@Huma0 @Katie---Sean0 @Mark116
Perhaps people would have a great deal more trust and faith in Airbnb's commitment to these proposed new measures if they'd been presented in a more cohesive, credible, professional manner.
What we've had instead - in the space of 48hrs - is a mish-mash of information, contradictions, omissions, and hastily inserted addendums. Catherine's video was contradicted by the Resource Article, which was contradicted by the Help Article. The original post has already been updated once, the Help Centre article was also updated, and the Resource Centre article was updated twice. And still, nobody really has any clear idea as to what the exact parameters of these changes are - confusion reigns supreme as always, and 2 days later, no clarification has been offered, nor queries answered.
Incredibly, Catherine also somehow omitted to mention in her video by far the most important and vital piece of information of all for hosts - that Airbnb are, allegedly, "working towards" providing options to enable guests to purchase trip insurance as part of the booking process, which would indeed offer a great level of protection - and peace of mind - for hosts. That crucial detail was only added later, after it was brought to light that the only mention of insurance had been that Airbnb would "help guests find insurance after booking". (Even that part doesn't make sense - why would guests pay a premium to purchase external insurance when many events that insurance would cover are still included in the free EC policy anyway?)
All of a sudden then, the huge, game-changing news that there supposedly are 'plans' to offer guests trip protection was belatedly slipped into the mix - almost as an afterthought. It just doesn't add up.
The date on this thread is 17/9, almost a full week before it went live. Plenty of time to check and double-check that the information contained in this announcement of such great interest and value to hosts was solid, clear and easily understood, that it matched up exactly with the corresponding Resource and Help articles, and that nothing had been omitted.
The fact that none of that was done speaks volumes, offers very little hope for Airbnb's actual commitment to the implementation of these proposed amendments and unfortunately, hints at yet another shambles in the making. (If there are already discrepancies in Catherine's announcement and the written policies, what hope can we have that the poor support staff will have a grasp on anything?)
And realistically, if it's going to take another 4 full months to implement these changes anyway - and if there is any truth in the future plans for guest insurance - why not just scrap the whole EC policy altogether, and introduce the trip insurance for guests in late January instead? That would seem like an infinitely more workable, logical and efficient way forward. And so much less confusing for everyone involved than the current convoluted, opaque proposals.
As much as we'd all dearly love to see the end of the EC tyranny, it's difficult to trust from the muddled, disjointed, poorly put-together communication we've received so far that this is really a matter of any priority for Airbnb, or that any of it will actually pan out as promised.
Penelope