Don’t Use Facebook to Verify your Airbnb Account

We had stayed in an Airbnb in Singapore and since we were asked for a review, we posted the challenges we faced during our stay in the most polite way possible. It was simple feedback on insects being present and some inflexibility. We had been very mild with the feedback since the host was a student. In reality, the place was dirty and messy. The host, on the other hand, replied maligning us in a very personal manner, and since we had used a Facebook account to verify our account, this information was also available. As a precaution to all people who are booking through Airbnb: please try to avoid linking it to a Facebook account. Try using a name which is not traceable. The system is highly unregulated and unprofessional. In fact, it makes me wonder about the authenticity of the reviews. It is better to pay more and book via Agoda or Booking.com and move into a decent place, where you would be more sure of what you’re getting. Our other experiences are similar to what many others have faced, including a feeling of intrusion, lack of privacy, and fear of persecution. All in all, Airbnb is not worth it.

Reservation Cancelled Last Minute in NYC

So, I had this wonderful, romantic trip planned for my girlfriend and me: tickets to a Broadway show and a “fantastic” room right in Times Square that I booked through Airbnb. However, less than two weeks before our scheduled trip, I received an email from Airbnb that simply said: “Unfortunately, your reservation has been cancelled.”

That’s it! No explanation, nothing except the option to credit my account or receive a refund. There is no option to contact the owner from whom I was renting. This is my first experience with Airbnb and will very likely be my last. How can one make plans under these circumstances? My son has several upcoming Airbnb reservations. I will advise him to cancel and book hotels. I would certainly never recommend Airbnb and have no intention of giving them a second chance. Oh well, back to Hotels.com.

my airbnb account has security issues and been hacked 3 times in the passing week.

I opened my airbnb account around the 15th on September, at first everything seemed great. As I compared airbnb to his competitors online, I was actually impressed, it looked easy, simple, friendly….

After our first booking the problem started:
First we found out that our account has been hacked, email address has changed, payment method has changed to bank-wire to account: XXXX-9000 – Not my account, I can’t edit or delete anything and all in perfect timing with a schedule transfer of the last guest.
So, I send an email and I call airbnb after.
They said that they will “freeze” our account, so no money transfer will occur… so I don’t get paid until they resolve it. When will it be resolved? I asked, “it’s top priority” they said, so I thank for a good service and I waited.

To make it short, It took THREE (3!) days to solve until our airbnb account security issue.
Every day waiting on the phone with them, hearing they can’t do anything, and “we are working on it”, “it’s top priority”. Only at the end of the third day, after being with them on the phone during the day, I got a call!
A nice representative named Malena called and she said she can see that I have a problem with my account , and that she will solve it. It took her 30 seconds to solve it; 30 seconds, 3 days wait.

So the money was transferred and it was going well….. for about 36 hours, when all the messages in my account where locked.
I couldn’t access any of them and my listing didn’t appear on search results. I found out about all of it by a future guest that send me a scared email about him being unable to find us on airbnb… I felt bad.
I called them again, I told them that it’s a really big deal, and that I need to know what to do. I got no answers from them, the “urgent call” service can’t do something.
They don’t have any supervisors, managers, colleagues they can transfer you to, and they can’t help.

24 hours passed before they solved the problem… and another 24 hours passed until it came back again, the same problem , again my account is shut down, the only difference is that this time, I had no one to talk to.

The airbnb representative said that this department is Not available at the moment and they can’t say when it will be resolved, they can’t even say when this department will be available again.
The only thing that they will tell you is to wait.
So I wait, I have 3 bookings starting tomorrow… don’t really know what to do anymore…

Do you have Any suggestions?
Do you know a good alternative for airbnb?

Alon