What would you wish on your Airbnb shooting stars?

[Debra300]

I read a great conversation started by @Cassandra176, where she requested that search filters for the nightly rate include all fees and taxes, and the total price be displayed in all search results (app, desktop and mobile browser, map display).  https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Feature-Request-Filter-and-sort-by-TOTAL-price-including....

I think she has a legitimate gripe and request, and it made me think about the things I'd like to see implemented as a traveler and host.  

1.  Most guests and hosts are unaware that the only way a special offer can be sent to a guest is in response to a booking request.  Let's give guests the ability to submit a formal special offer as an inquiry or request to book. Also, allow hosts to send a special offer in response to an inquiry similar to how they can send special offers as a response to booking requests.  With these features, the reservation is automatically confirmed when the offer is accepted by the propositioned party.  Right now, a guest can send an inquiry message with a suggested special offer, and the host can pre-approve/decline the inquirer to make a reservation at the listed rate.  

2.  If there is an agreement on a special offer, the host can only change the nightly rate in the reservation, and has to do extra calculations to reduce/eliminate any fees to determine the final price.  For example, they agree upon a 10% discount on a $60 nightly rate for a three night stay, and elimination of the $20 cleaning fee.  The host has to calculate the nightly discount ($60 x .10 = $6), then divide the cleaning fee among the number of nights of the stay ($20 + 3 = $6.67), add the two discounts ($6 + $6.67 = $12.67), reduce the nightly rate by the total nightly discount ($60 - $12.67 = $47.33), and then multiple the reduced rate by the number of nights and enter that that number as the new nightly rate ($47.33 x 3 = $141.99).  It would be clearer and easier if the host could adjust the nightly rate and fees separately, and have fields for discount amount or discount percentage.

3.  Another item is enable guests and hosts to extend a reservation within X hours after checkout ends, if the extension doesn't conflict with the booking buffer of the next reservation.  For example, guests send a message to the host that they want to stay two additional nights.  The host updates the reservation dates, but the guest doesn't see the message before checkout ends.  The reservation preference is set up with a two day booking buffer before and after each reservation, and the next reservation is scheduled a week away.  The guest are unable to reserve the two days immediately after their initial reservation unless the host temporarily removes the booking buffer.  During this time other guests would be able to make reservations that require a turn over faster than the host can support.

What would you wish for other than not having your bookings canceled due to bogus EC claims, and being able to get CS before your phone battery dies?

[Debra300]

@Sarah977,

Please tell us your Airbnb shooting stars wish.

[Sarah977]

@Debra300  Okay.

CS staff that is well and consistently trained. Who don't lie, saying you'll get a call or message back ASAP.

CS staff trained in only one aspect of host and guest issues. Fully aware of all policies regarding that dedicated issue, as well as how to effectively handle it. Central switchboard which simply connects you to the appropriate CS team. Reviews, problems with guests, cancellations, listing issues, etc. each handled by a different team instead of expecting front-line CS reps to be able to handle any and all issues.

A dedicated phone line for emergency situations, answered immediately- hosts with guests who are frightening them, threatening them, being abusive. Guests left out in the cold because the host doesn't respond or it's some scam or bait-and-switch. 

Listen to hosts' suggestions and act on them. Don't ignore what we have to say because you think you know better.

Stop changing the format of our hosting pages.

Do not change any format or feature without first notifying hosts and giving clear instructions on how to access things in a new format.

Spend more money on decent tech, and a tech team that fixes glitches as soon as they are reported.

I could go on for pages, but I'll stop there.

[Huma0]

@Debra300 @Sarah977 

Luckily, I have never had anything taken from my place EXCEPT for travel/USB adaptors and I believe that was always just a mistake. Guests often pack in a hurry, just pulling everything out of the socket and throwing it in their case without realising.

This started to happen on such a frequent basis that I ended up putting labels on my adaptors to remind the guests not to pack them. It worked a treat. After that, only one guest took one and, when I mentioned it to him, was so apologetic he ordered a new one for me.

