Improvements to guest reviews, house rules, cancellations & more in the latest Host Update

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Improvements to guest reviews, house rules, cancellations & more in the latest Host Update

*Post shared October, 20th

 

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In the latest Host Update, Catherine Powell shares how Airbnb is addressing your top concerns from the past few months and provides detailed answers to several direct questions from hosts. Thanks to host feedback voiced in workshops and here in the Community Center, there are several features being put into action. 

 

*To add or change subtitles to the video, hover over the video and click on the little 'Settings' wheel in the bottom right corner. Then select your language. 

 

Airbnb is improving the guest review process to make it feel more fair. This includes rewriting the majority of review questions that guests answer after a stay. For example, instead of asking guests if the description of a listing was inaccurate, we’re now asking if it was accurate instead. These changes will help guests leave reviews that feel more impartial and truly reflect the quality of your hospitality. 

 

Unauthorized parties are another top host concern, and we’re launching several new features to help protect you against them. For example, by the end of this month you’ll be able to immediately cancel a reservation without contacting support if you have valid reason to believe it will lead to a party. As long as your reason is upheld by our review team, you won’t receive financial penalties or have your Superhost status affected. 

 

When our team reviews a cancellation, they’ll search for evidence of a potential party from message threads or previous guest reviews. As always, these cancellations must adhere to Airbnb’s nondiscrimination policy and we’ll carefully monitor them for unfair treatment that violates that policy.

Many hosts have also asked that house rules be more prominent on listing pages so guests can both read and understand them before booking. By next month, your house rules will be visible in four different places when a guest books a stay:

  1. Key house rules—like not allowing smoking or pets—will be visible at the top of your listing page so that they’re more prominent as guests search
  2. All the house rules you’ve listed, including important safety disclosures, will be visible in the details of your listing page
  3. House rules will be displayed again on the booking confirmation page to help better ensure that guests understand and agree to them before completing a reservation
  4. They’ll also be included in the booking confirmation email to remind guests of your expectations before they arrive

All house rules must be in line with Airbnb’s policies and terms—including our terms of service and nondiscrimination policy.

 

To read a full overview of all the updates being put into place, visit this Resource Center article. As always, thank you for sharing the topics that matter to you and providing feedback that helps elevate the hosting community. Please let us know what you’d like us to cover in future Host Updates with Catherine.

282 Replies 282
Clara116
Level 10
Pensacola, FL

@Airbnb @Catherine-Powell Thank you so much for the encouraging words....I've forwarded immediately the video to our community group which I lead here in Pensacola and hope it is an inspiration for some that are struggling with many of these issues. 

We appreciate your and all you are working to do on our behalf.

