Officially introducing the members of Airbnb’s Host Advisory Board

[Airbnb]

*Posted live: December 16th

Today, we’re excited to share a video officially introducing the members of Airbnb’s Host Advisory Board.

As we recently announced, Airbnb is launching a formal program to give hosts a seat at the table. The Host Advisory Board is a group of selected hosts that will not only keep the community informed, but share your feedback directly with Airbnb leadership.  The board will also help inform how  the Airbnb Host Endowment is invested in the community, and influence policies, programs, and new products.

These 17 selected hosts were chosen for their passion, their contributions to the hosting community, and their desire to create a better future for all hosts—among other criteria. Together, they’ve hosted more than 15,000 guests with a combined total of 86 years of hosting experience and an average star rating of 4.9!

*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 click 'Subtitle/CC' and select your language. 

Watch the video above to meet the community members serving on the board and learn about their individual passions and experience. To find out more about how the board will work together to advocate for the community, check out the latest Host Update article featuring our Head of Hosting, Catherine Powell.

Do keep your eyes peeled here in the Community Center as we will be introducing the board members in the new year. There will be regular opportunities for our new board members to respond to your questions and address important topics.

[Sally10]

Hello

This is  A Wonderful New Start to 2021 and to  theAirbnb Hosting Community .

I am quite enthusiastic to hear what happens after your first meeting. 

May I also say perhaps a Few more messages to us as to when these and the Community happenings  gather would be so helpful. I want to be fully updated and enfolded bit I feel there is a bit of a gap in letting us Host know ...

I Look forward to A Wonderful year of Hosting here in the Bay Area 

Happy New Year Everyone 

Sally Catalana

[Katie]

Hey @Sally10, thanks for your message here, and great to hear you are excited about the Host Advisory Board.

I just wanted to dig a bit deeper into your comment on hearing more about things that are going on: do you mean things happening here in the Community Center, or changes and decisions which affect the whole hosting community? 

[Eric122]

I have been an AirBnb host with hundreds of guests over many years. 

I want to bring to your attention a problem about the way we hosts are treated by the “customer service” department.

A guest made a cleanliness complaint.

Without informing, consulting or giving me a chance to fix it, Airbnb canceled the reservation and gave the guest a full refund.

When I asked to see the pictures that guests gave as proof, I was told they are confidential.

When I asked for specifics that was confidential too. 

To sum it up, I was accused, tried and convicted without being given chance to defend myself, give my version or even see what I was accused of!

 Other hosts in the forum have called this very Kafkaesque.

Many have had similar experiences to mine.

To add insult injury, the cancelation was listed as “Host Cancelation” even though I did not do the cancelation. 

This carried the pushment of blocking off the week from my calendar and that i am ineligible for Superhost status (Which I have held for the vast majority of the time i have hosted 100 plus guests.)

In my attempts to get relief from customer service, twice i have been contacted via messages, when I replied right away the person was going off their shift and did not address my issues. The last time they actually told me to start the process all over again instead or replying to my questions 

"Hi Eric, this is Jaydee again from Airbnb. I am following up to let you know that my shift is about to finish. If you need further assistance, feel free to give us a call with the help of this link: airbnbcom/help/contact-us. Have a good night!"

In addition, when i asked the customer service rep on the phone if airbnb thought I worked for them he said yes. Check the recording of the call.

If hosts are independent contractors we should have the right to set our own cancelation and refund policies and control our own calendar.

If we are employees we should have unemployment benefits and SS, etc all employees benefits required by law.

This is the kind of situation we need this new this new Host Advisory board for. 

[Katie]

Hi @Eric122, thanks for sharing your feedback here and also your DM. We're working to investigate for you and we'll get back to you as soon as we have more info.

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @Eric122,

Thanks for your post. I'm sorry that you had a negative experience with the support team on this occasion.

I spoke to the team and they confirmed that the guest's documentation of the issue has been provided to you, so I hope this helps to give you more understanding of the complaint.

In terms of the support service, we are consistently working with our team to improve the experience of both hosts and guests when they have cause to get in touch with us, so I appreciate you sharing your perspective here. It's feedback like this which really helps us to review issues within the system and find areas for improvement. I hope you will continue to provide your insights here in the Community Center.

Best,
Catherine

[Eric122]

Wait. Stop.

This is not the place for a feel-good, brush me off comment.

 I'm complaining that as a Superhost with years of hosting I did not get a chance to mount a defense or even give my side of the story.

Yes, eventually i did get the photos the guest gave as "proof" but if I had been given a chance to rebuke things would have been different. 

As it actually happened I was TOLD that the guests were given a full refund and that "I" had canceled the reservation so I would lose my superhost status possibility for a year.

I was not given chance to fix or even hear what the problem was before AirBnB gave them the full refund.

The guest's complaints were bogus except for the oven underboiler and a cookie pan in there being dirty. (not full refund offenses)

Guests actually ripped up a nailed down carpet to photograph that it was dirty underneath. They complained about a yellow extension cord that was clearly visible in my listing photos. Said that the bathroom was too small (again clearly visible in the listing photos and was good enough for over 100 guests before them.)

