Rapid response mitigates damage from potentially devastating incident
Anyone in the hospitality business will tell you that bad behavior by guests has the potential to create crises, but what if that behavior wasn’t happening in a hotel suite, but rather in someone’s home?
That’s exactly the situation Airbnb, the travel website where users book stays in individual’s guest houses, extra rooms, boats, really anywhere a bed will fit, faced after host Ari Teman discovered his Manhattan apartment was not being used by a wedding guest as he had been told, but rather to host an orgy that was open to the public and advertised via social media.
With reports of Teman’s condom and liquor-filled apartment making headlines on the ‘net, the need for a response was dire, and Airbnb stepped up to the plate big time. In a massive improvement from its reaction to a 2011 case in which a guest trashed a host’s apartment, Airbnb leapt immediately into full-on crisis management for this one.
Gawker was in contact with Teman, and got the story:
To its credit, Airbnb’s response to Teman was quick, almost absurdly so. Within 24 hours, per an email provided to Gawker by Teman, Airbnb had sent a locksmith to change his locks, made plans to put him up in a hotel for a week, and wired him $23,817
Not stopping there, Airbnb also delivered a very strong statement to media outlets, many of which circulated it verbatim or added it as updates to their original coverage:
Over 11 million guests have had a safe and positive experience on Airbnb and problems for hosts and guests are incredibly rare, but when they happen, we try to help make things right. We were appalled when we learned about this incident and we took immediate action to help this host. The individual who rented this space has been permanently removed from our site. We’ve reimbursed the host for damages to his apartment and ensured he has a new place to stay. In the days ahead, we’ll continue to work with the host to assist him with his additional needs and we will work cooperatively with any law enforcement agencies that investigate this matter.
A potentially sticky situation (pardon the pun) solved by prior planning and powerful crisis communications, well done Airbnb.
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]