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

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

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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.

383 Replies 383

@Patricia2834  Where is the host cleaning kit information?  I don't see it anywhere?  Thanks

@Katie 

I found it by going to my Dashboard.  At the bottom of the page in a gray box is a list of links.  Find the "Resource Center" link under Host menu.  When you click on that it will display a Utube video titled "Introducing Airbnb's COVIC-19 Safety Practices"  If you click on that window it takes you to the page where all this new protocol and lists are.  

  It is a bit convoluted.  I have complained several times about the NOT user friendly format of this website.  But if you have time and can surf through it you will eventually find what you are looking for.  

  I think the company would do well to hire someone to revise the website and make it easier to find what you are looking for.  It took me 3 day the last time I needed to get an answer to a policy issue.  

Holy Moly! I wondered if any host was going to buy those cleaning products. $10 for a bottle of no-name disinfect when a gallon of bleach costs a couple of dollars. No thanks!

Helen427
Level 10
Auckland, New Zealand

Someone has obviously done a deal aye @Emilia42 & it's not you and I!!

 

Wonder who is creaming it and may have undisclosed conflicts of interest...

 

We don't have Lysol in New Zealand & to be honest I had to look it up to see what it was we from time to time hear about.

 

Guess that exempts those of us who live in countries where it's not available @Katie @Catherine-Powell 

@Lizzie@Quincy @Nick @Airbnb 

@Noriko @Sergi and other Admins and that we continue to adhere to the required Sanitation standards & Legislation of our long standing Public Health Acts until our Leaders & others sort out the disruptions to our lives, as it's them who are causing this ongoing issues we are all facing.

Time for Commonsense back in our lives.

 

Lindsay111
Level 2
Auckland, New Zealand

New Zealand is Covid 19 free and we no longer need to wear masks , keep social distances etc. The borders are closed  so our only guests are covid free New Zealanders. This ridiculous edict by Airbnb needs to be revisited on a country by country basis.

Paul6854
Level 2
Mawnan Smith, United Kingdom

There is no legal requirement for masks in private homes here in the UK and I will not sign up to this. Distancing and cleaning fine but forcing me and my guests to mask up is ridiculous, we could come across each other on the landing, in the kitchen, in the hall... Are we supposed to wear one constantly?! If this is enforced that's the end of Airbnb for me, such a shame. 

If you are operating an AirBnB it becomes by definition running a commercial property even if it is your private home so you may not like this but this is something you and your guests should be doing in public spaces. 

Familie-Hallwirth0
Level 2
Roßdorf, Germany

Hi@Catherine-Powell, 

i'm a host from germany and sorry the ECP is not reasonable. I agree with Keith352  nobody who does not lies can accept this protocol. Best regards Christine 

Jane2772
Level 3
Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand

Like a lot of people  - I find these new standards over zealous and in some instances impossible to maintain particularly in a country like NZ where we currently have zero community transition and our boarders are closed. I queried this through Airbnb and got the following response: 

"I understand as well that you're country is really doing well in fighting the pandemic and some of the requirement might not be applicable. Please be advised that the latest safety practices is a general notice to all the hosts of Airbnb. The implementation will still be dependent on the current status of a country and this could serve as your reference and guide in the future."

So...a really mixed message here, on the one hand we are told "sign up or get sanctioned/de-listed" on the other it seems that "implementation will still be dependent on the current status of a country"

Which is it ??????

 

I'm wondering if this is a measure by Airbnb to protect themselves should anyone fall sick after staying in a property listed on Airbnb - is this a way of pushing all the blame on to hosts ??

Reading the 36-page handbook for the 5 step cleaning and several problems are obvious:

1. Just turned off the power to the microwave and it took me 2 minutes to reset the clock. 3 guests this week, so another 6 minutes added to cleaning.

2. Happy to sanitise touch areas but blinds? We have 2 large windows, a double sliding door and 5 smaller windows with vertical blinds plus Venetians on the front door. I vacuum the later as it collects dust but sanitising the verticals so frequently would destroy them! I wipe them with detergent about 4 times a year but after every guest, no.

