Introducing new COVID-19 safety requirements, updated guest standards, and more in the latest Host Update

[Airbnb]

In the latest Host Update, Catherine Powell discusses quality hosting, updates to guest standards, and new COVID-19 safety requirements for members of the Airbnb community. 

Last year, in an effort to hold guests accountable for their actions during a stay, we announced new guest reliability standards. Since then, roughly 100,000 guest accounts that violated these policies and standards have been suspended or removed. In response to ongoing host feedback, we’re adding five new criteria to our guest reliability standards to address late checkouts, unauthorized pets, removal of approved security devices, and other issues. 

Between now and the end of the year, we’ll be investing in improvements to our systems and processes. These efforts will help us in making progress to ensure consistent enforcement, quicker response times, and higher overall accountability with guests.

As the heart of the Airbnb community, we know you work incredibly hard to provide the highest level of hospitality for your guests. When travelers have a bad experience with a host on Airbnb, it affects hosts’ reputations in their local communities and governments—and hurts our community as a whole. We’ve noticed recently that a group of listings didn’t live up to our expectations for quality. So just as we are removing guests to help protect the Airbnb community, we’ve decided to suspend or remove listings that have a consistent pattern of serious issues or that have regularly received low review ratings and failed to meet guest expectations.

In most cases, hosts with affected listings have already been notified and there is an appeals process in place to help address concerns. To learn more about these updates and how they may impact you as a host, watch the full Host Update. 

To help keep our community safe and trusted, starting October 12, hosts of stays will be asked to commit to a five-step enhanced cleaning process. Hosts will be required to attest to the protocol by November 20. If you’ve already attested, you’ll simply need to follow a quick prompt to agree to wear a mask and practice social distancing. New hosts will also need to commit to the safety practices. According to internal Airbnb data, listings enrolled in the Enhanced Cleaning Protocol are some of the most popular listings and have three times more bookings on average than listings that were not enrolled in the protocol.

We know health and safety has been top of mind for both hosts and guests alike, and we will continue to try and ensure standards are being met. As always, thank you for sharing the topics that matter to you. Please let us know what you’d like us to cover in future Host Updates with Catherine. 

To read a full overview of the video, visit this Resource Center article.

[Helen350]

@Katie - Glad to see on another thread you're checking out , & are hopeful for exemption  from masks on behalf of  @Helen3  & the other chap who are exempt on medical grounds under UK rules.... I do hope Airbnb don't think they have the right to trump UK law.....

[Lisa723]

@Katie @Airbnb @Catherine-Powell please clarify, will you now require all hosts to commit to washing every piece of tableware and cookware, and every piece of linen in the house, regardless of use, on every turnover? Your post is confusing and it's unclear whether a general commitment to the high-level five steps,  or a specific commitment to the complete 39-page cleaning handbook, is required.

[Katie]

Hey @Lisa723, apologies for the delay here - I've just responded below as there were a few people asking similar questions 😊

[David-and-Gregory0]

@Katie You did not respond at all. You need to explain why these rules must be applied in countries like Australia and New Zealand? We have no COVID-19 community transmission, we have NO international travelers, except returning citizens who must undergo government quarantine. 

[Adeana1]

@Katie  Regarding your statement "With people still traveling from all over the world..."
This is simply not true in Australia (and NZ). All international travelers to Australia - which is limited to only returning Australians and those with extenuating circumstances that allow exemptions - must complete mandatory hotel quarantine for 2 weeks.

In Western Australia (and other states like South Australia @Mike-And-Jane0), it has been over 6 months without community transmission. The borders are so strict that interstate travel isn't even allowed and I can't even visit my own apartment. 

Airbnb absolutely has to be more flexible in this. Perhaps as @Aidan65 suggested, simply "mandating hosts to follow their local government guidelines", should be considered since I, like many others I'm sure, just cannot honestly commit to this Enhanced Cleaning Protocol. 

[Marg11]

Our local or FIFO guests would be shocked and their children scared if we wore masks. We don't have community transmission in Western Australia and our only current cases are a traveller returning from overseas and iron ore carrier crew, all in quarantine. Should we be checking our guest's temperature on arrival like we do to visit nursing homes? Yes, we have had 9 Covid -19 deaths all associated with cruise or carrier ships or locals returning from overseas. If we have a second wave then masks may be needed.

