Robert Strohfeldt Review of Airbnb
Hi. I am incredibly frustrated and am hoping you m...
Hi. I am incredibly frustrated and am hoping you may be able to help. I am in Australia and all of my dealings with Airbnb go to a call center in the Philippines. I have a luxury 2 bedroom beachfront apartment in a resort. We have been with Airbnb for nearly 3 years and in that time have averaged 4.9 stars. We have been Super Hosts since we started (I think it was after the first 3 months of qualifying.). I had 2 cancellations in a 9 month period. One was for maintenance - it required 3 full days work and I had to cancel the guests booked for that time. The other, about 9 months later, was due to a mix up with auto book. This was our fault, but an innocent mistake. We had our Super Host title taken away, even though we were not aware of the rule, nor did Airbnb in the Philippines contact us at any stage. I have been trying for 3 weeks to talk to someone in the Philippines about this and sort it out. We would be in the top 5% of hosts - the unit has everything including free WIFI, cable TV, fully stocked kitchen, laundry. In fact we help friends who want to put investment properties on Airbnb by providing a list of all of the "extras" to ensure guests are delighted. We have stayed with Airbnb throughout Italy, all Super Hosts and none had anywhere near the inclusions we do. In 30 plus years in business I have never dealt with any business as frustrating as Airbnb. They say they will contact us but never do. The Case Managers have no experience in hospitality. I own and ad agency and had the Ritz-Carlton account for the 10 years they were in Australia, In the 3 weeks since losing our Super Host rating, we have not had 1 inquiry. In April we had just under $7000 and we have run consistently at 70% occupancy. The time and effort we have put in is not understood by the people in the Philippines. I will send you a link to our property so you can see the reviews we have had over the past 3 years - every one of them exceptional. Yet I am stuck dealing with the most incompetent, arrogant and dishonest people I have had the misfortune of dealing with in over 30 years in business. This is a $1 million plus property and a business for us in property investment. In addition my daughter was assaulted on her way to work at 7.30 am in Melbourne. It was major news in Australia, making the front page of our largest national newspaper as well as two of the major free to air TV networks. The perpetrators had been at an all night party at an Airbnb property. (There will be legal action). I have just put the property up for permanent rental, the time, effort and money spent to make it a 5 star property is not worth it. You have a major problem with the Philippine call center. 21 days I have been trying to get an answer - but what makes it worse is getting messages saying ":I will phone you tomorrow" and then you never hear from them again.". I was interrupted typing this by a phone call. A plastic surgeon saw our ad for permanent rental, knows the resort (it is quite famous and regarded as one of the best) and he is going to rent the unit long term. You can thank the clown in the Philippines for losing one of the best properties you will ever have. I am going to contact the past 100 or so guests and let them know the unit is no longer available and tell them why.
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