r/AirBnBHosts

Had a situation last weekend that I keep thinking about

Someone called saying they were staying at one of our properties and had accidentally locked themselves out. They knew the guest's name, check-in date and enough details about the property that I assumed it was someone traveling with them.

They wanted me to reset the smart lock and give them the new code over the phone

I was literally about to do it but I decided to confirm with Kibu the person who actually made the reservation

They replied saying everyone in their group was inside the house

No idea who had called me

I've always been careful about sending access codes, but I hadn't really considered someone having enough booking information to convincingly ask for a new one

Hosts with smart locks, what do you require before resetting a code for someone remotely?

Hey all.

How do you currently share local recommendations with guests (restauraunts, coffee, things to do, transport, etc)? Are people actually using:

• Airbnb messages
• Physical booklet or folder
• A digital guide
• Just answering questions as they come up?

Also would a ready-made guest guide (something you just answer a few questions to generate) be useful to you, or does what you're using now cover it fine?

Airbnb owes me a good deal of money (~$3000) in unpaid, completed reservations and has paused payment on all future reservations.

 They claim I need to :

 "Add your payout and account information"

 I've done this several times in the past month or so to no avail. 

I can't even "add information" anymore because my information has already been added, so the page where I'm supposed to add it is just "frozen." It just shows a picture of some cartoon character that shows I've added it.

 I've spoken with several Airbnb "customer service" agents, and also on the Airbnb "customer service" messaging area... they just tell me the issue has been "escalated" to a "Specialized Team Member"...

I haven't heard back from them in 3 days.

When I call and ask to speak with a Supervisor, I get put on hold for 20 minutes and then get automatically disconnected... this has happened 3 times. 

I have a group of 13 guests who are supposed to be checking in within a couple of days... what should I do?

I'd hate to leave them without a place to stay, but having to pay to have the almost 5000 s/f home cleaned is almost $500 every time (I lose money on the "Cleaning Fees"). There's also the massive cost of the guests running the A/C for days on end during the almost 100-degree weather... It's not cheap to air-condition a 5000 s/f home.

What to do?

 

I have more guests expected the weekend after that and the weekend after that, etc. 

 

Any suggestions?

 

I have been with Airbnb (as a "Superhost") for 11 years... my banking information is exactly the same as it was when I joined Airbnb, 11 years ago. Nothing has changed.

 

Thank you in advance for any information anyone can provide to resolve this issue.

 

 

 

I work with my own website, Booking. com, Airbnb, Vrbo and Expedia, with houses , apartments ,villas to rent. I work with different owners and have 38 properties.

My business is highly seasonal (we have high season bookings in summer, low season in winter) so bookings are not regular all year round. I’m struggling to find a suitable channel manager that would work for me. I feel they are all expensive, I don’t want it to be overkill for my listings. Any other seasonal hosts working successfully with a management platform ? Can you tell me your experience? Does it make your life easier....

This is the setup I currently have, Hospitable Host plan + Pricelabs dynamic pricing + listing optimizer subscription.

Love the automated guest messaging and the price optimizer seems to be a lot better than Hospitable's built in dynamic pricing.

Just wondering if there's a better all around option than Hospitable for my 1 property operation. Especially for reporting and accounting, I feel like Hospitable is really lacking in that department without paying an extra $40-100/month which I can't justify for the simple reports I'd like to see.

They are not showing up on my listing. I’m wondering if this could be related to having “Help improve AI-powered features” turned off in my Airbnb privacy settings. Has anyone confirmed whether this setting affects whether these AI-generated listing highlights appear? They are the bullet points after where it says "Hosted By"

Hi everyone,

I'm evaluating renting out a private lock-off room in my apartment for short/medium-term rentals and would love your feedback.

The Space & Layout:

• The Suite: Primary bedroom (12'3" x 14'7") with an en-suite bathroom and walk-in closet.
• Private Entry: Dedicated exterior entrance via the back balcony. The interior door to the main apartment will be locked off—no access to my hallway, living room, or kitchen.
• In-Room Setup: Planning a mini-kitchenette setup (mini-fridge, microwave, coffee maker, electric kettle).

Building & Location Context:

• Located on the 3rd floor of a 3-story walk-up (no elevator); guests will use the exterior stairs to the back balcony.
• Prime location: walking distance/very close to a major hospital and a popular museum.

Questions for hosts & renters:

1. Is there viable demand among guests for a with a room with private entry/bath but no full kitchen?
2. Do you think this is feasible?
3. Any red flags or logistical hurdles (e.g., stairs, trash, package delivery) I should plan for?

Layout picture here: https://i.ibb.co/4gSDgTrP/Gemini-Generated-Image-nyr7t6nyr7t6nyr7.jpg

Thanks!

Airbnb recently changed their price structure with fees taken from renter's being moved to the host. On the face of it it wouldn't change the total picture as prices from host to renter being increased, so I just accepted the automatic repricing.

