Author Archives: Chris

Customer Service? Airbnb Doesn’t Know the Meaning

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I joined Airbnb in 2020 but had to cancel all my trips due to the pandemic. Now that the EU is considering opening up to fully vaccinated Americans, I thought I could re-visit Italy. Having had a good experience with the different hosts on a previous trip (booked by my traveling companion), I made the (terrible) decision to join.

I made my first reservation and that was accepted. When I tried to make the second, a dialog box showed up saying “we can’t let you pay as your account is under review.” This was the start of the nightmare customer service saga. Service cannot be used in the same sentence as Airbnb as it’s a complete oxymoron.

The first line of representatives you reach on the number, which is deftly hidden behind multiple tabs, leaves you feeling frustrated, angry but most of all, powerless. Here’s some of what the representatives told me about my account review:

  • They were carrying out background checks on me. I’ve been in various government jobs that required those. I didn’t know registering on Airbnb required a background check.
  • From Jan. 2021, all Airbnb customers not only had to inform their banks about potential transactions with the company, but in fact, had to get in touch with Visa and Mastercard to let them know that reservations would be made on this platform. Didn’t these representatives get the training memo that it’s actually banks that block/unblock transactions because Visa and Mastercard supply the plastic and technology that makes our life simple with credit cards?
  • I had to get in touch with the potential host I was going to stay with in Italy because apparently, her software hadn’t been linked to Airbnb and this was what was stopping me reserving with her. Don’t they have an IT department to do that? Isn’t that their responsibility?
  • I did actually contact the host in Italy. She took the trouble to contact the Italian customer service platform and they were scathing in their response. They laid the blame squarely on the U.S. side saying that tech support was clearly able to help me and should do so without pushing blame on to the host. Sound familiar?
  • The trite sentence of “I’m so sorry. I know how you feel.” No, you don’t, so stop trying the empathy game with me. If you were really sorry, your IT team would stop faffing around and could have fixed this block on my account already.

There will be customers who have had a flawless experience with their hosts, as I did on my previous trip. My particular experience isn’t one I’d wish on my worst enemy. I have to agree with a review I read in that their representatives do seem to follow a script. It can’t be great for them to have to put up with aggravated, stressed and livid customers but if their management put robust resolution protocols in place, namely timely responses and updates to customers’ email, then perhaps 90% of this could be avoided.

What seems patently obvious from my dealings with Airbnb is that no supervisors are around to handle calls in the moment. Their procedure is to “escalate” and this gets attention within 24 to 48 hours. In the meantime, you get zero communication.

The other horrendously annoying aspect of dealing with this company is the multiple security checks that take place. If you phone from a number that isn’t on your account or if you log in from a laptop/desktop and not the app, you get a string of emails/texts asking you to confirm. Can’t somebody tell their Information Security Officer that security is only good when it doesn’t interfere with legitimate users?

That is the paradox of this company. Their engineers have crafted multiple security checks on users yet they still haven’t put in place a system to communicate with their customers that they are dealing with technical problems that hamper customers from using their accounts. How could they have not seen the importance of keeping customers informed?

It really seems to be a company that has little regard for treating its customers with a modicum of respect. My experience has shown that timely responses are not something they do. There is no communication about the progress of problem resolution and some of their representatives are clearly out of their depth. I’m just annoyed at myself for having joined such a thoughtless, uncaring company.

Guests Who Pay Are Your Only Customers — Airbnb Doesn’t Care

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I started using Airbnb in 2014. Recently over my last trip to Foster City, San Mateo, California, I picked an Airbnb apartment for a long term stay. The host operates as a leasing and servicing management team, who cared less about servicing or even providing amenities through the nearly two-month stay.

While in the middle of our stay, we wanted to extend for another eight nights. The host claimed that the property was available but Airbnb’s platform features did not allow them to extend. Airbnb chose to play in silence by not participating or responding to any requests. Communication to fix the platform and the host’s booking system issues went on for 3.5 weeks and Airbnb maintained selective silence and never replied timely.

The host proposed and continued to call through our stay, telling us to book directly with them. If that was the intent, then why did we need Airbnb to begin? The host has over 50 properties listed on Airbnb, which means Airbnb has a big supply of customers. Airbnb chose not to lose a supply partner over a guest. I wrote several times to Airbnb but they ignored all my requests with standard replies like “Can we do anything to make your stay comfortable?” and “Is there anything else we could help you with?”

