This Covid 19 pandemic has created some hard feelings among Airbnb and Hosts...it is not easy to perfectly navigate through all the challenges. But, there must be a more equitable way for the situation to be handled.
As an Airbnb Host and Superhost for most of my hosting experience over the past four years or more, I get absolutely no compensation from Airbnb during this pandemic and very little communication...just promises of more communication down the road. One past experience with a bad review has certainly impacted my present status of 4.7 performance when 4.8 is required to maintain the Superhost status.
But, I challenged the review, a 2, at the time and felt it was extremely unfair because the guest did not bother to read all my communication. They could use the excuse it was because of their limited English. But, my English-language comments can be translated into their language if they bothered to look at them at all. The Airbnb representative at the time said that one bad review would not significantly impact my total review. I did challenge that comment at the time and sure enough, one bad review dropped my performance below the required 4.8 level.
Never mind the over 100 guests I hosted over the past year. Never mind the mostly 5/5, and a couple of 4/5 reviews, and a couple of 3/5 reviews, one 2/5 dropped me below the required status. And, caused me a lot of financial hardship because of the unforeseeable impact of a world pandemic. So, do not let slight changes to your Airbnb relationship go by easily. My information was more reliable than the Airbnb rep.
And, I find that call center people are becoming more the norm. So, the relationship is getting further removed. Please challenge the phone contacts representing Airbnb for the sake of the whole Airbnb Community. We must protect our businesses. We need Airbnb, but Airbnb also needs us. I may consider using other online formats. I will not use the moderate or flexible pricing settings, as suggested by Airbnb via their messaging services, as it only penalised me in receiving any refunds for the EC policy instituted by Airbnb during this Covid 19 pandemic.
Brian said that in the future, the rental market will be changing. I saw this coming as well. Swiss people will rent in Switzerland. Americans will rent in the USA. Brits in Britain, etc. For the next two years, it seems this will be the case. So, we need to gear our pricing to the local/national markets. Airbnb is still learning. We are also learning about our own local markets and situations. There is a forum of communication involving several hundred Airbnb hosts that seem to have more direct contact with the owners and management of Airbnb.
I am sure there is not enough representation. Who represents and shares information for Switzerland and the Airbnb Hosts located in Swiss winter and summer resorts? Tourism is big business in Switzerland.
How can I get my opinion to the top? They need to know about this unique market. They need as much information from my side as I need from theirs. But, I actually find, I need to rely less on the recommendations from the Airbnb side for such things such as market pricing and market performance as I am more in touch on the ground than the computer algorithms which process just information and may not recognise or understand the real trends. Airbnb was looking to go public in 2020. The 38 billion $ evaluation looks more like 20 billion $ in value.
So, the bottom line is going to be hit hard in 2020. It was projected to be 50 billion $ in evaluation. So, there will be changes...how this business and format will all unfold is anyone's guess. The online experiences may help. But, an online experience can be offered online by anyone. For example, I will offer more Japanese cooking courses and menus.
I can offer that via any online medium. We must all adapt to survive. Those who adapt best survive more robustly. Be healthy and safe out there. L. Jay
