Tag Archives: airbnb hosts

In Three Words? Unethical, Illegal, Unprofessional

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We’ve used Airbnb for years, both as hosts and as travellers across four continents. While we have loved many wonderful hosts and delighted in hosting guests, we have stopped using Airbnb in favour of booking.com due to Airbnb’s unethical management. You need to be aware that by using Airbnb you’re supporting a company that:

1. Has an arbitrary review process. We wrote a review of a nightmare host who had positive feedback. Our review didn’t appear, so we had to manually check for it. We had to contact Airbnb to ask why. They said that they ‘should’ have emailed us, and when it turned out they failed to, they investigated why our review wasn’t published. It turned out the host had objected; Airbnb had published her review about us, but not ours due to a technicality (we pasted a text message our host had sent us). We were happy to revise our review by simply removing the pasted phrase. Airbnb wouldn’t allow this. I don’t know of any serious site that conducts such a one-sided arbitrary (and faulty) review process. This was most likely the reason this nightmare host’s feedback didn’t feature anything negative – she uses Airbnb’s arbitrary feedback process to block reviews. So, you can’t trust reviews on Airbnb.

2. Sees nothing wrong with renting out properties that have been stolen. Yes, you read that right: stolen. Check out the campaign on SumOfUs and other sites. Airbnb will rent you property that by international UN law has been stolen in Palestine. Many have written or handed in petitions (over 150k signatories to date) and used other methods to get Airbnb to cease their unethical and illegal practice, all to no avail.

Warning to Potential Airbnb Hosts

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This is a slightly different story. My husband and I have managed rentals for a number of years and we were thinking about signing up for Airbnb. I got an invite to an Airbnb meet and greet in our area. The location was at a house, which was hard to find; there were no markers outside, but we did find it. One of the folks attending asked the host if he had ever had his house damaged by guests. The host said yes. He then said that he contacted Airbnb, who told him he had to cancel the next guests, who were coming from out of the country, in order for them to process the claim. The host felt that would be unfair to the next guests and cleaned up the house with his own funds and kept that reservation.

Airbnb refused his claim for damages. Seriously? That’s the customer service you get with this company? Not only did they tell this host to screw the following guests, but they wouldn’t honor the host’s claim for damages? We asked what happened with the people that trashed his house. He gave them a bad review. Big whoop. A lot of hosts are hesitant to give a bad review because they don’t want to get kicked off the site. These folks are still renting and probably still trashing people’s houses. And this story is from a guy that works for Airbnb. We appreciate his honesty and we are looking into some other options for our vacation home.

Airbnb Protects Hosts at the Expense of Guests

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We booked a house near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France for 10 nights. When we arrived we discovered it was in a different location than that on the Airbnb map and actually right next to the highway. The host, Virginie, misled us into believing her house would be suitable for two small children using public transport (La maison MAChaBaGa, 194, Avenue du Camp de Menthe). It was the opposite of this. The doors did not lock, there was construction work taking place around the house, the pool she said we could use was very dirty, and there were no shops or restaurants – the host told us there would be. She told us the bus stop was right outside the property to get to town, but the nearest stop was actually a 15 minute walk along a dangerous road into oncoming traffic. Clearly not suitable for small children.

Workmen lit a fire next to the house, there was no privacy with the workmen appearing at the non-locking glass sliding door windows at random times, a plug socket fell off the wall exposing dangerous leads, and the host said she would provide towels and there were none; this seems like a minor inconvenience but is a real pain with two small children. It was a horrendous experience overall. We only stayed two nights and left as soon as somewhere else became available. I passed all of this information onto Airbnb who said that “we needed to let them know within 24 hours, we don’t qualify for the refund policy and the case is now closed”.

I’m in absolute shock at the appalling customer service. The host has taken almost £1000 from us and nothing is being done to stop her. We stayed two nights and she knew we had left after two nights, but has chosen to keep our money even though her house was unsafe and not at all as described. We’re very upset and now realise why Airbnb has been so successful – they avoid ever paying refunds to guests. They have offered us a pitiful refund, a fraction of the amount we are owed. They have even taken away the opportunity to write a review of the property to warn other guests. Hopefully they will find the information they need here. I will never use Airbnb again.

