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

[Cathie19]

But Pete, you can ignore questions and move to the next set...

[Stephan-And-Tia0]

We also used the survey as an opportunity to voice our concerns and displeasure over this new policy. We have so few protections in place as hosts already, especially since AirBnB’s “security” deposit is actually a farce. We use photos to screen new guests, especially younger guests more thoroughly. The younger ones are the only group we’ve had any issues with. They’re more likely to break house rules, have extra guests that exceed our limit, make noise violations that disturb our neighbours, leave our place a mess, and even damage our furniture/property. I think this is a push by AirBnB toward getting hosts to use instant book

[Ben551]

@Stephan-And-Tia0  So, you use guest photos to screen guests, in order to identify and decline "younger ones"?  Isn't age based discrimination against the rules?  If it's allowed then I'm keen to know.  I'm also concerned about younger guests causing damage but had assumed I couldn't discriminate based on age... or are you saying if you spotted a younger person you'd ask more screening type questions before accepting?

[Stephan-And-Tia0]

I never automaticallydeclina a guest simply based on age. However, I do use different lines of questioning and I am far more rigorous in my screening, especially if they are new profiles, with no pictures or reviews. Depending on the answers, I can either decline, or sometimes I’ve had guests cancel their reservation on their own once I insist that they send acknowledgement that they accept our house rules - including our policies regarding extra guests and hosting parties. I also make it known that our nosey neighbours watch our place carefully, and report any arrivals of extra guests, and that breaking our rules will result in cancellation of their reservation.  I’m convinced that I’ve weeded out a number of potential problematic guests this way. I don’t think every guest deserves this kind of scrutiny, just the ones who are more likely to abuse our home,  but we will have to be even more cautious in the future now that this tool has been taken away. All guests will be subject to higher scrutiny, even ones with good reviews now that we can’t determine their age. A guest who hosted a party, trashed our place and damaged several items including our new sofa was young, but had seven good reviews so we trusted her. She lied about her guests and indicated a child so we wouldn’t suspect partiers. Then she lied again denying responsibility so that we couldn’t claim damages from the “security” deposit. If AirBnB refuses to give us tools to ensure our safety as hosts, then we have no choice but to take matters into our own hands. No reviews, and new accounts are likely to be denied from now on, since we no longer have even a photo to help us determine what kind of guest we’re inviting into our home. 

We also use different correspondence with our elderly guests, or ones with children. We have a steep staircase leading to our upstairs loft suite. We make sure that they acknowledge and accept this before booking so that our guests are safe, and so that we don’t get a negative review over something like accessibility to the bedroom. Not every guest is the best fit for our place. Pictures can give us important clues about suitability.

[Emilia42]

Sounds like a whole lot of judging and assuming based on someone’s age to me.

[Stephan-And-Tia0]

It’s not based on assumption, but on experience, I assure you. We have yet to have our house rules broken, or have our place left a mess by any of our more mature guests. It has happened repeatedly from our younger guests. Not all of them to be sure, but enough to present a strong enough pattern that it would be foolish of us not to spend extra time and effort in screening them more rigourously. Like I’ve said earlier, I’m convinced without a doubt that my heavier line of questioning has saved us from guests who would have abused our home. I think that is my right since it’s my home and belongings that I’m entrusting to strangers. You may call it discriminatory, but I’ll take it if it means saving my home from being trashed and damaged. I call it being cautious. And smart! 

[Susan1028]

I definitely consider a guests age surrounding being legally of age to stay without an adult required for supervision.  In the US legal age is 18 or 21 years depending on the state/county.

I live in a popular vacation area an hour away from a college known for its partying. Ive gotten several requests from under age kids who might follow the house rules, but if they didn’t would leave me carrying liability not just for damages to my property, but for any problems related to illegal consumption of alcohol and drugs on my property and what that might result in, just as any food and beverage establishment or hotel/motel would be implicated if someone left their premises and ended up hurting someone or driving while intoxicated.

With no photos or even ID required to book and no access to previous reviews, hosts are risking everything by accepting bookings with no information about guests...including criminal charges.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Hm...More and more cities start to ban Airbnb and it obviously becomes a big problem so Airbnb has to do something about it.   It seems this survey has only one purpose and it is gathering information for the purpose of the agreement /negotiating between Airbnb and cities that want to limit or prohibit short term rental.

If, for example, a city wants to ban Airbnb because there is a shortage of long-term flats then Airbnb can show statistics and says xx hosts are renting only a room in their apartment, xx rents only periodically their holiday home etc... and those apartments would not have been used for long-term lease anyway. Or can say: xx the host pay the mortgage or has no other income other then Airbnb and without it they would not be able to buy the house etc...