3. Moving the bed away from the wall? No that's part of annual cleaning. I just vacuum thoroughly underneath.

4. How are we supposed to sanitise timber furniture?

5. Checklists? No.

6. Full protective gear? No.

Shower curtains? That's easy so yes and I can just reach the top of the bathroom mirror on a footstool, so yes that gets cleaned. What's a liner?

7. Sanitise coathangers? No.

8. Remove and wash upholstery covers? No. Fortunately, we don't have curtains!

9. "Remove any food or beverages the previous guest may have left in the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry"

Oh dear, that's it. We leave cooking and snack supplies for guests like tea, cereals, spreads, sauces, salt & pepper. So that all has to go. Many of our Airbnb guests were Youth Hostelers. So glad we don't do single night stays. 

10. Yes, we could hire a cleaner but it would cost more than guests pay which is $50 AUD per night.

Jane @Jane2772, yes very mixed messages. By now there must be a few people who were diagnosed with Covid-19 after staying in a property listed with Airbnb but of course, they may have been infected shopping, catching a taxi or one of many possible contacts with an infected person. The Airbnb host as a contact would need to be teased, to quarantine for 14 days and close for a fortnight which would cause problems for Airbnb. Are they protecting themselves or hosts?

There is no way we can sign.

That's exactly what it is. 

@Jane2772Thanks for sharing Airbnb's response.  I have saved it for reference, as we are going after them.  As of right now, they haven't responded to any of my messages to them on the issue, including this most recent one:

Airbnb has informed us that we are required to wear masks at all times and to social distance in the vicinity of guests. Further requirements involve the use of chemical cleaning agents.
My understanding of our Agreement, is that the duty to provide for the safety of our guests, as well how and to what extent, is exclusively our/the host's duty and obligation, as is the determination of how we are to maintain cleanliness of the venues we are renting. Certainly there are minimal generalized standards, but we have complied with those.

If you are going to request that we wear masks in the presence of guests and other requirements you have recently set forth, we respectfully insist that you provide us with the exact specific terms and conditions of our contract (and/or any legislation applicable in British Columbia, Canada, that:

a) gives you the power to make these said demands upon us; and,

b) obligates us to comply with your said demands; and,

c) especially where compliance with your requests places our health in danger by so doing.

It is our position, that, irrespective of our above demand for said information in our contract, that your request is a requirement that places our health in danger and that of our guests. If a guest wishes to waive his/her/their health choices and wear a mask of their own choosing, of course that is their privilege to so do. Your request, especially insofar as it places our health in danger, goes far beyond that which is reasonable in this situation and in our position and belief, runs afoul of both Provincial and Federal Human Rights legislation, as the case may be.

Finally, all of this is independent of the fact that no less than 20 RCT (randomized control trial) studies on mask use confirm that they do not stop nor prevent viral transmission. Consequently, your request is arbitrary and unreasonable as it does not provide any form of health protection, is unrelated to your purposes and intentions for your request, and actually results in health endangerment.

In conclusion, I will wait for you to provide the correct factual responses to my aforesaid questions a)-c).
Thank-you,
Marcie and Peter
 
Jane2772
Level 3
Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand

@Marcie-and-Peter0 

A very well thought out and well worded piece - thank you. 

 

Further to my queries I have now been told

"About the concern we have, I reached out to my team to clarify, and we have confirmed that this new health protocol was rolled out to all Airbnb hosts. This standard policy aims to make sure that everyone is protected and safe with the current situation.

I understand that it might be different now in your country, but we encourage you to still follow this because if a guest will complain, I'm afraid that it will be a valid concern since we already have these steps in place".

 

Judging by the number of comments in this conversation alone, there seem to be some common concerns amongst hosts. If we all refuse to sign up, I wonder what would happen?

@Jane2772Thanks for the info!  Hopefully there will be a substantial number of hosts that do not sign up, and hopefully guests boycott until these mandates are removed.  I think Airbnb is leaving themselves open for a plethora of lawsuits!  Sadly, I'm not seeing large numbers of people stick up for their rights (in Canada anyways), so I don't hold much faith in this strategy. Let me know if you receive any other info!

Thanks,

Marcie