The actual problem here is that is seem AirBnb feels it can act as jury, judge, witness and executioner with the host having zero rights or say in the matter. 

The courts have agreed that AirBnb does that and punished you many times for not doing valid investigations.

I was hoping that this new Host's advisory board might change that but it seems not to be the case.

If i don't get real results ( such as an investigation that takes my side and my proof into account) then my next step is legal. Not for lost wages but for incorrectly refunded wages.

I say wages because AirBnb treats hosts exactly in the legal definition of an employee.

Best,

Eric

@Catherine-Powell @Airbnb 

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @Eric122,

Thanks for your comment.

Unfortunately due to the nature of the case, I am unable to discuss the details of it with you here publicly, however I understand that the team have been in touch with you again to resolve the cancellation issue, and your Superhost status will not be affected.

As you highlighted, when mediating claims made by hosts and guests it is important that we consider both sides and attempt to reach an equitable decision. We will strive to continue to improve this system and to reevaluate in cases where it warrants a second look.

Thanks again for your feedback and I hope that this particular case is now on the way to being resolved for you in a satisfactory manner.

Best,
Catherine

[Eric122]

Hi @Catherine-Powell 

I want to be fair and mention that after many, many months of being brushed off by AirBnb someone with some authority finally reached out and has made very real efforts to rectify the bad treatment I received by past airbnb employees.  

They have actually reversed untrue claim that I had initiated the cancelation (Re-instating my ability to be Superhost) they reversed the wrongfully given full refund to the guest and deposited the funds in my account, and actually apologized.

Thank you @Catherine-Powell for your part in this. I have more hope for AirBnb and have reversed my plans to leave the platform. 

Best,

Eric

@Sarah977  Thank you for your support.

[Mary996]

So glad to hear of this success @Eric122 

[Michelle617]

Hi Eric, I sympathies. As a host for 6 years I have to say most of my guest are great. Yet, I have about one per year that will be remembered as a pain. In 6 years one similar experience to yours comes to mind. She was a local, which as a rule I should have been weary off and maybe not accept but .... I sometimes I override my own rules. She has developed a "life style" , as she called it herself, out of staying in Airbnb places and getting refunds. Eventually she realized she has to give bad reviews to get her money back so I am still stuck with her 1* review, even after Airbnb customer service seen that she did that a lot of times. Since I was a superhost with lots of good reviews already if Airbnb compensated her again, they did it with no financial repercussion for me. Yet, I spent a whole day contacting other hosts she stayed with to get all the information on her and to shop for video cameras to install around the house as at first I was worried that she will come back here with some mean friends and try to do something damaging as after I left her a clear review of what she is like, she sent me a scary and mean text calling me names and saying that I am messing up with her "survival system". Airbnb said they can delete her profile. I begged them not to as she will just make another one and since my review was there on her profile now, any host would rather see that.

Recently I also had a request from someone that turned mean fast and I learned from her reviews that she has multiple accounts. This should be not so easy to do but... it is.

Like you, I hope that having this host board will help issues as there were times that I felt like the guest has the louder voice and I can not rely on customer service to help when I had bad guests that did not follow the rules, got loud or drunk and peed on the things around. In that last incident I was asking Airbnb to help me remove the guest from my place early, before the reservation's final day. I did not get help and as they also apologized I kept them. It did not happen again but the feeling of not having the support as a host when a bad apple is in your house... is not a good one. I had to trow away that mattress and lucky for me and them the other things could be washed but....

[Eric122]

That sounds awful, so sorry that happened to you!

There does seem to be some hope... I had bad guests that pretended they were going to a funeral but instead had a super loud teenage valentines day party. They destroyed a sofa bed I did a damage report and the guest never replied but for the first time Airbnb actually paid for it!  

[Mary996]

So glad you had that outcome @Eric122

[Sarah977]

@Catherine-Powell  Your condescending and tone-deaf response to @Eric122 , consisting of a repetition of Airbnb's placating rhetoric is exactly why many hosts have zero confidence that you have any interest in improving things for hosts, instead just being yet another PR voice for the company.

[Sally10]

Hi Katy

I mean both . I want to be more involved and keep updated . In the past  years pre covid I was not too involved in Community updates. Now in this New World I feel and realize it is most important to be fully engaged at least for me in order to stay informed and continue to be as Good a Host as I strive to be. so saying that yes I would like keep abreast of happenings and changes . I believe this will be quite an interesting year moving forward.

Thanks for getting back and asking 🙂

Have A great Day or Evening I believe you are in the UK How is it there?

This is off topic but Im hoping to get to Italy in an Airbnb for a month in June fingers crossed 

Keep in touch 

Best Sally

[Katie]

Great, thanks for the feedback @Sally10 - on the Community Center I can certainly try to make sure to send you a little update on a regular basis to let you know what's been going on 😊

(Your trip to Italy sounds dreamy, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you for the Summer!)