New Airbnb Feature : Teams

[Ben551]

Greetings ~

I may have missed the announcement on this, but yesterday morning I noticed a new feature called “Teams” roll out on the Airbnb App. It looks like it is intended to allow hosts to invite other parties to help manage listings (i.e. cleaners or property managers). Most people do this via other apps like Smartbnb or (the free one) YourPorter, but it looks like Airbnb wants in on this action.

It also seems to allow hosts to completely customise the permissions for each team member!

This is actually quite good because not all hosts have “equal” arrangements with a cohost. Some don’t want co-hosts to be able to amend pricing, others do... this new feature allows full control over who does what, plus communication to the team.

[Ben551]

Piotr (sorry I can’t tag you) as far as I can understand, Teams are designed to be grouped together into bundles of listings that all have the same property owner. The owner is set as the team leader. So you could, in theory, merge all your listings together into one team, but only if they are all owned by the same property owner.

[Susan17]

Following on from my previous post above, we also urgently need clarifacation from Airbnb as to what, exactly, they categorise as a "business host", what they categorise as a "professional host", and what they categorise as a "core host" (the latest buzzword for us worker bees, apparently)

Considering the bar for inclusion in the "Pro" sector of the site is 6+ listings, are we to assume that only hosts with over half a dozen listings are considered by Airbnb to be Professional or Business users? Does Airbnb even consider a Professional user and a Business user to be one and the same thing? It's all very opaque. 

Meanwhile, an apparently random selection of hosts around the world - homesharers included - are reporting that Airbnb is witholding their payments until they register as a Business account, as soon as they reach a certain (very low) earnings threshold - believed to be aound the AUD15K/€9.3K mark.

If that policy were to be rolled out universally, then presumably, that would potentially mean that about 95% of hosts on the site would be compelled to have an Airbnb business account, and to be classified as Professional users. Which of course, would be ludicrous, and would only serve to futher obfuscate the demarcation between commercial operators and independent hosts, as opposed to clearly outlining the true state of affairs. 

So is the bar to be categorised as a Pro Host who needs to have a Business account set at 6+ listings, or is it set at earnings of over AUD15k/€9.3 (or local equivalent)? 

[Susan17]

As if all that isn't confusing enough, in its Legal Obligations for Business Hosts in Europe articles, Airbnb also offers yet another definition of "business host"...

When Am I Acting As A Business Host?

According to the law you’re acting as a business host if your hosting activities on Airbnb relate to your trade, business, craft or profession. If you rent accommodation or offer other services as a company or sole proprietor in the offline world, then your hosting activities on Airbnb will most likely also constitute a commercial activity. If you share your home or offer other services on Airbnb next to your normal business or profession, the qualification of your activity on Airbnb depends on a number of factors. You typically act as a business if you regularly rent your primary or secondary home or offer other services over a longer period of time in order to make a profit. This list is not exhaustive and other activities may mean that you are operating as a business.

If any of the above applies, then you have a legal obligation to declare yourself as a business host on Airbnb.

So as the (very vague and non-specific) clause above apparently covers just about every host in Europe (and possibly, all who contract through Airbnb Ireland), it would appear that hundreds of thousands of us are (unwittingly) in clear breach of our legal obligations, by neglecting to declare ourselves as business hosts on Airbnb, and failing to openly display the required info on our listings.... 

• The name of your company (if applicable) or the name under which you act as a trader
• Your full name as a sole proprietor or the full name(s) of the legal representative(s) of your company
• Your business address (a PO Box is not sufficient)
• Your contact details, including an email address and telephone number
• Your trade registration number and register (if applicable)
• Your Value Added Tax identification number (if applicable)
• If applicable, details of any responsible chamber of commerce
• If applicable, details of any authorisation scheme that you are subject to, including the name of the relevant authority

Considering the potentially serious implications of non-compliance for its "community", one would reasonably expect Airbnb to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that each and every host is fully aware of their legal obligations. However, for whatever reasons, the very opposite seems to be the case. Perhaps they don't want all our phone numbers openly displayed on our listings...

Legal Obligations of EU Business Hosts

https://www.airbnb.ie/help/article/1378/responsible-hosting-in-ireland

[Ben551]

Wow @Susan17  that all sounds pretty dire for EU hosts...

[Jayesh0]

@Susan  @Ben551  @Robin 

At Rob: Welcome back!  I believe your presence has been sorely missed by everyone myself included.  Glad you are well and had a great holiday.  Sign me up for the mosaic fan club although keep in mind people who are good at EVERYTHING can just get annoying after a while!!!

At Ben: Just included you because you seem interested in everything.  A refreshing quality I must say!

At Susan: This is really in reply to your mention.  Thank you for the heads up in another post.

For anyone interested in a first hand explanation, when this happened to our account I did specifically ask if it had anything to do with using the Pro Tools and they were very clear - with me anyway in that conversation - that using the Pro Tools has NO impact at all.  Of course, especially with these guys, you can never say never and it could be prudent to expect that this may change down the line. 