So at the end of this survey, we should concentrate on this subject and leave other subjects like profile photo, instant booking etc.. for some other occasion

[Robin4]

@Branka-and-Silvia0

I feel we do need to promote our grievances where we can and there is no better occasion than on a compny sponsored feedback form, but I do take your point Branka.

I think one of the most important questions for Airbnb was 'How has Airbnb effected your relationship with your neighbours'  ....the options going from, 'they are happy with it' to 'pistols drawn at dawn!!

Re the percentages of income spent, I have been telling them in feedback for a long time now how much money verified Airbnb guests put into this community via the 100+ listings in this area and how the community here is on-side with Airbnb. I even have Airbnb Welcome Here window stickers in shops in this area and some of the retailers displaying those stickers are actually offering small discounts to our Airbnb guests. Everyone here is benefiting and I hope this is filtering back to management that in some communities a bit of positive promotion instaed of putting out 'spot fires' after the event can work.

You are right though, hosting restrictions don't help assett value.

Cheers.....Rob 

[Ben551]

Hey that's a very interesting point @Branka-and-Silvia0 - I think you're on to something.  There are a lot of cities taking a step away from short term rental accomodation like AirBnb, so I expect they need statistics from the hosting community in order to respond. 

It's happening here, as the NZ government tries to address the national housing crisis.  As a result, various cities are looking to introduce either barriers (permits) or disincentives (taxes/rates) to reduce the number of commercial STR's - especially in major cities.

[Alicia427]

Interesting that cities think that it’s anyone’s responsibility to create housing. Anyone - meaning me. I currently own and operate an apartment building in a very small community as well as a dozen or more long term rentals. I can say without any doubt that -should our area make an Airbnb or other short term rental illegal, my homes will definitely not be up for grabs on for ANY long term rental market. Typical short term guests have way more respect for a home than typical long term tenants. They have destroyed a lot of my nicer homes and I won’t allow them to destroy the homes I have renovated for vacation rentals. They will either be kept for later use or sold. Homes in our area don’t typically sell to current persons living/working in our area but to others who move to our area. I’m also a REALTOR. Most locals who cannot find suitable housing are in that situation because they have bad credit, past evictions, violent crime felonies or lack sufficient income. I think they have the cause and effect backwards and prohibiting short term rentals will not result in more long term rentals being available. That’s complete bologna. Also- I have neighbors. The way I see it- if I have a disagreement with a guest- at least I know it’s a short term problem as the guest will be leaving. If my family moved into one of our rental homes- any of them- our neighbors would be begging us to bring our guests back because my kids are rowdy. Lol. Just my thoughts on municipalities prohibiting short term rentals.  

[Sarah977]

I got the survey as well. I filled it out, then gave them an earful about their non-responses to host issues and their horrible new no guest profile policy.

And if they'd stop encouraging these property management outfits with multiple listings to join Airbnb, all these places wouldn't be banning them. 

So was this survey about asking small-time hosts for their feedback so they can present it as the norm for Airbnb's? When in fact it will be used to help allow faceless management companies with 100s of listings to completely take over the platform?

[Robin4]

@Sarah977

Who knows Sarah, I am just an old wool classer from an outpost on the perimeter of civilization! How would I know! What I do know though Sarah....that survey was not about helping core value hosts. In all probability we will see even tighter restrictions put on us. These days it is purely a number game and these surveys only serve to provide a database for the ABB octopus to fasten it's tentacles onto another facet of the market.

If you have looked at any profiles over the past 24 hours you would note they have altered the format of the profile page.....why? What was so wrong with the old one that replacing it took preference over some of the dozens of other issues which are creating problems for both hosts and guests! The old profile page worked fine, nobody complained about it....why spend resources re-inventing the wheel!!

The first thing you will note is, they have removed the 'Report this Profile' to the bottom of the listing, I guess to make it harder to lodge a complaint. Where it was, nobody would miss it, now you actually have to search for it.......why?

Cheers.......Rob

[Sarah977]

@Robin4 Yes, I really don't understand their compulsion to be constantly changing things that aren't in need of change. And completely ignore all the things that we keep telling them need changing. That's why I believe that Airbnb employees are pressured to come up with new ideas and changes on a continual basis. They probably don't like it anymore than we do.

[Ben551]

@Robin4@Sarah977  pour a stiff drink before you read this, becuase this is really going to make your day...

Someone else spotted it and made a post here  - they have removed everyone's specific join month from the join date field.  As in, it now only displays the year.  For yours, mine, hosts, guests... everyone.  Bit bonkers really, then you don't know how long a guest has been using AirBnb and therefore how much guidance to give them.  Big difference between January 2018 and December 2018... now we get "2018"