Catherine,
I'm extremely pleased and hopeful for the first time in several years. I watched your latest video twice and read your responses to every single comment from the previous video, including my own (lengthy) comment to that video. In your comment, you described me as "a passionate and committed host...invested in the future of Airbnb" and you are absolutely correct. I'm grateful that you could see past my frustration and recognize the passion I have for Airbnb.
Perhaps in part because of my experiences in the military, combined with the hundreds of dinners and conversations I have shared with thousands of guests in my home, I consider myself a good judge of people. I can usually tell when someone is sincere. I believe you when you say you care, are listening, and want to improve the situation. I disagree with those here that are saying they've heard it all before and you won't actually carry through on anything. In the military, the entire culture and experience often hinged on the officer in charge. I saw radical improvements and declines in moral and performance based solely on the leadership and actions taken by the officer in charge. Therefore, I don't think this is just more talk from Airbnb. I believe you will work to bring about genuine and real change. All I can say is please don't let us down.
In my initial comment to you regarding your first video, I mentioned how I once made a video advocating for Airbnb. I haven't had it live on youtube in years because I intended to edit it further, but I thought I would share it here just to give you a face to put with my comments and my passion directly, at least from a few years back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Jm4r07D7Y
Airbnb is a wonderful company. Having read "The Airbnb Story," I genuinely believe the founders and minds behind this company are great. I also think they care. I see that demonstrated even in things like recent financial support to groups and causes I embrace. For all the negativity you see poured out in comments here, what you don't see are the huge positives -- the friendships created, the dinners shared, the conversations swapped, the experiences gained. My degree and background is in international relations and languages and my biggest dream was traveling the world and meeting and experiencing other cultures. Life's circumstances made that more daunting than anticipated, but as a result of Airbnb I now "bring the world to me" so to speak. From eating rice and naan on the floor with my guests from Somalia to accompanying a family into the mountains to help them spread their loved one's ashes, Airbnb has helped bring the world and people together. As a veteran returning from overseas, my introverted nature could easily have swallowed me up into an agoraphobic existence. Instead -- and thanks largely to airbnb -- my heart bulges with friendships gained and contacts made.
Sadly, I think Airbnb lost its way somewhere between the time I made the video above and now. I think hosts have illustrated those complaints well this past week+ in comments so I won't harp on that further. I take you at your word that positive change is coming.
For my part, I suggest that all the hosts here chill out a little for now and see what Catherine can do. I think the soul of Airbnb is intact and getting a big boost... but it still has a long way to go to earn back my original level of admiration and appreciation. I am optimistic though and I encourage other hosts to be too. Let's see what happens.
-Austin William Davidson-
PS: Please feel free to contact me directly. I would love to help in any capacity. Attending one of the Airbnb Open events would be a dream come true.
PSS: In the interest of aiding your work in improving Airbnb and the experience for hosts (and simplifying the process of sorting through these comments for viable feedback), here are my top ten suggestions for change from Airbnb and why:
Austin's Top 10 Suggestions For Airbnb
One. Bring back the customer service line and customer service agents that actually care and are helpful. In their training, encourage them to rebalance the treatment of hosts vs. guests. Right now, it feels heavily skewed toward guests. I am sure that guests say the same thing but don't forget who is actually producing the product. It should be 50/50 or even tilted toward the hosts given that they are the heart and ultimate money maker for Airbnb.
Two. When a guest makes a reservation, require that they select and agree to the following: (This one change would have a MASSIVE impact and radically improve the experience for hosts -- this is my single biggest suggestion and recommendation)
Have you correctly reflected the amount of guests that will actually be staying at the property in your reservation request?
Have you read/do you agree to this property's house rules as written on this site?
Are you aware that house parties are banned by Airbnb and you will be asked to depart and/or forfeit your security deposit if you are found to be in violation?
Are you bringing any pets with you? If so, have you informed your host?
Three. The website needs to be improved for hosts and guests. It is pretty slow. I can appreciate the massive amount of data that must be running. I understand why videos of the properties are probably a bridge too far at this point thought it would be great in the long run. In the meantime, the hosting dashboard shouldn't require multiple clicks to reach after signing in. I know it's tough because you have to decide if we are signing in as hosts or as guests, but I think you could solve that easily enough by creating an option under the profile for "sign in directly to hosting dashboard" or "sign in directly to guest property search" -- something like that.
