Airbnb redacting check-in information sent to guests via Scheduled Messages

[Carrie-and-Danny0]

Hi Fellow Airbnb Hosts --

 We're new to this endeavor, so forgive me if this is a remedial question . . . but I couldn't find any resolution to this question, and  I could only find one other reference to this question . . .

 We've set up the "Scheduled Messages" tool to auto-send an informational check-in message to our guests seven days before their check-in which includes the following essential info: our address (again), the combination to our front door keypad, our phone numbers in case of emergency.

 The message just went out to our first guest, and it looks just fine in the inbox on the Airbnb website and in the app . . . BUT . . . the notification/copy that got sent to my wife (who's a co-host on the listing) showed much of the information as redacted by Airbnb!  Here's a snippet:
 

There's a keypad lock on the front door. The code is: (Phone number hidden by Airbnb)

And in the unlikely event of a technical glitch with the keypad, there's a lockbox with a physical key which works on the front and back doors. Please only use the lockbox in case of emergency. We'd prefer that guests use the combination keypad if possible. Thanks!

The emergency lockbox is located on the front porch behind one of the wooden posts, and the combination is: (Phone number hidden by Airbnb)

 
Those numbers are obviously NOT phone numbers . . . but more importantly, that info is essential check-in info that our guests will need to enter our home.  If we can't even pass along such obvious information as the combination to the front door through Airbnb's own internal messaging system, how on earth are we supposed to communicate effectively with guests.

I called Airbnb support, and they had no idea what I was talking about . . . even after sending screenshots.  She barely understood how Scheduled Messages work, at all.  And she was under the impression that Airbnb didn't have the technical ability to remove info from the messages.  So obviously, she isn't have a clue.  Finally, the associate escalated my case to a supervisor . . . but I still haven't received a call back after two days.  So I'm pretty frustrated by their ineptitude at this point.

Any advice on how to pass essential information to guests via the Scheduled Message tool would be most appreciated.  And more broadly, any advice on how to reach an actual "tech support" person when I have a technical problem, would be really helpful.  The associate on the phone was obviously only trained to deal with reservations.  And she claimed there is no "tech support" at Airbnb.  So I just threw up my hands at that point.

Thank y'all for your help --
Danny

PS -- The system was also redacting any URLs that I tried to send . . . i.e. a link to a PDF of our house manual and neighborhood guide in case they wanted to plan ahead.  It also said "Phone number removed by Airbnb".

[Ann72]

@Lisa723  It's not necessarily true that the guest and the co-host will always see the exact same thing.  See @Carrie-and-Danny0's answer below.

If you are in your message thread with the guest, you are looking at exactly what the guest saw.  It's the thread between you and your guest.  You are not looking at the thread with the co-host in that case.

[Carrie-and-Danny0]

I do have a new theory . . .

My wife was logged into my account (the one we've named "Carrie & Danny") so that any correspondence we have with guests appear to have come from the account which originated the listing.

I'm wondering if when she received the email in question (from the Scheduled Message) which was sent TO the email on her personal (and co-hosting) account, that when the email tried to "call home" to Airbnb to populate the message with the HTML info in its body, it couldn't authenticate her as the user because she wasn't logged into her co-hosting account . . . and so it automatically redacted the sensitive data.

We're testing this theory now.  She's now logged into her co-host account . . . and we have another scheduled check-in message which will go out to a new guest tomorrow morning.  And we'll see if that one is redacted in her email box.

I'll give y'all a report!

I'm open to any other ideas, still.

Thanks y'all --

Danny

[Scott]

Hi @Carrie-and-Danny0 sorry again for the confusion. Here's an update on what's going on:

1. In general, for confirmed bookings, as I mentioned above you're fine to message phone numbers, door codes, and URLs to support your hosting. It doesn't matter if you type them out manually or use Scheduled Messaging or Quick Replies.
2. In general, what you see in the message thread as the primary host is what your guests see and what your co-host sees. (I think you confirmed this is true for this particular case:  you and your co-host see the same full message in the app / web site.)
3. However, there appears to be a bug in the email notification we sent to your co-host, where some info was redacted

Hope this is helpful -- I'll follow up with additional details soon.

[Carrie-and-Danny0]

Hi @Scott  . . . yessir,  that's a great (and accurate) synopsis of the situation . . . with one correction/caveat:

- I still don't know whether the email notification for the guest was redacted or not . . . because he's an app savvy guy who got the info from the inbox in the app, and had deleted his email notification by the time I had asked him if it had been redacted or not.

