Party policy updates, Superhost status extensions, and more in Catherine’s latest Host Update

[Airbnb]

If you watched the first Host Update from our new Global Head of Hosting Catherine Powell, you’ll know that we are working on rebuilding our business around hosts, and giving you more transparency along the way. 

Today, we’re sharing Catherine’s latest Host Update with you. In this video, she discusses important priorities and insights for hosts at Airbnb right now. These include how Airbnb is handling parties, active steps being taken to support Superhosts, and why it can pay off to commit to higher standards for cleaning. 

Once you’ve watched the video, we’d really love to hear from you. Please let us know what you’d like us to cover in future Host Updates with Catherine.

Thank you.

[Patsy62]

Thank you for the update, Mexico is open and ready for business I personally have many properties and I have not seen one request? I have gone through the cleaning policy trained all my maids and I am waiting. I know other rental formats are seeing requests for booking in  Cabo San Lucas and Playa del Carmen and Cozumel, but I personally have not seen one from airbnb since this all came out.

What can I do to make my listings more visible to get requests again?

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**[E-mail address & phone number hidden due to safety reasons - Community Center Guidelines] - Please note that it is not allowed to share any personal details publicly. 

[Rex-And-Mairelis0]

Hello Catherine, I have been trying since June 16, 2020 to get Airbnb to properly address my complaint about a guest who planned an unauthorized party of in excess of 40 people in our three-bedroom home in Pompano Beach. Since my communications with Airbnb on this matter have resulted in my time and energy being wasted, I had given up.   But after seeing your video, I decided to bring this to your attention in this forum in hopes that Airbnb will do what right and will contact me after reviewing all my previous submissions after this unfortunate event.

I received calls from the neighbors at 6 and 8 am in morning mid-June 2020 complaining about the volume of the people noise and loud music which had been going on for more than 8 hours straight all night long. I have even provided Airbnb with a video taken by my next-door neighbor of the party still in full swing at 8 am. I suspect the guest was not only planning this party in violation of our express prohibition on parties but also was not truthful about his age knowing that we do not permit persons under the age 27 to book with us. He refused to take my calls during his stay and responded only once to my text messages stating that the excessive noise was because of  our “broken TV remote”. The guest left our home in a general disaster, a filthy pool, alcohol and bottles spilled throughout the house many beach towels taken, and worst of all our neighbors were disrespected and offended. I repeatedly asked Airbnb for the full $500 deposit on the guest 's credit card to help defray our costs and to let the  guest know that this was unacceptable behavior but Airbnb did not listen. I wonder if Airbnb ever even spoke to the guest. I have no way of knowing. That’s not transparency. When I asked about the guest's age Airbnb declined to share that with me. This protection of privacy puts your hosts at a disadvantage by not looking out for hosts or protecting us from this kind of guest fraud. Over all our experience with Airbnb has been good. I think Airbnb is a good company and better than its competitors. The vast majority of our Airbnb guests have been respectful and considerate of our property. The exceptions to this rule have found out that hosts like us will be truthful about the condition they leave our home in so that other hosts are forewarned. I don't enjoy leaving negative guest reviews. I’d much rather leave a positive review. But I consider it a responsibility to other hosts and a fair education to the guest since they obviously have not been taught to respect other people’s property or rules or they have chosen to disregard that education. 

[Katie]

Hi @Rex-And-Mairelis0, thanks for your post here in the CC, and welcome 😊 I'm Katie, one of the Community Managers here, and I just wanted to give you the heads up that I have sent you a DM about your case, so please do check it when you get a chance. 

[Graham-and-Nicole0]

Thank you Rex and Mairelis use for sharing this in the community space. After your experience dealing with AirBnB about this party and the guests disrespect and fraudulent activity would you kindly share with us what you have learnt from the experience and what you think of a hose should do when faced with a similar situation, apart from of course, giving an honest review of the guest so that other hosts know what they are like and can decline them when they book.

I look forward to reading your reading and following your recommendations now that you are able to, unfortunately, speak from experience.

With kindness… Graham

[Frank-and-Lisa0]

Who else is skeptical?

We had video proof of a party being held in the front yard we were told ABB takes this very seriously and this situation would be 'escalated' and someone would be getting back with us.  Someone did, two months later!

Smokers in the house did permanent damage?  We were told we should have a deposit and make a claim. When I suggested we are held ransom by a retaliatory  star review system we were assured a dishonest review would be removed. False!  (I believe every host knows it doesn't matter how dishonest a review is it wont be removed.)

It would appear there is a higher priority on enabling dishonest guests than empowering honest, clean and welcoming hosts. 

For the first time in 7 years we are giving thought to dropping out of ABB and it has nothing to do with the pandemic.

[Graham-and-Nicole0]

Hi Catherine. Congratulations on your video 2. You are very engaging and articulate and I can feel your enthusiasm and see your determination to make changes for the better. Always a slow process but in your hands progress is happening. 

Previously I read about noise detection devices and their use in detecting when a party is going on. Sure, as you said, Airbnb reminds all guests before they check-in that no parties are allowed and hosts have the ability to cancel the booking without penalty if they suspect that a party is going to occur … but what if the guest arrives and a party does occur?
.
These devices seem to be the next best thing as they will pick up the fact that a party is happening at an early stage so that early intervention can occur. That way the annoyance to neighbours, its effect on the neighbourhood and surrounding community and potential damage to AirBnB‘s reputation can be minimised or avoided.

