What happened to the unique notification sound of Airbnb?

[Ben5101]

Hi folks 👋

The topic here is the new notification sound effect that occurs when a guest writes or when a new booking is triggered.

I'm not sure if this changed due to an iOS update or an Airbnb app update. However, what I've noticed is that the distinctive and attention-grabbing notification sound of Airbnb is no longer present (link to unique Airbnb notification sound effect: https://prodigits.co.uk/content/ringtones/tone/2020/alert/airbnb_bb906f114930880.mp3).
I'm feeling a bit desperate now because I'm constantly missing messages, and I can't respond as quickly as I used to. The new notification sound is hardly noticeable and audible; it's so generic and simplistic, and it sounds the same as all my other apps. 😞

I've tried to resolve this issue, but it seems that Airbnb's app is missing a feature – the ability to add a custom sound effect. I'll attach screenshots: on left, for example, "Reminders," and on right from Airbnb.
In "Reminders," I can change the sound to whatever I prefer, so I can easily identify it as a Reminder and perhaps ignore it for the time being. However, Airbnb's app doesn't offer this option; I can't customize it. Therefore, I have no idea which app the notification sound belongs to. 🤷

Reminders app on the left side; Airbnb's app on the right side:
Left: Reminders; Right: Airbnb
 
⚠️With this new notification sound effect, I encounter three issues:

1. I have to continually check every notification sound to determine if it's from Airbnb or not.
2. My response rate decreases, leading to less satisfied guests.
3. And this situation is incredibly stressful for me, resulting in a poor user experience.

⁉️ Now I'm hopeful that someone else may be experiencing the same issue and perhaps can offer a suitable solution.

Alternatively, perhaps Airbnb, being a forward-thinking company, can introduce a simple feature to allow users to add a custom sound effect. This way, everyone can select their unique sound effect to ensure the best user experience and a high level of guest satisfaction. 🤞


regards, Ben 👋 

[Joan2709]

Hi @Ben5101 

Lots of other posts on this and it does appear that Airbnb has removed the distinctive tone that was available previously (thanks for posting the link to the sound!). I really don't understand why they would do that, as it is so helpful to Hosts as you pointed out. I have an iPhone as well and have the same issue. Also the default tone for notifications was changed by Apple recently and was so faint I had to update that and change the volume under Sounds and Haptics.

Unless Airbnb makes a change and adds the distinctive tone back to the App, I think iPhone users are stuck with a generic notification sound. Not sure about Android Users? Some other Hosts have tried contacting Airbnb to determine why they removed the sound from the App and were told it was a problem with their phone settings? I don't think that is the case. Your screen shot clearly shows the sound option is missing from the actual App (at least on an iPhone).

Since this affects so many Hosts and has been discussed quite a bit, maybe one of the Moderators could kindly forward this to the appropriate Team at Airbnb and see if we can get a definitive answer about why the notification tone was removed from the Airbnb App and when it might be added back? @Paula , @Sophia ? 

[Paula]

Hello @Joan2709 and @Ben5101, 

Thank you so much for sharing this with our Community and keeping us in the loop. I can see how this is impacting your ability to respond more quickly to the guests messages.

I am forwarding this to the relevant team at this moment, and I would also suggest sending this feedback directly to Airbnb using this link.

[Robert6]

Hope that airbnb actually is responsive.  I asked about this a week ago and a community person responded that they would forward it to the 'powers that be'.  Sadly, no response after a week.

[Izabella15]

Hello @Ben5101 . Just letting you know I have experienced the same problem. No notification sound… it is weird.. as much as annoying that sound was I do miss it… I am checking my airbnb app constantly so I don’t miss out on a booking… Don’t know what to do. I will probably reach out to them. I would like an explanation. 

Thanks for reading.

Izabella

[Lynn54]

I did reach out and they said they have never provided a distinctive ring.  I even escalated it to a supervisor.  

