Post by High Priestess on Mar 8, 2017 15:14:13 GMT
See this discussion by a new host about to set up a listing, who balks when she sees all the problems with Airbnb that hosts have complained about:
community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/New-To-Airbnb-About-To-Publish-My-Listing-But-Are-Hosts-As/m-p/339460#M77440
Hello Everyone,
I am excited to be joining the Airbnb community. I spent several days getting my first home listing together and was just about to publish it but then decided to do some research on the community forums here to see what sorts of issues / challenges I might face as a new host, and as a host in general. It seems clear from reading the many posts from unhappy hosts that things were going along relatively well until 2015, when many changes occurred that seemed to favor guests and seemed unfair, unpalatable, or even intolerable to hosts sharing their spaces / rental properties on a short term basis - to the point where several hosts stated they were fed up, angry, have had enough, and are removing their listings all together from Airbnb. The main issues presented by host forum contributors that concern me are:
1) A buggy software system that causes hosts to receive double or triple bookings; when hosts try and cancel the later bookings they are 'penalized' by Airbnb for 'cancelling'.
2) Customer service seems impossible to reach. Emails are not responded to; a live human being is difficult to access. When one is reached (a miracle, it seems), the host allegedly hears vapid and meaningless responses such as, "Oh, I have never heard about that before. I'll talk to a manager about it and get back to you." And (you guessed it) the host never hears back from any support staff of any kind at Airbnb.
3) When a guest damages property, claims are denied, even when the host follows the claims instructions down to the letter. I have only seen two cases on these forums where a claim was successfully and expediently resolved. The fact that the Host Protection Insurance policy itself is unavailable for hosts to review (or for most anyone to review, for that matter, although I have come across one insurance agent who has an actual copy of it - It is about 180 pages long, with a lot of exclusions, reportedly) does not add to my sense of confidence were an issue of damaged property to arise in relation to one of my Airbnb guests.
4) InstaBooking: Is this something a new host should avoid at first, even though it seems we are, in a sense, ]penalized for not signing up for this feature (listing not prominent in searches; harsher cancellation penalties, etc) as it could "overwhelm" us in relation to where we are as first-time hosts on the Airbnb learning curve?
And so I am ultimately wondering, are there any happy hosts out there, including newer hosts that have listed properties since 2015? Am I likely to have a positive experience with Airbnb, if I do my best to follow all of the recommendations on how to offer a good housing experience for guests? Or is the host experience on Airbnb deteriorating to the point where new people like me should think twice before joining this particular sharing community? I really would love to meet people from all over the world, from all walks of life, as I cannot travel these days much for various reasons, and I value the 'sharing' mindset, so this is why I was hoping to find most of my guests through Airbnb (my listing is in a much-sought-after beach vacation rental area).
Also added later:
community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/New-To-Airbnb-About-To-Publish-My-Listing-But-Are-Hosts-As/m-p/339460#M77440
Hello Everyone,
I am excited to be joining the Airbnb community. I spent several days getting my first home listing together and was just about to publish it but then decided to do some research on the community forums here to see what sorts of issues / challenges I might face as a new host, and as a host in general. It seems clear from reading the many posts from unhappy hosts that things were going along relatively well until 2015, when many changes occurred that seemed to favor guests and seemed unfair, unpalatable, or even intolerable to hosts sharing their spaces / rental properties on a short term basis - to the point where several hosts stated they were fed up, angry, have had enough, and are removing their listings all together from Airbnb. The main issues presented by host forum contributors that concern me are:
1) A buggy software system that causes hosts to receive double or triple bookings; when hosts try and cancel the later bookings they are 'penalized' by Airbnb for 'cancelling'.
2) Customer service seems impossible to reach. Emails are not responded to; a live human being is difficult to access. When one is reached (a miracle, it seems), the host allegedly hears vapid and meaningless responses such as, "Oh, I have never heard about that before. I'll talk to a manager about it and get back to you." And (you guessed it) the host never hears back from any support staff of any kind at Airbnb.
3) When a guest damages property, claims are denied, even when the host follows the claims instructions down to the letter. I have only seen two cases on these forums where a claim was successfully and expediently resolved. The fact that the Host Protection Insurance policy itself is unavailable for hosts to review (or for most anyone to review, for that matter, although I have come across one insurance agent who has an actual copy of it - It is about 180 pages long, with a lot of exclusions, reportedly) does not add to my sense of confidence were an issue of damaged property to arise in relation to one of my Airbnb guests.
4) InstaBooking: Is this something a new host should avoid at first, even though it seems we are, in a sense, ]penalized for not signing up for this feature (listing not prominent in searches; harsher cancellation penalties, etc) as it could "overwhelm" us in relation to where we are as first-time hosts on the Airbnb learning curve?
And so I am ultimately wondering, are there any happy hosts out there, including newer hosts that have listed properties since 2015? Am I likely to have a positive experience with Airbnb, if I do my best to follow all of the recommendations on how to offer a good housing experience for guests? Or is the host experience on Airbnb deteriorating to the point where new people like me should think twice before joining this particular sharing community? I really would love to meet people from all over the world, from all walks of life, as I cannot travel these days much for various reasons, and I value the 'sharing' mindset, so this is why I was hoping to find most of my guests through Airbnb (my listing is in a much-sought-after beach vacation rental area).
Also added later:
It seems Airbnb is pushing hosts into a pseudo-hotel business / role, as are the increasing regulations from cities, counties and states (at least here in the United States and elsewhere - not sure about Paris and other European countries. I must pay the county and the state a 'Transient Lodging Tax' that is over 10%, total, of my rental earnings, including cleaning fees). We fall into a gray area, don't we? - Not a hotel; not just a primary residence. I do hope that Airbnb will listen to hosts' concerns and respect the fact that in the end we are taking certain risks in opening up our homes to strangers, even when we have our own primary insurance (