Also, I would like to see options -- maybe under amenities -- to select "early check-in IS allowed" and "IS NOT allowed." Same with dropping off baggage early. I absolutely hate it when guests message me trying to check in early or to drop off their luggage. Many many hosts feel the same. The reason is that I know how long it takes to clean and "flip" the house between guests. If I have guests departing at 11AM, I need until 4PM to have the house ready. I don't want to be greeting guests, even if they are just dropping of luggage when I'm in my cleaning clothes, nor do I want their first impression of the house to be what it looks like half-cleaned. It slows me down and is a pain all around. Guests need to understand that if a host says check-in is anytime after 4PM, that it really means only after 4PM. Probably a third of all my guests try to check-in early, so this is a real annoyance.
All the constant suggestions to lower price and change our listings -- especially the one that says the additional guest fee should be dropped -- need to go away. It feels like all Airbnb cares about is getting us to reduce our rates and change our style and it gets insulting day after day. If the suggestions were every few months, I wouldn't care, but it's like every time I log in more suggestions. Enough already. Same thing with the cancellation policy. Trying to get all the hosts to have a flexible cancellation policy makes sense from Airbnb's perspective, but it doesn't from the host angle. Especially after the Covid-19 250 million payments turned out to only help hosts with strict cancellation policies, constantly trying to get us to go back to flexible now seems even more insulting. Similarly, discouraging hosts from meeting/greeting guests in favor of self-check-in. I recall an article about a company that let people rent cars from regular people, similar to how guests rent properties with Airbnb. That company made one change that reduced the amount of claims for damages by 30%. The change? Requiring the car owner and the renter to meet. That was it. Just by having a human experience with the owner, the renters were that much more respectful of the property. If that was true for cars, how much truer would that be for people's homes? I can vouch for this personally. At my property (where I live), I greet each guest and give them a quick house tour. At the property I co-host (non owner-occupied), I let guests check themselves in. I have easily 10 times the issues with the non-owner occupied property as I do at mine. Discouraging this just hurts people like me that prefer to meet and greet the people that will be living with us and also conveys a general disinterest in our safety and concerns.
The clock/timing for hosts to accept or decline reservation requests needs to be changed immediately! Right now, the clock stops only when you accept or decline the reservation. It needs to stop when the host accepts/declines OR replies! If a guest sends me an inquiry and I send them back a message asking if they have read the house rules, the clock should stop! Why is it my fault if that guest then takes 18 hours to reply? This must change because it is wildly unfair.
Add the option to charge pet fees. Also, I keep hearing from Airbnb hosts that Airbnb no longer pays for pet damages. If that's true, then you all just shouldn't let people travel with pets at all.
Four. I doubt Airbnb would go for this, but I think that a major part of the PR loss for Airbnb came about as a result of investment airbnbs run by management companies. These are the properties that create neighborhood hate and make regular people dislike airbnbs/leads to cities banning them. Most of us that own/live in our airbnbs care a lot about who stays and how well the property is maintained. Management companies and investor properties don't care at all. And it shows. My suggestion is that Airbnb limit managers to a certain maximum amount of properties and require that their home of residence be within 100 miles of the airbnb property -- or something like that. That would get rid of these monster management companies that ruin the market and experience for everyone else.
Five. Offer feedback to hosts about legal challenges in their areas. All over America (and the world), cities and states are creating roadblocks and limits on airbnbs. As a host in Colorado Springs where this happened, I would really have appreciated hearing (anything) from Airbnb acknowledging that they even know about it and care. As I stated before, I reached out to the Goldwater Institute, wrote all the city council members, the mayor, and attended multiple town hall meetings on the subject. Hosts in town banded together, created facebook groups, petitions, etc. We all put a lot of time and effort fighting -- yet Airbnb -- the company ultimately with the most to lose from the city council decision -- never said a word about it, even when I reached out for help directly. I put many many hours of my life fighting for Airbnb, giving speeches, writing letters, organizing hosts etc. I have yet to hear a single word from Airbnb on the topic.
Six. Create an adjustable cleaning fee based on the amount of guests or eliminate the cleaning fee entirely. Cleaning fees make short stays for small groups more expensive than they should be. If I have 2 people stay at my place I would happily charge them half my normal cleaning fee. They just don't make that big of a mess or create that much laundry. But since the cleaning fee is the same no matter what, it means the cleaning fee is actually too low for big groups that really do create a ton of laundry and trash the house. I average it out, but it's still really not fair to the small groups that are traveling, especially the really tidy people. I wish the cleaning fee was adjustable based on the size of the group. or it should be eliminated entirely and built into the room rate instead. That's how hotels work and it would make more sense to the guest anyway. Right now, cleaning fees just add a layer of complexity and inefficiency that doesn't work well. Another downside to cleaning fees is the perception among guests that "oh well, I paid the cleaning fee so I can trash the place." I literally have had guests say this directly or overheard them saying it to each other. If the cleaning fees were eliminated and simply included in the normal rate it would make a lot more sense for hosts and guests alike. If hosts are hiring cleaners, they can work out the increased rate and amount they need to charge themselves and pass it on just like hotels.