This however is wrong as the net profit from hosting now goes down. Why? Tax. Tax here where I am is on the gross take, not on the net. This means that by increasing the price toward the renter the taxable income increased, but the net remains the same. This is a problem if you assume that the price was set correctly at the demand/supply level earlier, as we can:t increase prices to capture this increased tax burden.

I am really considering moving platform.

Hello guys,

Me and a friend started an Airbnb not too long ago located in Texas, a four bedroom house with a private movie theater. We are starting to understand the flow of how operations work and we have been getting consistent bookings for the past two weeks now.

The only issue that we are running into is after each booking, we constantly have to change the bedsheets because obviously you don’t want people sleeping in a bed that is not clean. We have found ourselves having to come in and wash the sheets nearly every day to prepare for the next booking the next day.

Is there a way to cut the downtime on this? We have thought about buying a lot of bed wear so we don’t have to constantly wash every time that we get there. So as soon as one guest leaves, we go in and change the sheets from the extra pair that we have. If anyone has any advice and recommendations, it would be very appreciated.

Hello, I’m a new host to air bnb. I just had a guest with a brand new profile stay in my property which is in a small quaint village contact support requesting a full refund saying that someone knocked on the door in the door in night and they had to leave out of fear.

I suspect this story is bullshit as I’ve lived in the house myself 6 months of the year and it’s very safe.

They want a full refund, they contacted support instead of me, just asked me to call them.

What do I do? If I refuse a refund will this affect my listing?

I just purchased a home in the high sierras with exclusive lake access. It was already set up to be, and had been an Airbnb. I decided I do want to rent out the main house before the season ends. And hopefully LD and it all seems very overwhelming.

The biggest issue right now seems to be that the AC unit, attached to the furnace blower/HVAC, is really loud. Maybe it’s because I’ve never really had AC (actually I have it in my classroom and it’s just as loud) but I’m super worried a guest will complain it’s loud and want a refund or give me 1star. The rooms do have ceiling fans, pedestal and desk fans. All rooms also have sound machines on the bedside tables.

I do have a home warranty and can call it in, but the hvac guy can only come on a weekday and I’m teaching. Subs the first month are a definite no.

I’m pretty new to hosting but have always used the platform as a guest.

Is it normal for guests to be so bothersome/picky? I clean the hell out of the place even after my cleaners and still get some complaints. Some are about the dumbest, negligible things.

I’ve never stayed at a perfect air bnb but generally give 5 stars because at the end of the day the house wasn’t built yesterday and there will be some blemishes.

Is this new? Is this a me thing? I genuinely don’t know what I can do better at this point. Probably just going to rent out the place instead.

Hello, I am new here. My wife and I live in Brazil, I’m a US citizen, she owns a home in Orlando. The rental on AirBnB is 185.00 a night. The charge she has agreed to is $80.00 a night. Could anyone please break down where the difference in the money goes?

We have a small guesthouse at the rear of our property. It sits on one lot along with our own dwelling at the front and us living in it. Usually the guest traverse is on a separate, albeit outdoor, pathway between the guest parking space and the guesthouse. This complies with local planning requirements. It is very private. We are rating 4.95 after dozens of stays.
We greeted a recent guest at their car space, gave the usual welcome and guesthouse keys, a cart to convey luggage and a convenient sheltered traverse between the guest car space and the guesthouse through our private carport. This would have taken about 6 seconds per trip, while the guest stay was almost three days. We thought we were sharing a kindness, but the guest thought our personal space was part of the guest offering.
His review comment visible to us was “The accommodation is all we could wish for. The only negative was a first impression due to the somewhat chaotic carport we used to access the gorgeous unit out the back”.
As a result, he rated us 4 Stars for Check-In, Accuracy and Communication.
We asked AirBnB to remove the review because our carport was not described in the offer at all, and in any case it is irrelevant to guest amenity. They kept his review and score of his stay regardless.
It’s not good for guests have misunderstandings over minor things, but our fear now is further damage from his sending listing links to other travellers of his acquaintance and telling objectively untrue stories. If we block this guest, would his ability to see our listing and send links to others also be removed ?

We are looking to expand our listings on other booking sites. We currently use Guesty for our PMS, and I have noticed there are many options, but I'm not sure if it's even worth it. Has anyone had success or issues using other booking platforms besides VRBO and Airbnb? I know both dominate the market, and most guests use either one when booking places to stay.

tl;dr Guest committed fraud by passing their account to two unaccompanied minors who snuck into my property. I declined entry and reported it. Airbnb support cancelled the 7-night peak-season booking 1hr before midnight, gave the scammer a full refund, and left me with zero payout. Now getting ghosted by support.

The story:

I have been a host on Airbnb for 10 years. Most of that time as a Superhost. I have a 4.97-star rating and a (physical) guest book full of raving entries, “BEST HOST EVER” etc.

But I am done with Airbnb now. It is unacceptable how they treat me as a host, prioritizing guests who, as Airbnb has admitted, committed fraud.

What happened?

So, after many really lovely guests and some minor issues with singular guests, "it" has now happened to me. I had this one bad guest that changed my relationship with Airbnb completely.

