Their customer service is HORRENDOUS. I Think it’s also mostly because they outsource to countries were the people, even though they might mean well, have absolutely no idea what customer service means or have a very different concept of it (which is just to apologies without really practically solving the problem or making things right. Their making things right is just being polite and apologizing).

But AirBnB knows this. They make exorbitant amount of money yet offer shi**y service. Why hasn’t another company taken over yet?

  • mpbh@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    You’re not really an AirBnB customer. You’re a customer of the host. Airbnb is just the middle-man marketplace that provides some protections for both parties. If you want good customer service, stay in hotels.

      • wifiguy51@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        A lot of the legal and insurance protections I believe. But also, AirBNB is who brings in the people, just like Fiverr charges 20% because they connect the people to your services in a rather seamless platform.

    • non-@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      The only company I’ve seen really trying something different is https://livekindred.com/

      It’s kind of like a really upscale couchsurfing. It’s like a members-only network where you have to be a host too.

      It costs a lot more than couchsurfing because you’re getting a whole house and you pay for the cleaning, but since it’s all home swaps there are no “professional hosts” and it still ends up being way cheaper than an Airbnb or a hotel.

      • TreatedBest@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        That’s why the EU is becoming more and more irrelevant, and very little innovation happens there

    • Super_Lab_8604@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      What I understand is that Airbnb was profitable from almost the beginning, but they needed extra funding to grow as fast as possible. I agree with the rest that you wrote.

  • Muff-dive-707@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    There are other services out there making headway. They just haven’t become household names yet.

    For example I really like Flatio as a digital nomad. It’s geared towards short to mid-term stays. They mostly just have European listings so far but seem to be growing!
    https://www.flatio.com/

  • Soxty@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Because the next company will try to do the exact same. Any company will try to lower their cost to increase revenue, one of the tools to do so is outsourcing to lower-paid countries.

  • Grizzly-Redneck@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    The customer service reps you’re running down are only implementing the policies as laid out by Airbnb. They do as they’re told or get fired They’re not just making it up as they go along lol.

    Airbnb policy is the problem not the reps themselves. Basically it’s cheaper to screw you over then provide good service.

    • janeandcharley@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      This isn’t true at all. Most of the policies are ok, trying to protect guests and hosts fairly. The problem is it’s a complete crapshoot getting a rep who knows the rules. I’m a host for 6 years with 1000s of reviews, and about 50 stays as a guest, I have never had a good interaction with support, where I don’t have to argue, send them screenshots of their own policy, then do that again 3-4 times when the chat person goes on vacation, I get a call from them, then an email. All from different supper people, all who don’t have to review what’s already been going on with the case. Their support is SO poorly trained and just gives platitudes but 90% of the reps don’t listen/ read/ understand the issue.

  • dustinpdx@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    They have several competitors but knocking off the biggest marketplace in any segment is really hard. You need to get a majority of listings on your platform before you can even have a chance at attracting enough customers to justify them listing. Chicken-egg issue.

  • skarabox5@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    True once you experience their customer support you know what it is to interact with 100% pure cancer and brain damage

    • Josvan135@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      I’ve got a brilliant idea.

      What if, instead of having hundreds of individuals rent rooms of their house, we had a few people operate a large structure with hundreds of rooms in one space?

      We could even offer ones with kitchens and multiple bedrooms for families and other larger groups?

      Think of the savings on things like maid service! We wouldn’t need to charge Airbnb crazy cleaning fees.

      We just need a name for these new multi-unit-short-term-rentals…

  • Admiral-PoopyDick@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Airbnb and all Airbnb competitors are drawing on the same housing inventory. There’s not something clever or cute a competitor can do to “hack” it because property owners are unlikely to move to a competitor that offers less compensation

    • non-@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      Posted this somewhere else in the thread already, but I have seen one company doing it differently https://livekindred.com/

      It’s a member’s only home swapping network, so it’s more like fancy couch surfing than Airbnb.

    • digitalnikocovnik@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      But property owners do routinely list units on multiple platforms, the same way one driver can work with both Uber and Lyft in the same car