I had been renting out rooms using Airbnb for about three years and had very good ratings. Five months ago, an Airbnb guest left an external door unlocked and my house was robbed. In order to make it safer for me and my guests I installed an external security camera system which is very common at many accommodation places in Australia. I informed the Australian Government of an Airbnb guest overstaying their visa.
Airbnb responded with limited information notifying me they will lop $180 off my next guest. Shortly thereafter they cancelled my account. Beware, as most of the guests wanting accommodation have no ratings. The cancellation policy is meaningless as Airbnb can arbitrarily cancel a guest’s booking at any time and give you almost no information as to why they are cancelling it.
Based on what has happened, I doubt the bond system by Airbnb is worth anything. As a host, you and the Australian Government do not know who the guests staying in your house are. Airbnb doesn’t even know who the extra guests are. As Airbnb is getting more hosts, the room rates have dropped a lot so it is definitely not worth putting up with garbage like this.
Yes, this is becoming increasing regular with Airbnb. They are now up in the objectionable area of the others such as Booking. Com, Expedia, Agoda etc. It is becoming unbearable for suppliers, like myself, in the Accommodation Industry…. This was predicted 12 years ago and is now happening across the whole travel and accommodation industry.Our businesses are now discreetly being owned and manipulated by all these `non tax paying` large organisations who are calculating, callus and dishonest for their own selfish empires. They don’t give a sh– for us at all. We are small fry.So they can turn off their phones and become totally uncontactable and non communicative. You cannot even attempt to sue them or take legal action against them. They are fearless and dictatorial. I wish I could fight them vigorously. But no it is just impossible. This ‘reaching out’ is a scam and an insult to one’s intelligence.
We can only hope something comes out of the blue to help and assist us…. I am loosing interest very fast, and a terrible shame for someone who, in his life, has given a hell of a lot to the industry.
Your post makes little sense. You’ve done well by Air BNB for 3 years and now they are worthless. And what do you gain by turning someone in who has overstayed their visa? Something is off about your comments.
Could you fill in the blanks—how are all the situations related?
1. Hosting several years
2. Guest left home unlocked then it was robbed
3. Install exterior security system
4. Report guest for overstaying Visa
5. Airbnb wanting refund to be deducted from next paying stay
6. Account cancelled
7. Pointing out that no one is vetting guests (Government or Airbnb)
8. Competition increasing; lower competitive price points so lower earnings
Is the same guest involved in #2 & #4? Did you disclose the exterior security monitoring as required by Airbnb? How did you know the guest was overstaying Visa? Why did Airbnb request you refund money to them?
Without details it sounds like:
-Your house was robbed & you either correctly or incorrectly blamed a guest for leaving a door unlocked then perhaps tried to file against the Airbnb host guarantee. By the way, anyone wanting to rob the house would do it, regardless of the door being locked or not.
-You failed to disclose the video monitoring as required by Airbnb.
-You reported a guest for overstaying their Visa which resulting in their leaving your rental early. Since you were the cause of the early cancellation, Airbnb refunded payment for those nights then requested refund from you for the nights you were paid but the guest did not stay.
-Airbnb decided your rental wasn’t a good for their platform so cancelled (which is allowed under their terms of service)
Airbnb is a booking platform ONLY with minimal verification of identity. It is up to the host to verify, who checks in (usually by asking guest for picture ID) . As the acceptance of using Airbnb increases, there will be more users with no prior rental history.
Airbnb not worth the trouble? Now is the perfect time for you to create your own booking web site (maybe leverage Facebook), vet your own guests the way you want them to be vetted, and charge what you feel is good rate,