I just experienced a real Airbnb nightmare. It’s actually ongoing and has been painful for 48 hours. Why? Simple: I need access to my account/app. Should be easy, right? I tell you no, it is not.
After damage to our cell phone software we had to reset all the software, meaning we lost all data, pictures etc. Bad enough but it was about to get worse. My bad, I had no backup done sine May and so we lost almost every password. No problem; we could easy reset most of them until we came to the one we use for Airbnb.
We could not get Microsoft to assist as they did not accept we had no details about the mailbox history we only used for Airbnb. However, we wanted to reset the Airbnb app; it can‘t be too hard. Right? Yeah, we thought. That was a bad mistake.
Airbnb offers you one option to reset the account password: email. Only the one email your account is connected with. No other option, no other possible way. There was no way to contact them. I got creative, found some email addresses here and emailed them. I made it urgent, explained everything, gave all relevant details including security check questions and waited for an email back twelve hours later.
The guy asked me for my email address to send me a reset link. Cool, I thought. I gave him the only available address and said thank you. No, he cannot use this address, only the one where the account is registered with is possible. I emailed back asking why he thinks I emailed him if I would be able to reset it myself. Again, I explained the situation hoping he would understand. He did.
He asked me about my phone number, twelve hours later. I gently asked if he was kidding me. All the details were provided in my very first email. I advised them again. I made it urgent, and again sent a copy of my license and a screenshot of my last text message from a guest. I really hoped now he had gotten it. He did not.
Twelve hours later I received a message: he cannot assist me; he can only email to the address I have behind the listing. Now I am at the end of all possible thoughts and do not know what to do. No access to anything, full bookings and no way to contact guests. Incredibly terrible situation. This will potentially cost us a lot of money, stars and reputation. Airbnb does not care. Wrong and newsworthy. Hence I want to share this with you.
Airbnb reply quickly when you use Twitter. Try that.