[Bettye6]

Hello @Ben5101 

I have only been hosting for 1 year. I owned an Apple phone since they first came out. For years I have a favorite list for my kids, elder relatives and close friends. I gave them each their own unique sound effect (using the same for phone and texting) I know immediately who is reaching out to me, example: my son is a motorcycle) BIG PLUS even if my phone is on silence I know I will never miss a call/text; AirBnB included. It is so easy to do takes a minute per contact. First time I received a text from AirBnB I went to the ! (information toggle) and gave it a loud & unique tone so I never miss a text. For iPhone there has to be 50 choices out there and you can even pay to have a ring/text tone as well. 

Now as to whether androids have this option I could not say. Message me if you have ios and I would be happy to give you the instructions. Easy peasy!

Bettye6

[Joan2709]

@Bettye6 

That is a great idea!!! 👏😊.  I never thought of that! At least you can add a unique tone to the contact info for the Airbnb Text Number that you receive messages from. That's better than the default tone you have set for all messages and email for sure! Now if we can figure out to how to get the old tone available to add to the phone number contact that would be great! Thank you so much for posting this here as it will help alot of Hosts!

[Bettye6]

Hi @Joan2709 ,

I am a little confused as to phone mail contact? Do you mean the guest? I have them all go through the AirBnB app so I still get a tex that they responded. If I happen to need to call a guest I assign a special alert (Sherwood Forest) to their number and delete their contact out of my phone after business completed. 

I have emergency bypass on as well in my contact of AirBnB including the Support Phone Number (all together). I find that the Sherwood Forest is loud enough to hear and yes, use the vibration setting as well.

KR,

Bettye6

[Joan2709]

Hi @Bettye6 

What has happened is Airbnb removed the distinctive tone from the actual Airbnb App. If a guest sends you a message via the platform (and you have text alerts turned on in notifications in your Host account with Airbnb), you previously heard the special tone whenever a message was sent through the App (guest sending you as Host a message/inquiry, or Airbnb sending automated messages or support messages). 

Currently, since Airbnb removed the special tone from the App, you will only hear whatever default tone you have set for all texts. 

Setting a special tone for a guest's actual phone number in your contacts when they book is a good idea, but that is different than them sending a message via the Airbnb message system on the platform. Right now you will not hear the distinctive Airbnb tone they used to have anymore. 

The workaround was to create a custom ringtone using the Airbnb alert sound file that Ben posted. Then assign that custom ringtone to the phone number that appears when you receive an Airbnb message. However, some are saying they get messages from Airbnb with different phone numbers (not just one).

I have temporarily changed my default text alert to the Airbnb tone I created. However, that means every text you get, you will hear the Airbnb tone. You can change your other commonly used contacts in your phone to another sound to get around that....tedious if you get alot of text messages. 

Hope that makes sense?

[Bettye6]

HI @Joan2709 

I think we are saying the same thing here. I always have used custom ringtones for work, family, friend & of course AirBnB. The ringtone assigned comes up for texts or calls that I set up on my Contact card for each one I made a unique ringtone for. 

You give them a special ringtone for text and calls via their contact page. I always know AirBnB from, my son, Mum, husband, etc. is calling, otherwise I do not treat it as urgent.

I have set up a special ringtone for anything AirBnB. Every time I get a text or have Support contacting as a phone call for me it is all the same unique ringtone. I did not go through the app, except to toggle that all notifications go through, and used my phone for the unique ringtone for every significant person in my favorites, and AirBnB is in my Favorite, where they all have a unique ringtones. 

Example,  my son is a 'motorcycle' sound so I immediately know it is him when he calls or texts. Same for AirBnB.

If my phone is off & then when it vibrates I just look to see who it is.

The set up for this takes seconds.

Hope I am making sense.

Bettye6

[Joan2709]

@Bettye6 

You are making sense 😊. You just did something that most Hosts didn't do when they first became Hosts.