best to you,

Clara

Sandra1925
Level 4
El Paso, TX

@Catherine-Powell I have contact free stays one in a private room and a second in entire guest house. I usually don’t find out problems unless a neighbor tells me or the permanent resident gives me feedback during or after the fact. Drug use and parties have taken place in both listings. The most recent guest messaged me about extending her stay. I called her because I have stopped allowing alterations as I have not been paid for an alteration since May without resolution. The phone number was incorrect and she called me once she received my message that I could not reach her. She related she just loved the place and was having a great stay so she booked an extra day. I arrive after her back to back reservations the place is in disarray and I can't rid of the marijuana smell or get the space ready for the next guest. Alcohol spilled everywhere etc. etc. A neighbor threatened to call the police on them so and they had a disrespectful verbal altercation while her and her family were taking a walk. Guest sent me a private note with her review claiming my neighbor was rude to her and threatened her and her family. She gave an overall 4 star review with excellent review on the details which I was unhappy about due to her unfair untrue depiction of her stay related only to her own behavior, drug use, parting which was not related to the listing and about a neighbor who had brought her behavior to her attention while she was away from the home. The fight she had with the neighbor did not occur on the property and had nothing to do with the listing. Her illegal drug use, breaking house rules and the law, disturbing the peace does not reflect on the property but only her behavior. The overall 4 rating was not about the listing or her experience on the property, as she described a great stay except for the neighbor. it was not only unfair but unrelated and did not match her statements that I am a great host and that she had a nice stay or how she scored feedback and compliments and her great stay except for the neighbor problem related to the stay in total. Airbnb support claims although there will be an investigation only guests have the right to remove reviews at their request. I was told a 4 star rating is a good rating and I should be proud I have good ratings. The party, drugs and noise was unrelated to the listing which led to her dispute with a neighbor while she was away from the home taking a walk. She claimed the neighbor was rude to her and threatened her. She was not on the property when she had the encounter with the neighbor and her behavior was brought to her attention warning her police would be called if she continued to disturb the neighborhood. So according to Airbnb support the guest will stay on the platform until they have more negative reviews and the rating will stay. So basically I found out guests with Illegal drug use, disturbing the peace, fighting while away from the property and having parties large or small are being allowed to stay on the platform. I strongly feel Illegal drug use or breaking of the law should be an automatic ban whether a shared or entire listing. Hosts should be given the same respect that guests are given if the evidence is in the communication via messaging, guest’s actions leading to a host experience and where a bad experience took place. This situation is like going to the store and you have a bad experience yet you blame it on your Airbnb stay which is not a relevant claim against the listing. You can’t and should not be able to quantify your star rating related to something that did not happen on the property. The evidence needs to be reviewed properly looked at objectively and host should not be penalized for inaccurate biased unrelated ratings on their homes that do not match with the communication and statements made about the home and the behavior guests exhibit. The review hosts document should be taken into account when the guest has an inaccurate review not matching the stay and host realizes the rating is obviously rated by the guest’s behavior and not the experience you provide. I disputed the entire review asking Airbnb support for removal of the rating for its inaccuracy as it did not reflect the listing or the stay as evidenced by messaging their illegal behavior and blatant disrespect to the neighborhood (their behavior not the listing) as well as my documented experience and your promise to improve the problem with parties and who rents entire homes. Basically we are punished for guests  behavior whether it happens on the property or not and our homes continue at risk by continuing to receive folks who break the law and Airbnb protocol until the guests gets who knows how many more negative reviews. This happened to be a first time local renter without reviews which I thought was not allowed to rent an entire space. I feel a guest can retaliate against a host for something that happened to her not related to the property is un ethical and demining of the host. Sorry about the length. Thank you for listening looking forward to your improvements and better training of support staff. 

Sarah1034
Level 2
Willis, TX

Hello Catherine, 

I have had the unfortunate, and I believe mis-handled, situation where AirBnB Support team cancels a reservation on the guest behalf AFTER the guest was a no-show at my property and gave them a full refund without consulting me. 

 

The guest was a complete no-show, they never thought to cancel or let me know they were not coming. Almost a week later, Airbnb staff cancelled the reservation retrospectively and took my money away from me. I have had an open case with Support regarding this for weeks and the Support team is very slow to respond and attempts to call the support line have resulted in me being on hold for an hour before eventually being hung up on. To me, this shows that Airbnb supports the Guests and does not protect or value the Hosts while we are the ones with everything to lose by allowing strangers into our homes.

Katie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Sarah1034, welcome to the Community Center, and I'm sorry to hear about the experience you've had with this booking. I have just had an update from Support so I will send you a DM now with more info.

So true, I have been hung up on several times the staff does not bother to call you back or finish the call. When they tell you they will have someone call you they never do. I had situation where same day request to book reservation had no ID is blocking calendar. I asked them to remove the guest from the calendar as it violated my booking settings and was told I would be penalized if I did not accept the reservation with-in 24 hours. It is our fault if they have no ID ... Wow they were set to come the same day. I felt pushed into accepting a reservation without a complete profile or it would be my fault. The support staff hung up on me, I finally made contact with guest and had them cancel. Never heard back from support staff. Used to be we could deny a reservation for not following rules we set. Not anymore 😞 

Ricky74
Level 2
Maplewood, NJ

Thank you for making the shift to high quality of guests and our locations for our communities and safety and security of our homes.  It would be great to create local & regional community groups to raise the bar even higher!  Thank you, Ricky Cortez , Poconos Vacation Rentals Owners, area Alliance Member with Rent Responsibly in Poconos PA,  AirBnB Superhost, AirBnB Ambassador & owner of Mt. Maplewood Lodge.  

