New Photography policies?

[Martin91]

I'm curious if Airbnb has changed their policy on the photography program. 

Years ago I had the Airbnb-assigned photographer shoot a couple listings I manage and all went well. Recently I did the same for 4 of the listings I manage. When the photos were finally uploaded (5 weeks later) they DELETED all my own photos!! I had specially curated all my own photos in the correct order, photo captions on each, and arranged them in the perfect layout. Then Airbnb just deleted them ALL and replaced with the photos their Airbnb-assigned photographers took. It took my 4 hours per listing to go back through each listing and re-upload my own photos, compare them to the new photos, delete the inferior photo of the same shot (often the Airbnb photo), rearrange them, reword the photo captions, etc... I didn't realize I would be paying for a photoshoot that would cause me 16 hours of extra work and ultimately not bring any new value to the listings. So disappointed. After the first two listings were uploaded I noticed they had deleted all my photos and caused this headache so I messaged and called Airbnb and every rep I heard from, one of them on the photo team, said they would NOT delete my own photos on the remaining two listings. Yet they did! I guess this is a new policy?? If you use the Airbnb-assigned photographer they will just replace and delete all your own photos? Is that correct?

Lastly, Airbnb used to have a special note under their own photos that said "Airbnb Verified Photo" but that is not present on these photos. Did Airbnb stop marking their own photos as "Airbnb Verified?" 

[Annie1372]

@Martin91 

How many days or weeks ago this happen?

and I know AirBNB pushed really hard for their photographers, as I received a few emails about it and many notion the Apps.

when I finally decided to give it a try, it tools weeks to receive an AirBNB photographer’s quote.

and the price was outrageous.

with the latest iPhone and their wide angle pictures, I believe that my photo were good enough.

Now you have convinced me to never user the AirBNB photographer, thanks for the info and sorry for your situation.

do you think it could have a link with the latest AirBNB changes ´2022 Summer Release’  ?

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Airbnb-2022-Summer-Release-What-you-need-to-know/...

also I’m curious, when looking at you own 4 houses with the AirBin pictures, from a guest point of view, do you se these houses in the correct categories?

or even appearing on the map when searching in the proper area ??

wonder if there is a link between categories and AirBNB pictures