I had a question before booking an Airbnb for the first time, and I wanted to talk to an actual human because I am old school and prefer that someone explain things to me. I wanted to ask what the reservation policy will be for a specific property because I could not seem to find if it could be canceled and what type of fees it would incur. My experience was not bad, but it was a bit frustrating initially. It seems you have to know how to handle their phone system. Once I figured that out, it was very easy to get in contact with an agent who could help.
I am looking at booking a large property for several people for our family reunion, and I needed to make sure that I had all my ducks in a row. As mentioned, I had never used Airbnb before, but the property we had our eye on only used this platform for bookings, so I had no other choice.
When I called them, a recorded message told me that they were unable to find an account associated with my number. It then told me that if I have an account associated with another number to press 1; if not press 2. I pressed 2 since I did not, and then it asked me to tell them in a few sentences why I was calling. It also gave me the option to use my keypad.
I said simply, "question about a reservation." It waited about 20 seconds, and then it abruptly hung up on me. No, goodbye or acknowledgment; it just ended. I was a bit miffed but decided this time to use the keypad. I assumed that taking that route would give me a directory of options.
The recording told me that the call would be recorded, and then, within ten seconds, I was transferred directly to a customer service agent. The agent spoke clear English and was very helpful. They walked me through the policy and made sure that I was confident in placing the booking I had in mind.
I was actually quite surprised it was so easy to speak with a live agent, so the experience was not all that bad. It just would have been nice to get instantly connected to the agent before the automated message system. Clearly, the system doesn't accurately accept voice commands. I shouldn't have had to call twice to figure out how to get through. Now though, I would not think twice about calling to get some help.