Improvements to guest reviews, house rules, cancellations & more in the latest Host Update

[Airbnb]

*Post shared October, 20th

In the latest Host Update, Catherine Powell shares how Airbnb is addressing your top concerns from the past few months and provides detailed answers to several direct questions from hosts. Thanks to host feedback voiced in workshops and here in the Community Center, there are several features being put into action. 

*To add or change subtitles to the video, hover over the video and click on the little 'Settings' wheel in the bottom right corner. Then select your language. 

Airbnb is improving the guest review process to make it feel more fair. This includes rewriting the majority of review questions that guests answer after a stay. For example, instead of asking guests if the description of a listing was inaccurate, we’re now asking if it was accurate instead. These changes will help guests leave reviews that feel more impartial and truly reflect the quality of your hospitality. 

Unauthorized parties are another top host concern, and we’re launching several new features to help protect you against them. For example, by the end of this month you’ll be able to immediately cancel a reservation without contacting support if you have valid reason to believe it will lead to a party. As long as your reason is upheld by our review team, you won’t receive financial penalties or have your Superhost status affected. 

When our team reviews a cancellation, they’ll search for evidence of a potential party from message threads or previous guest reviews. As always, these cancellations must adhere to Airbnb’s nondiscrimination policy and we’ll carefully monitor them for unfair treatment that violates that policy.

Many hosts have also asked that house rules be more prominent on listing pages so guests can both read and understand them before booking. By next month, your house rules will be visible in four different places when a guest books a stay:

1. Key house rules—like not allowing smoking or pets—will be visible at the top of your listing page so that they’re more prominent as guests search
2. All the house rules you’ve listed, including important safety disclosures, will be visible in the details of your listing page
3. House rules will be displayed again on the booking confirmation page to help better ensure that guests understand and agree to them before completing a reservation
4. They’ll also be included in the booking confirmation email to remind guests of your expectations before they arrive
   
   

All house rules must be in line with Airbnb’s policies and terms—including our terms of service and nondiscrimination policy.

To read a full overview of all the updates being put into place, visit this Resource Center article. As always, thank you for sharing the topics that matter to you and providing feedback that helps elevate the hosting community. Please let us know what you’d like us to cover in future Host Updates with Catherine.

[Dassi0]

I am very happy with the announcements about the visibility of our House Rules. 

I am concerned about the Blocking of one-night holiday weekend bookings... this may be a good thing for listings that are ‘Entire Place’ but it is a terrible idea for those of us that offer ‘private rooms’.  Most holiday weekends we get one-night bookings from travelers that are using us as to break-up a 2-day drive!

 I hope that you can make the Block only happen on ‘Entire Place Listings’. 

[Dassi0]

I am also happy about the rewording of ‘Accurate Listing’. 

[Don-and-Sandy0]

We received a 2 star review on accuracy. Why? Because the guest was expecting air conditioning in the entire house, even though in the listing it is clearly states that it is in one bedroom. She did not mention that it was too hot, most rooms have ceiling fans, but because our cottage did not meet her unpromised expectations, we took a hit.

[Denise127]

@Catherinepowell 

I have been reading the feedback from other hosts about the review system with interest. I have just received a 3 star review from a guest. She took the time to write in detail about the basis on which she had awarded her ratings. This explanation makes it abundantly clear that the guest did not read the property description or look at the pictures provided before booking. She complains about things which are not only clearly described in the listing, but also impossible to change - such as the position of the bathroom!  An Airbnb booking is an act of faith which goes two ways. Much as I firmly believe that the host has an obligation to ‘manage the expectations’ of guests by providing an accurate listing - a host also has the right to expect that guests live up to their side of the bargain,  by taking the time to READ the listing before booking , rather than book on a whim and then write spurious reviews fantasising about what they wish the listing had been afterwards. This is not only not fair on the host, it is also not fair on (ie misleading to) other Airbnb users. It is even not fair on the unhappy guest themselves - who, had they only been willing to invest a little more time in reading the information provided - might have booked something more in line with their desires and had a happier experience. Of course in some cases - the main motivating factor has been cost. Even so, it is core part of the act of faith between hosts and guests (upon which Airbnb’s entire model relies) that guests read the provisions of a listing and understand that a listing for, say, an air mattress in someone’s front room, and priced accordingly, is NOT going to somehow magically turn out to be a five star hotel!   