Airbnb and hosts: you both need to know that I, the customer, is the one entity you both need to stay in business. Without Airbnb I would go straight to the host or the like for vacation or long term rentals. Why do I need Airbnb? The host forced me to sign up for an extension with them, so why would they even list on Airbnb? Market and sell your own inventory.

Airbnb is not a platform, not anymore. I deleted Airbnb from my phone before the end of my stay, and I am not staying with this host in the foreseeable future. Goodbye Airbnb. The question is how long can you continue this broken model. Eventually all the suppliers will leave because I, the customer, will not be on Airbnb to create demand.

Airbnb Host Fraud Lets Strangers into our Home

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My husband and I own a house out of state that has been vacant and on the market for over a year. Last night our neighbors contacted us to notify us there were multiple cars and motorcycles parked in our driveway with a party going on inside. After investigation by the police we found out our house had been listed on Airbnb by an unknown host. We have never rented our home nor given any individual permission to list our home for rent.

There were pictures attached to the Airbnb posting from Zillow as well as cell phone pictures taken from outside our home looking through windows and glass doors to the inside as well as pictures taken from inside of our home. The renters showed the police their rental confirmation. The police were relatively uninterested because they said this happens all the time, that fake listings are put up and people show up and can’t get in. In this case, these people had been given instructions to access our home.

We have contacted Airbnb through several methods and been told that this will be addressed by the appropriate team. We’ve asked the call center operator to speak with a supervisor and she hung up. There is clearly no sense of urgency on the part of Airbnb in assisting us with finding the person who is still out there who knows how to access our home.

Get a Good Set of Headphones for your Airbnb Neighbors

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I’ve lived in my house for almost 20 years now. One by one, all of the neighboring properties were purchased by the same owner. All of them became Airbnb rentals, and because of the same owner and close proximity, frat parties are a frequent happening.

This has reliably happened for over two years now. They’ll bounce from house to house, the traveling jamboree. Trash scattered all out across the lawns, sometimes 12 cars rammed into the lawn, street, wherever they fit, other times a Greyhound-sized bus drops them off. The stereos blast well into the next morning, sometimes until 3:00 AM. Not just having fun loud: it’s rattle-the-toilet-seats-in-my-house loud.

The local community gets a $100 per night fee from the owners for any Airbnb in the town, so they’ll do nothing to stop it. The police will get things to stop for the night if they are called, usually when there’s illegal fireworks or some drunk guests start inconveniencing the golfers. It’s a neighborhood that is built around a golf course, and because each player pays over $10,000/year in membership fees, they actually have some sort of pull with the town’s “safety patrol,” but that’s about the only control there is.

Multiple times I’ve been late to work because overloaded driveways across the street would cause them to park across mine and block my car in. In addition to my daily driver, I have an old V-8 project car that has open exhaust, which happened to be the car that they didn’t block in. I retaliated by driving that to work instead of driving over my own lawn or pounding on a door for 20 minutes until someone answered. I gave it a few revs for the enjoyment of the sleeping hungover partiers. This was a 6:00 AM Saturday shift.

Sunday morning I woke up to find it pelted with eggs and my lawn had the night’s beer bottles thrown onto it. Lesson learned: I blame myself for that one and am glad that I wasn’t greeted by 24+ big angry guys half my age. The only way to combat this is to sit tight with a solid set of noise cancelling headphones. I’m really hoping the government decides that it could make money putting taxes and fees into this, that’ll hurt the profitability enough to discourage hosting six houses at once.

Airbnb Literally Endangering People’s Lives for Profit

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After making the responsible choice last year to cancel all reservations when the pandemic hit and subsequently not receiving any compensation, I received $25. I took it as an opportunity to review my cancellation policy to better protect myself to reflect the new realities of travel.

Fast forward a year later and I made my place available for the month of April and received three bookings, two of which my guests responsibly cancelled due to the lockdown in the province of Ontario. The third one admitted her travel was unnecessary and that she was coming to walk around with her boyfriend. Now she booked a non-refundable option but would not cancel the reservation because she did not want to lose the money despite her choice to book a non-refundable option. Again being responsible, I chose to cancel and the guest was refunded.

I am not the brightest, but I am failing to see how after I adapted and my guest booked a non-refundable option, how she is still being refunded. At first I was upset over the money but at some point it’s not about the money. It’s about the safety of my community and I couldn’t believe the position Airbnb put me in. They refunded some person who booked a non-refundable option and did nothing to respect my cancellation policy or do the right thing and cancel all reservations in Ontario.

