Betty-B--M-0
Level 10
Nairobi, Kenya

Who you gonna call? (Not ghostbusters)

Hi all, 

 

Just read a post where host Wendy of Stonington, CT suggested that calling ABB everytime something goes wrong is a little much. Basically, your house, your rules, guest observes or leaves.

While this may sound a little cut-and-dried, I think it is brilliant.

Imagine you are running a guest house  or rental property entirely on your own initiative and without ABB.

If something went wrong and you felt the guest/tenant had to go and there was no one to call (except perhaps the police or emergency services if it got that serious), what would you do?

Now I know we are concerned about bad reviews, blocked calendars etc because in reality, we are on ABB and not entirely independent. 

Still, with a little imagination and some authoritativeness, some things may be better and faster resolved without wasting time looking for the ABB phone number, sending a ream of emails, venting on the forum, and feeling generally upset or afraid of consequences. 

Just my two cents. I'm ready for any dressing-down now. 

Thank you for reading and with thanks to Wendy of Stonington, CT for sparking my imagination.

iI seem to be getting a lot more late booking, not so much in advance.

David

Us too. 

Hi called Airbnb last night and was given the option to receive a call back so 1/2 later ( so much better than being on hold) I did receive a call and explained to the guy I had to cancel due to a storm and he was able to remove that - and the automatic

 

post from Airbnb.  - very nice. Only problem is my commitment rate is still less than 100% - even thought now it would be 100%. So not sure how that makes sense but I did make progress and even received a email afterwards with my contacts info so now I have it and can communicate directly with him through emails 

Only problem is my comment 

@Steve211

The telephone numbers are becoming more and more for emergencies and they have changed. Twitter and Facebook work best.

Use the extremely useful CONTACT AIRBNB Community Help Guide produced by @Dave & Deb from Edmonton, Canada - it sets out in details all the best ways to contact as well as a list of country specific telephone numbers.

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Community-Help/bd-p/Community-Help-EN

 

Best Wishes.

Andrea9
Level 10
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Exactly @Betty-B--M-0! These (usually newbie) hosts always remind me of this wonderful article, right down to the snarky tone

https://globalhostingblogs.com/2015/12/04/dont-be-an-airbnb-baby/comment-page-1/#comment-267

 

I mean, for goodness sakes, where do some people leave their sense of security or common sense once they post their listing!?!?

@Andrea9, it's been a minute since I saw you! How are you? 🙂

The article is right but...I'll only add one, non-snarky comment: I don't think hosts, newbie or not, are silly or naive. I mean, if you've managed to own, furnish (often exquisitely) and attract a booking, you're doing fine in the "smarts" department and sometimes it's truly not for lack of intelligence that you're in a sticky situation. I get it that when things go wrong we panic; an otherwise sensible and good-natured person goes weird. I've done it. I get it.  

99% of the time what I think what we could do is just...Stop. Drop panic. Roll panache.  

Afterall, we're the ones on the property and intimately acquainted with exactly what's going down. Your mere presence, ownership of the property and good sense may be more beneficial than all of Airbnb's phone and email support. (That being said, there are some truly awesome agents at ABB - shout out: Lisa!)  So there we have it. Use the resources available but don't forget your own good gumption. That's all. 

Thank you for reading! 🙂 

Cormac0
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

@Betty B. M.

 

Hi Betty

 

I agree with you completely.

 

But I would like to make one point regarding Airbnb Help or lack of.

 

Microsoft would have considerable more clients then Airbnb, I think we can all agree on that?

 

This morning I had a problem with my outlook 2016 email app, so I logged a call with Microsoft and within 10 minutes yes 10 minutes, “Josh” from Microsoft phoned "me" to sort out the problem which he did in an efficient and timely manner. This is the second time within two year I have require assistance from Microsoft and if anything, it’s got better and more efficient over those two years.

 

AIRBNB HELP IS TOTAL CRAP AND NEEDs A COMPLETE OVERHAUL, lets stop beating around the bush and just say it is useless the exceptions prove the rule, I would say for every one satisfied customer, host and guest alike there are twenty or more dissatisfied ones.

Airbnb is not a start-up anymore and need to behave like bono fide multinational and put the resources in place that are required.

 

Regards

Cormac

 

The Explorer's Club Krakow.

@Cormac0 i wonder where these calls are going to?

the  trick is in telling the rep what to do sometimes and hope you get somebody who has had a good day.

and yes the tritter help is the best option 

@Cormac0, thanks for that comparison and yes, it's very correct that ABB support leaves something to be desired and CAN improve...only...while we're waiting...we're just as, if not more, capable of solving our own problems. Again, I'm not letting them off the proverbial hook nor making light of a serious breakdown in the host service of ABB, just shifting my thinking a bit.

Speaking of problems and hooks, a vision of Vanilla Ice and his lyrics suddenly came to me:

"If there's a problem/yo/I'll solve it, 

Check out the hook/while my DJ revolves it."

Remember that one? 😉 Or not?...Ok....never mind. 

@Betty-B--M-0

 

Betty, I like your sence of humor.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Cormac0

Funny you should say that....." I would say for every one satisfied customer, host and guest alike there are twenty or more dissatisfied ones."!

Cormac, I would say it is exactly the opposite...for every twenty or more satisfied hosts and guests there would be one dissatisfied one. I can point out hosts to you who have 400 hostings under their belt and never had the need to call Airbnb! I have never had an issue, and Cormac I don't expect one! In fact I would go so far as to say for every 1 dissatisfied host there would be 200, maybe 2,000 satisfied ones. You have to remember there are 800,000 hosts around the world with 2,000.000 listings!

And by saying that Cormac I feel the only one you are selling short is yourself!

I think @Betty-B--M-0 is absolutely correct, and the reason I think that is because in the two years I have been here, 90% of the posts the host or guest could have sorted out themselves if they had just been a bit conciliatory, used a bit of common sense, or read the rules before they jumped in and did what they did and then proceeded to blame everyone else.

 

I don't expect a problem because I am prepared....I don't set a security deposit, I don't have a cleaning fee, and I have a flexible cancellation policy. In two years of hosting I have never had cause to regret not covering myself by setting these charges.

I have rung Airbnb help for clarification of an sms contact situation and because of my superhost status have had the phone answered within 15 seconds of dailing by someone in San Francisco saying "Good afternoon Robin, how can I help you today"

I cannot fault this service and as Betty B M says, if you have a problem....don't look for ghosts!!

Cheers.....Rob

@Robin

 

Hi Robin

 

you've missed my point entirely, I specifically talking about interaction with Airbnb Help! not about guest staying! obviously, there are considerable more happy customers then problem one's, but it’s the problem one's Hosts and Guests alike, forcing one to interact with Airbnb Help, which based NOT on practical experiences, only on reading the blogs appears to be dismal.

 

Any issues I'dve had, I sorted out myself without recourse to Airbnb Help? because I had read the blogs and to be quite honest, I would neither have the time or patients to deal with Airbnb Help?

 

I’m genuinely delighted that your doing so well keep up the good work.

@Cormac0 , like on all interactive blogs or lively interactions on the web, it is also starting here that occasionally people misunderstand what has been said, or don't pay close enough attention to really understand a question or statement. Not many people read entire threads, just tidbits, and that contributes to the  misunderstandings. Just happened to me when I posted a question on another thread.  That's just the way it is, everybody's different.

Jean150
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

Betty, I totally agree with you, it's about your decisions and after all if you think of it, they have set up a website to help you meet people, and you get paid for it. The system they use is great they do the advertising and you get the guests. The rest is up to us. Jeanx

 

@Jean150, 'nuff said.

Thank you.