Broseph
5.5K posts













On Sunday evening, I had the worst experience I’ve ever had with @Airbnb. A few hours before arriving in Hamburg for OMR, a conference that brings more than 70,000 people to the city, my booking was suddenly cancelled. I immediately contacted customer support, expecting them to help me find another place. Instead, they told me they couldn’t assist because “Airbnb didn’t cancel your booking, the host did.” Excuse me? This happened around 11 PM. I spent the entire night on calls with customer support and did not sleep at all. At around 1 AM, things got even worse. I received a message saying I was no longer allowed to make bookings on Airbnb because my account had been flagged as potentially dangerous. I honestly couldn’t believe what was happening. I was traveling with my three-month-old baby. I explained that multiple times. It made no difference. No meaningful help. No travel credits. My account was blocked. And by the time I arrived in Hamburg, I had to scramble to find a hotel on my own. The ironic part? There was no AI involved in this experience. Only humans following scripts and passing me from one person to another. And, Brian, I genuinely wish I had been dealing with AI instead. It would have been faster, more logical, and probably far more empathetic than the people I spoke with that night. What shocked me most was realizing how few real alternatives there are to Airbnb. At midnight I was completely on my own trying to solve a problem that should never have happened in the first place. Worst customer experience I’ve had in years.

















