Warning: Airbnb Cost me $400K in One Day

Posted on October 18, 2020

I have been a Superhost for 7 years and have 6 single family homes in the highly desirable Stratton Mountain area of Vermont. I have built this business over the course of 8 hard years of dedicated work. I have had my listings on a few platforms in the past but settled on Airbnb as they seem to have the best traffic and easiest system to use. This was a big mistake.

Airbnb has always been great at supporting Superhosts until they switched to outsourcing their support tickets in 2019. It is impossible to get high level support now.

Now for the real story: a couple weeks ago I had a guest stay in one of my homes. After the second day she requested a full refund so she could book a different property. She claimed the house had a flying insect infestation, on the second night. No problems on the first. She sent pictures of what appeared to be one room with a screenless window open, and lights on at night (that window had a screen in it prior to her arrival).

I told her the bugs were attracted to the light, something a grown adult should know, and to put the screen back in. Regardless, she insisted on her full refund and the chance to book another house. As I was traveling and had little time to deal with it, I agreed to give her a refund and both agreed we wouldn’t leave a review. This was a problem of her own making and not an issue with the property. I agreed to the refund as I didn’t have the desire to argue nor the desire to have her hanging around any longer.

What happens next is astounding. She hounded me for the refund before I could have my housekeeper review the condition of the property. She booked a house next to mine a block away. The house is nearly identical to mine in every way. Then at the last minute of the review period she left a 1-star review trashing my home and promoting the property next to mine in the review as a better alternative.

I’m not sure if they were collaborating on this or not, but this was obviously meant to hurt me and help my competition. I get nearly all 5-star reviews; my rating is 4.9 and has maintained my Superhost status for 5 years. I called Airbnb to complain about the unfair review and raised concerns regarding a possible sabotage by this guest. Airbnb sided with me and took down the review.

What happens next should scare the pants off of any serious Airbnb host. The guest, seeing that her review was removed, got angry and filed a gender discrimination claim. Here’s the deadly part: without ever reaching out to me for any comment, Airbnb removed my listings and cancelled all future bookings against my guests’ will.

I immediately called support and no support person would talk with me about it. They told me someone from another department would reach out. It took a week for a response by email to come. My cancelled guests were going crazy as they picked my home for their specific event and they did not want to cancel.

Airbnb cancelled hundreds of guests and refunded them over $80,000 in bookings. I have tried several times to get them to explain themselves but without any satisfaction. They simply respond by saying they’ve reviewed the situation and their decision is final. I can’t appeal, I can’t see what this guest presented, and I can’t get anyone to talk to me, nor will anyone respond with any kind of practical explanation.

It’s astonishing considering each reservation averages 7 guests and I have 30 or more reservations a month. If you do the math I have had over ten thousand people occupy my properties through Airbnb. That Airbnb would allow a single guest fraudster to file a fake claim hence cancelling my business with them is just unbelievable. Not only is it harmful to me, my future and past guests, but it also harms Airbnb, it is beyond comprehension.

So be warned all Airbnb hosts, as this could happen to you and there is nothing you can do about it. I had, to date, produced over $400,000 in reservations this year alone and was on pace to double that next year. Now I am starting over on another platform. They claim to be a community of hosts and guests yet with the stroke of a key they can destroy a host who is bringing them hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Airbnb is a bad investment. I am now forced to rebuild the entire business on another site. It may take a year to get back to that $400,000 level. Airbnb, what are you thinking? Hosts: look for another partner for your support.

Airbnb Guest Urinates on Bed in Stockholm

Posted on October 17, 2020

I have had more than 100 guests and have loved it. Never any problems and I have earned Superhost status with 5.0 in terms of customer ratings.However, I have now had a guest where I immediately discovered urine in the bed after check-out. The bed is the Swedish brand, Hästen, handmade and extremely exclusive. The mattress is ruined and must be replaced immediately as I have new guests arriving.