When you became a Host, you assigned a ringtone to Airbnb messages right away. Most Hosts didn't do that; there really wasn't a need to, as the Airbnb App itself had it's own unique notification sound. Click the link below. This is the unique Airbnb notification sound that was embedded in the App and what the majority of Hosts heard when receiving an Airbnb message (courtesy of @Ben5101)

https://prodigits.co.uk/content/ringtones/tone/2020/alert/airbnb_bb906f114930880.mp3

Hosts became accustomed to this sound and knew to respond quickly as it indicated a message from Airbnb. You became accustomed to the tone you assigned to Airbnb messages. All is well.

Fast forward to just a month or so ago....

For some unknown reason, Airbnb removed the unique tone alert associated with the App. No one was notified of this. Once that unique tone was no longer associated with the App itself, the iPhone simply defaulted to whatever default tone was set in the iPhone for ALL text messages. You didn't notice, as you had assigned a unique tone when you first became a Host. However, for the majority of Hosts, this was an unwelcome surprise and caused many Hosts to miss Airbnb messages. This was because they were not hearing the unique Airbnb tone they had become accustomed to.

Temporary Work-Around - US Hosts

You don't really need to change anything, as you assigned a tone to Airbnb messages from the get-go and are used to hearing that. Seems like Hosts in the US receive Airbnb messages from one phone number? (still investigating that). Since they can't rely on the App to provide the tone anymore, they can assign whatever ringtone they want from what is available on the iPhone and attach that to Airbnb Messages. They can also use the work around we have provided to keep the Airbnb tone by using the Garage Band method to create it and attach to the Airbnb text messages. All is well.

Hosts Outside the US

@Trude0 (Not US based) said she gets Airbnb messages from multiple phone numbers (not just one). This complicates matters, as if there are too many numbers Airbnb is using to send messages, it makes it impractical to assign a unique ringtone to each phone number every time one pops up. Kinda like "Whack-a-Mole" 😊 (if you know that reference). The only option there is to change the default tone for ALL text messages received so you will get the Airbnb tone on any messages no matter what phone number Airbnb is using to send them. Then assign other unique tones to contacts/texts you receive from family and friends. @Trude0 thought she might do that at first, but realized she gets alot of texts from other businesses, not just family and friends and felt it would be too stressful to constantly hear the Airbnb tone on these texts. Hence the dilemma for non-U.S. Hosts. 

The Short Answer is

Please bring back the Airbnb Tone to the App!

[Joan2709]

@Ben5101 & @Bettye6 

A BIG THANK YOU to both of you! Thanks to Ben for providing the mp3 file of the Airbnb tone and thanks to @Bettye6 for suggesting to add a ringtone to the contact phone number for Airbnb Text Messages! I created my own custom ringtone using the mp3 file of the Airbnb ringtone in Garage Band and then added it to the Airbnb Contact phone number on my phone. I was finally able to add the Airbnb Tone back to the text message notifications. Yaay! Feels like way to much work when all we really need is Airbnb to add the tone back to the App. Anyhoo...this is for iPhone users (not sure about Android?)

You will need the Garage Band App on your iPhone (It's fee to download from the App store if you don't have it) and you'll be downloading the mp3 file to your Files App:

- First, download the mp3 file that Ben provided to your Files App on your phone

https://prodigits.co.uk/content/ringtones/tone/2020/alert/airbnb_bb906f114930880.mp3

- Second, follow the instructions in the YouTube Video below on how to add a custom ringtone to your iPhone using Garage Band App - Start the video at 1:26 as the beginning doesn't pertain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2PHFkbaV6Y

Whew! I was able to get it to work! You then just add the custom ringtone to the Contact Info for the Airbnb phone number that you receive text messages from. Hopefully Airbnb will just add the tone back to the App and save us all alot of headache.

Let us know here if you were able to get it to work for you!

[Ben5101]

Thanks @Joan2709 – By adding a ringtone to a contact, does it also change the notification sound for the app itself? For example, if someone texts me through the chat or if I receive a new booking, will it also use the custom ringtone? Or it this is only for "real" cellular text messages coming from Airbnb? 

[Joan2709]

@Ben5101 

I had not thought of that and that's a good question 🤔

I believe as long as you have notifications turned ON in your account to receive texts in your settings, you should hear the custom tone any time someone messages you on the platform. That should work?