[Belinda55]

@Katie People are NOT travelling from all over the world to Australia or NZ. Are you even aware of border closures? This global policy is unreasonable, coercive and bullying from Airbnb.

[Sarah977]

@Katie  "With people still traveling from all over the world, this is important to help ensure your safety and help reduce the spread of COVID-19."

But there are places which have their borders closed and aren't allowing people in who have been "travelling all over the world". Airbnb needs to acknowledge this and not apply the same rules to every place on the planet. I haven't hosted my home-share since March, I'm one of the most cautious people you'd meet when it comes to this virus, and don't understand why every country in the world didn't instantly close its borders and quarantine any cases and contact trace way back the (if they had, this virus would be over by now) but Airbnb failing to understand the difference between the state of affairs in the US and New Zealand in this respect is ridiculous.

[Carol280]

@Katie,

As each country is different, why do hosts have to sign up to a single ABB set of protocols? VisitBritain in conjunction with VisitWales, VisitScotland, VisitEngland and VisitNorthernIreland has developed its own protocols under the Good to Go banner, which many tourist accommodations from major hotel chains to room-in-a-home hosts have signed up to. Why does ABB not accept commitment to these protocols? Is it because ABB cannot claim them as its own?  

[Aidan65]

@Katie.

One thing nobody can deny is that the Covid outbreak/risk varies from country to country, region to region and time to time. Detailing the opt-in cleaning protocols a few months ago felt extreme but as hosts we could choose how to respond.

The implication now is that hosts refusing to sign up will now be penalised even where it makes no medical sense. Take the single example of the New Zealand hosts, there is no international travel to New Zealand at the moment. Plus the comments above about mask exemptions. Just saying that we all must wear masks everywhere because people are traveling is neither reasonable nor realistic.

Airbnb could avoid all of this by simply mandating hosts to follow their local government guidelines at the time of booking and reservation start.

You have a lot of good will from your earlier reaction to this and similar issues in the past. You are in serious danger of losing this by seriously angering your most important customers - your hosts.

[Marta1137]

I do everything in this new policy, however, Airbnb is again trying to tell me how to run my business. They are only an advertisement company for us and we have made them what they are. Threatening owners on how they need to run their business is over the top. We do not have those regulations in Florida so who are they to push us around?  I think I will be cutting back with them. I get better quality leads from other sites anyway, and they don't try to control my business and I get my money right away.  When all this started, Airbnb returned everyone's deposit without consulting owners. The others allowed me to work with guests. It goes to show that Airbnb doesn't think of owners as their customers. They just think they use us to make money.

[Maali1]

Funny thing is that I only see endless instructions and manuals on how to clean - but there is no button to click to confirm that "yes, I am actually using these standards when cleaning" 😄 

[Gordon90]

That is where we're at.   Endless instructions and no "Agree" button.   This is a joke. 

[Katie]

Hey @Maali1 @Gordon90, thanks for your comments here, and I'm sorry this wasn't clear. Catherine explains in her video that the 5-step program is rolling out from this week onwards, so if you haven't got it yet then hold tight. We wanted to let you know ahead of when it went live 😊

[Katie]

Hey @Mike-And-Jane0 @Helen350 @Lisa723 @Emilia42,

Just jumping in here to respond to your questions for @Catherine-Powell around the 5-step process and the ECP.

Starting the week of October 12th all hosts and guests on the platform will be prompted to attest to health and safety guidelines that include wearing a mask and practicing social distancing when interacting with each other. In addition, hosts and their hosting team and cleaning partners must commit to the five-step enhanced cleaning process. As a host, you are required to do three things under Airbnb’s health and safety mandate: 

• Wear a mask
• Practice social distancing
• Commit to the five-step enhanced cleaning process.

Airbnb originally developed the Enhanced Cleaning Protocol in June 2020 as a comprehensive program that was optional for hosts to join. Since then, we've heard from hosts who wanted a more accessible way to help provide a safer travel experience, so we are requiring hosts to commit to a streamlined 5-step enhanced cleaning process.  

We will continue to provide all of the materials we created for the Enhanced Cleaning Protocol in June 2020 (e.g. handbook, checklist, articles) as a set of supplementary best practices for hosts to tailor to their listing.

The checklist and handbook from the Enhanced Cleaning Protocol in June are best practices available for your reference, as we know each home is different.

I hope this helps to offer a bit more clarity here 😊