On the day of arrival, the person who had booked didn't show up personally, but sent two minors to sneak in instead. I declined, reported it to Airbnb, and guess what? Airbnb cancelled the 7-night booking on the day of arrival, one hour before midnight, and refunded the guest! The minors had already used the bathroom and brought in a considerable amount of luggage.

I only noticed it by chance because they ignored my parking instructions. I went outside (I live next door) to tell them, and that's when the adults who brought them casually dropped the bomb: only the two minors would be staying. They literally told me, 'Oh great, since you live right here, you can keep an eye on the girls!' This was a calculated setup, and they expected me to act as a free, unpaid babysitter.

They had violated several rules (third-party booking, unaccompanied minors, their mother passed her account completely over to a minor), and the law (trespassing).

My revenue was set to zero. I am still in disbelief. A week's revenue in high season erased, though I have done nothing wrong.

Airbnb leaned into a sob story about me kicking two minors out. They completely ignored the facts: The minors were never stranded. They arrived with two adults who had driven them and their luggage to the property. Once I declined the entry, those same adults loaded the luggage and the teenagers back into their car and drove off together. Safety was never at risk—this was a coordinated, fraudulent check-in.

So, my calendar had been blocked by this “booking” for two months, but now I get zero and they get a refund.

I've been fighting the decision since. After long and time-consuming chats, the case seemingly has been handed over twice, most recently "to a member of our team who's in a better position to resolve this for you. We understand that this may have caused some inconvenience to you."

SOME INCONVENIENCE?

Are they effing kidding me?

Inconvenience would be a delayed payout, a drunk guest, or a parking space blocked by a guest's friends.

This is robbery, not inconvenience.

The case is still open, and I will file it with the ECC (European Consumer Centre), a European agency for cases like this. When I told Airbnb that I am going to file the case and asked if their decision to deny my payout was final, they started handing the case to different agents. But still nothing but empty messages like the above. Oh, and someone literally wrote “please be rest assured”. If they can't write one sentence correctly, how are they supposed to intellectually capture this case?

It is day four of the disaster and I wake up feeling nothing but disgust when I look at their logo.

I have one current booking from Airbnb and one more to come, which I will treat professionally and with my usual magic to make them feel at home. I have a 4.97-star rating for a reason.

Luckily, I have listened to the void (that is, stories of hosts whose accounts had been closed by Airbnb out of the blue, no reason given), and built other sources of bookings, so I don't depend on Airbnb to continue my business.

So, after ten years, Airbnb is now dead to me. I will not risk my hard work to be disrespected and unpaid by incompetent agents and a total lack of transparency.

Has this happened to anyone else?

AIRBYENBYE

We’ve had our best month of rentals so far with nothing but great reviews and happy guests.  However our last guest experienced a large propane explosion when using our outdoor grill that ruined large portion of the deck, destroyed the grill, a table and chairs.  Thankfully no one was hurt, they acted quickly to use a supplied extinguisher, got the fire department there quickly, and the main structure was ultimately spared.

The fire department has reported that the cause of the fire is unknown, and we are slowly getting our insurance to help assess the damage.  AirBnB does not have much specific info on proper procedures for providing a grill, or what a host or guest is responsible for in that regard (i.e. changing propane tanks, proper grill usage, etc).

We have never had to deal with something like this and worry about what’s to come.  We’ve been careful to provide a safe and comfortable place for our guests. The grill has never been an issue for us or other guests. We don’t want to point blame, but we also need to rebuild and get our property back on the market ASAP and it doesn’t seem fair that we may have to foot the bill.

Looking for information, recommendations and advice on how to proceed (insurance, AirCover, loss of business, liability, cost, etc).  Are there pros/cons when going with AirCover and/or our insurance?  What should we look out for?

TIA

I run a small photo enhancemnt business to improve first impression of potential clients. I would be happy to edit 5 property photos completely for free, in exchange for an honest testimonial. Would this interest anyone? (Limited slots available)

We are mostly retired and live in South America. My wife used to clean houses before she retired with me. One of her former clients has asked us to manage her premium beachfront apartment in a gated community as an "Airbnb" (booking.com?) because she lives in another city.

We used to rent our apartment out on the weekends through Airbnb for a couple of years but stopped mostly because we decided we wanted to live here instead.

As I read through the posts in this Reddit and others it almost sounds like nobody is enjoying or making money from this anymore?

The offer seems generous at 40% for us and 60% for the property owner. Our 40% would include providing consumables laundry and cleaning, but since my wife cleaned homes for many years that's not a big concern for us.

I would appreciate any advice or suggestions on things to include in the contract or even experiences that might be relevant.

My initial intention is to start with a shorter term contract like 6 months and then decide after that if we want to go longer. We don't absolutely need the extra income, but my wife does get bored in retirement and this would give her something to do. I would help with bookings and English speaking clients, but I would mostly be a silent partner.

Thanks in advance for your kind suggestions. 🙂