All Forum Posts by: James R.

This subject is one of my Airbnb pet peeves.  Let's say guests put a hole in a door.  You contact the guests, they say, "It was already like that.  We didn't do it."  You call Airbnb to file a claim through Aircover.  Your guest writes a bad review to the tune of bathrooms were dirty, lots of noise, not enough toilet paper, one star (they do this because they think that you are going to write them a bad review). You call Airbnb and say that none of this about your property is accurate. Because the guest didn't write something like, "The host tried to get us to pay for damages that we didn't do" it won't be retaliation and the review will not be taken down.  So, you are really taking a big risk by reporting damages, which is EXACTLY what Airbnb wants.  Airbnb is 80% support for guests and 20% support for hosts.  I try to avoid calling Airbnb customer service for anything, which again is EXACTLY want Airbnb wants.  

Thanks to everyone who provided recommendations.

We decided to go with NoiseAware. 

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking into purchasing a remote noise monitoring device.

Any suggestions?  

Thanks in advance. 

Hi Christina.  Thank you for your question and for your compliment.  Our Frequent Users of Airbnb or VRBO discount was launched one year ago and because Airbnb is heavily based on reviews of both guests and hosts, we set the bar higher.  VRBO does not really rely on reviews of guests.  Most users of VRBO have one single 5-star review, thus our threshold is lower.  Most - 90% of VRBO requests, do not get the discount, but to be fair, we offer the discount on both platforms.

Believe it or not, we get requests from Airbnb users with upwards of 40+ 5-star reviews.  They like the fact that we reward frequent users of the platform. 

In our market (New Orleans) cemetery tours are very popular.  Our rental is near a very famous one, so we added a free cemetery tour to our listing, if a guest books one month in advance.  This has actually increased our bookings.  Guests love the tour.  Yours-truly gets to conduct it and we always get rave reviews about it.  

We also look for guests with previous 5-star reviews, of course.  We offer a discount to frequent uses of Airbnb (15+ 5-star reviews) and VRBO (5+ 5-star reviews).  Almost 60% percent of our bookings are with guests with 15+ previous 5-star reviews on Airbnb.  

In a highly competitive tourist market like New Orleans, I update my photos weekly.  The competition is fierce, so simply rearranging photos, swapping some in and out tells the algorithm that you're an "active" host and you'll be more visible on the platforms.  This is not only my experience, but when you call VRBO or Airbnb customer service, they will tell you the same thing.  

UPDATE:  After 4 days of back and forth with Airbnb CS, they finally decided to do the right thing and issue my payout for a reservation that a guest cancelled in the amount of $1,333.75.  They said that they were going to honor my cancellation policy.  

Really?  Like that was optional?  I guess so, unless the host digs their heels in and demands that Airbnb do the right thing.  

On another note, I had a lengthy conversation with VRBO last night while we both looked at one of my listings and came up some ways to improve it.  Rearrange photos, change payment from one to two payments, etc.  Easy things, but they trigger the algorithm.  Every time I call VRBO CS and ask for listing assistance, a booking follows in the next day or two. 

There is a difference between a repair cost and a total replacement cost.  They are not the same and should be treated differently.  A repair cost is a 100% reimbursement no brainer.  A replacement cost should factor in depreciation.

Airbnb knows exactly what they are doing when the scam hosts by not paying 100% for repair costs.  Every dollar that they short change a host for a repair is a dollar in their pocket. 

A sage person who responds often on this forum said, "Airbnb insurance is a profit center for them".  He knows what he is talking about and he is spot on.  

It's great to get other's feedback about Airbnb.  I don't know why our experience has been so lousy.  We've only made maybe 10 - 15 claims in 12 years.  

In 2022, we had guests with dogs that scratched the floors (repeated scratching of the floor that they do, when they want to go outside) in front of the patio doors.  The guests stayed for a month and did not monitor this activity.  When they left, they said that the floors were already like that.  This is a million dollar property.  I sent pictures of the floor before and after.  The guests refused to pay.  Airbnb took over a month to provide reimbursement of a receipt for $500.  Airbnb reimbursed $495.00 (?)  Why not the remaining $5.00?  Just weird.  Other cases have been similar where Airbnb does not payout the amount of the receipt.  

Our rating across all properties is 4.5 too.  We really do everything for our guests.  

I've been a "Superhost", whatever that means for 12 years on Airbnb.  

I've been meeting all of my goals by being very active with my listings.  I guess that you could call me a 'professional host'.  

The "Set it and forget it" mentality, I think, will limit your listing big time.

I do all of the pricing across multiple listings.  I change or rearrange photos weekly.  I listen to all of the Webinars that Airbnb invites me to.  Airbnb claims that setting up a "photo tour" on your listing will increase bookings by 6 percent, for example.  

The algorithm has a setting that when you change anything on your listing, you move up higher in the ranking.  So, get busy on your listings.  Pictures are great, but don't make them unrealistic or you will get "listing was not accurate" in your review.

I was 50/50 Airbnb/VRBO, then Airbnb inquiries came like wildfire, like Airbnb knew that I was engaging with VRBO.  I took the Airbnb bookings and now I'm around 80/20 Airbnb/VRBO.

Based on a recent bad experience that I had with Airbnb (it's a separate thread out here), I called VRBO and asked them how I can get more booking requests from VRBO.  They could not be more excited to help. 

Even calling Airbnb or VRBO CS and telling them that you just looked for your listing and could not find it, will boost your algorithm ranking somehow.  How do I know?  I don't know exactly for sure, but after I call Airbnb CS and have them search for my listing, I get a booking request in the next day or two.  So, it's just my supposition.  

I work from home and my hours are very flexible, so I can do all these "busy" activities on my listings.  They yield results, but I understand a lot of other people have jobs where they cannot spend so much time on their listings.  Long-winded post, but I hope that this helps others.