The guest admits that she “accidentally poured water into the bed with a leaking water bottle” and says she is willing to pay for cleaning. But Airbnb customer service does little or nothing. It still takes time for them to even look into the matter, even though I do what is expected of me.

The problem has not been solved, and still being handed by Airbnb. No decisions regarding compensation yet. I realize that as a host I only have obligations but no “rights.” An extremely sad discovery and I am considering leaving Airbnb altogether.

It is interesting that a company whose content is only about people being willing to rent out their accommodation or parts of it is not faster to deal with problems that arise and support a host or a guest. Now Airbnb is planning an IPO, a company earning their income on booking fees, which however, presupposes that there are landlords and tenants.

Don’t Expect Any Host Support — it is Airbnb Hell

Posted on October 16, 2020

I am a property owner that has had listings with Airbnb for six years, with reviews that have been 4 or 5 stars 100% of the time. Even so, Airbnb chose to support a terrible guest who had been listed with them for two years (and had no reviews) over me. Not only did they support her, but they were rude and threatening to me.

The guest did a same day instant booking at 10:00 AM and then late in the afternoon sent an image text that was blank. I sent a text telling her that there wasn’t an image, and around 7:00 that evening she said it was her service dog information. They had already checked in.

We have a strict no animals policy. Our cabins are new, and we want to keep them dander free for the comfort of guests with allergies. Furthermore, our area had lodging options that accepted animals, so they didn’t need to ignore our no animal policy in order to find lodging. The guest also never provided any evidence that her dog was actually a service dog. I believe this is a scam she has been pulling wherever she travels.

After they checked out, I found short black hairs everywhere. I had to wash all of the fabric, including the curtains. I also vacuumed the floor twice and then mopped it. I finally thought I had gotten all of the hair out of the cabin, but when I opened the fridge there were short black hairs on the shelves inside.

I posted a review of her stay with information about the condition of the cabin and a private remark that we were disappointed that they wouldn’t respect our wish to keep our new cabins dander and animal hair free. The guest complained to Airbnb about my review (which I had posted to protect other hosts from her). They removed my review and sent me a threatening email that they could remove my account for being discriminatory. I asked Airbnb to explain what was discriminating about my review and they did not respond.

We are removing our listings from Airbnb and hope that other hosts will learn from our mistake and choose somewhere else to list their property. I would love advice on finding listing agents that have the backs of property owners.

Just as a side note, I understand that the ADA has tried to provide protection to those with disabilities, and I would totally support someone with a disability who needed a service animal. However, I don’t believe this guest or her husband have a disability. They were simply taking advantage of a system set up to protect those with real needs.

Booking Cancelled Suddenly Without Any Reason

Posted on October 9, 2020

I booked an apartment in London in mid September. According to Airbnb, the host was new; she joined Airbnb recently, and the platform showed that she replied to messages in an hour. We liked her apartment so we wanted to give it a try.

As instant booking was available, we booked her apartment and told her the time we would come to London. Unfortunately, we waited for a week and she did not reply. We sent her another message asking for her confirmation. Again, there was no reply from her.

Then, we started to contact Airbnb support and finally they were able to contact her. She explained to us that her mobile was not working so she was not able to reply to us. More importantly, she confirmed that her apartment would be available and would give us more information tomorrow.

However, again, we have waited for another week and we received no information from her. When we almost wanted to send her another message and ask Airbnb for help again, I suddenly saw a message in my mailbox from PayPal that I received a refund from Airbnb. However, there was no other formal notifications from her or Airbnb telling me that my booking has been cancelled and explaining why.

I had to log in to my Airbnb account, check my booking and see a message that my booking has been cancelled. I feel like I am serving Airbnb but paying them a service fee at the same time. I took responsibility for confirming with the host that the apartment would be ready and I spent a lot of time checking and sending her messages to ask for her replies.

Eventually, my booking was cancelled without any reason and formal notification and I was forced to look for another apartment myself. Many apartments are not available anymore or became much more expensive.