Damaged items (and guests not taking responsibility for them) is quite another matter and is, unfortunately, quite frequent. That's where the hotel comparison comes in again. Even though it is easier for a hotel to charge a guest as they usually take credit card details for 'incidentals', it would normally have to be something pretty substantial before they would do that. Most will put it down to wear and tear and have budgeted for it. So, the guest never bothers to mention it to the hotel.

Sure, we should also budget for wear and tear, but to what extent? If someone breaks an everyday kitchen item, e.g. a glass or mug, I wouldn't charge for it, but it's nice if they mention it, which most do. Unfortunately, it's the more substantial damages that they tend to deny all knowledge of.

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous  That's a soapbox I could get on. I've never left a hotel room a mess- I always tidy up- no wet towels on the floor, all the garbage in the can, etc. I can't imagine the grossness those hotel cleaners have to deal with.

That's why I've never been onboard with the "Better suited to a hotel". Bad and disrespectful behavior isn't acceptable anywhere.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

I agree that bad and disrespectful behaviour and general grossness are not acceptable in either an Airbnb or a hotel. I've also really never understood the thing about leaving garbage anywhere other than the bin, e.g. all over the floor, no matter where you are staying and am always surprised when people do that here. However, I don't wonder if they do that at a hotel (I know they do) but if they do that in their own bedrooms at home. In a hotel, someone is picking up that mess up for them daily, but I'm not (most of my guests decline my offer to clean their room during their stay), so clearly they are happy to live in a room for a few days or more with rubbish all over the floor or dirty dishes where they sleep.

Also, what I've noticed having now hosted so many long-termers is that guests are either clean or they are not and, in most although not all cases, this has nothing to do with 'respect' or lack of it for their host, but more to do with their personal habits. Some of my loveliest, sweetest guests, who were respectful in every other way, left the room in a total state when they checked out.

Anyway, when I said 'better suited to a hotel', I wasn't thinking about mess or very bad behaviour necessarily and certainly not the truly gross situations/sometimes dangerous situations hotel staff have to deal with. 

As I said, it's more about not understanding the DIFFERENCE between an Airbnb (especially a shared one) and a hotel. One example is 'quiet times', e.g. rules about not making excessive noise in the small hours of the morning. Experienced Airbnb users do not have a problem with this, but many guests who are only used to staying in hotels do not get it AT ALL. In a hotel, you can shower whatever time of the night you feel like and blow dry your hair, play music, have loud conversations, slam the doors, whatever, and it's fine. You'd have to be really excessive with noise before it would be considered to be a problem.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Debra300 

I would love for booking confirmations (for hosts and guests alike) to be transparent and show a proper breakdown of (1) what the guest is being charged (2) how much are service fees and what is the formula used to calculate service fees (e.g. what % of what amount) (3) taxes (4) what host is paid (based on the nightly rate host has set plus cleaning fee or pet fee or additional person fee if any) 

[Debra300]

@Jessica-and-Henry0,

What would you do with this information? 

As consumers we perform numerous transactions daily, and don't request the cost/payout breakdown.  When we buy insurance, house or cars, we know that there are fees and mark-up built into the base price in addition to the fees listed separately on the invoice, and that there will be a commission paid.  Personally, I've not seen any disclosure that lists all of the pricing details in your wish, and am unsure how much of a factor having that knowledge would be in my buying or selling decision.  

[Anonymous]

@Debra300 I think the fact that Airbnb makes guests rate their hosts on "Value" makes that breakdown of costs more relevant than it should be. If it were up to me and my shooting stars, "value" wouldn't be a rating category, because it's utter nonsense. You can't see what previous guests were charged, so their opinion on whether it amounted to good value can't have any rational effect on your booking decision.

And while we're at it, that ridiculous "location" rating should also be taken out to the backyard and shot. Anything you could possibly want to know about a location is readily available on the internet, and nobody is choosing which part of town to stay in based on star ratings. Airbnb claims that they're fixing this by reminding guests to rate the location only by how accurately the host described it... But voila, there's already an Accuracy rating to make this redundant. 

