Feature suggestion: Airbnb Kleinanzeigen

Feature suggestion: Airbnb Kleinanzeigen

@Nick @Lizzie @Liv 

 

This one is mostly for our lovely mods: we're getting a torrential deluge of posts from people looking for co-hosting gigs, and knowing how hard the current economy is for hospitality workers, it's no surprise. I'm very much in favor of keeping the CC spam-free, but why not create a Classifieds section for legit community members to offer services and opportunities to each other? 

 

I'd propose that it work the same way as the Host Circle, reserved only for host accounts and not externally searchable on the web. But a feature like this could not only reduce the amount of annoying "somebody hire me" posts littering the Help forum; it would also facilitate some genuinely helpful connections.

 

Full disclosure: I've gotten a few co-hosting assignments as a result of participating in the CC, and they've been a big help to me in this time when I can't safely host in my own home. But due to Airbnb censorship, I've had to invent a creatively evasive language just to exchange the necessary contact details. So I can see why most people use F*c*book and other social media to make these arrangements instead. I think a feature that linked directly to members' listings - and their posting history, for that matter - would be a lot more useful in facilitating good connections. And please, let people at least send DMs without blocking their bloody email addresses or phone numbers. 

21 Replies 21
Debra300
Top Contributor
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

@Anonymous,

Good suggestion.  

Don't just believe what I say, check the Airbnb Help Center
Kelly149
Level 10
Austin, TX

@Lizzie could someone hire @Anonymous for some kind of advisory position at ABB? these kinds of sensible suggestions could surely be useful

 

@Kelly149  Thanks, that's super kind of you to say!  I've never been offered a paid position by Airbnb (or applied for one), but in years past I have gotten to participate in some discussions at their Berlin office, including a long one involving the head office during the creation of the CC. To their credit, they were very receptive to feedback and did implement a few suggestions brought up by a small group of us hosts (the private Host Circle board is one of them). 

 

They probably wouldn't want me on the payroll, though, because no company has ever been able been able to keep my big mouth in line 🙂

 

 

 

@Anonymous quite the contrary, I find your thoughts here to be well-thought-out and measured. I hope there are several someones at ABB, and really at every company everywhere, that can call a spade a spade and provide that outside, devil's advocate, why does it have to be that way voice. A cavalcade of yes men can end up in some pretty lousy places. Or so my loudmouth self tends to think.

 

@Anonymous 

LOL!

 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Anonymous  I have exchanged email addresses with other hosts through DMs on the forum and they haven't been blocked. Is this a recent thing?

 

I like your suggestion. I don't like seeing personal advertising on the forum, and will mark some as Spam, as when they are trying to sell bedding, or furniture, or some app they think will be useful to hosts, but I don't feel like doing that to co-hosting offers, or even cleaners, since so many hosts do post looking for co-hosts and cleaners. 

 

A classified section could be limited to just those two things, so it isn't overrun with spammers trying to sell hosts everything from doormats to hot tubs.

Katie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Thanks to everyone for your input on this topic, and to @Anonymous for the suggestion (it's like you read our minds there!).

 

Just picking up on the cleaning services suggestion @Sarah977, the difficulty with this is that most cleaners don't have hosting profiles, so it would be harder to include these in a host-only board.

 

I agree though that it would be good to have a Co-Host Classifieds board so we can use the Community to facilitate these relationships in a productive way. 🙏

@Katie Maybe there could be a separate section for those offering cleaning services where they don't need to be a host- listed by area, so hosts could just go to that section,  and contact a cleaner.

Katie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Yes @Sarah977, we could do that, but the likelihood is that we would still get quite a few spammy posts as there's no barrier to entry as such. Food for thought though 🙂 

@Sarah977 The one and only reason I would consider a co-host found online over someone I know personally is that they have already been vetted in the form of reviews, and I can see their level of expertise and the quality of their work that way.  I'd personally prefer it to be kept strictly as a host-to-host thing.

 

I wouldn't be confident hiring a cleaner based on an online ad, since the Airbnb profile wouldn't contain qualified references. Also, I can see Airbnb quickly shutting down any feature that could possibly be used as a backdoor for off-platform bookings, or that unverified users could abuse for dodgy stuff.

 

Nick
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Impeccable timing, we were discussing the surge of this type of posts yesterday in a meeting, saying the exact same thing about the economy. Constructive feedback, thank you @Anonymous 

Helen3
Top Contributor
Bristol, United Kingdom

I agree with Andrew it's so frustrating to have the community cluttered up with spammers who have no interest in supporting the community but are just using the platform as an advertising vehicle and it detracts from the community.

 

I agree a separate forum for legitimate hosts looking to offer co-hosting services and for hosts looking for co-hosting help would be a great resource. I agree it should only be open to hosts.

 

It would also be useful if you could post a stickie at the top of each forum to remind posters that it's against the terms of the forum to use it to advertise cleaning/hosting/hot tubs/bedding/marketing services and that such posts will be removed, would be good. 

 

 

Elena87
Level 10
СПБ, Russia

"Since you are a member of the co-hosting community, we wanted to let you know that we’ve decided to remove the marketplace feature that helps connect local hosts and co-hosts. As of June 27th, 2018 you will no longer be able to post to or receive notifications from the marketplace.

We are continuing to refine the co-hosting program, but this particular feature was not effective at connecting enough hosts with co-hosts. Moving forward, we’ll focus on developing better ways to support the co-hosting program.

 

Still waiting to see what the better ways are, almost three years later.

 

Unless it's this idea.

 

https://www.airbnb.com/d/hosting-services