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.

[Allan336]

To me instant book is a dreadful idea .

Maybe of some benefit to guests?

Certainly not to hosts . Have never done it , pretty much booked all year round

[Emilie]

Hi @Michael1186  & @Huma0,

We've shared more details on Airbnb's update to instant book settings in this post, which I thought you might be interested in! If you have any more comments or questions on this after, you can let us know in the discussion:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-updates/Details-on-Airbnb-s-update-to-instant-book-settin...

Thanks!

Emilie

[Huma0]

@Emilie 

There is an awful lot here that is problematic, as I've already mentioned in other posts.

For starters, changing the IB booking settings without informing hosts in advance is shameful and unethical quite frankly. A lot of hosts only used IB because those settings were available. In fact, Airbnb have used those settings as a tool to convince hosts to do so. How can they just snatch it away without a word of warning? Why must it take hosts here on the CC to inform others? I wonder how many hosts are still out there blissfully unaware of this, like sitting ducks...

As for the verification process is worded in such a vague way as to be almost meaningless.

"Some Hosts only take bookings from guests with verified identity." However, it then goes on to say "This may include a confirmed government ID," and then specifies as an example "where there are restrictions on the building where the listing is located," and later that the host themselves needs to request ID from the guest in those circumstances. So, what does that mean? Does it mean that Airbnb only requires government ID when there restrictions in the building? Or does it mean they do not confirm government ID as part of this verification process at all? That's what it's sounding like to me.

Also, the next bit lists "what we may ask you for". What does that mean? In theory, Airbnb could ask for none of that and still claim the guest is verified.

First on the list is "Legal name, address and/or other personal information". There is no mention of asking for any proof of legal name or address, and what exactly does other personal information mean?

While a photo of government ID and possibly also a selfie alongside that are mentioned, again it's something that Airbnb 'may' ask guests for, and if the guest can't provide a selfie that matches the ID, guess what? They can provide some alternative form of verification instead. What would that alternative be, I wonder? Other personal information? A legal name/address without any documentation?

There is literally nothing stated in this article that reassures me that it's worth the paper it's written on, as it seems to be deliberately worded to be as clear as mud, nor that this 'multi-step identity verification process' has any meaning whatsoever.

The whole thing reads like a list of loopholes that gets Airbnb out of verifying anything, while at the same, the company is making a huge song and dance about how they are expanding the verification process in order to lure in new, unsuspecting hosts. 

[Huma0]

@Emilie 

And to add to that, the new 'good track record' filter specifies that guests will not be able to IB with the filter on if they broke policies/house rules recently.

What exactly does 'recently' mean? Seems to me yet another vague explanation, lacking essential detail, in order to provide a loophole for Airbnb to not protect hosts while they are claiming to do the opposite. 

[JoandJoe0]

@Huma0 I have read they have also removed the box to check, "Would you host this guest again?" [Y/N] 

I don't currently have any bookings (thank you Summer 2022 release) so I can't confirm if this is true or not. 

Can anyone confirm?

[Huma0]

@JoandJoe0 

I did not know that, but it doesn't surprise me. I could never find out exactly what Airbnb meant by 'recommended by other hosts', as the wording on this was extremely vague in any articles that mentioned it.

Some hosts, however, believed it mean that other hosts had selected 'would host again' for that guest, and that would explain why Airbnb has removed it from the review process, as that would make the question redundant.

On the other hand, other hosts believed that the question 'Would you host this guest again' bore no relation to whether or not they could book with future hosts, only whether or not they could IB with you. So what does that mean? Does it mean that we can no longer prevent a problematic guest from re-booking with us if we use IB, unless we block them (meaning we have to report them as 'being offensive').

[Jennifer2672]

I am really disappointed about that change. I've experimented with adding automated messaging that said the same thing. (We'd love to know more about what brings you here, please make sure your reservation is for the correct number of guests so we can properly stock and prepare the house.) So far, I've had one IB reservation with absolutely no communication whatsoever. 

[Gillian166]

@Jennifer2672  and so, it's time to stop giving guests 5* for communication. I have an easter egg in my house rules and lately zero guests have found it. i've been giving 4* as a standard now, and will drop to 3* or 2* if they didn't once use the message box. I used to not be like that, I thought an event-free stay was 5* but lately i've had a string of "bad" reviews (4* shouldn't be bad!) over silly things like: there's no TV (correct, didn't you read?), the weather was cold (correct, we warned you), there's no washing machine (correct, didn't you read?) and then get 3 or 4* for accuracy because something I never offered was missing! 😡

I predict that reviews are going to get worse overall as a result of all these changes. 

[Christopher1112]

Hi Gillian, I have had very few bad guests over 3 yrs now, however, in the instances I did and the review whined about something like that I respond to their review indicating that the house manual and rule set they were obligated to read prior to booking ( platform terms of service) indicated X amenity was not included in my listing. I admonish them accordingly, then I contact the platform and have their review removed for breach of terms of service. I guard my superhost status and I am in a underserviced destination location- so far so good.