Here is the link to the airBnB article I read about these devices:

https://www.airbnb.com.au/d/partyprevention

Are you able to extend the offer dates for these devices for all hosts as they seem to be a very good way to help manage this situation and are a good way to 'add another **bleep** to the armor' for the prevention and control of party situations.

I look forward to your response.

With kindness… Graham

Springbrook 

Queensland

Australia 

[Graham-and-Nicole0]

**bleep** has been auto changed by Airbnb as it seems the actual word in that well known phase might have racist connotations 🙂

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @Graham-and-Nicole0,

Apologies for the delay in responding to you. Thanks for your reply, and for the warm welcome - I really appreciate it.

This offer was one of the methods we were trialling in order to help our hosts with unsolicited parties at their listings.

We welcome the feedback, and are continuously looking for ways for help our hosts prevent parties in their listing. We hope to do more with noise monitoring devices next year, and will let our hosts know if and when there is an update.

Best,
Catherine

[Dwayne-And-Allison0]

We have been relatively happy with Air BNB as super hosts, however, we just encountered something that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.  A guest (HMH8FYPRF8) started their stay on August 31, 2020 and were to check out on September 10, 2020.  They were given a discount for a weekly booking reducing their rate significantly.  The guest called Air BNB at 10 PM on September 5, 2020 then cancelled his stay.  Air BNB contacted us and told us that this guest was to leave immediately. We believed Air BNB. Imagine our suprise when, first, he contacted us the next day to ask if he could stay until noon (the answer was a no but what the hell was he still doing in our cottage? Didn't Air BNB tell him he had to go immediately? 

NOW we find out that according to our dashboard, this guest was refunded his entire payment? 

We have a flexible cancellation policy but, according to your policy it's only good until the day of checkin.  Why was he refunded anything at a discounted rate and why is it showing that he got to game the system and stay for a discounted weekly rate for only 5 days????

[Katie]

Hi @Dwayne-And-Allison0, I'm really sorry to hear you've had this issue with your booking. I've just sent you a DM about your case, so please take a look when you get a minute 😊

[Graham-and-Nicole0]

Hi Dwayne and Allison. I would be interested to know the outcome? Obviously there must have been some sort of mistake and I’m hoping that AirBnB would have fixed this up and paid you at least for the duration of the guests stay or for the guests entire stay if the guest's decision to leave had nothing to do with your accommodation. Would you kindly let me know the outcome. Graham

[Sarah1349]

@Catherine-Powell While I appreciate the sentiment behind the cleaning standards, there is no way that even a small percentage of hosts who have signed up are following them. The checklist includes sanitizing the inside of the toilet brush canister, only after you have also sanitized the toilet brush... as an example. If a guest is really interested in sticking their hands in my toilet brush canister, I imagine that catching Covid would not really be top of mind. Professional cleaning to this degree would require a cleaning fee of many many hundreds of dollars (thousands? depending on the property). Yes, wear a mask while cleaning. Yes, sanitize bathrooms the way you would normally, wash all of the linens, focus heavily on frequently touched surfaces. No, don't sanitize the ceiling of an outdoor space. It's very frustrating that hosts who are unwilling to lie to their guests are essentially being punished because guests likely don't understand what the enhanced cleaning protocol means. We have 231 reviews and we've never gotten lower than 5 stars on cleanliness, but we still won't sign up for this. I did see your reply that you understand the guidelines won't be suitable for all, but realistically they are suitable for no one as it would be impossible to make it cost effective. And perhaps more importantly, many of the steps aren't necessary at all to slow the spread of Covid-19. Outside of Airbnb, I've never seen a suggestion or a claim that businesses are sanitizing their ceilings. I love the idea from @Mark116 in which hosts could pick their own cleanliness standards in a checklist. Then, if a host is *really* washing all of their walls and curtains and getting those toilet brush holders squeaky clean, they can proudly check those boxes. 

Edited to add: On a more positive note, I do want to say that I'm happy you're here. It is clear based on your comments that you are listening and interested in generating positive change, for hosts and for Airbnb. I also just saw another comment where you said you were looking into making the cleaning standards more accessible. Thank you! 

[Joe2433]

Our last guest threw a party, even though she booked for 2 people. When we heard the music start blasting and saw the crowds going to our side entrance we sent her a message reminding her of the 2 person reservation. We saw her party goers leave and the music quieted down. About an hour later the music was back up and the crowd grew. We had to knock on the door and ask them all to leave, which thankfully they did. However, we were left with a broken bed, barstools, feces in the shower, vomit in the sink, burn marks on our carpet...you get the picture. We put a claim in with Air BnB, she of course denied responsibility. We are waiting for a call from Air BnB for next steps, at this point we are over $400 in damages, plus we cannot host until everything is fixed. Additionally, I'm wondering what Air BnBs stance will be on allowing this person to keep her "membership"? Also, what happens when it comes time to review, are they going to allow her review to be submitted? We have a 4.9 rating, take all Covid precautions and pride ourselves on our reputation. Since this goes against their policy and is just wrong, I'm hoping Air BnB solves it and is on the side of the hosts who are clearly having to deal with this growing issue. @Airbnb @Catherine-Powell any suggestions on how we proceed?

[Katie]

Hi @Joe2433, thanks for getting involved here, and welcome to the Community Center. I'm so sorry to hear about the issue you had with this booking - I've just sent you a DM with some more info, so take a look when you get a chance 😊

[Joe2433]

@Katie  I appreciate your response so much.  I am still at work but will be replying to your DM asap. Thanks again, truly appreciate it!