Tales From an Ex-Airbnb Senior Case Manager

MartinRaymondo

〰️

〰️

MartinRaymondo 〰️ 〰️

Working as a senior case manager with Airbnb was always unpredictable. 

The job was not dull and often involved bizarre happenings. This particular story started as routine, then took a twist nobody had seen before. 

I get a call from a guest staying at an apartment in New York City. 

This guest told me the place had bedbugs and that he wanted to move. I pulled up his account and apologized for the experience. 

I take a customary look at his account to ensure nothing stands out. 

I’m looking for other complaints to see if he’s someone who might be trying to get free nights. 

This does happen, so it’s good to check. 

Given the circumstances, he’s calm on the phone, and his account looks fine. 

He mentioned he had found another place, so I advised him to book it and told him I’d call the host. We did the routine of paying for his dry cleaning and all that stuff, like how heat kills the bedbugs. 

I’m not 100% sure if this does kill them, but that was the procedure we had to follow.

Mr. Bedbugs

I called the host and explained that their current guest had bedbugs in the apartment, and they had left, so we had to refund the stay. 

This refund comes from the host payout, and Airbnb sometimes refunds from our account, depending on the situation. 

The host claims this unit was sprayed, and he sent in a document showing that it’s all clear of bedbugs. I decided to investigate this further, so I advised the host that I’d call them back. 

I see many issues and bedbug complaints as I look into his listings and cases. 

The letter from the extermination company he mentioned looks fishy, so I googled invoices and saw some differences. This invoice was basic and didn’t feel right, so I discussed it with my manager. 

They said it was good and not to worry. 

I’m not good at listening, so I ignored their advice and called the company to see if I could confirm anything. 

The company contacted the office manager and told me a story different from the host’s. 

They said they would never do business with this person again, and when their technician showed up, he tried to bribe them. He wanted to pay the exterminator $50 to write an all-clear invoice, but the guy said no, as he could lose his license. The exterminator immediately reported it to the office.

They also confirmed that the invoice was fraudulent, which I suspected.

. . .

I got all my information in order and called the host back, as he was trying to get us to pay him for the stay regardless of the bedbugs. 

He thought he had a solid case with his fraudulent invoice. 

I advised him that I called the company, and they confirmed that they had never sprayed or written that invoice.

He wasn’t happy to learn that not only would he not receive his payment, but I had also closed down all his listings and reported the matter to our trust and safety department for permanent removal from our site. 

Nothing felt better than getting Mr. Bedbugs shut down for good.