New beta in inbox: Share recommendations

[Scott]

Hi folks, i'm excited to let you know about the new beta we enabled in your host account today designed to make it easier to share recommendations with your guests in messaging.

It's creatively called "Share recommendations" and is accessed from the "+" icon in your host inbox (web only for now -- mobile coming soon).  It provides quick access to your Guidebook(s) and top rated Experiences when messaging your guests:

What do you think -- useful or meh or ?  We'd love your feedback!  Many thanks in advance.

-Scott

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Scott I guess we either don't have many experiences nearby or our view on what nearby means differs from yours. Of the experiences that came up for one guest the nearest was 100 miles (2+ hours) away.

Also not really sure why we would want to recommend an experience that we hadn't experienced given that if it is poor we would be tarred with the same brush.

Its a meh from me I am afraid.

[Scott]

Hi @Mike-And-Jane0 thanks for the quick feedback!  I agree that one experience 100 miles a way is not very helpful 😞

We dug into this further, and are seeing a bigger set of recommendations for your listings, so wondering if there's a bug?  Did you see anything that looked like these two sets of recommendations?  (Note you won't see recommendations for reservations that have passed -- the guest needs to have an upcoming trip)

and

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Scott Yes I saw the first group. Kingston and London are both 130 miles away and probably a 3 hour trip.

Given how the UK mentality works anything more than about 15 miles is not really considered local.

[Ann72]

@Scott  I think it's a great new tool.  Anything that makes it easier for me to communicate with guests and potential guests is a win for me.  Being able to swiftly provide the guidebook will be a huge help.  Although guests get the link from me about 10 days out as part of a message with other information, some ask for help planning when they book and I get the occasional inquiry wondering about attractions.  Since guidebooks are public I don't mind sharing at that stage, but it has been laborious (go to a different tab, click your profile pic, scroll down to "Guidebook," click on it, click the gear icon, click "share," click "copy link," then go back to the inbox and paste it in).

As to Experiences, there are some in my area, but none of them came up.  I tried sharing recommendations with a reservation for next month and with reservations for June, July, and August 2022.  I got recommendations for Plum Island, MA (4 hours away), Salem, MA (4 hours 15 min away), Sebago Lake, Maine (3 hours away), and Woolwich, Maine (2 hours 20 minutes away).  My guests will not find these suggestions appealing, especially since there is so much to do so much closer.

I would love to be offered my own guidebook as a kind of a la carte menu where I could select things for guests out of the more than 100 entries I've logged there.  Airbnb should think ahead - some of these vendors will eventually create experiences themselves.  Why not have AI comb the guidebooks and reach out to vendors with news about how easily they could create experiences from what they offer?  AI could also take place names from reviews and tailor the recommendations from those.  The feature could also use a toggle to limit suggestions by mileage or driving time.  It's a great start but it's got a ways to go.

[Scott]

Hi @Ann72 thanks so much for this feedback.

re: our recommendations being "too far" from your listing, this is similar to @Mike-And-Jane0's situation.  We'll do some tuning to address this.

re: being able to share specific items from your Guidebook as well, we'll keep this in mind for a future improvement.

All helpful -- thank you!

[Scott]

Hi folks, quick update on the beta: we updated our suggestions to be more local based on @Mike-And-Jane0 and @Ann72 's feedback.

Does anyone else have feedback based on your listings?

A always, thanks in advance!

-Scott

Cc @Christie155 @Victoria1392 @Chiara232 @Евгения23 @Ольга114 @Tai-and-Ken0 @Mark1604 @Francine215 @Michelle1075 @Alessandra18 @Susanna0 @Jon302 @Ashley-and-Shelley0 @Compass5 @Lana737 @Jason25 @Josef368 @Manuel3688 @WeHost2 @West-Indies0 @Julie675 @Simon198 @Philip196 @Irina459 @Don153 @Hojin0 @Paco112 @Ricardo1252 @Thibault103 @Chelsea257 @Bridget116 @Gilles121 @Svyatoslav0 @Caroline80 @Vinicius-Parisian0 @David7311 @Aesha0 @Dave981 @Julia197 @Kristen369 @William74 @Walter124 @Nicolas-And-The-Bnbhere-Team0 @Alex7202 @Deana37 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Scott The recommendations are now more local (Furthest is now about 90 minutes away which is further than some guests come from!). However I will not be sharing these recommendations with a guest because I have 

1) No detailed idea of their interests

2) I am not being paid to market Airbnb experiences

3) If they have a poor experience it will reflect on me as a host

4) They are still not local enough for us brits

5) I won't remember to click on the PLUS button

Sorry

[Scott]

Thanks for your candid feedback! Very helpful.

[Walter124]

@Scott thank you so much for sharing this tool.  I have no idea how much my guests normally interact with any of my guidebooks, but by the rate of "what do you recommend" questions I would venture to answer: not too much.  This is a great way to share such recommendations with my guests without having to put too much effort or time every time. Thumbs up @Scott !

[Scott]

Hi @Walter124 thanks for your feedback!  I want to make sure we understand it:  

• Are you saying guests don't ask you what you recommend very often?
  Or
• that you have a guidebook, but you don't think guests consult it very often, because they frequently ask you what you recommend?

Thanks for clarifying!

[Walter124]

The second one @Scott . I have a guidebook, but don't think guests consult it very often, because they frequently ask what I recommend. 

[Alessandra18]

Hi Scott, thank you very much to allow me to be part of these group.

I think that Guests when ask for any kind of tip, they'd like to receive tips tailored for them, tips that really meet their needs, as the Airbnb's meaning: sharing the local experience with the person who's hosting them. They love to speak or simply chat with us but in a very personal way.

I think that this new tool may be a plus for us as well as I think that I will never use it,  because I think it is a too much impersonal tool.

Thank you so much!