An inaccurate review is as harmful for our community as an inaccurate listing. Is there really no mechanism by which such reviews can be removed upon presentation of verifiable evidence by the host? Does a killer review wholly based upon a guest's personal and idiosynchratic dissatification with things like the position of doors and stairs, which have been accurately described in the listing, really have to stand?

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Kind regards, Denise (Superhost since joining Airbnb in 2011)

[Pat114]

I once had a guest give a 3 star review for "lint" on the sheet. We mention we sundry linens in the listing.

[Lynda125]

Wow, I can not even believe the timing of this email on AIRbnb increasing their support. It comes 2 weeks after I needed support and they did not give it.  I asked my AIRbnb team partners to remove a review because it was awful and untrue and all they did was read it and then say it remained because it did not fall under their removal guidelines.  The guest who wrote it was terribly drunk the whole time he was at my place, threw up in the shared bathroom and another AIRbnb guest had to clean it up, was asked to leave and would not, was removed by another guest, the police were called, he passed out on the doorstep, and was taken away by ambulance,  this all occurred in my very high end neighbour hood in Calgary. Then the guest got to write and revenge review! And my team partners DID NOTHING, NOTHING.  Here is what should of happened: they could of contacted my cleaner for her thoughts on this guest. The room was disgusting, we both were sick looking at my bedding and the mess on it. They could of contacted my other guests on how u suitable this guy was and these people wanted to defend me and my choice to remove him. They did nothing. The guest states in his review that I did very poor communication to him.  My AIRbnb team did not look at my communication to him and see that I wrote and wrote him and got very few reply’s from HIM.  Seriously. I actually do not think that they have a team that reviews these messes, I think they are making that up.  This team did nothing. I got a FORM email, in 24 hours, with links to the rules, stating my case did not qualify for a removal of the review.  And they were sorry.  Amazing to me. I wondered what in Gods name could happen to a host that would cause AIRbnb to actually support a host!!!  

[Christine615]

Thank you - reiterating house rules is important. Now - you MUST stop hiding guest identities. For those "investor" absentee speculators that might be fine, but for those of us who are owner-occupied it is not fine to have to wait for an approval to see the identity of the person who will be sharing space with us.

Last year you put a known felon in the home of a local woman. He went on to perform a leud act in her presence and talked about his gun collection. She went to call the police but he had already left on his own. Shortly after, he was in a 12 hour stand-off with a SWAT team who found meth and guns on him. Known felon.

So we need to go back to the way it was in the beginning. My first Airbnb rental was in Paris. The host asked to friend me on Facebook. That was marvelous. She got to know me, and vice versa.

I AM NOT A HOTEL with a security guard.

If someone was discriminated against then kick the host off the platform if the complaint is valid (not the guests that cry wolf because they see everything as racism).  But those instances are rare. Airbnb can't put hosts in danger because of a few bad actors.

IMHO.

[Pat114]

Lawsuits waiting to happen...

[Shivram-Prasad0]

I have been following this conversation and what is fairly obvious is;

1) Lots of hosts especially the Superhosts are extremely concerned over how bad reviews - especially the one-off, outlier, unjustified kind - affects their Superhost status and their ratings and their business/earnings despite doing a lot to keep guests happy.

2) The lack of empathy for this from the Airbnb team

3) The difficulty and almost impossibility of getting redressal from Airbnb.

I think Airbnb has woken up to the importance of hosts in their business model thanks to Covid. 

Till now they used to think keeping guests happy was all that mattered and if the hosts suffered in the process then so be it.

I think Airbnb should take this Covid catastrophe to introspect and feel the pain and anguish of hosts.

Obviously so many hosts - a lot of them Superhosts- cannot be all wrong.

Airbnb. This is your wake up call.

