Feature suggestion: Airbnb Kleinanzeigen

[Anonymous]

@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. 

[Anonymous]

@Elena87   If I remember correctly (2018 now seems like centuries ago),  ending the co-host marketplace was part of Airbnb's broader process of extricating itself from the financial relationship between hosts and co-hosts, and duty to mediate in disputes that arose from the split-payment mechanism. That makes a certain sense - a product that takes up a lot of resources and adds to the burden of accountability without increasing revenue is just dead weight.

I'm not into Airbnb being involved in the business end of co-hosting or  putting a seal of approval on contractors for a secondary app.  I'd rather that they just facilitate community members making their own agreements about which tasks are delegated and how compensation will work. 

@Katie  @Nick  Thanks for all your efforts here, I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with.

[Inna22]

@Anonymous I used that platform a lot. The problem was that as with other things we complain about, Airbnb just could not stay out of host/co-host business. For example, when I posted my needs on the market place, as soon as one person committed, I could not get any more offers. When I made arrangements with my very first co-host, he were to come to every check out during an out of town trip. He never showed up and in fact went out of town himself! I had to pay him 20% of all of my reservations, even the properties not checking in and out at that time. Every time I posted for a co-host since, he committed to the job! I told him straight forward to stop replying to my posts and eventually had to call airbnb. If they just left it as an open marketplace, this would have never happened. Also, if they were facilitating, they should have left in place some of the positive features such as an option to review. Same for Airbnb photographers. I wish they let us review them

[Anonymous]

@Inna22 Wow, the marketplace was even worse than I thought! No wonder they shut it down.

I can imagine the same problem occurring with the Lousy plug-in, or whatever it's called. The host is locked out of the hiring and payment process, and the contractor turning over their home answers primarily to a third party. How cute that they brought fresh flowers to the changeover, but there's no way their app boss has a better handle on how your home needs to be prepared and presented than you do.

I want less micromanaging from Airbnb, not more. They've already gone way too far by shoving this idiotic cleaning pledge in our faces, on top of playing peekaboo with important guest info in the request process and the constant threats and nudges to step in line with their "Suggestions." I wouldn't trust them with the task of letting a person I haven't personally vetted and trained represent me to my customers and access my home.

One positive I see with this feature is that it would not be run directly by Airbnb, so the hosts would be fully in control of the arrangement, and nobody gets slotted into an inappropriate assignment just because they were guaranteed work. 

[Inna22]

@Anonymous @That’s why your suggestion is so much better. It is logical that it is somehow tied to Airbnb (through the forum) yet it has a free market format

[Paul1255]

The "better way" @Elena87 is to funnel hosts into Airbnb's professional Preferred Partners, such as Luckey (which is now owned by Airbnb!)

[Cathie19]

Well done @Anonymous  for this suggestion. I’m also sick of scrolling through spammers and marketing when looking for genuine hosts or guests, needing assistance. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[Ryan266]

This is very helpful, Andrew. Thank you for your suggestion. I, too, would like to see tools for host to connect with other hosts with creative ways to help each other with not only ideas, but products they have created or are using.