Airbnb referral program lost them my business

by hoopism on 2/5/2015, 7:11 PM with 10 comments

I signed up and booked a trip on airbnb recently. The process was pleasant and I sent invites to my family and told them about it.

My parents, who are on the road, decided to try it out. They sent pics of their place and said they had a great experience. Great! Now I get 25 bucks and they learned about a new service, right? Nope.

I waited a week or so and contacted customer service. Must've been some kind of oversight. The rep was prompt and requested the email of the referral I made. I thought it was odd since my account clearly shows they signed up, it just didn't register that I should get a credit... but I obliged and sent the email. The rep then told me he would have to contact them to ensure that I did in fact invite them... ummm ok? Why?

Here's my response:

  "That's silly.  But go for it.

  They are in my referral group... It shows in the UI.
  And they have made reservations.

  Not a great experience."
Then I get this bit of snark along with some questionable information:

  "Matt,

  I do apologize that this has been such a painstaking
  experience, however it looks like the issue is due to their
  initial reservation not being at the qualifying limit. Once
  they begin a trip that is worth more than $200, (before
  Airbnb fees) you will both receive your referral credits.

  Oliver C"
According to their docs, 75$ is the qualified price... not 200$ https://www.airbnb.com/referrals/terms_and_conditions?offer_name=default

Honestly, I don't even care about the credit... It's great to save a few bucks but at this point I am more inclined to just move on...

I wanted to share because I figured there may be some lessons for others when dealing with customers. In addition their marketing for referrals is really shady when it comes to being upfront with the restrictions (10o dollars bonus... if they rent their place AND rent someone else's AND it's over an amount).

Anyone else has a negative experience with these guys?

  • by Someone1234 on 2/5/2015, 8:06 PM

    > Then I get this bit of snark along with some questionable information

    What snark? They apologised and answered the question ($200 Vs. $75 point not withstanding).

  • by brudgers on 2/5/2015, 8:35 PM

    I'm only saying this because I don't want to read about conspiracy theories when this story gets flagkilled.

    Nothing personal, and I am not a fan of AirBNB, but I don't care.

  • by jordsmi on 2/5/2015, 7:48 PM
  • by kohanz on 2/5/2015, 8:03 PM

    Ignoring (without downplaying) the referral limit mistake, I don't actually detect any "snark" in the response from the CSR.

  • by hoopism on 2/6/2015, 1:48 PM

    This is the 5th email back and forth... and I wasn't really complaining initially... so the comment "I do apologize that this has been such a painstaking experience" was really taken with a high dose of sarcastic intent. In noway was it painstaking... it was just bad user experience.

    I fully admit that I may have been overly sensitive... in email it is tough to read people. But generally, the discussion to this point did not warrant that comment.

  • by coralreef on 2/6/2015, 12:34 AM

    Did you reply with the link?

  • by monroepe on 2/5/2015, 7:31 PM

    Bad job Airbnb.

  • by rajacombinator on 2/5/2015, 9:42 PM

    AirBnB is rife with technical glitches, oversights, poor product design, and inconsistent numbers. (Ie fees not matching when you look at the mobile app vs the text they sent you vs the website.) It's pretty embarrassing for an established company of their size, funding and cash flow, and I think speaks to the nontechnical nature of their team. Would switch in a heartbeat but hey, they're the market, for now.