Investor · Roswell, GA · Member since 2016 · 73 posts · 38 votes
My wife and I own a vacation rental in Panama City Beach, FL. We have typically used VRBO to list our property. I recently started listing on Airbnb as well and hoped that people with experience can provide some pointers about hosting on Airbnb.
I have heard many horror stories of a guest complaining and getting a full refund at the hosts expense. The plot of the story is usually about an innocent host being taken advantage of by a dishonest or unreasonable guest. Has this been your experience?
Are there any gotchas to be aware of? Have you had bad experiences that I might be able to learn from?
No it isn't that bad, It's just easier to hear the horror stories than the good ones.
There are some warning signs you can see when they try and book (No reviews, immediately asking for a discount...), but for the most part they are pretty great.
Any and all booking sites have their horror stories. Actually, everything in life has a horror story somewhere, that is the risk of living and experiencing life. It does help to understand Airbnb and why they do what they do. It also helps to read through their guidelines and follow the steps they have in place for different problems. Many hosts on Airbnb have done fine because they knew what processes to follow. In some ways it's an easy platform to use because they have their own ecosystem, and everything is encompassed on their site. But with others we have to take extra steps, especially if you use a PMS.