This didn’t sit well so I asked them to donate the money to Black Lives Matter (I am a Black person so figured this money could go to some good) instead of refunding this low life guest. They refused, stating their policy. I was laughing at their “support” team. The guy clearly was in no position to even have a conversation and was reminiscent of a robot, programmed to repeat the policy and failing to understand what “human” is.

Companies like these are greasy and hope the collective group robot think pushes your billion-dollar company to higher profits while putting the lives of people at risk. The fact that they are allowing hosts to operate in Ontario at the moment is baffling. They are literally putting profits before the public good and this goes for housing as well. Simply ruining communities.

SuperHost and Five-Star Property Being Banned due to Airbnb’s Policy

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The guests I had the most problems with were from Airbnb. I was protecting my home, property, and neighborhood and there is no age discrimination where there is the potential for an increase to my risk and liability. I have rented to all races, ethnic groups, and religions. I would never discriminate in those case, but maturity and responsibility varies extremely in this age category and is a much different story. I’ve set a 30 year old minimum age for guests since I started four years ago and apparently even if state laws allow it I’m not permitted to do it any longer.

Message from Airbnb:

We received report of discrimination from a user about your listing. We wanted to let you know that after investigation, we have found claim to this report. As a company, we strive to exist to create a world where everyone can belong, we are reaching out to ensure that you are aware of both our nondiscrimination policy and your corresponding duties as a host. Our nondiscrimination policy states that hosts may not impose any different terms or conditions or decline a reservation based on the guest’s age or familial status, where prohibited by law.

After investigation, we, as Airbnb, have required that you go through two procedures: 1) we need your confirmation by reply to this email your acknowledgment of our NDP. 2) Remove the ‘Minimum age requirement: 30’ on your listing description. We have currently blocked you from making any reservations as we need to be assured that you understand our non-discrimination policies and have done the removal of age discrimination on your content.

We look forward to receiving your reply within the next 72 hours, as we will not be able to move forward without your reply. For more information related to the nondiscrimination policy, do not hesitate to familiarize yourself with some frequently asked questions.

My Response:

Good Afternoon. In response to your baseless age discrimination accusation, I am attaching Pennsylvania’s law where I am permitted to require a minimum age requirement at my home. I have been an outstanding host and have a five-star property. I will not permit Airbnb to determine that I may have “children rent my home.” This individual who filed the claim also claimed they lived in Vancouver, can yet claimed they were coming from DC and NY with six other friends. That was a huge red flag.

I will not allow Airbnb to tell me what age group I am permitted to rent my $400,000 home to which could potentially create an extraordinary amount of liability and risk to the property as well as my financial well-being. Please see PA’s laws because that is the law that I follow. A 28-year-old did not get their way and was extremely rude thereafter. I could only imagine how they would have treated my home had I allowed them to rent it. This is why I do not want parties in my home, I do not want underage (21 and under) drinking in my home, or college students throwing parties.

Airbnb needs to take a look at their policy and should be held responsible for all liability that comes along with renting to the majority within these age groups. It specifically states in PA laws that “you may not set age requirements or minimums over the age of 40.” My minimum age is 30 and I didn’t think protecting my home should be considered discrimination. I have never discriminated based on anything. I set a minimum age requirement to reduce risk and liability in my home — not your home — and am not comfortable permitting 18-year-olds rent my home nor college age kids in party mode. I refuse to destroy my home.

The Information on Fair Housing The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act prohibits discrimination in all housing transactions including but not limited to sales, rental, finance, providing reasonable accommodations or modifications to housing or commercial properties based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, disability, and age (over 40 in housing Ancestry Pregnancy).

Shalom Home? More Like Cold, Dark, Nightmarish Airbnb

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We recently stayed in a very cool home in the mountains of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, but it turned out to be awful. I tried to post an honest respectful review on Airbnb, it was quickly removed. When I asked the customer service rep how many reviews the host had had removed, the representative went quiet.

First of all, the host seemed to be represent herself as Jewish. When I walked in, she had Christian music playing and there was Christian and Republican literature all over the house. Was she hoping to convert us? My friend mentioned how lucky she was to live somewhere so beautiful and she told us it wasn’t luck, it was Jesus.

When we came home the first night after skiing all day and swimming in the hot springs all evening, the lights didn’t work, but we were too exhausted to say anything. The next day, the sun was out and we forgot all about the lights. We tried to shower, but the water would not get hot. I asked the host about it and she said to let it run. We let it go for a half hour and it never heated up. My ten-year-old daughter tried to take a cold shower but came out crying hysterically because she was shivering to the bone. Five of us didn’t shower for four days.