ANOTHER WAY AIRBNB RIPS OFF HOSTS

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Airbnb charges owners who cancel a reservation $100 for each cancellation even when it is airbnb’s fault. We have four rental units and advertise on several sites. Airbnb is supposed to sync each calendar. We have accepted reservations and then checked our master calendar and the unit is booked. When we tried to resolve the issue we were charged each time when it was clearly the fault of airbnb. DO NOT USE INSTANT BOOKING or accept a reservation without checking your own calendar. DO NOT RELY ON THE AIRBNB CALENDAR. DO NOT US AIRBNB. Not only are they making 10-15% from the renters they are making a killing ripping owners off!!! We are very happy with VRBO and only fill in our calendar with airbnb. Also, airbnb clientele are not as good as VRBO clientele. They are price shoppers and budget travelers. We have found that the people that pay more are more respectful of your property.

Automated termination of service

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Automated termination of service with no details or response to inquiries.
I have been a host for Airbnb for six months, all with
positive reviews. I have received no feedback that there was a problem of any kind. My account with Airbnb was terminated for no
apparent reason and with an automated email that explained only that I had “violated the terms of service.” The company
cancelled all reservations and informed the guests that the company would find them alternative arrangements. Several guests
complained to me directly and wanted to keep the reservations, which they eventually did. Several guests simply abandoned their
reservations. When I called to inquire as to what had occurred, the customer service representative stated that she didn’t know what the problem was and said, and I quote, “… I don’t know what the problem is and I would not tell you if I did know.” She refused to transfer me to a department that could provide me with an answer and stated that she would email them and they would contact me. A few days later I received the same automated email stating that I had violated the terms of service and my account has been deactivated. This one was signed Marcia B.
Again, I wrote back requesting information and asking for a way to resolve the problem and offered to pay any fees, fines or costs that the company had incurred, once I understood the problem. I received the same automated message and the company has not responded to my repeated requests to provide a specific response to my inquiry.
I view this as almost hostile; the company seems to cancel one’s ability to use the site on a whim; and then simply is non-responsive.
I’d be interested in others’ views on this subject.

Don’t host on airbnb!!!

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I rented out my home for the first (and the last) time through AirBNB earlier this year to a middle aged couple who on paper seemed legitimate.
There were only the two of them staying and they had the choice of 2 double sized bedrooms. Before they arrived a put a lock on my bedroom door because I wasn’t going to be there while they were staying and let’s be honest – I didn’t know them from a bar of soap.
So call me naive, but I assumed that a lock would be a clear indication that I didn’t want them in my room. They had two rooms to choose from, there was no need for them to go into mine.
Obviously the lock made no difference because it’s quite easy to just unscrew the hinges and take the door off! All of my personal belongings got rummaged through, my lingerie was all over the bed and sentimental jewellery items were stolen that can never be replaced.
AirBNB’s response when I reported the situation? “You shouldn’t leave your belongings out if you don’t want them tampered with”
Out? They were in my room behind a locked door! I am so beyond angry – If you’re thinking of renting your home through AirBNB – DON’T!!

AirBNB Hosting NIGHTMARE!

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I’ve hosted many rooms on AirBNB for almost 2 years and always had a 100% perfect rating, but then I caught two of my guests sneaking in their friend and having him stay with them without telling me. I was annoyed but I very reasonably said that he could just pay $10 per night for the 3 nights he stayed, and we would call it even. They agreed to my face, but secretly they made up a story about mice and bugs being in the condo and filed not one but two complaints directly with airbnb! I thought, wow that’s annoying, so I promptly responded to the claims with lengthy explanations about what REALLY happened, expecting that airbnb would naturally see through the lies of these two young kids. Instead, Airbnb gave the kids HALF of their money back for the three week long reservation even though they had already stayed 18 of the 21 days before making a complaint! Even better than that, the kids damaged both of their rooms, stole money, wine glasses, and other kitchen items, yet when I filed security deposit claims against both of them including photos and witnesses, airbnb literally ignored the claims without so much as a response and refunded the kids 100% of their security deposits!

Long story short, I’ve had enough of terrible service by large companies that just don’t feel like they need to give a crap about their customers, even a long-term host with a perfect rating.