Here's the thing I'm not understanding, and maybe someone here could help enlighten me a bit about Plus, because it's totally possible/probable that I'm being totally reactionary about it 🙂
Based on how it's being framed by AirBnb... "pay more for a different/more trusted/luxury experience"... That only works if the Plus listings are ACTUALLY priced higher. This seems to be a myth that has been created and already debunked in the span of a week...
For instance, I'm a host in Austin, which is one of the first cities to get Plus. If you look at how much an apartment is priced per night that is "Plus" verified, and ones that aren't Plus verified, they are essentially the same price. And sure there might be some discrepencies to that here and there, but in general, this seems to be the case.
So this would lead me to think that the Plus program is really just about paying $149 to get a new format to your listing and to be ranked higher in search --the latter of which we all know is incredibly important. The thing is that if that's the case, then if you are in a "Plus" city and you CAN take part because you meet the criteria, you basically have to. (And yes, I understand all the aruguments as to those criteria being fair or not, but setting those aside for a moment and just looking at the larger picture of the program's purpose...) This is like when Google updates their search algorithyms, businesses need to respond accordingly with their SEO practices because it's understood today how important it is to rank highly in Google search. The only thing is that you never pay Google to rank higher (unless it's an advertisement)... you work harder on your SEO practices so Google recognizes why your business is relevant. Just like all of us hosts that work our tails off to appear high in AirBnb rankings.
It seems like once a city gets saturated in "Plus" listings and they are priced the same as non-Plus listings, it's no longer about the guest "paying more for a luxury experience," it's about the host paying for a new "Plus" badge so it can be ranked alongside everyone else with that exact same badge. And in the end, things kind of go back to how they have been, but AirBnb walks away with a killing of cash.
So that's my rationale and I would really like to hear how this isn't the case. Not trying to be saarcastic or snarky... I just really don't buy how this is being sold to us, when Plus homes are not being priced higher. Seems like a very convenient flaw that at the end of the day AirBnb could wash their hands and say, "well that's up to hosts how they want to price things... even though we decide how things are ranked in search."
OK... end of rant. Looking forward to hearing from people 🙂 Thank you for listening.