When it got dark that night and we realized there were no lights, my friend was trying to turn on one lamp and a sharp edge of a decorative wrought iron leaf sliced her hand open. When the host came to figure out the lights, she dismissed the cut as nothing. We did get the lights working, but the TV was useless. We took a photo of the lamp and the cut and Airbnb did nothing.

The host also stated in her rules that we could only eat in the kitchen. There were two chairs and a tiny table so I told the kids to go ahead and eat in the living room because if she couldn’t provide electricity and a shower in the 21st century, then I don’t have to following her eating rules. That night we had bought firewood to build a fire and sit around and enjoy the great outdoors of Colorado. When we returned, the host told us that the fire pit was closed for the season, but there was no mention of this in her description. She sent us the rules after she decided it was closed.

I tried to post this all on my Airbnb review, less the Christian stuff because I wanted to keep it unbiased and stick to the facts even though her proselytizing made us very uncomfortable, but it is her house and those books wouldn’t cause a bacterial infection like open wounds and not bathing. Airbnb took down the review and said it was not in accordance with their policy. Not bathing during a pandemic is okay to Airbnb?

Barbados Nightmare and $4,500 Taken During COVID

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I rented a place through Airbnb in Barbados on Jan. 13 for one month to start on Jan. 20. The price of the rental was $4,500. On Jan. 17, I flew to Barbados and went to a COVID-holding hotel as required. Barbados required that we needed to stay at one of those hotels until we tested negative on the island for COVID and then we could move to our final destination. The Barbados website said that tests were taking about 24-48 hours so we booked the hotel until Jan. 20, adding a one-day buffer.

When we arrived, we were told that the COVID tests were taking up to 12 days to come back, if we could even get a test. They said the island was so behind because the demand was so high and they only had one testing lab on the whole island. We had prison-like wrist monitors on and we were not able to leave our hotel room under any circumstance until this test came back or we’d be fined $6,000 each. This was going to be our lives for up to 12 days and we were paying for it. We could not even go for a walk or get any exercise during this time. Getting food was super hard as well. It was nothing short of prison.

While we were trying to sort all of this out, we learned that the U.S. changed its travel regulations on Jan. 17 and that the new policy was to go into effect on Jan. 20. The policy said that if traveling outside the U.S. we must have a valid negative COVID test that was no older than three days and if we could not effectively rely on getting one we should get home immediately. The U.S. Embassy in Barbados put a warning up and called all American travelers home before Jan. 20 if they could meet the new travel restrictions.

With the slow response time for test results effectively we could not get onto the island and we were not going to be able to get home. We decided that the safest thing to do was abide by the embassy warning and go home. We wrote the owner of the house who had our money for a 30-day stay and told them we needed to go home and shared that it was related to the change in U.S. travel restrictions. I generously and thoughtfully offered a week’s rental money not wanting to inconvenience the owner, but the owner refused to give any kind of refund, fully knowing the circumstances were out of our control and kept our full $4,500.

Airbnb told me that no one had requested a rental with this owner since we had, four days prior, and that my offer was generous, but sometimes they had “stubborn and greedy” owners that were unable to work with their renters. They told me that my reason for needing to cancel was valid and they understood my need to go home, but oddly they told me they could do nothing to get my money back. I provided their policy that had just been put into place that said if there was government policy change, put into effect due to COVID, that interrupted any stay after Jan. 20 the renter would be entitled to a full refund. Even with that policy and knowing our circumstances, they did nothing to give us our money.

Additionally, Airbnb has a cancellation period where you can cancel up to 7 days prior to your stay. I tried to use that policy to say that if we pay for the first week, we were essentially cancelling 7 days prior for the other 21 days and they said no to that as well. We sent our claim to the bank. They read all our paperwork and said that this was clearly “unethical and unscrupulous behavior” and that it was clear this owner had “scammed” us and that it was essential for us to fight to get this money back, but that under Visa’s policies they could not reclaim the money due to a technicality based on a bank error.

We are working with the BBB because we are still trying to recover the money that was unethically taken from us. I am also trying to find a lawyer. If anyone can recommend one, I’d appreciate it. There was absolutely no way that we could use our rental.

