PR Lessons From the AirBnB Train Wreck

Over the past several weeks, much of the tech world watched the slow motion train wreck of AirBnb with morbid fascination. When an AirBnB customer who had her apartment ransacked and her possessions stolen didn’t feel like she’d gotten much support from AirBnB’s staff, she published a blog post describing her ordeal that quickly went viral. Things only got worse when the victim, who goes by EJ on her blog, wrote a follow-up blog post to respond to what she perceived as inaccuracies in AirBnB’s first official statement. Sensing blood in the water (on the tracks?), tech blogs and mainstream media alike kept the story at the top of the news as the company stumbled and bumbled to come up with a coherent, meaningful response.

This is exactly the kind of PR disaster that companies – especially start-ups – fear: a damaging story that gets widespread attention, raises serious questions about the company’s business model and refuses to die.

Of course, part of the reason that the story kept going like a zombie from The Walking Dead was that AirBnB mishandled it. Badly. The company’s CEO, Brian Chesky, later admitted as much in a blog post of his own. In it, he outlined the business mistakes that AirBnB made, offering them up as lessons for other companies.  But he didn’t really focus on the PR takeaways.  Here are just a few:

Respect the crisis – A normal  — and generally terrible — first response to a crisis is to attempt to make it seem small or isolated. Companies use terms like “aberration” or “exception” all the time when something goes wrong. That it may be true is irrelevant. For the customer involved, it’s a huge deal and the public generally puts themselves in the shoes of the victim(s), not of the company. By not respecting a crisis, companies sound either like they don’t care or they’re lying (BP’s initial response to the Gulf oil spill last year is a classic example). Minimizing also invites the media to try and prove you wrong. In the case of AirBnB, TechCrunch gave prominent attention to another AirBnB customer who’d had a similar problem, which undermined the company’s assertion that the travails of EJ were an isolated event.

Get the facts straight – In a crisis like the one that enveloped AirBnB, where there is a clear and sympathetic victim, it’s important for a company to have a complete grasp of the facts before they say anything publicly. Sometimes getting all the facts isn’t easy, but it’s important not to give an account that can later be disputed. As the story unfolded, the accounts presented by EJ and AirBnB differed in significant ways. The victim had days, times and the content of her communications with AirBnB. AirBnB, not so much. Without being able to document what they claimed to have done for their customer, AirBnB just looked like they were posturing, or worse, calling the victim a liar.

Be consistent – In a crisis, the media will pounce on anything that appears to be a break from the official story. When a crisis hits, it’s important to identify a single spokesperson for the company and make sure everybody – inside and outside the company – knows who that is. (Better yet, companies should have a plan with designated spokespeople in place before a crisis hits. But that's a subject for another post.) AirBnB wasn’t helped by the fact that various company executives and investors felt qualified to offer their own version of events.

Don’t blame the media – Really, do I even have to explain this one? You’ll lose. Every time.

Be contrite – In a litigation happy world, companies often fear uttering two simple words: “we’re sorry.” But people respond to sincerity and while they may hope for perfection from the companies they do business with, they don’t necessarily expect it. What they DO expect is that when a company makes a mistake they’ll own up to it. Unambiguously and directly. The old Reagan-esque “mistakes were made” approach just doesn’t work.

Remember the big lesson of Watergate – It’s not the crime that gets you, it’s the cover-up. Trying to get people to keep quiet, especially after they’ve already spoken up, is almost impossible. EJ’s claim that the AirBnB CEO asked her to take down or restrict access to her blog, if true, were impressively naïve attempts to put the toothpaste back in the tube. And naturally, when she outed him, they made AirBnB look worse.

Speak in specifics – It's not enough to own up to a problem, you have to offer concrete ways that you’re going to a) make it right for the specific customer in question and b) prevent something similar from happening again if you’re going to regain the trust of all your customers. Any response that starts with “We are reviewing our procedures…” is destined to be dismissed. What AirBnB should have done from the outset (and eventually did, but only after they’d suffered a lot of damage to their reputation) was to outline, in depth, the specific steps they would take to fix the systemic problems that led to the crisis. The CEO’s initial response sounded quite vague, with several initiatives that weren’t backed by any specific details, either on how they worked or how they would have prevented or at least mitigated the problem in question.

Some of these suggestions sound like common sense. And they are, but it’s remarkable how many companies forget common sense when they’re in the midst of a crisis. Judging by Chesky’s last blog post, the company finally realized how big of a crisis they had on their hands and saw that the only way out of it was to be more proactive and definitive in their actions. 

Back when I lived in California and regularly drove the 101 between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, a hotel near San Bruno used to post funny sayings on the marquee below their giant sign. One has stuck with me over the years: "It may be your purpose in life to be a cautionary tale to others." I'm guessing Brian Chesky and AirBnB didn't expect to be a cautionary tale for anyone. But hopefully others really will learn from their mistakes.

Kevin Pedraja can be reached at kpedraja@sterlingpr.com. Follow him on Twitter @kpedraja. 

Comments

[Lisa Hawes]

Good article, Kevin, and good tips for crisis comms. I have to admit, I was unaware of this story but it's an eye-opener!

[jobs online]

I've thought for a moment that I've already read this, but there was a very similar story, which happened in 1932. It might be interesting for you to see some strange co incidents there

[Seattle pr agenices]

Your concepts is definitely a fact! I love the way you implement it. I do hope you keep on sharing this useful information. Thanks!