[Amanda660]

I’d like a function where guests can add pets to their booking instead of using the resolution centre.

I’d also like free infants to actually be infants not up to 2 years old.  

The ability to add additional guests for part of the booking. 

[Cormac0]

@Debra300 

That Brian Chesky would resign as CEO...

[Anonymous]

@Cormac0 Everyone has their own idea of how Airbnb should be run differently, but which problems do you see as specifically Brian-related?

[Debra300]

@Cormac0,

To add onto to @Anonymous's inquiry, what are your proposed solutions to the purported Brian-related problems?

[Cormac0]

Its as if you have not been contributing to this customer service community (as I like to call it) blog for years, the problem are there for all to see.

1. Fee are way to high circa 20% one fifth of the price charged for a listing site!

2. Customer service is abysmal unless your charging hundred's of dollars a night

3.The host guarantee is more honored in the breach then the observance.

4.Airbnb is trial judge and jury.

5. The companies constantly changing and failing strategy

6. Poor implementation of new initiatives, they almost disappear as fast as they arrive.

7. Proper vetting of guests and hosts alike.

8. How's the IPO going?

and finely the handling of the covid19 response.

This list is by no mean definitive and I'm not going to debate each individual item, its my opinion for what its worth, Brian Chesky is Microsoft's Ballmer and what we need is a Satya Nadella. 

The Company and business environment has outgrown Chesky leadership. 

Its time for Chesky to go and put the IPO on the back burner for at least 3 years while the new person get up and running.

[Yadira22]

Default at zero guests upon reserving- make guests manually update the reservation to be accurate. 

I want an actual list of who is coming for any bookings- not just 5 adults and Jeff, ie, everyone needs to have an updated and verified profile. 

I would like age restriction for booking or staying- granted you have legitimate reasons for this. For example, my place has stairs (45, steep and narrow) would be on the constant edge if guests brought children, even my niece has never visited the space and it’s safe but 10s and she manages to create mischief. 

Better overall training for CS reps- across the board. You should not be getting alternate « information » about the same subject matter. 

Actual deposit charged and held by Airbnb 

Airbnb to pick a policy and stick to it- honestly, I had a job which changed business strategies every other day and at some point just did the work for both. It’s exhausting and time consuming for everyone!

Password to confirm the rules and listing have been read in full before booking (imagine something hidden in the text)

Video uploads for house manual (in addition), people learn in different ways. 

Note- as I mention these my brain tells me to dream on. Arghh so many things. 

[Ann72 · Accepted solution]

@Debra300  As this post just stated, a way to search the inbox:

 https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Message-Search/td-p/1320594

More options for sorting and filtering reservations.  You can only sort by check-in - not by name, listing, or payout.

"Performance" is mostly useless and is really a ploy to push hosts to reduce their rates, change their cancellation policies, and offer longer or shorter stays.  I would use it more if I could choose the dates it covers rather than just the previous 30 days.

Also under "Performance" - "earnings" are way down the list.  Do they think that's of lesser interest to hosts?  Earnings should be at the top.  More proof they're just using this feature to push us in certain directions.

I would ask for a special SuperHost CS line, but they give out the SuperHost badge so easily there are probably fewer hosts who aren't SuperHosts than are.

Give hosts a way to more easily see what guests see after they've booked:

*I routinely send every single guest the house manual and driving directions shortly before their trip.  Not one in 6 years has ever said, "I already found those on your listing."  But last night I was talking on the phone to a guest who's coming in October, and she said she had just been reading the house manual.  First time ever!  Wish I could tell guests exactly where to find it, although I don't mind sending it because that way I'm more sure they have it.  (And of course there's a printed version at the house.)

*With this we can be more helpful when they want to make changes or cancel or something.  I can't always tell them where to look because I don't know what they're looking at.