[Drayton1]

LOL, I have been Super Host for over 3yrs. I was just demoted to regular host because of 3 an 4 star 🌟 ratings plus some that don't even leave a REVIEW. All nothing but lies 🤥 I even tried to have their reviews removed but Airbnb's RESPONCE to me was THEY ARE ENTITLED TO THERE OPINIONS! I totally GAVE UP NOW! IT'S ALL BS.

[Gillian166]

@Christopher1112  how do you get the review removed? I tried and they keep saying there's nothing wrong with the review. 

[Sybe]

Hey @Michael1186 ,

Good news! After reading and sharing all the feedback regarding the pre-booking message, it's been decided that starting today, December 12th, the pre-booking message feature will be returned. You can read more about it here: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-updates/The-Instant-Book-pre-booking-message-feature-is-r...

[Bubba-Lee0]

---

@Sybe wrote:

"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."

So explain this....

Host allows a guest to book. Guest books and throws a party. The Host, who has done nothing wrong,  reports guest for violating the No Party policy and the HOST gets suspended with no warning.

Meanwhile, here you are saying that if a guest breaks a rule, they get off with a warning and if they repeat their offense only then will they get suspended? 

Why don't hosts receive this same leniency? 

---

[Bubba-Lee0]

What is AirBNB going to do about the guests who complain about frivolous minutiae to get a discount or a refund?  The guests whose preposterous complaints are clearly for the purpose of intimidating hosts to get discounts and/or refunds of cleaning fees?  

The same guests who know how to strongly imply, "If you don't discount my stay for this, I will annihilate you in my review" without actually saying it to avoid getting busted for extortion? 

Why do we hosts have to keep making absurd rules/disclosures to cover our butts against ridiculous guests and their unrealistic expectations (And then guests STILL complain!). Meanwhile, AirBNB keeps promoting "pristine" and "sparkling clean" and has made it clear that anything less than 5* is a failure and cunning guests are taking advantage.

Some examples of ridiculousness from guests: 
~Guests complaining about cleanliness because there were leaves on the deck outside. They were renting a cabin in the forest.
~Guests complaining about insects in a cabin in the mountains.
~Guests complaining about jelly fish in the ocean ruining their stay.
~Guests complaining 4 days into their stay that there is sand and dust in the Beach house. It couldn't possibly be that the guest tracked in the sand from the beach or generated dust after 4 days of being there. 🙄
~Guests claiming they found ONE single hair on a towel/sheet/what have you and completely losing their minds over it. Hairs are a fact of life. And sometimes they happen. Exactly how should this single hair entitle a guest to a refund?
~Another complaint yesterday on FB: Guest marked the host down for cleanliness because there is a trash can OUTSIDE next to the garage door for guests to dispose of their trash. 
~Guest claimed they  smelled mildew in the washer so they left and want a refund. (No photos, no chance for the host to rectify, just up and left)
~Guest claimed there was no hot water AFTER they checked out. They wanted a full refund. Fortunately in this case the owner had a Smart Water Heater that documented the both the water usage and the temperature so they outed the guest who suddenly didn't want a refund anymore.

More importantly, what is AirBNB going to do about their Customer Service Reps who immediately refund guests for their entire stays based these ridiculous complaints without even discussing it with the host???  Many of us take detailed "Before" photos of our homes to document how clean they are, just to protect ourselves against these ridiculous claims. But if the Reps never reach out to us and allow us to prove the guest is a scamming pile of poop, how is that fair to us hosts??  Especially when the guest makes these false allegation that their stay was *awful* 2 days after they checked out, but they stayed the entire 10 days without a word.... Hmmmm. 

Or the Scammer Guests - The ones who make a fake claim of bedbugs, and provide a blurry photo of a piece of brown lint and claim it's a bed bug?  Or pull a photo off the internet and claim they found it in their bed. This is really cute when they share a photo of a bed bug they found in bed on a white sheet but all of your sheets are dark blue.... This is why I never use plain white sheets; it's really hard to pull a photo of a bed bug off the internet on navy blue damask sheets - but why should I even HAVE to think of these things??

Or a recent favorite off FB! A guest took a small black piece of something (maybe licorice?) and put it in the bed and claimed it was rat poop. They then took the same piece of black something (identical shape and size) and moved it throughout the house and took photos claiming a rat infestation. Amazing how the rat poop was identical shape and size throughout the house. I don't know about you but my poops are never the same shape or size from one to the next.... And strangely, no rat PEE, just poop. 

When is AirBNB going to shut down guests with these unrealistic expectations or documented scammers?

[Joseph1753]

 Thought this was absolutely ridiculous to have guest haven’t spend the whole time he booked  and after checking out ,he posted a photo of bedbugs and asking for a full refund . It was a complete Airbnb scammer. Indeed