Guest Leaves, Takes Keys, Receives Refund

Posted on September 30, 2020

Please consider the following chain of events. I have now been waiting for Airbnb to help me retrieve my keys from a guest for almost a week and two weeks since the guest claimed he moved out (without returning my keys). I have lost numerous reservations and will most likely close my Airbnb account after this is resolved.

I accepted a reservation and arranged for the guest’s arrival and key pickup at my neighbor’s at the guest’s convenience. He checked in and the same day requested a new microwave oven, which I arranged and delivered the next morning.

Two days later he informed me he wanted to leave because of noise that he cannot prove to Airbnb and which was not confirmed by the neighbors. After I refused the change — being informed by Airbnb that I did not have to accept — the guest got hostile and accused me of “taking advantage of him.”

I was then informed by Airbnb that the guest can cancel at his own will, which I also informed him, even though I was not happy with this. I did not know cancellation was possible after checking in. The guest did not cancel, so I assume he stayed.

Prior to the original checkout date, I informed the guest he needed to leave the key where he picked it up: at my neighbor’s apartment next door. I also asked him to take out trash as I won’t be able to visit for a long time due to quarantine. When the checkout date passed and the key was not returned, I asked my neighbor to enter the apartment to look for the key.

He didn’t find the key, but a big mess, unflushed toilet, and trash left out, possibly for 10 days. I was now informed by Airbnb that the reservation is considered cancelled as by the original alteration request that I did not accept. And that I will now owe Airbnb the money for the remaining days.

A day after original checkout date, the guest finally answered and informed me I needed to travel to Stockholm (I am in Norway) to pick up my keys on the other side of town where he now apparently resides. He also requires a receipt of key return. I have no evidence of when he checked out, as the keys have not been returned. For all I know he could have used the apartment all this time, even after the original checkout date.

Instead of help from Airbnb when a guest has not returned my keys, I was informed I owe Airbnb money for the time the guest claimed he has not been in my apartment, even though they keys have still not been returned. The guest repeated he will not travel to return the keys and take out the trash “as I have caused him inconvenience,” thereby somehow “punishing” me for not accepting his alternation request which Airbnb told me I had the right to decline.

There’s No One Home at Airbnb Support

Posted on September 28, 2020

I just spent a splendid two weeks trying to get through to Airbnb support. I have received robot messages from several mythological support people. Some are insulting, some claim to be supportive and not do anything, and none seem to read the messages I sent. Yesterday they added another fun category of pretending to call me back and claiming there was no answer.

I think even a robot could see that the messages were being sent from my phone that was in my hands. I have blocked all my time with Airbnb and plan on finding a company with actual people in it to take my money for use of the website. They charge nearly as much is a reputable rental agency and give nothing in return.

No One Paid for the Damage to My Furniture

Posted on September 27, 2020

My Sept. 11 reservation was a nightmare. The person lied about coming with her boyfriend. On the day, she showed up alone, inspected my place, and asked many personal questions. That night, four people came to my place and made noise until 1:30 AM. As a single woman, I was terrified after hearing many male voices.

Later at night, one person left and I found my house key in the mailbox outside the next day. The three men checked out at 11:00 AM on Sept. 12 and I found that they broke my chair. I took a picture at 11:04 AM. I wrote to Airbnb support at 11:16 AM. Since I have a security deposit and it is written that I have 14 days to claim damages (attached), I decided to wait for Airbnb’s response, while getting the apartment ready for the next guest.

I needed to move back the furniture that they moved. The apartment needed deep cleaning, especially when the extra beds were used without linens when I only prepared the main bed for the “couple”. Frustrated by the silence from Airbnb support, I wrote an angry review of the guest and told the sad story. At 4:53 PM, Airbnb sent an email saying that I could report a problem (attached). I was directed to ask for money from the guest. The guest paid the extra guest fee, but lied about the chair being broken when he arrived.

After being cornered by evidence, he began to swear at me. That’s when I turned to the resolution sector. An agent contacted me on Sept. 16 at 6:13 PM. The person technically made up excuses to prevent me from getting any compensation. He said that I need to submit a claim before my next guest checked in, which is not what it says under the “security deposit” information on my listing (attached).