MtMaplewoodLodge
Katie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Ricky74, welcome to the Community. There are local community groups across different areas that you can get involved in - it doesn't look like there is one set up for your specific area, but if you are interested in becoming a Community Leader and setting one up then you can find out more here😊

@Catherine-Powell For us the biggest issue is the question - what did the host do great and where can they improve-. This make the happy guest have to rack their brain for cons on an otherwise 5 star stay. For example our last guest left an amazing review and wants to book with us again but made a section of the review for cons. My favorite was we only had Nespresso (with free pods) or a french press, but no automatic coffee maker. (no coffee maker is mentioned in the listing but the Nespresso and french press are both mentioned) It's very frustrating to get a glowing review then ... boom. You can't please all of the people all of the time this I know. But many of our reviews are glowing but then-  some weird slight about the size of the baking pans or the upstairs bedroom being bright in the morning. 

Rephrasing would really help all of us. Perhaps just ask for an honest review and leave off "how can they improve" (or however it's phrased)

Thank you

Best,

Alison

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Catherine-Powell 

I am all for these improvements but I don't see them all happening yet! 

This is great:

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But the house rules are nowhere to be found on the "Confirm and Pay" page. Is this correct?! I only see the house rules hidden here. Hidden behind tiny fine print. Honest question: Do you really think guests are clicking these links and reading?

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@Emilia42  You're right. One step forward.... Basically we're right back where we started.  Maybe even worse off now, as you say the rules now look like fine print. 

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Emilia42,

 

Great to hear you like this. The updates to the visibility of the House Rules  on the site are being gradually rolled out and are expected to be all in place by the end of the month (October 30th). You should see the rest of the areas updated soon. 

 

Please do keep an eye on this though and if it's still not updated, do let us know and we will get the product team on it. 🙂 

 

Have a lovely weekend.

 

Thanks,
Lizzie


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Hello @Catherine-Powell and @Airbnb Lizzie, I am glad that the house rules have been moved to a more visible area, yet it has not stopped guests from ignoring them and not reading the listing in full. Three guests  violated house rules just this month. I was able to enforce rules on two. One brought a dog and they chose to leave yet no response to fee for sanitation. Another failed to wear mask in the shared space. When brought to his attention he was aware of the Requirements by Airbnb and complied. He apologized and respectfully wore a mask. A third who claimed he had been a superhot with... also a host on his profile would not acknowledge that Covid-19 requirements were available to him on the listing. Although I repeatedly explained how to access the Airbnb guidelines several times that are provided to him by Airbnb he refused to acknowledge they were available to him. He was involved in an altercation and refused to acknowledge guidelines were available to him. I finally reported the violation to Airbnb support as I could not convince him otherwise. Even during the investigation and support education of the standards he continued to  assert the listing did not have the rules clearly delineated until I changed the listing and placed them in Caps which I did.  I also decided to make signs in specific areas for guest to see. During his statement  he never acknowledged he had not read or didn't know the guidelines were available but he contended it was a listing deficiency and added complaints contrary to what he had related to me along with misinformation about having rented a private room with private entrance which he did not get, yet did. As a host that he is or has been he should know a private room has shared space(s) and the accommodation does have a private entrance as pictured on the listing. After the feedback I received of the follow-up I felt unsupported as he was not corrected and told the guidelines were in the listing and was not questioned of his host knowledge of the definition of a Private room. I don't buy that he could be a host and not been aware that a private room has shared spaces. I have dealt with many investigations throughout my career and always try to help the customer by assure them I am doing something to ratify the situation whether they are right or wrong but never leave them feeling like there was not a misstep on their part. That is why I took responsibility and apologized and offered the ladder solutions and improvements on my part and went as far to say it was on me, knowing it was not but at the same time emphasizing the rules and where to find them.

