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
Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

 

 

@Catherine-Powell 

 

"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.. "

 

Interesting. So if that's the case, could you please comment on why the mega-hosts Domio - very recently exposed in the media for their alleged long and sordid history of false reviews, fake profiles, fraudulent activities, party houses and illegal listings - were only suspended for a mere 3 weeks before being reinstated on the platform? Difficult to imagine any regular host not being permanently delisted for even a tiny fraction of the transgressions that these guys were reported to have been perpetrating over the 4 years of their existence. 

 

Would their (very) brief suspension perhaps be simply because their thousands of listings afford them special treatment from Airbnb? Or could there possibly be any truth in the rumours widely circulating that Airbnb's dealings with Domio somewhat transcend the usual parameters of the regular host/platform relationship, into what some might consider to be conflict of interest territory?

 

Fraudulent Activities, Illegal Listings - Why Was This Mega-host Not Banned Immediately? 
https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Fraudulent-Activities-Illegal-Listings-Why-Was-This-Mega...

 

 

Penelope
Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Mmm, interesting looking back on this, in terms of the reports from hosts on the CC.

 

1. Hosts mostly seem to be reporting a decline in guest standards rather than an improvement. If Airbnb was tackling this before the end of the year, they don't have many days left... Personally, I have noted that Airbnb CS is leaving duplicate and fake guest profiles up, even if they are reported.

 

2. Conversely, I have noticed, from threads posted on the CC, that Airbnb seem to be cracking down on hosts way more than ever before. That would be fine if they were cracking down on the truly bad hosts/scammers, but those seem to remain on the platform (as has been reported to me by numerous guests as well as on the CC), providing they have enough listings to make it profitable. 

 

Meanwhile, an unprecedented number of good hosts, Superhosts with spotless ratings, are being suspended and having all their bookings cancelled (in what are already difficult times), if only one rogue guest makes some outrageous accusation in order to angle for a free stay or because they are disgruntled on being brought up on house rules/asked to pay for damages. There are so many examples right now on the CC.

 

What makes this even more frustrating for those hosts is that, in most cases, CS refuses to tell the host why their listings have been suspended, meaning there is not even a chance for them to make improvements, if those were even necessary.

 

This whole thing is an empty promise. As far as I can see, there is no effort to weed out undesirable guests, there's just more effort to punish any host who tries to enforce their house rules or claim for guest damages.

 

Basically, we are getting screwed yet again, but the marketing spiel says otherwise...

Ute42
Level 10
Germany

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Hi @Catherine-Powell  ,

 

are You aware of the fact that airbnb owes host Monika in Chile 2400 USD for weeks and the family has got nothing to eat?

 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/A-family-in-Chile-has-got-nothing-to-eat/td-p/1357935

 

I have tagged You in the other tread already but haven't heard back, so I'm trying again here.

 

 @Catherine-Powell  @Ute42

 

Also, you urged the hosts from Chile - @Monika-And-Domingo0 - who Ute refers to above, to contact you if they didn't receive the necessary support from your agents, and you publicly promised "We will get this resolved"

 

A full 10 days later, and Monika and Domingo's payment issues remain very much unresolved, leaving their family in dire straits, and Monika's emails and messages to both yourself and Tara Bunch remain unanswered.

 

Please keep your word to these good people, and great hosts.

 

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Penelope
Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

This confuses me . . Do all hosts now have to sign up for the Enhanced Cleaning Protocol?

@Emilia42  That's how I understood the message, you have until Oct. 12 to sign up and then there is some kind of resubmission by Nov. 20.  But, maybe I misunderstood, since if it becomes mandatory, what is the point of touting how much better the listings that already signed up are doing, because in a week everyone will have to do it?  LOL. 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Mark116 and other hosts, out of interest, have any hosts actually encountered guests who expect these enhanced cleaning standards? I certainly haven't. I honestly think that guests neither read them nor care about them. They just want a clean listing, the same as they always have. That's my experience anyway...

@Emilia42    Looks like the prompts to sign up will start Oct 12, and one gets until Nov 20 to accept. Basically, everywhere except mainland China. 

 

It's apparently the new 5-step protocol, for folks who didn't already sign up  - I posted that below. 

 

My assumption is that folks already signed up won't have to do anything.  Maybe that's not true - maybe folks already signed on to the old protocol will have to recommit. 

I'm assuming that yes, we all have to sign up or we may be removed from ABB site.  If I am wrong, I stand corrected.  I too would like to have a "real" answer.

LakeLove0
Level 2
North Carolina, United States

Unfortunately, YES. You no longer have the option of cleaning with your own materials, they need to be 'approved' disinfectants which have chemicals that can harm your health and the planet. 

yes we as Host do

 

Apparently yes, so I guess it's time for a mass-exodus from AirBnb. The "ECP" is totally impractical and would result in cleaning fees in excess of the rental rate. I read through all 36 pages and there's a lot of total bonkers stuff in there like move all the furniture and clean underneath, was all dishes each time whether used or not, sanitize all your blinds, don't enter any room after you've sanitized it, and change all your PPE between cleaning and replacing materials. Clearly the people that came up with this nonsense have never hosted or cleaned and have no idea the level of effort they are expecting. 

 

We're no going to sign up for that, and I'm convinced the so-called one million that already have either didn't read it or are lying through their teeth. There's no way in hell a million listings are doing all that between each stay and they're just saying they do to get the badge.

@Keith352 The 5 step mandated process is a bit more reasonable - Still stupid in places though!