After I explained that the very reason that I couldn’t study the submission process was that I had a guest coming, he said that “you can notify Airbnb either by opening a claim in the Resolution Center or by contacting customer support directly”. I sent a screenshot to show that I contacted support right away, but I never got a response. Then he said “after a thorough review, we have decided to uphold our original decision. We determined that a payout could not be processed in this instance.” I demanded a valid reason, but he closed my ticket without any further response.

It is not a fancy chair, even though the market price is about $267. What strikes me most is the lies about insurance and guarantee from Airbnb. I am not a fan of having strangers in my house. The earnings from Airbnb are inconsistent and I can do better with long-term rentals. I chose Airbnb because of the guarantee. If Airbnb allows stranger to get away with damaging my property and lies about protecting hosts, why should I open my doors to make Airbnb rich?

We just need to remind Airbnb that without guests, they can still run your company even with a reduced profit. Without hosts, they are done, nothing, zero. How dare they use hosts like this and treat us like fools.

Accused of Theft and Lying About Smells

Posted on September 20, 2020

My wife and I rented an Airbnb e to celebrate our first anniversary. From day one it smelled like a dog kennel. The second day, we found one bed bug which the co-host implied that we could’ve been responsible for rather than just quietly making things right. She moved us to a different room that was much better, but then the next day, she and her daughter accused us of messing with the way their appliances were plugged in and costing them $95 for an electrical inspection, when we didn’t and had absolutely no reason to.

The host’s daughter did not objectively serve us and was hardly involved as opposed to her mom. We filed a complaint with Airbnb the next day and the hosts kicked us out, though we had not officially told them we were canceling our reservation. They falsely accused us of filing a complaint of theft against them and took pictures of our naturally messy room before we had time to clean it up. They reported us to Airbnb corporate for vandalizing and trashing their place.

Airbnb Superhosts Receive no Help with Fraud

Posted on September 18, 2020

Following the fraudulent use of our Home Sharing Certificate number by an unknown Airbnb host, the City of Los Angeles had Airbnb de-list out home for short-term rentals. The city investigated, and reissued our permit when they confirmed the fraud. They notified Airbnb we had been issued the new permit. We were informed that Airbnb simply needed to remove the restriction from its end, to allow us to relist for short-term rentals.

However, Airbnb still will not let us relist for short-term rentals — after two weeks. We have called support, chatted and emailed, but there has been no response other than being told repeatedly that our case has been “escalated.”

We have never heard from any member of this escalation team. We’ve emailed a copy of the new certificate, and even sent them a copy of the fraudulent listing’s page with our certificate number on it. We have exclusively used Airbnb as our rental platform, but will now list on other sources, and more actively solicit direct rentals through friends, and NextDoor. Eventually, we will drop Airbnb.

Horrible Guest Requested a Full Refund over a Lie

Posted on September 18, 2020

On August 17, guests had to leave early due to their car breaking down, but they wanted a full refund. They took pictures of the tiled ceiling and plastic-steel windows frame. There was some black color, old sealer and dust. They said it was black mold and threatened me using rude words. I explained to him that I would like to deep clean it, but guest did not listen to me and left the next day. Then they sent me a request for a full refund.

I reported this to an Airbnb representative right away. She told me I didn’t have to give a refund due to the guest choosing a non-refundable method to take advantage of an extra 10% off. After I got the email from the Airbnb resolution center about this guest’s request, I called an Airbnb case manager and she confirmed it was my right to choose whether to give a refund or not.

A month later, I got another case manager getting in touch by email. He totally stood with the horrible guest and charged me $940 from my account. He did not listen to me and did not have any professional proof. It was unbelievable. Airbnb blocked my property for 10 days, and caused me to lose $940 in revenue. I have to suffer horrible guests bullying me and no one can protect innocent hosts.

Such a nightmare with Airbnb. Who can I reach out to fight against the second case manager’s decision? Thank you in advance.