We showed them their own policy that if there was a government policy change put into effect that interrupted any stay after Jan. 20, the renter would be entitled to a full refund. Even with that and knowing our circumstances, they did nothing to return our money and continued to say that this was the “owner’s decision.” Though they stated and agreed many times that it was unfair and that it was a lot of money, they could do nothing about it. I still have never seen or gotten a copy of the owner’s agreement and I am perplexed why it is a different policy than Airbnb’s.

We need help recovering the money that was unethically taken from us. We showed proof of the embassy warning, the U.S. policy, Airbnb’s own policy, what the hotel was telling us about getting negative test results and our airline tickets home but no one would help us. We offered to pay for one week which would mimic a 7-day cancellation for the remaining time. This owner unethically kept $4,500, provided no service, was given fair notice and did not follow the company’s policy.

As the representative between the owner and myself, Airbnb has a responsibility to mediate this fairly and or rectify the harm we have received. They did not. We need help reclaiming our money.

Loopholes Enabling Unethical Airbnb Host to Bait and Switch

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I booked a long-term stay for a two-bedroom apartment in NYC on Airbnb for two people. When I was doing the search, it showed the same price for one, two, or more guests in the same apartment. The confirmation came back for one person somehow, so I immediately (less than ten minutes from booking) corrected that in the app and received another confirmation for two people.

I was looking into the address details of the booking I just paid $3,500 for. Surprisingly it still only showed the street name without any other details. So I contacted the host — appeared to be some company instead of an individual host — who insisted that because the reservation showed only one person (who is rich enough to book a two-bedroom apartment for just one person in NYC?), they wanted to charge me more than $1,000 for it.

I looked back into the app, which in fact, still showed the same price for even three or four people. They claimed that it was a system error. At that point, I believed them, and allowed them to cancel so I could rebook. There were plenty other properties around that did not cost more than what they originally charged plus $1,000. This was within 20 minutes of booking.

I contacted Airbnb support. They said that on their end I was confirmed for two people and the price was right. So I let them handle it. The operator also said if I felt uncomfortable with the host, I could cancel for free within 48 hours. The next day, Airbnb support called me, informed me that the host insisted on extra charges even though it was advertised with two people with the price I already paid. And if I cancelled, they could only offer a $150 coupon to book again on Airbnb. They just pocketed $3250 dollars.

The host claimed it was an error with Airbnb, but they refused to accept the full refund cancellation request. Instead they intend to just keep my money or ask for even more. This is all within 24 hours of booking. So, Airbnb leaves me with two choices: either pay $1,000 above the market rate to accept the booking, or lose $3,000 more to cancel. That is the place where Airbnb want their customers to be.

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Has Airbnb Gotten Too Big to Care?

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This is a recent story of how Airbnb has gotten too big to care. We have been hosts and guests since 2010 with 213 five-star reviews. We recently had a guest who booked our home through Airbnb for three adults. He never showed up, but 15 other people did. We found out through his secretary that he regularly books Airbnb’s for his crews who are working on homes in our area damaged by Hurricane Sally in September 2020.

I went to the house and found our entire carport was filled with construction materials. Trucks, trailers, generators, and vans were parked around the house and when I went to the back of the house to see what was going on, all but one of the persons ran into the house and shut the door. The other stayed on the deck smoking (prohibited by our rules) and drinking.

Our house was a wreck when we finally got them to leave. They had trashed the house, stolen many items, knocked holes in the walls, broken glasses, clogged the plumbing and literally destroyed our kitchen. I immediately called Airbnb and was told to document all vehicles and construction materials by photo. I did this and sent it directly to Airbnb.

From that point, Airbnb began to ignore my messages and calls. The only way they corresponded was to message and ask for more documentation. I kept being pushed off to yet another ambassador/supervisor all to no avail because no one could (or would) help. Although I did everything Airbnb asked me to do and provided all documentation requested, they called today to let me know they were not going to ask the guest to pay for the additional guests because he didn’t want to pay it.

Okay, so now we get to go to the department store with the intent of buying three items, end up purchasing 15 but then saying we will only pay for three because that’s how many we wanted in the first place? How many customer service persons would let me out of the store with 15 items when I only paid for 3? None. Yet Airbnb has told the guest he only has to pay for the three guests he reserved, even though 15 stayed.

I have been a loyal client of Airbnb since 2010 and this guest just joined during 2020 so he could send his work crews to stay near the hurricane disaster sites without having to pay for hotel fees. His secretary was foolish enough to share this information with me via telephone. Unbelievable. I have filed a complaint with the BBB, sent emails to the CEO, CFO and CSO of Airbnb, and am sending this information on the “real” Airbnb through all the social media resources available to me.