All Forum Posts by: James R.

Unless this family produced a photo, I think that they fabricated the whole thing, in order to get a free stay.  

I've been a host 15 years and Airbnb's guest caliber has dropped significantly.  We only allow guests with at least 8 previous 5-star reviews to book our property and we give them a slight discount for being frequent good users of the platform.  You might think that this standard would result in fewer bookings, but it hasn't and we have far fewer complaints and headaches.  

Airbnb has really been getting into our business, with their constant demands, so much that the platform has now become a hurdle to our business and our hospitality goals.  We are hoping that someone out there will invent a replacement for Airbnb, which will be like hosting was 10 years ago, but we are not holding our breath. 

Our most memorable, fake story to get a free stay, was from a group of guys.  A VRBO guest, mind you, but nevertheless.  The guy, who booked the house for the group, demanded a 50% refund, because he claimed that the showerhead came loose and struck him on the head.  He felt that he didn't need to call for an ambulance and seek medical attention, though.

Me: Yeah, okay.  

Thinking that we would be alarmed and grant him the 50% refund, I went into scammer guest mode and told him that he broke the showerhead and that we would be charging him for a new one and the cost to have a plumber install it.  He wrote that he was going to give us a bad review and I replied, "Go for it.  We are going to do the same".  Never heard a peep out of him, after that.  

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.