I have never actually been a guest or host for Airbnb but I did work for the company itself. All I have to say is the employees that work for Airbnb do not get treated equally either. The resources that were available to help guests and hosts no longer exist. to sum it up the company is all about quantity and no quality,,
Author Archives: Admin
Not worth the trouble – taking down the listing
Used to love the Airbnb experience as a host until recently when I was enlightened with the real picture of the horrible customer service offered by this company.
Fully agreed with some of the comments given on this site – appalling customer service. One day out of the blue my account was disabled for no reason. I tried to call them to (1) understand what happened and (2) reinstate the listing as everyday of it not being active costs me reservations and $. Customer service line was always busy, and I ended up waiting on the phone for 30min for what must have been 10 calls to a US number within the course of 2 days (I am based in the UK). The reason why I had to call them 10 times is because half the time the person I was on the phone with was clueless about what was going on (more than one of them was adamant to me that my account was still up and running – and only after taking a closer look realised that actually yes it was disabled!). In addition, the whole process was hugely opaque – all they could do was to pass on your “case” to “a specialist department” to investigate. I never heard anything meaningful from this “specialist department” – they sent me back an email saying the account had been reinstated (without an explanation as to why it had happened in the first place) but when I checked it turned out it was still disabled. Appalled, I called back (and waited on the line for 30min again) to only find myself back in the original helpless explaining – waiting process. Nothing has been resolved or updated since.
Worst is the attitude of some of these call-centre people: When I expressed my concern that, because I can’t even access my account and because the whole incident has been such a bad experience, I may consider delisting the place to avoid getting into the same trouble in the future, the lady on the line cheekily said “you don’t have to stay with us – but if you cancel your future reservations we will charge you penalties”. Helpful, isn’t it? Considering I can’t even *manage* my future reservations not being able to log into my profile. How am I to welcome my next guest in a few days when my account is disabled? Is it fair that they took down my business AND fine me for not being able to accommodate my guests?
But seriously, having thought about all the risks, the trouble of going through all of this again, and the appalling attitude of this company, the $200 cancellation penalty fee seems utterly small. I have decided that it’s not worth it – so bye bye Airbnb, never again.
N.B. I am reading online reviews that many people have experienced abrupt and frequent cancellations from the hosts recently. I suppose those hosts may be going through the same thinking process as I am. Sorry guys but it’s Airbnb who’s screwing us all.
Airbnb Hostel in our house
I live in an apartment block in a now very hip part of Berlin. On the ground floor a family of four used to live in the apartment. They were pressurised by their landlord to move out because he wanted to sell the property. The new owners claimed they would move in themselves. Instead they installed twelve beds in four rooms and have converted the apartment into a hostel which they list on Airbnb. That’s twelve people staying in a apartment meant for a family of four to five people with guests changing every three to four days. Our children can no longer play in the courtyard unsupervised and our privacy has been violated.
Of course, the hosts of this hostel never asked the residents in the apartment if they were ok with any of this,and they deny what they are doing. This leaves us to have to prove to the authorities that there is a hostel being run in oue house which is taking up time we would rather spend doing other things.
Trust&Safety at airbnb behind low level
I`m a former Employee of airbnb and I can warn everybody who likes to travel not to use `the service` of airbnb. I worked in the trust&safety Department of airbnb and checked new listings and hosts on a daily base. The interesting fact I approached there is the low security standards airbnb put on potential new hosts and jeopardize the safety of all guests. If you want to host airbnb guests you can grab any pictures from the internet like a nice five star villa or a beautiful castle and declare yourself as the `official owner` of this listing, you do not need to provide any form of ID or Proof of Ownership like a Utility bill of the listing. This means in fact that almost more than 50 Percent of the listings on airbnb are fake or put from drug dealers or other criminals to make `the easy money` with the dumb tourists. Trust&Safety just work this way, that they take a look on the Pictures of the listing and declare them as genuine or not. There is no background-check put in place what kind of host you can expect (even serial-killer or Drug Dealers could be hosts at airbnb) . And if the host need to provide a ID they can easely fool the automated security system by providing any kind of Photo ID, the automated system called Jumio accept even Library ID`s . I discussed this issue with my Manager who is responsible for the Security of the listings and he replied to me back that airbnb don`t want to put much restrains on new hosts to register with airbnb (!!!) Sorry, every banking institution or Gambling Website has better security measures in place to prevent Criminals to do their illegal activities but on airbnb every Criminal is warm welcomed to register as a host without hassle to be security checked. You don`t believe it? Try to register yourself at airbnb website as a host with any `funny Name` and put the `Oval Office` as your listing, you will be surprised how quick you are `approved` and go live with this `listing` . Sounds funny, but what will happen when a Hannibal Lecter will be the next host inviting guests to stay for Dinner or even worse. Welcome to airbnb
Nasty host conundrum
Usually when a guest has a bad experience, it is because the host is a nasty and dishonest person and doesn’t treat all guests equally. This is a no-win for the guest–if you write an honest review to warn others, they will write nasty things about you. Also, airbnb customer service was absolutely unreachable, especially outside the US you cannot call the 800 number.