Support staff should have and hopefully advised him of his responsibility to read listings in full as he should have acknowledged to abide by at time of booking. Also have guest  recognize that because they did not read their  misconceptions led to inappropriate  behavior. In this case an avoidable confrontation he had with another tenant because he was not wearing a mask. By not reviewing that his experience was due to not reading information that was provided to him, he was made feel like he did nothing wrong. When he was not corrected on where that the information was available to him, it  allowed him to place blame on the listing and host. He should have been redirected when he continued to voice the information was not clear and unavailable to him. By showing him how to access and  acknowledge the guidelines. By ensuring him Airbnb information can not be tampered or changed by hosts and was there since he booked.  Support staff did educate  him, warn him on the guideline violations and placed a note on his profile for future reference. Although correct action was taken for the violation we hosts should not feel like that we're not supported during an investigation by approval of inaccurate statements that can be proven incorrect. The guest should not be made feel their behavior is understandable by accepting disingenuous statements and not correcting their inaccuracies.                                        So all that said I have two suggestions:

 

1. A name change from Private Room to Room in Shared Home (options ie. bungalow etc)

2. Adding the Covid-19 safety practices required listed on the booking confirmation in same manner as house rules with acknowledgement requirement 

 

Hi Sandra,

Thank you again for your comment here, and for the feedback you shared in our conversation via DM.

I'm glad to hear that your issues have now been resolved.

As I explained, the concerns you raised here are related to two areas that we are currently working on: guest education and better enforcement of house rules. I appreciate your suggestions on this and will take them to the team to review as potential ways to better deal with these problems.

I am hopeful that the changes that we have planned will improve situations like the ones you describe here.
I look forward to sharing more updates soon.

Best,
Catherine

@Catherine-Powell & @admin I truly appreciate the changes being made on unfair (biased) reviews. I am so frustrated with the fact that guests continue to have the preconceived expectation of getting an entire space when they book a private room which is shared. A guest who reserved my shared space left a great review and all 5 stars but overall 4 star rating.  She privately mentioned that she did not like sharing the bathroom. Although my listing has shared in caps in several areas.  How can this be fair when the guest opinion is about what she chose to book? She mentioned in private that only reason was because of Covid. Understandable but she chose to travel and rent a shared space. I'm hoping these type of reviews are covered under biased reviews as guests may see this as unfavorable but if the listing is accurate it was expected yet they had a choice. It is unreasonable for them to have such a prejudice against the amenities they expect that were not part of the listing and clearly noted. A 4 🌟 rating that is out of our control just isn't fair to hosts when we provided all we promised yet the guest judges our space on a preference they did not choose. I previously tried several times to dispute a 4 🌟  rating to no avail. The review was based on an experience a guest had while taking a walk when a neighbor threatened them. They also gave all five 🌟 and a 4 overall. This particular guest broke house rules and was doing drugs in my guesthouse. I was told my review was good because it said great host. Just so frustrating 😫.  Will these type of reviews continue to be acceptable? 

Diana182
Level 2
Troy, MI

Dear Catherine,
Thank you and your team so very much for your great efforts and excellent job!
I have 2 feedbacks to you guys.
1. Can you guys stop to allow those guests who broke our houses rules, damaged our stuff or cancelled the reservation to write reviews for us, the hosts?
Those guests damaged our stuff, broke house rules then we had to cancel their reservations or make claims to get compenstations then we would get revenge bad reviews from them to ruin our ratings. 
2. May Airbnb give us, Superhosts a chance to buy Airbnb stocks earlier than the common buyers or give us some special deals to buy Airbnb stocks?
Thank you guys so much again!
 
Stay safe, healthy and happy!