[Sarah3147]

I make a 2 night minimum - also meet/greet - the personal vs absentee rental agents/random person check-ins.....recognise grown beyond the original concept but ^^^^ works vs one-night, random renter/agent, trashed villa/apartment etc. 

For the rules - I don't like the top of listing - can underline at check-in eg: if smoke then outside/otherwise issue! 

For ratings - a cut-off point/date - I'm 5star for all bar one from years ago where the guys marked down location - they couldn't find the villa again after a night out - the Casa Linda numbering is crazy - they found it in the end when they asked Security but gave me a 4 😞 All the rest are 5 star but my listing shows 4.9 😞 😞 

[Kathy291]

@Catherine-Powell  

 My only two booking since opening again because of Covid have both been instant books and ended  up being 3rd party bookings.  This is why I had to turn my instant book off.  The first reservation was for three weeks and the quest implied it was her coming but it ended up being her father who flew in from overseas and was planning to quarantine in our home without our knowledge. The booking guest refused to cooperate and she said that now that he was in our home there was nothing we could do.  After him spending three nights in our home and countless calls to Airbnb support, the police and the health department, finally the federal health department  made arrangements to have him removed.  She has written a bad review and she didn't stay in my home! How can you allow someone who didn't even stay here write a review? It's absolutely ridiculous. The fact that the review has not been taken down is also unbelievable.  Under these circumstances she should not be allowed to write a review at all. You are going to loose bookings and hosts. On top that I spend countless hours trying to get through to support, calling the police and making the necessary arrangements with both the provincial and federal health governments.

Our calls should be escalated to the the proper ambassadors at Airbnb  without having to explain the situation over and over again.   This was the case with my second third party booking who were suppose to check in yesterday.  After she booked I got in touch immediately asking her some questions and I wasn't able to contact her through Airbnb messaging so I finally texted her cell # and she admitted in was for two other people. I told her I didn't allow third party booking unless it's cleared with me first. She understood and agreed but your platform would not allow me to cancel it WHY?  She couldn't cancel either unless she paid 90.00. I spend a good 2 hours on the phone talking and messaging Airbnb support. This is making our jobs as hosts far too difficult and time consuming. I understood as Superhosts we have the right to cancel any third party bookings. In the end I had to screen shot all my messages I had with her on my personal phone to Airbnb support to get the reservation cancelled. 

So my suggestions are : ANY REVIEW  by someone who has made a third party booking  should not be allowed.  HOSTS should be able to cancel a third party booking before check in without numerous calls and transfers with Airbnb support. 

RULES regarding - QUARANTINING WITHOUT OUR KNOWLEDGE,  THIRD PARTY BOOKINGS,  PARTIES and ALLOWING GUESTS WHO BREAK THE RULES TO WRITE REVIEWS have to be addressed. 

[Nancy1422]

I have also had no success in contacting a real person or getting any help at all until two weeks after the problem had been solved which has been very disappointing to me.  Airbnb had iNSTANT BOOKED a guest to arrive only one day after another guest had left after I had agreed to the COVID cleaning protocol.  I believed this posed a threat not only to my guests but to me as well.  I COULD NOT GET ANY HELP from the support team.  Finally our guest agreed to reschedule but for fewer days.  After, the problem was resolved without any help from the Suppor TeamI received an e-mail from the Support Team asking  I was pleased with their help in the matter, UGH! 

[Don-and-Sandy0]

We had a group for the weekend that was supposed to be eight people, adults and children. They verified before booking that it was not a party. In fact, around 28 people showed up for the weekend. We worked with Airbnb, but without proof and the guests denial, we could not verify until they all stood in the front of the house where the camera is when they left. We soon had to do extensive work on our septic, so instead of making money, we were in the hole after this group.

But no other host will hear about this guest. My review was not seen because she did not submit a review , therefore there was no public review. Guests are getting smarter and know how to work Airbnb. I wish there was a way to fix this.

[Kathy291]

You hit the nail on the head. 

[Pat114]

Maybe there's a reddit forum where they discuss easy-mark airbnb's - just as other scammers trade names of victims on the dark web.