Airbnb survey feedback

[Robin4]

Today (along with no doubt a lot of others) I was invited to take part an Airbnb survey, so, having a few minutes to spare I did it

At the end of my survey I was asked for my comments in my own words regarding my Airbnb hosting.

I thought I would share my comments with the community.....

I have said my piece....I hope someone will take notice of it!

Cheers.....Rob

[Lawrene0]

As far as I can see, @Mary1495 had the problem with the guests who left today. So she won't have reviewed them yet, @Sarah977 . The July guests were fine. It is just sentence order making it appear that they were not.

You haven't done anything wrong regarding reviews, Mary. 

But, yes, Sarah is right in that expectations are important and have little to do with age. Dying your hair blue in a white sink is not solely an under-25 thing.  

And I'm another host whose under-25 guests have been awesome. If anything, they are extra careful because they know internet reviews stay with you forever. 

I would hate to see a system that doesn't allow under-25s to book. No help, am I. I did look up getting hair dye stains out of a sink and it looks like letting bleach sit on it for 30 minutes  might work. Hope so.

[Sarah977]

@Lawrene0  I realize that she may not have left a review for the guests who just checked out, but @Mary1495 also said she had 2 other sets of college students in July and maybe I misunderstood, but I thought she was saying that all of them left the place a mess.

While I think that young people may be messier than older ones as a generalization, because they may not have lived on their own and mommy cleans up after them, it's more a matter of upbringing and basic respect. 45 year-olds can leave a mess behind just as easily as 20 year-olds can leave the place clean and tidy. 

[Mary1495]

Hi Sarah...my mistake....the bookings I’m referring to were in June. I gave one of the guests 3 stars for cleanliness and left her a detailed personal note. She was great in every other way so it shows up as 5 stars as an overall rating. That’s not good.  Airbnb seems to bury the bad stuff and highlight the good. The other guys just left today and I haven’t rated them yet. But I truthfully have some hesitancy giving someone one star, which is what the guest in June truly deserved. The reason is: my guests know where I live! How do I know that someone wouldn’t come back to my door and give me a hard time? It’s a tricky situation.  

[Sarah977]

@Mary1495  Are you talking about Shanell?  Well, you left a good written review for her, too. You said she was sweet and a good communicator, but why didn't you also mention that she didn't treat the space respectfully? Every other host who reads that will assume this is a desirable guest.

I don't know if you are aware, but non-IB hosts aren't privy to star ratings- the written reviews are all we have to go on. So please be honest and factual in your reviews as I'm sure you'd want other hosts to be to warn you of undesirable guests. 

It's better not to leave a review at all rather than a misleading one. I wouldn't worry about the guests knowing where you live. I doubt anyone is going to bother to come over and harass you because you mentioned that they left a mess behind them. And you can state things in a way that isn't an attack- "It would have been appreciated if this guest had cleaned up after themselves". There are also code phrases which other hosts will understand. If you just say "Guests stayed one week" other hosts will get it that you had nothing good to say, and the guest will have no reason to suspect anything.

When a guest has positive qualities and you feel they can learn to be a better guest, a review like "XX was a very sweet and communicative person who I feel would make a great guest in the future if she pays more attention to cleaning up her personal messes. That would be my only complaint about her stay."

[Lawrene0]

Sorry, @Sarah977 , I thought you were hopping all over @Mary1495 for her good reviews of good guests. You were right. Those were good reviews of messy guests.

Guests do not see their own stars, Mary, so if a guest deserves one star, go ahead and give them one star. They see only what you write, and as Sarah says, you can make that professional or coded or, ideally, just honest enough not to set them off while still warning other hosts. 

[Mary1495]

Regarding Shanell, I did indicate that I would NOT host her again in my review. Don’t tell me that’s something else that potential hosts can’t see. 

[Sarah977]

@Mary1495  Correct- indicating that you wouldn't host her again is only of benefit to hosts who use Instant Book and require recommendations from other hosts to IB. Your written review of her only says "Shanell was very sweet and a good communicator."

So as a non-IB host, that would say to me that she was a non-objectionable guest, eve a really good one.  It is only what you write in the written review that all hosts can see.

[Mary1495]

Thx LawreneO....yeah,  I really love these young people and I remember being a doufus also at that age so I have a difficult time coming down on them too harshly. Ay yai yai. 

[Aria-Barbara1]

AGREED! with both ROBIN and BEN!   I have been with Airbnb since they started (I had already been on VRBO/Homeaway since VRBO started) and I feel exactly the same.  I now feel Airbnb is almost abusive of us hosts.  I no longer use "Instant book" because I want to know who is staying at my property before I accept the reservation. This means I have to appear lower in the search results, yet it is a critical aspect of safety and suitability. Likewise, in setting pricing, we as hosts need to know what the guest will pay and what we will receive, but that information is not provided except on a booking-by-booking basis. Is Airbnb ashamed to reveal their fees? There are many, may ways in which the hosts are put in last place by Airbnb, and it has gotten progressively worse. The user experience for hosts is outdated and unnecessarily cumbersome. I am here searching for a way to provide feedback to Airbnb. Why is there not an obvious way to do so?  I now prefer to use any other means of getting reservations first, Airbnb as last resort. 

[Jillian115]

@Robin4 

Well said! Thank you for sharing this. This is a huge concern for me as well. So many horrible stories these days. I really feel like if anything happened Airbnb would not support me and yet they will allow anyone to book and bypass the rules and don't support us what things go wrong. 

[Ryan2352]

I've been waiting over a month and a half for a response to a damage claim from AB&B.  When they want something, it's hurry up and get it to me in 48 hours, then it's silence and not even an acknowledgement of receiving an email.