I had a bad experience and on return I wrote a carefully worded review that can be confirmed by the messages exchanged on the airbnb system. I knew that she would write something really nasty and untrue which she did.
What’s a person to do other than never use airbnb again?
Airbnb stole my money!
I tried to make a first booking on Airbnb and had my reservation in Kent accepted and confirmed. Without telling me, Airbnb cancelled my booking and told the host that I was a fraudulent account and not to accept me as a guest. The host then rented out the room for my dates and it wasn’t until a couple of days before arriving when I called the host for instructions on how to get there, that they told me this.
Much to my annoyance Airbnb took the money anyway not giving any to the host and as yet haven’t given any of my near £300 back.
Doesn’t matter what country you’re in, this is theft or at the very least fraud. They as a company have obtained my money by deception and are refusing to give it back. The customer service line is useless and there’s no other person I could speak to having been told ‘this isn’t my department and I can’t help you’. Next stop for me I suppose is the police!!
dirty apt no help from airbnb
I paid 180 for 7 nights hoping I would save money by not booking a hotel in ibiza and making my own food. When I arrived I realised the place was very dirty…the bathroom looked like it had never been cleaned! I was told I couldn’t cook meat which was no problem but the cooker didn’t work anyway. The cleanliness was the biggest issue so I left and booked into a clean hotel for the same price. I emailed my host and cancelled online only to be insulted by the host called ‘sneaky’ and accused of using tactics against her and that I really just wanted to stay with my friends…ludicrous! DO NOT use Airbnb!!!!
Guest Made My Family Unsafe
A guest who was barely around and had 0 communication skills never locked our door. When asked repeatedly, and signs were put on the door requesting it be locked, the guest still left it unlocked. Oftentimes the guest would leave it unlocked overnight (he came back at 12pm-1am nightly), and I would have to go down to lock it after him. Let’s not even talk about the security system he refused to use. I contacted AirBnB and they were of no help. I had gotten myself into a situation where an irresponsible person had control of the safety of my family, and had a key to my home. So it was a balance…I didn’t want to have the guy get hostile to us either. It was our first (and last) experience hosting. Never again. It is just a bad situation, and AirBnB won’t bail you out. This is the kind of thing where the existence of a website makes you feel safe making decisions you would ordinarily never make (i.e. letting a stranger into your home).
Thanks for nothing, Airbnb
We had booked a flat in Barcelona last August and paid $600 for five nights. Before the Barcelona leg of our trip, we stayed in another apartment (also booked through Airbnb) in Paris for five nights, which worked out well.
Prior to flying to Europe, I had communicated with the host of our apartment in Barcelona, who said he would arrange a car service from the airport to the apartment, and asked me for my flight details. That was the last I heard from the host. When we arrived in Paris, I began emailing him, asking him if he was able to arrange a car for us as he said he would, and for check in details. Each day, my emails were ignored, and I heard nothing from the host.
The night before leaving Paris and flying to Barcelona, I decided enough was enough, and I called him. The host was immediately abusive, and began screaming obscenities at me, so of course I hung up on him and immediately tried to call Airbnb for assistance. I waited on hold for 40 minutes ($2 a minute adds up quickly) before I gave up and emailed them.
Airbnb responded by sending us links to three different apartments that they suggested we try…however the apartments didn’t have our dates available. We then received an email from Temperance at Airbnb…a Customer Experience “Specialist” who said our case had been sent to a member on her team, and that we would be in good hands. I replied that we were now on our way to Spain with no place to stay, and a child with us.
And, that was the last time I ever heard from Airbnb. I have been emailing Temperance daily, and it has now been four days. I had to go into the original booking and cancel it, and they issued a 50% refund. We had to shell out the money to stay in a hotel, so I will be contesting all charges with my credit card company once I am back in the states, as I’m not paying for services not rendered.
I am also not able to leave a review for the host (his name is Kristian, if anyone is interested) who was a complete psychopath, so there is no way to warn potential future guests of his.
I will continue to email – and call, once I am back in the States – Airbnb until someone from their incompetent organization acknowledges me.
Airbnb are criminals.
Fraudulent Airbnb Payments!
We have just found out our payments have been paid to a fraudulently set up bank account in Spain.
We are based in UK and have 13 apts listed with them but without warning they started paying an IBAN account in Spain IN Euros. So far we have calculated more than £50,000 has gone to this UNKNOWN account. No response from Airbnb fir 3 days Uk fraud police are investigating. All multi property hosts please check who’s account your money is going into.