Imagine going for a vacation to chill out with a holiday home only to be told by your hosts to self-serve despite paying the cleaning fees. This is exactly what Airbnb has been doing for the past few months, and it has finally gotten social media’s attention. To say that the company has fallen from grace does not even cover half of it. Because the stories told by people who went through guest disservice, have many and varying tales, but they all agree on one thing. They are not happy with Airbnb’s treatment.
The case of Airbnb is a prime example of an entitled company that thinks too much about conserving money and too less about customer experience. The ongoing issue with Airbnb’s “customers vs. host” is that customer has to clean the house, mow the lawn, take out garbage, do the laundry and wash plates. In the end, the customer will still be paying money for cleaning and staying to the Airbnb host. This is like getting a house-sitter who is going to pay you money to take care of your house.
The Outrage on Social Media
The guests are given a list of things to do as part of chores. These chores are universally handled by the staff all over the Hotel and Apartment Rental industry. But Airbnb went ahead and bent the law to their will. The result was predictable as any can be, and the tourists were complaining all over the place. There are customers complaining on Reddit, Twitter, and even TikTok, where tourists express their distress. It has been dubbed a chore list by the tourist who has to do the list of ‘activities to get things done.
What’s worse, there is even someplace that will do the things on the chore list, but you have to pay them extra for the so-called cleaning fees. And to nobody’s surprise, this extortion is the one making news above all. Some tourists even consider not staying at Airbnb at all. And then there is poor treatment of guests who go along with doing the chore list. Some of them aren’t even given the proper tools to do the cleaning, which leaves them frustrated even more.
Is Company in the Right to Do this?
No matter how you look at this, the company is not in the right to do this, neither ethically nor financially. It makes sense as to why this is unethical, but what is the financial angle? They are doing monopoly practice that only makes them infamous, and people turn to other services. Though, given how absurd PRs can be to these days, it could all be a publicity stunt to gain attention. It would make perfect sense for them to do so, seeing that they are one of the top companies they don’t have many ways to promote.
It can even be called bad publicity, but any publicity is good publicity. And bad news, news condoning someone saying they are lesser or aren’t worth time spread like wildfire. And given how Influencers like to spend the word about everything they do, it is one of the ingenious schemes out. However, the practice has been gone on for so long that it may not even be the case.
The Impact on Airbnb’s Brand Image
The impact has been negative, but not so much that the company is worried. And on top of cleaning, some hosts even go as far as to make guests take out the trash, wash the sheets, and even mow the lawn during their stay. The hosts keep doing it as well since they don’t want to be looked at in bad light. And, of course, some deny doing the chores seeing that it is not a norm to pay to clean stuff that isn’t even yours.