Seven. Vetting guests needs to be enhanced, especially for new users! When people sign up, they should be prompted to complete at least 2 verifications and write at least a sentence or two about themselves under their profile. Profile information should be mandatory. Also, if hosts have a photo requirement (only visible after booking but so the host knows what the person showing up at their front door looks like), that photo should be clear and of their face. 50% of the photos of guests are no help at all. I could have a total stranger show up and say they are my guest and I would let them in, give them the door code, etc. without any real way of verifying them. That's a safety issue. I am certain there are programs that could auto-analyze face photos and make sure they are clear and recognizable.
On the issue of restricting guests based on age... I am not sure I like this. While young people are more likely to throw parties and be destructive, I've had plenty of great young people too -- and plenty of awful older guests. I think that a better approach is just providing more vetting and instructions/reminders to guests about what is and isn't allowed. The bigger issue I see with newer guests on Airbnb is that they view airbnbs similarly to hotels -- corporate, expensive, but places you can trash or treat how you want. Airbnbs are NOT hotels. They are boutique lodging experiences hand-crafted by hosts, often in hosts homes. Guests should be getting that impression when they sign up, not the impression that they can treat these places like they would a Holiday Inn. If you pull that off, I don't think age matters. I'm right next to an Army and Air Force base, so if my place was restricted from people under 25, I would lose a fair amount of business. I'd rather you all just vet and help set the expectation for guests better to begin with.
Eight. The review system needs help. I'm not sure what the solution is but things like getting marked down for location because guests don't like the neighborhood is kind of unfair. Also, some guests think the 5 star rating system is the same as it is for hotels. So a guest might stay at an airbnb and think this is a 4-star hotel experience and leave 4 stars as a compliment, but it still translates poorly on the website and looks like a negative. The whole system in general needs to be reformed. Also I wish reviews were maybe randomized or something. I have 350 amazing gushing 5-star reviews, but if I get one disgruntled guest that leaves me 1 star, that's the review that all future potential guests see until it finally gets buried by more positive ones. That sucks.
Nine. Guests need to be held to higher levels of accountability. Right now, even terrible guests that destroy properties tend to walk away with nothing more than a bad review. They can cancel their credit card at the last second or if a new guest checks in the property, the hold on their deposit gets lifted, making it almost impossible for the guest to actually be charged, even if the host had a big security deposit. I haven't bothered with many claims with Airbnb because it's such a challenging and time consuming process but the couple I have pursued ended up being paid out by Airbnb, not from the guest. While I am grateful I received compensation, I can't help but wonder about Airbnb's long-term strategy with this approach. Don't you all want to reduce the prevalence of bad guests? Wouldn't charging them be a better way to help spread the idea that bad guests face consequences?
Ten. Similar to my point about the review system, I think amazing properties with hosts that really really care and go overboard should be recognized. I think that may have been the motive behind the creation of the Airbnb Plus program, but the implementation ended up destroying a big part of what makes those properties so good -- the individuality of the host. My properties are simply amazing. Light years ahead of the others out there. I don't say that arrogantly. Read my reviews and look at my property yourself. https://airbnb.com/h/indiana-jones-stays-here
I was invited to join Airbnb Plus and you all even offered to waive my application fee. I really wanted to join up, but I freaked out a bit once I researched the process and realized how much control over my listing I would lose. I am a photographer and an interior designer. I took hundreds of photos to capture my place as perfectly as possible. However, none of my photos would be used and I can guaranty that another professional photographer, regardless of their individual skill, can't match my knowledge of the house, best angles for photos, lighting, etc. I've taken 4000 photos of my house over the course of the 6+ years I've been with Airbnb, but if I join Airbnb Plus I lose all of them and am forced to use only what you all approve? And my description? I can't even write that myself anymore? Even the name of the property itself is no longer my call. I've been doing this for almost 7 years and am one of the top properties in the area. I like the name I picked and want to keep it. The only people that ended up becoming Airbnb Plus members are those that were comfortable sacrificing all their control and individuality to Airbnb, resulting in nice but generic properties that only a handful of hosts ever bothered with. This really stinks because I wish there was a way that amazing properties with excellent design and comfort could actually stand out a bit. At my property, I have 351 reviews with a 4.97 overall rating. That is insanely high and represents untold hours of work and effort. However, a mediocre property with 50 reviews will almost always still have a rating of 4.5 - 4.7. That means for all my hard work, I barely see any benefit in my ratings. Airbnb Plus could have been that difference, but the draconian rules and loss of control made it not worth my effort.