For those hosts who remain under the threshold, you can change your account from business to personal at any time without repercussion as it stands now so it is a pretty safe bet that it is okay to use.  If they are going to lump you into the Business Profile because of your earnings you just have to accept that with as much grace as you can muster as far as I can tell and using the Team function will have no bearing one way or the other. 

For us in Australia, the threshold is definitely $15,000 in earnings in a one year period that automatically makes you a business profile.  There is NO other criteria in the designation - NONE.  It is supposed to be automated to pick up when you hit the threshold and then stops payments until you re-classify your profile from personal to business.  If you manually try to change it back to personal it just loops you through the process again because the program continues to pick up that you have surpassed the maximum exempted earnings.  Expect to submit your verification photo about 6 times by the way - yes, the same one over and over again.

I wonder if they are working on the previous 365 days or the financial year calendar?  Hard to say as our financial year starts on July 1 so for us it could be counting 9 months of earnings but for others the financial year could begin January 1, 2019 which shifts things considerably.  We block out the calendar for January as it is school holidays here before the new school year begins and we never would have made $15K in the time slot when we were redesignated in January based on a financial year starting that month.

It has been so quiet on the CC about this I suspect  the majority of other countries are working on the financial year calendar starting just 2 1/2 months ago and as soon as it rolls around to hosts reaching the threshold, we will see more about it here.  That is the only thing I can think of.  Curious to know if any Aussie hosts have surpassed $15K and not been swooped up in the net.  Please check the last 365 days and from July 1 and mention if this is not the case for you. (hahum Rob ie).

I think that 6 or 8 unique listings that you manage by yourself, continue to greet each guest and give personalised recommendations about the area should not be lumped in with “Professionals” or “Agents”.  A couple of guests have come out to the farm to meet our albino baby camel (who gives kisses and has an ear chomping fetish that guest love) and then go for a ride on the ATV - so it is not as though we are in a category of an anonymous agent who does not meet or engage with their guests.

We had overseas guests not long ago who had booked with “core” hosts for their 3 weeks of prior travel to coming here and they had not met one single host along the way - not one.  They were quite disappointed by this and were guests who appreciated being able to engage.  Over here they call them a “Ghost Host”.  These guys should be in a category of their own as well!!  To me they are more egregious than agents. Talk about stepping away from the original Airbnb concept and these guys are the poster children.

Other hosts really need to stop demonising those doing a good job with multiple listings.  I am in absolute awe of hosts who have over 100 listings and are SuperHosts.  Put it this way, if you have one listing and you are a SuperHost, it is 100 times harder to achieve because all the listings are factored into one set of totals.  If you have to manage just one ugly duckling in the bunch this can severely impact your ratings through no fault of the obviously super conscientious host.  Of course the agent can give tips about what would make the listing a success but who knows if the owners would comply.  Please get over the misconception that agents don’t care.  These folks are a valuable addition to the platform for the guests looking for their type of property.

This new category designation Business vs Personal has nothing to do with 6+ listings or being a Pro Host and everything to do with the earning power of the listing.  You can have 6+ listings and stay under the radar if you don’t cross the earnings threshold.  The designation at this time appears to be entirely based on earnings no matter if you are a Professional, Business, Core or Ghost Host.  Can you be a Core Business host??  hoho. 

The only time Airbnb hands over any information is when they are required to do so by law.  They will not be putting a distinction of personal host or business host on the listing until the government requires it of them and will not be releasing any information until compelled to do so by law. 

Creating the data before there is a request and perhaps using it as a bargaining chip - or not - let's be fair - could still be seen as them just being pre-emptive if this is slowly rolling out around the globe.  May as well do it in one shot instead of a long slow drawn out painful process. 

They did also say that in time these changes would apply to the USA, India and China so “y’all” over there on the other side of the globe are not off the hook either.

So, so, so in agreement with you about the distinction between Business and Professional Hosts.  At the moment, it looks like they will catch a lot of Core and Business Hosts in the Professional “net” with the low threshold of $15K (about $21.3K USD) earnings per year.  Trust me, this policy has already been rolled out here.  Well, our listings are test cases so perhaps not to everyone yet but it is definitely in the testing / roll out phase now.

Susan you absolutely crack me up.  The first time I read one of your posts there was mention of folks being more concerned about the location rating and keeping SuperHost than focusing on the real issues.  I was taken aback and thought perhaps you were a bit of a “meanie”.  I totally see your point now.  There is much on the CC that just passes right over hosts heads and they don’t understand the importance of the information.  Keep steaming along Susan and maybe your well informed and crucial posts will be heard.

As for that very vague clause - that really made me laugh, it could realistically apply to every host on the planet.  Too funny.  You are absolutely right, they likely do not want our contact information on our listing.  What’s next, a direct link to our business website??  Good Grief.  It doesn’t seem the other ATOs are subject to these stringent regulations. 

