A new system to hold guests accountable

[Sybe]

When you welcome guests to stay in your space, it’s essential that they respect your home, follow your house rules, communicate promptly if issues arise, and avoid creating a mess. So, we’re introducing ground rules for guests – a new set of enforceable standards that all guests must follow.

If a guest breaks ground rules, they get a warning the first time. If the issues persist, they'll be suspended and, if necessary, permanently removed from Airbnb.

You’ll still be able to write any additional house rules for guests to follow. And if a guest violates any of your house rules, we’ll support you if you need to cancel the reservation early. 

Read more about it on the Resource Center.

[Gillian166]

So with "commercial photography allowed" there should have been an option to include whether a fee would apply for that. "commercial photography" could range from one person shooting a singer in the lounge room (had that happen, it's fine) to a wedding (also allow that under a specific listing) but at the other end (a crew with lots of gear) this seems a bit vague. At the very least it should have "contact host for further details"

[Sybe]

@Gillian166 That's a very good point, especially coming from a photography expert like yourself. 😉

The ground rules are shown to guests in multiple places including your listing page, so you could perhaps add further clarification in your listing description. You can also still write your own additional house rules where you could specify.

I'll make sure to pass this feedback on, thanks for sharing!

[Gillian166]

@Sybe  I see now on my listing it does now say "commercial photography allowed" but there's no further info. this should be a clickable link with more info. This implies that commercial photography is FREE and I'm not down with that, because 'commercial' is a very broad and vague term. I'm going to turn it off, and I suspect you'll find that every savvy host will do this same.

It's a bit mind-boggling how this one got added, were any active hosts consulted?

I know you've passed on the feedback, please pass on the further feedback that writing about it in my house rules is not helpful (due to the ever increasing length of my house rules), unless "commercial photography" is clickable and links to the conditions, or you add a fee for it somewhere. (and please, can I consult on that? there's no one-size-fits-all fee for commercial photography)

[Bhumika]

Thank you@Gillian166 noticed it and passed on the feedback! 

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

There was a discussion here a few years ago where a number of hosts, including myself, said it would be useful to have the option to book photo and film shoots on Airbnb.

However, the point was that it would be useful to have this as a separate option, so that people did not send regular booking requests expecting to do a shoot for the same as a nightly stay! 

I guess Airbnb listed to part of the suggestion but missed the key point of the argument. Oh dear.

[Laureen29]

Yes we are new but have had that happen. We were asked for permission and the details communicated. Looking forward to the opportunity to have a couple come from 2,000 miles away to get engaged on our property. Hoping we can get some pictures to add to our host profile. 

[Ruth413]

@Sybe   Jenny pointed me to this post. 

I just need clarification that we now need to add our check out requests in the house rules section of our listings ?  I only have a couple of things, and they are requests not rules as such, but something I like my guests to do before leaving i.e. turn off all heaters and lights, please put rubbish in the bins and please load any dirty dishes in the dishwasher and turn it on before leaving  Beforehand I have just left them in the welcome booklet.

I just want clarification that these should be in the house rules section of the listing as they are not rules as such, but requests and if we don't have those in the listing can guests mark us down on that in the reviews.

Thanks

[Sybe]

Hi @Ruth413 ! Very good question. The ground rules mentioned in this article are a new set of enforceable standards that all guests must follow, but are unrelated to checkout tasks.

However you might be interested in this article, in which we shared that in the coming months, we’ll be working with you to make checkout more transparent to guests. Guests will be able to review your checkout instructions prior to booking – similar to house rules – and also leave feedback on the checkout experience.

For now there isn't any change in terms of checkout requests and where you inform the guest of those, so you can leave them where you have them now. 🙂

[Gillian166]

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 Guests will be able to review your checkout instructions prior to booking – similar to house rules – and also leave feedback on the checkout experience.

🙂

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@Sybe  this is SO awesome!! can't wait to see it.  👍🏼  i am officially making a woo-yay post. 😅 

[Ruth413]

@Sybe Sorry for the late reply.  I have been away with no internet (bliss!).  Thanks for the confirmation re checkout requests/rules, and I hope that Airbnb will update us in advance for when they will be required. 

I am niggling a little bit as to the phrase "check out tasks"  as this sounds rather negative to the guests.  Believe me, I wouldn't want to be doing any tasks while on holiday !  Although, I have just spent a week in Cornwall and hoovered, polished and left the place how I found it.  This is for a rental which is private which does charge a minimal cleaning fee and I mean minimal -  £35 for a house that sleeps 12 people, but they do ask for it be left as it was found, i.e. neat and tidy and not dishes left etc. 

If they asked me to do do "check out tasks"  that would probably change my thought process.  So please if you can, regarding the next update for check out, please advise not to use the wording of tasks, chores, cleaning etc. 

Best to have a choice for us hosts to choose between - Check out instructions or Check out requests.  Especially as these are going to be reviewed by both hosts and guests.   

[Sybe]

@Ruth413 A small change in wording can have a huge impact, that's for sure. I'll make sure this is added to the feedback, thanks for thinking with us! 😃

[Michael6934]

@Sybe 

It is such a hassle to cancel reservations when house rules are not respected....first of all you are earning a negative review from the guest. Then, the slow response from Airbnb support and the worse is to confront your guests one on one asking them to leave. I always feel scared when i do that.

[Sybe]

@Michael6934 Retaliatory reviews is something we see a lot of Hosts on here worry about.

With the changes to both the review policy and ground rules it'll be easier to enforce them, and if it does result in a retaliatory review you can read in @Jenny 's post here that you'll now be able to dispute them. 😃

Asking the guest to leave will always be difficult, but if you need to cancel a reservation because of a violation of the ground rules Airbnb can support you.

[Ryan2594]

Why is it that when a guest has cancelled both they and the host can leave a review? 

It seems rather bizarre and can leave retaliated reviews from the guest if they aren’t subjected to a full refund.