Another guest check-in email is schedule to go out this morning.  I'll check in with her to see if her email notification was redacted or complete, and I'll report back. 

Thanks just in general for confirming that we're using the scheduled message tool appropriately . . . and that this issue was, in fact, a bug and not a feature.  I realize this particular issue is a small thing . . . but it's important to us as we try and establish a smooth and seamless process for our guests.

Thanks, too, to this very supportive community for all your input and help.  I've been beyond disappointed in Airbnb's official support . . . so it's really good to know that there's knowledgable folks over here who can help in a pinch.

[Carrie-and-Danny0]

Quick, not-very-helpful update . . .

1) My theory about my wife's notifications (as co-host) being redacted because she wasn't logged into her own account turned out to be wrong.  She was logged into her own account when the latest notification arrived, and it was still redacted.

2) I sent a message to my latest guest to check to see if her email was also redacted . . . and I've still not heard back from her.  I'll update again when/if I do.  Meanwhile, I don't want to pester our guests with what amounts to my own tech support.

3)  I gave up on my official Airbnb customer support thread.  My case got escalated to a "supervisor" who literally didn't read the case, had no understanding what the issue was, and just kept copy and pasting this in answer to my further questioning:  "After to review your case about supposed glitch, I took the time to review all the account status, messages, internal data and plus, in order to confirm everything its fine, and fortunately there is not glitch in to your account."  I honestly wasn't sure if it was a bot or a human.  When I finally asked, I got a non-copy-and-pasted reply in such badly broken english that it was even more apparent that he'd just been copy and pasting generic answers from a clip board.  And so I gave up.

I'll report back again when/if I have more info.  Thanks @Scott .

[Carrie-and-Danny0]

Just to be clear, too . . . I have no problem with out-sourced customer support, with support staff for whom English is a second language . . . and I'm not frustrated with the individuals I've been dealing with.  I'm frustrated with Airbnb for not adequately training their support team, and then throwing them into live action without the ability to actually help.  This is on Airbnb, as far as I'm concerned, not on the heads of the poor kind hapless souls in Indonesia who are trying their best to sound helpful.

[Sarah977]

@Carrie-and-Danny0  I am always polite to the CS reps, even if I am really frustrated by their uncomprehending, pointless replies.

It isn't their fault that Airbnb doesn't train them properly, and gives them a placating, robotic script to follow. 

And I'm sure they have angry, frustated guests and hosts yelling at them all day. I wouldn't want their job.

It's Airbnb's responsibility not to hire those who aren't fluent enough in the language they are supposed to be communicating in to grasp an issue and respond on-point, to train them in policy, and so on.

I have to say I have seen this trend in other businesses as well. It's not uncommon to go into a store or office and the person you are dealing with might have a tag on their shirt saying something like " Please be patient with me, I'm new". They then need to call another employee to show them how to ring something up or whatever. 

Businesses now seem to think it's okay to make a customer stand there and wait while a newbie employee figures things out. They train employees on the customer's time rather than their own.

[Carrie-and-Danny0]

@Sarah977 . . . I honestly don't even mind being part of the training process too much.  AS LONG AS they're willing (and empowered) to pass the case along to someone with more expertise if they don't know the answer.

What was really confounding about this case with Airbnb was that the worst dealing of all was with the supervisor who they escalated the case to.   He didn't know the language and didn't bother to even understand the issue, much less to actually investigate it.  It was a really disheartening experience.

Like you said, that's on Airbnb for horrendous training and QC.

[Holly142]

I send my own message to guests a week before checkin and it includes the door code and phone number and never had this problem. I keep a template and just copy and paste it, changing the code and whatever else in the process. My address can't be GPS's so it contains detailed directions.

[Carrie-and-Danny0]

UPDATE:  I did hear back from our guest, and the email notification did, in fact, arrive with all the pertinent info visible to her.  So that's great news.  That's really what's important.  

The fact that the co-hosts emails are still being redacted is confounding (and a bit worrisome) . . . but not ultimately very important.  

If I understood why it was happening, I could at least understand it and it would ease my mind.  But it doesn't look like I'll be able to get someone technical at Airbnb to investigate the server log to see why my wife's co-hosting privileges are not set appropriately for a co-host.