In June 2020, Melinda Johnson, a property manager, discovered that one of the Airbnb properties she oversees in Tennessee had mysteriously disappeared from the platform.
Airbnb eventually told her that guests over Memorial Day weekend reported a snake outside a wooded cabin she manages in the Smoky Mountains. As a result, Airbnb had deemed the house – a four-minute drive from Dolly Parton Dollywood-themed amusement park – unsafe due to a “dangerous animal”.
Johnson, who manages 24 properties for other owners, as well as one she owns, felt hopeless and worried. She said Airbnb did not contact her when the snake was reported or allow her to connect directly with guests to allay their fears. Then it didn’t let her know the listing was deleted, she added.
More broadly, she said, the incident confirmed to her that Airbnb is too often more “protective” of guests than the 4 million hosts worldwide they rely on to supply their properties.
“I think the biggest issue is a feeling of insecurity with the platform,” Johnson, 52, told Insider.
Like Johnson, many Airbnb hosts and property managers are frustrated with what they describe as the vacation rental platform’s tendency to favor guests in disputes. Over the past few weeks, Airbnb hosts have taken to Facebook groups where they’ve spoken out and shared tips for describing the platform with guests on issues ranging from COVID-19 exhibit cancellations to furniture. broken and dirty dishes.
A proposed new policy has sparked discontent
The most recent wave of discontent came in March after Airbnb announced an update to its refund policy. From April, customers would have up to 72 hours after their trip – instead of the current 24 hours – to report a ‘travel issue’, whether it was a broken fridge or bedding stained.
The new policy included a line stating that hosts could be required to refund or help accommodate guests who reported a travel issue, even if the new booking was more expensive than their original stay.
Hosts rebelled, saying online that the policy would give guests more time to find or even create minor issues to report for a refund.
Liz DeBold Fusco, spokesperson for Airbnb, said the new policy was intended to provide “greater flexibility” for hosts and guests. “We’re hoping that a longer reporting window will give the host more time to work with guests to resolve any issues before we get involved,” she told Insider.
After outrage from hosts, Airbnb backtracked on the refund stream, but hosts said it was too little, too late. Some are threatening to leave the platform altogether in favor of other sites like Vrbo, Evolve, Booking.com and Google Vacation Rentals.
An animator organizes a strike the week of May 18
Galvanized by the announcement of the 72-hour policy, Missouri host Ryan Villines is trying to organize a boycott to remind Airbnb of the value of hosts.
“The rule change was a drop in the bucket,” said Villines, who owns two properties around Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks vacation destination and two in Great Falls, Montana.
Airbnb host Ryan Villines is ‘dozing’ his listings in Missouri and Montana in protest.
Courtesy of Ryan Villines
Although Airbnb has softened the language of the new policy, Villines said he was tired of a repeated “lack of guest care” he personally felt and heard about.
Through a facebook event, Villines encourages hosts to “snooze” their listings the week of May 18 in an attempt to get Airbnb’s attention. So far, 240 people have answered “participating” and more than 800 have marked “interested”.
There are more guests to appease than ever as post-pandemic travel explodes
Hosts are at the heart of Airbnb’s business model. The vacation giant does not directly own properties and instead typically takes a 3% commission from hosts and 14% from guests for each night booked on the platform.
Host dissatisfaction comes as travel is booming after two years of pandemic shutdowns. Airbnb’s growth to more than 4 million hosts worldwide in 2022 is almost a million more than the 3 million hosts Conde Nast Traveler said were active in 2020. Revenue has also grown since before the pandemic, with the platform posting its best quarter in Q3 2021, grossing over $2 billion.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said the post-pandemic travel surge will require more hosts to join the ranks. “To meet demand in the years to come, we will need millions more hosts,” Chesky told CNBC in April 2021.
“We just feel like our side of the stool is being pushed out from under us”
To be safe, Airbnb promises to protect both hosts and guests. But hosts too often feel rejected or seen as second fiddles.
Matt Taylor, a host from Tennessee, said while he understood the company was a “three-legged stool” between guests, hosts, and Airbnb, he still felt hosts were being overlooked.
“We just feel like our side of the stool is being pushed out from under us all the time,” said Taylor, who plans to pause all 75 ads he manages in the Smoky Mountains as part of the protest. to Insider.
The hosts said their overriding concern was that the income they depend on could all disappear overnight. After investing money and time in a property, they fear that a simple misunderstanding with a guest could permanently exclude them from the platform.
“I think the community is very scared,” Villines said.
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