Here’s how we collect Host feedback—through our own channels and with the Host Advisory Board

[Airbnb]

We’ve heard some questions about how we’re working with the Host Advisory Board to collect feedback from you, so we wanted to share more on how we listen to you and the Host community, what we do with that feedback, and the role of the board.

In an earlier update, before the Advisory Board members were selected, we said that we’d “build a formal process” for Hosts to submit ideas to Airbnb leadership. Now that we’ve been collaborating with the Host Advisory Board for a few months, we’ve found that there are tools and resources in place that help provide insight and information to both Airbnb and the HAB. Here are some of the ways we listen to you, in partnership with HAB: 

• The Community Center is first and foremost about giving you and your fellow Hosts a way to connect, share stories, and learn from each other. It’s also a chance for us to listen to you. We love observing the support and camaraderie you’ve built here, and we’re inspired by your ideas and suggestions. There’s a dedicated team of online community managers who helps us stay connected to you here as the Community Center has more than 1 million members. (To give you a better sense of the community managers’ dedication, they have read more than 1.3 million Host posts since the Community Center was created in 2015. Thank you, community managers!)
• Local Host clubs: There are 250 Host groups around the world led by local Host leaders who help escalate and amplify questions, concerns, and ideas from Hosts in their groups.  Find your local Host Club here. 
• Host insights: We gather your feedback through conversations, host workshops, and surveys, in person and in online video chats. Hosts are invited by email and through their local Host Club. 
• Community support: We have a global team of support agents who work 24/7 to analyze community-support tickets, from the Help Center, and synthesize insights to inform Airbnb products and policies.
• Our feedback form: You can submit ideas for new hosting tools and flag product bugs, and the relevant Airbnb teams will be alerted. 

One of the reasons we listen closely is to ensure we’re giving you the resources and support you need to be successful Hosts. We put your feedback into action. This past year, during COVID, for instance, when great Hosts told us they felt anxious about losing their Superhost status for reasons beyond their control (for not hosting enough bookings during the pandemic, etc.), we introduced the Superhost autogrant. More recently, we used Host feedback about our messaging features to build and launch the scheduled messaging tool. 

We look forward to continuing the conversation with you, here in the Community Center and in our other channels. Thank you for hosting and sharing your input!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Airbnb If I read this correctly it says: we said that we’d “build a formal process” but we've decided not to.

This is a real shame as it just suggests the HAB is no more than a PR exercise. This is borne out by their singular lack of action - Probably not their fault - I guess Airbnb leadership just doesn't want to listen.

[Stephanie]

Hiya @Mike-And-Jane0 ,

Sorry you feel that way. In reality, the host advisory board members were (and still are) being bombarded on many fronts with requests and feedback by hosts, not just in the CC. On top of their regular Hosting, and in most cases a fulltime job, we advocated to use the listed amazing resources already at our disposal.

In this way, the information is a consolidated voice which the HAB can effectively share. We also saw a lot of hosts reaching out to the HAB with personal complaints and cases which is not the correct method.  The HAB members are being exposed to the take aways from all mentioned areas, as well as hearing these things first hand. Adding another process revealed itself to be excessive - we built several frameworks for how we could facilitate the process but it failed to feel cohesive, nor did it feel like it was adding any value.

Please come along to the next Host Talk if you have time; many HAB members attend and we get through some very poignant topics with tangible feedback being delivered. 

Thanks,

Stephanie

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Stephanie what you describe is the exact reason that there needs to be a more formal process for collecting hosts desires. For instance I have no desire to make collecting pet fees easier but I would like to see revenge reviews dealt with better. The HAB would benefit from knowing if 90% of people want pet fees sorted or 90% want revenge reviews properly discussed and sorted. 

Anyway I shall continue to remain sceptical as to what the HAB has achieved. After all it is only a few months until they have been in place for a year so surely they will have achieved real change for hosts by then.

[Colleen253]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

By now it’s crystal clear to Airbnb that hosts want both the pet fee option AND to have revenge reviews properly dealt with. Both could have been addressed  long before now if they really cared to. Certain things are crystal clear to hosts as well.  Business as usual.

[Don-And-Emily0]

It looks like  reviews are here to stay . Even from guests who violate the “no party” rule!

It seems these guests who break Airbnb rules and vandalize our homes are very valuable to Airbnb. 

[Don-And-Emily0]

Meant “revenge reviews are here to stay”

[Anonymous]

@Airbnb  @Stephanie  I still don't understand why CC canceled the Host Voice feature, instead of building on it. You guys already had a simple, user-friendly format in which hosts could submit feedback, upvotes could indicate how much it resonated with the community at large, and the relevant insiders on the team could engage with it and update everyone on whether it was under consideration or development. It looks to me like every employee who's actively working on an Airbnb product team is under a strict gag order, and the only response that comes back from the enormous volume of feedback arrives in the form of a Disneyfied press release that either ignores the main concerns or willfully misinterprets them to flatter the brand.

The problem is not the lack of a process for collecting feedback; there's an overwhelming database of it here already. No, the problem is that everyone is just shouting into a void because nobody who's in any position to actually implement the feedback is actively engaging with it, asking follow-up questions, or daring to speak off-script. Putting a delegation of hosts handpicked by the boardroom into the line of fire over "feedback" only makes the company look more narcissistic and cowardly in the face of the people who own its inventory.

[Don-And-Emily0]

@Anonymous Couldn’t agree more. 

[Alexandra316]

@Stephanie I find this whole thing pretty insulting to hosts. Feedback has been provided for years through many channels: I feel like saying all this now is just like "Juuussssst kidding! All those suggestion slips went right in the bin! But this time we're really listening to this group of hosts we hand-picked through a completely opaque process who represent you. And by the way, don't talk to them about your issues: we'll set the agenda. Also, don't even think about asking them about what they're doing because they've all signed NDAs. But you're free to read these bios carefully prepared by our marketing department and listen to them say "Airbnb is really committed to the process" and "Sorry, I'm not at liberty to discuss that" as often as you like. See, we're on your side and really listening now!" Er, what? In my opionion, that doesn't say that they care about what hosts have to say. If they were interested i, they could have listened in the first place. Instead, they do whatever they were going to do in the first place and slap a "HAB Approved!" sticker on it.  

[A-t0]

I think @Stephanie is correct!  The HAB doesn't have time to deal with our problems and our requests, which is perfectly fine. In that case delegate some of their duties to some of the hosts here in the Community Center and we can help each-other and @Airbnb make it a better place. 

After all, it is all about revenue (and not the spirit like you want to sell it). You can leave the spirit to us.  Now Airbnb is putting 'AIR' and we are putting our BnBs, so its time I think we start making some decisions together. 

You have made the Host Guarantee Program so hard, that is extremely difficult to claim the damages, because the case manager will answer after 1 month. 

You @Airbnb has become so user centric, that you will lose your partners (and your users) if you don't start to really listen to your hosts.