However, having said that, in the last 6 months BDC has made it possible for guests to contact hosts by email prior to booking.  They do not block out phone numbers so perhaps this is for the same reasons?  Seemed odd to me.  Mind you BDC also has 2 specific sites for either professional hosts or holiday rentals - villas dot com (it was some years ago).  Maybe this is how they escape the need for the distinction? 

Personally, I think including hotels is a good move.  I like staying in hotels and would now consider looking at Airbnb to book - last minute only.  I could also wind up checking out what else is available in entire property listings.  If you don’t get guests like me on the page, I will never even see your listing.  They have tapped into a whole new market which is great for every listing that may now get viewed by these potential guests.  More page views and more folks creating profiles increases the chances of a booking for everyone.  The Community arguement can be shot down in flames by entire property listings who can tell you that the guests do not come for the sense of community.  They have been around for a long time so blaming the Agents is not going to wash on this one.

Susan, you should ask John Oliver to do a show about Airbnb.  If anyone could get him to look into the answers it would be you or Rob might have a moderately slim shot too.  haha Love his show and can just imagine what he would have to say!  That would be awesomely entertaining!!, Lisa

[Yocencia0]

so we have been using co-host feature for a while and I was trying to set up the co-host as a team member but it gives error saying that the email is associated with a co-host and team members can not have any other listings or be co-hosts.  

Should we remove the cohost accounts and then add them as team member?  

will they still be listed for guests to see as co-hosts?

[Ben551]

Heya @Yocencia0 - my wife and I just worked through this issue. I found by removing her as a cohost I was able to add her as a team member and give all kinds of permissions I couldn’t before, which was a particular bug bear of ours. We haven’t settled on which way is best yet (admit I haven’t had enough time to look at it) but it looks like the Team approach is an either / or to standard cohost.

[Allison2]

I'm not seeing any payment options for team members? Was that a feature your wife used as a co-host & did you find a way to do the same with Teams?

I'm happy with the ability to set permissions, but I'm finding very little in the way of communication or collaboration. Can I add tasks to the calendar for my cleaner/team mate?

[Dev4]

@Ben551 @Yocencia0 

Just checking to see if you prefer the cohost vs. teams feature? I have been using the co-host feature extensively for a while now and I feel that the Teams is an exciting feature specially when they will introduce payment splits (eagerly waiting for this one).

Can you share more about your experience? 

Thanks in advance for your response.

[Ben551]

Hi @Dev4  - I wish I could help, but in the end my wife and I decided to stick with our current co-hosting arrangement.  We were looking at moving to teams back when we were going to start working with a property manager, but since then we've gone in another direction!

[Dev4]

@Ben551 Thanks for the reply. 

I started exploring Teams and as a result I was blocked from co-hosting. I have to deactivate Teams so my new clients could as me as co-host. 

I am sure that there are Property Management tools that have better features than "teams". I feel that the concept makes sense notionally but the execution is extremely poor. 

[Susan17]

Oh, what a spider's web we weave... 

[Rebecca181]

@Susan17 In addition to the concerns and questions you raise in your comments, above, hosts also need to be aware that it is possible their tax filing status will change if they sign up for this 'Teams' program. In the United States, for example, it may result in the host, including a 'core' host (aka the traditional, home-sharing host) having to file their income tax return on a Schedule C versus a Schedule E. A Schedule C filing requires one to pay self-employment tax (currently around 15% of net income). And the IRS DOES do audits at times. I know of hosts who had to re-file all their taxes on a Schedule C versus a Schedule E after an audit because they offered 'special services' like breakfast, picking the guest up from the airport, etc.

I remember speaking to the Airbnb 'Experience' team over there in Ireland a year or so ago. I mentioned how any host who became an 'Experience' provider would likely have to file their Airbnb earnings on a Schedule C versus a Schedule E as offering an 'Experience' could be seen as offering guests 'special services', and were they educating hosts about this possibility. I was told they had not thought of this possibility before and they would have to look into it. I've never seen Airbnb mention anything about it to hosts before or since.

I expect it will be the same thing in regard to this new 'Teams' thing (i.e., nothing about how one's tax filing status might be affected will be mentioned or addressed by Airbnb). Therefore, all hosts should perform due diligence in regard to how utilizing this new 'Teams' feature might change their tax-filing status (at least here in the U.S.).

[Susan17]

Absolutely @Rebecca181. There are serious implications for wrongful classification for taxpayers in every jurisdiction, and as Airbnb now happily hands over host data to tax authorities in most regions in a bid to win more lenient regulations, hosts really need to be cautious about what they're signing up for. 

[Ben551]

Hey those are good observations @Rebecca181 I hope other US folks pay attention.

I feel quite lucky in some ways because there is absolutely no change to my wife and I. NZ rules already classify us as a business (not optional - requires default registration with MBIE even as a sole trader) and the IRD already require us to pay provisional tax (similar to your schedule..C was it?) if we exceed a certain income level, which we do.  I guess when the rules are already as harsh as they can be, it can’t get much scarier lol.

Makes me wonder about the viability of the hosting platform though, if there are major implications for others around the globe...