Hi everyone,
I’m sorry I haven’t posted for a while. I know that recently we have been hard to get a hold of, so I wanted to give you all some context and update you on our future plans to maintain the level of service you expect from us.
How we’re working through the pandemic
Like many of you, the last few months have been incredibly difficult for our team. At the end of April, we were down to 2 minute wait times for the majority of calls globally and were hopeful that we were over the worst of the storm. Unfortunately, we also had to take the difficult decision to reduce our Community Support workforce to reflect the decrease in bookings and contacts.
In the meantime, the virus continued to spread, impacting our teams all over the world. Our Specialists have been required to continue working from home which, as you can imagine, creates technical challenges with phone service. Unfortunately, these shifts in how we can work have meant that only half of our team is able to take phone calls.
This is why our wait times are much longer than our normal 30 seconds to 2 minutes. I know you expect more from us, and I’m sorry for the inconvenience this may be causing you. Do note that calls to our safety lines and neighbor support lines are still being answered within 30 seconds, so if you have any safety issues as a host or guest we are there for you immediately.
Changes being made
- Enhancing our messaging channels. We are expanding access to realtime chat so you can reach us instantly and our messaging channel remains open as normal.
- Preparing for when offices reopen. Reopening offices is a complex, location by location decision. The safety of our team members will always be most important. We’ll also consider factors such as the incidence of Covid-related cases in the area and government guidance.
I know many of you are worried about your reservations, whether you’re a host, guest, or both. We continue to monitor the global situation and are encouraged to see travel starting to come back in some countries. That said, the situation remains dynamic and challenging in many places with local governments updating their policies and restrictions daily.
If you are in any doubt about a reservation, do check your Host dashboard or your Trips page, which provide a variety of options including how to cancel if you need to. We ask that guests work directly with their hosts if they may not be able to keep a reservation and encourage them to re-book with the host for a future date if possible. Some reservations are eligible to be canceled under our extenuating circumstances policy, so do check the Trips page for your options and our Extenuating Circumstances pages for more information
Again, I hope you are all keeping safe and well.
Aisling
