Say hello to the Host Advisory Board members

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

When we announced the Host Advisory in December, we said we'd look to this group of hosts to represent you and help highlight the things that really matter to hosts within Airbnb.

To make sure they understand the needs and perspectives of our global community, the Advisory Board members are active in different ways: from contributing here in the Community Center to leading local hosting groups, to participating in product and policy feedback sessions.  

All of the Advisory Board members are active hosts and represent hosting from countries all around the world. They all have different stories and reasons for why they host. They are excited to get to know you, and we hope you will get to know them. 

Introducing...... 

 @Anna1403 , @Bez8,  @Antonella78, @Susan208, @Till-and-Jutta0,  @Nutth0, @Norma17, @Peter1, @Merrydith0, @Pascale144, @Omar202, @Pooja30, @Tiffany204, @Vinícius0, @Shinya0, @Ningyi0, @Samuel604 

Many of you have already been speaking with Till, Nutth, Bez and Peter, here in the EN CC. 

I ask you to support the Advisory Board members by continuing to surface the great knowledge and insights we see here everyday. Make them feel welcome here and get to know them, they want to hear your ideas and make a difference for all of our community. They need your support to do this. You can also use the tag #HostAdvisoryBoard to highlight topics to them.

What’s next?

Each month a different Advisory Board member will be representing the group and providing an update in the Resource Center and we’ll be carrying on the conversation here on the CC. In the meantime, @Susan208 is our first spotlight of the year, please take a look here.  You can also meet Susan at our Community Center meetup on Tuesday February, 23rd 1PM (PST)–to join view this post here. 

@Omar202 will be providing a February update, so do look out for that in a couple of weeks. 🙂

Thank you,

Lizzie (and all of the EN CC team) 

[Susan208]

Hi Ann.  Thanks so much.  We all have such special stories.  We will keep you posted on as to our roll out of new tools and education. 

[Melodie-And-John0]

 @Anna1403 , @Bez8,  @Antonella78, @Susan208, @Till-and-Jutta0,  @Nutth0, @Norma17, @Peter1, @Merredith0, @Pascale144, @Omar202, @Pooja30, @Tiffany204, @Vinicius0, @Shinya0, @Ningyi0, @Samuel604 ,  Hello!   Welcome to Hotelier Central Station, home of Modern day Inn Keepers from around the globe.  I think I can speak for and with most of us here that want you all to be very successful @ representing the Hosts concerns and challenges effectively with the Mothership.  We like you are all greatly invested in the outcome of Airbnb in ways that matter for us, our families and the localities we call home.    

One thing I ask of you all, respect the fact that this is our livelihoods, a real business and not a social project.   Please represent this community of very different people from wildly divergent backgrounds and lifestyle palettes as a world nation of its own and not just a reflection of your neighborhood.   That can and will be done if you listen here more than console, report and address disturbing hosting trends more than reflect admins vision, participate here with your thick skin on, it can be a rough crowd. 

 I beg of you to remember the age old adage we must exemplify with every booking, "the customer is always right" (ha ha), this time (for the first time in a long time),  we the hosts are your customer not the guests, not Brian and his team, not even our most respected Mod squad here.  Stay well and see ya round the CC!   JR

[Pascale144]

Hi everyone, 

I am @Pascale144 from France hosting in Bordeaux. I am an Artist, and I shall use my best english to thank you all and especially @Merrydith0, @Ute42 , @Clara116 , @Cathie19 , @Ann72 , @Melodie-And-John0 for your kind welcome to the lovely @Susan208. JR do not worry too much, the #HostAdvisoryBoard  is a first step to reconnect Airbnb to Hosts and hosts to Airbnb. 😉

We are not super heroes, just real people hosting on 5 different continents. But I can guarantee you that the 17 members are trying their best to do so. 😊 

So thank for writing, 

Keep on follow us,

And "à bientôt" ,

Have a great week-end, 

Pascale

[Ann72]

@Pascale144  Who said anything about superheroes?  🤣🤣🤣

[Pascale144]

@Ann72 🤣😂 Excuse my French 🤣

[Ann72]

Ah @Pascale144 - puisqu'on parles Francais - touché!

[Pascale144]

😉 @Ann72 

Très belle journée 😊 à NY♥️ 

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Pascale144 ,  "We are not super heroes", pourquoi pas?  Ha ha!, Thats Ok, were not really Super Hosts either, just awesome Inn Keepers!  Bonjour!   JR

[Pascale144]

@Melodie-And-John0 Bonjour, I love this idea. 😉

Have a great day, 

😃

[Samantha-and-Bruce0]

I've heard this said and love it: "The customer isn't always right, but the customer IS the customer." 

[Susan208]

Thanks for your candor and transparency.  Appreciate it. Susan 

[Debra300]

 @Anna1403 , @Bez8,  @Antonella78, @Susan208, @Till-and-Jutta0,  @Nutth0, @Norma17, @Peter1, @Merredith0, @Pascale144, @Omar202, @Pooja30, @Tiffany204, @Vinicius0, @Shinya0, @Ningyi0, @Samuel604,

Good luck with the new tasks that you've agreed to take on.  There are a not of challenging area that the overall community are hoping you all can advocate for improvement.  As you know, many hosts are passionate, and some of us are outside processors.  So, please try not to taking it personally or become offended when you encounter push back from hosts.  We all have a similar goal, a better platform to sell our spaces and experiences that provide real support and protections for both guests and hosts.

[Stephanie1158]

I agree with you in your remarks

[David122]

I am not sure what the term  "outside Processor"  actually means.    I would agree that a better platform would help Air b n b.  It took 7 air b n b  case managers to address a very difficult guest who brought 5 extra  unregistered guests into the listing for 5 days.  It was not a great situation. I am not sure where I would go to address this with Air b n b  however nothing was ever resolved.  Is  that normal  and where is the right place to make sure that they are listening?

[Angelyn1]

Hello David 122 in Santa Fe.

you pose an interesting question. As the platform has evolved, I find customer service for hosts to be a very frustrating experience. My experience has been to trust my own instincts and deal with situations myself.

What do you do before check in to determine the number of guests staying in your place?

A friend states her policy that only those registered with Airbnb can stay to ward off extras. 
I always ask if they are traveling with companions and to please share their names because we like to welcome everyone. (I write a personalized card for every guest)

To assure guests receive my

messages, so many are new to the platform, I send messages both  to their inbox in the Airbnb platform and text message. On the very rare occasion that there is no response after repeated attempts to contact them (platform, text, and calling) and check in is eminent. I change the code on the lockbox so they cannot enter the property without me being present. This is a bold move and it solves up front any funny business!

Hosting is a learning by experience process. And unfortunately Airbnb is designed to take care of guests, so take advantage of those learning opportunities and create your own systems to deal with situations. 
Best of Luck from Lubbock!

Angie