can do and the system will suspend my listing when there are "multiple bad reviews". 

There is literally nothing I can do as a host to improve as I have 5 stars reviews by all guests on check in besides Peter (the guy I mentioned before that helped my account get suspended) simply because he is not a tech guy. but some how airbnb needs "my attention in that". 

The other girl who recommends the place, gives 4-5 stars in everything and simply gave a 3 stars overall because whatever reason. How can I improve on that? 

But the most frustrating one is the 1 star since she did not even mean that.

Point is: yesterday I figured out that EVEN when a guest tries to help you out (the 1 star review guest that called them to say it was a mistake) airbnb will not be there for their hosts. 

If I could not get this solved and we are literally talking about a review, it is pretty obvious to me that whenever something serious happens, I will be on my own and all the risk is mine.

I would like to know if the fee we are paying for them is literally only for using their platform because even by being a super host "there is nothing they can do about it" and they have also not offer any answer on how  I "can I improve" with what "need my attention". 

Can you guys please let me know if there is another platform like airbnb that you guys use and feel more secure and supported? 

Thank you all. 

[Paula]

Hello @Raffaella324, I am sorry about this experience.

I took a look at your profile and noticed your listing is active. I understand how frustrating the situation must have been, but I am glad to see that it has been resolved.

[Raffaella324]

Hi Paula! 

Yes, after some days suspension goes away and now I am just rethinking how to make this work in a better way. 

Thank you for your reply. 

[Kia272]

@Raffaella324  What you're doing is a recipe for disaster. You are having complete strangers share space, which is never going to work out. There will always be cleanliness and other issues, because nobody will take responsibility for common areas, such as the bathroom. It's really a bad set-up for hosting, and I would never do it that way. 

You're probably better off setting up the listing as the whole place, and seeing how it does. You can charge more, there's less to manage (i.e. not three strangers checking in at different times on different days), and you'll get fewer complaints. Hosting rooms in a unit when the host doesn't live there is just simply bad. Those are always the lower rated listings on AirBnB. 

Aside from that, remember all of those good experiences you had using AirBnB so you decided to become a host? That's because AirBnB, so some extent, monitors listings and tried to keep the bad ones off the platform. That's what you're going through now. Regardless of the reasons- mistakes, etc. -the way you have things set up just opens the door for complaints. AirBnB can't handle those things on an individual basis, they just have to work with the numbers. If the numbers aren't good, you'll get suspended. 

You can't list on VRBO because they don't do shared spaces. I think you should rethink your hosting plan and make some changes. 

[Raffaella324]

Hi Kia,

yes, I realized you are right. Too much work and too many problems. 

I thought about doing it this way because I have friends that host the whole apartment and had bad experiences because people come to central neighbors in Miami to party and don't really care about taking care of the property and there are constant neighbour complains. In this way, when people rent a room they tend to have more respect towards quiet time etc. 

Anyways, I guess I am learning and it is what it is. 

It still does not make sense to me how reviews that give you 3 stars in  completely different categories can get a listing suspended when 99% of the other guests reviews like that specific category. But I understand I am only one listing for them and this is how their system work. 

Last one was a guy that wrote to me he did not give me 5 stars only because I did not go out with him for a beer. Even though it was written in Airbnb message they said his review is valid. At this point, I just gave up trying to understand how any of this make sense and will try to rent the full apartment and see how this goes. 

Thank you for your reply. 

[Pete28]

The entire suspension approach needs a rethink - if you get another 3* or less review they will remove your listing from the platform. It’s hard to commit to a business with that hanging over you. This is all new within the last year - we can all learn from our bad reviews, but shutting us down is way to extreme.

it’s also worth noting that even though your avg is still 4.78 but that has no impact on the suspension / removal algorithm, it’s all on how many low score reviews It’s all really badly thought out.