[Poll] Do you use the guest email feature?

[Stephanie]

Hello everyone,

We haven't had a poll in the Community Center for a while, so we thought it was about time and I'm quite intrigued to see the results! The Product Team would love to hear your feedback relating to the guest email messaging feature. This is the feature which generates a unique and anonymous email for your guest, which would resemble something like this: stephanie-dfsnsns@guest.airbnb.com and is one option to communicate with your guests. 

In order to participate in this poll, simply choose 'yes', 'no' or 'sometimes' in the box below in answer to the question 'Do you use the email guest feature?' and then click 'submit'. Then write a comment below in the thread telling us more about your choice and your experience of the three options - e.g. I don't use the email guest feature, I prefer to use the Airbnb messaging tool, to keep track of my conversation.

It would also be great to hear any additional comments on this feature below. Do keep an eye out on this discussion, as we will be providing the results as more come in. 

Thanks,

Stephanie

[Airbnb]

Hello,

Earlier this year, we took a poll and heard from many of you that you don’t use our guest email feature very often or at all. We’re going to be retiring that feature in early July, but don’t worry: If you do use it, especially to send PDFs and important documents to your guests, you’ll still have lots of ways to communicate with your guests. Here’s what you need to know:

• You’ll still be able to connect with your guests, either via direct Airbnb messaging or using their phone numbers.
• You’ll also have other ways to share information with guests. For example, you can still include info like house rules and check-in instructions directly on your listing. This means guests can get these important details without needing you to send documents every time.
• We’re working on supporting attachments in Airbnb messaging. When this is launched, you’ll be able to streamline your communications by attaching documents directly to your messages on Airbnb.
• We know some hosts previously used our guest email feature to send documents to guests to comply with local laws or HOA agreements. If you need to share these types of documents, you can send links in Airbnb messaging. You can also fill out our attestation form to continue using the guest email feature, but we recommend that you use links in messaging whenever possible. 
• We’re making these changes as part of our Off-Platform Policy. In order to protect our community and business, we ask hosts not to direct guests off Airbnb. This includes asking for reviews or feedback on a non-Airbnb website, asking for guests’ contact information before they book a stay, or misusing their contact information. Please keep this policy in mind, especially if you plan to fill out our attestation form to continue using the guest email feature. Learn more

If you want to learn more about this change, please check out this Resource Center article. As always, thanks for hosting on Airbnb and being such an important part of the community.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Sarah977, @Lili1186, @Lilian803, @Susan151, @John2406, @Marc798, @Adele46, @Robin129, @Sandra856, @Christine1, @Gordon0, @Jocelyn369, @Wendy684, @Crissy13, @Kelly1161, @Kevin1322, @Jim-and-Marcia0, @Ann783, @Eileen0, @Colleen253, @Michelle53, @Rita662, @Susan1404, @Yoss1, @Robin4, @Emilia42, @Beth80, @Alexandra316, @J-Renato0, @Lisa723, @Marit-Anne0, @Denise80, @Joy359, @Lawrene0 

I know it must feel like months since you all took part in a poll regarding the guest email feature. We've received an update (shown above) and so I just wanted to highlight it to you. 

A massive thank you for all your feedback and input around this.

Lizzie

[Lisa723]

@Lizzie what does this mean for automatic check-in messages from RemoteLock (LockState)?

[Lizzie]

Thanks @Lisa723 for asking about this. I'm just checking this with the Product Manager and will let you know shortly. 

[Lizzie]

Hello @Lisa723,

Thanks again for highlighting this. I've spoken with the Product Manager and you would need to fill the attestation form for this. This should then allow you to continue using the feature. The link above should be working now. 

Let me know how you get on and if you have any follow up questions on this. 

Thank you,

Lizzie

[Lisa723]

@Lizzie thanks for the reply. The attestation form says

"I attest that I will use email only to send guests attached documents for the following purposes: rental agreements or agreements required by local laws."

But that's not what I need it for. I need it for RemoteLock to send door entry codes.

So, I should complete the form falsely?

(BTW, RemoteLock customer support gave an answer contrary to yours.)

[Lawrene0]

@Airbnb , @Lizzie : I did notice that we can now attach photos and docs in the messaging through the browser, and was hoping it was the roll-out of a permanent fix. Delighted to be able to do this! 

[Sarah977]

@Lizzie  Thanks for the update. But removing the email feature before replacing it with the ability to attach documents to messages is entirely disrespectful to hosts- this type of thing is exactly the reason hosts feel they are not valued. 

There is no link to give to my guests to send them the hand-drawn map I need to provide them so they can locate my hard-to-find house. I am absolutely not "okay" with the changes. But it appears that Airbnb is okay with my guests wandering around lost because they have removed my ability to send the map.

There is no "attestation form" on the link you provided.

[Lizzie]

Hey @Sarah977,

Yeah, I am definitely with you on making sure that we don't lose anything before it's replaced. Hopefully in the mean time completing the attestation form will help with this. 

Would you mind have a click again on the link for the form above and seeing if this is showing now for you? 

Thank you. 

[Sarah977]

@Lizzie Yes, it is now showing. But it says what I have copied below. I do not use email to send rental agreements or agreements required by law. I use it to send my guests a hand-drawn map to my place, which they would never be able to find without it. No, they can't find it with Google maps. Does the company want my guests to be wandering around lost because they removed the ability for me to send my guests a map? And Lisa says she uses it to send her guests Remote Lock info. If the company conferred with hosts when designing things, they would be aware that their understanding of what hosts need email for is more far-reaching than the only reasons for using email their programmers could conceive of.

This is extremely ill-thought out and does me no good whatsoever. As @Lisa723 asked, am I supposed to lie?

Allow me to email documents to guests

I attest that I will use email only to send guests attached documents for the following purposes: rental agreements or agreements required by local laws. Allow me to email guests after they have booked a stay

[Lisa723]

@Sarah977 the hilarious part is that @Airbnb did solicit our input, via @Lizzie, who presumably passed it along, and you and I both took the trouble to reply with our exact usage scenarios, which have been duly ignored. In the case of RemoteLock, if Lizzie is correct they have also thrown a business partner under the bus.

[Sarah977]

@Lisa723  Airbnb has a glaring "listening" problem. 

@Lizzie Why were you tasked with asking hosts if and what they use email for, if the reasons those of us who do need to use it was totally ignored? I know this isn't your fault, but they are wasting your time as well as ours if they don't use the results of their surveys to enable what hosts indicate they use a feature for.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Sarah977 and @Lisa723,

I know it's easy to conclude that your feedback hasn't been listened to, but the comments shared here have been really important to the way this decision was been made and things have been put in place to ensure that those who need the tool still, still have it. 

What is happening and mentioned in the update above, no changes to the email feature will be made until early July, which I think helps to provide some time to iron out any questions or any concerns. It also makes sure you are aware nice and early, so the changes hopefully will make your lives a lot easier to plan for. I do think it's important that we work together on this.

I went back to the product manager on your additional questions and you should now see that the form has been updated to include 'check-in' instructions–which would then apply in both your use cases. Do let me know if not. 🙂

Lisa, regarding the information provided by RemoteLock, the above information is what we would recommend from the Airbnb side.

I hope this helps and please do continue to share any thing. Thanks again for all your help with this. 

Speak soon.

Lizzie

[Sarah977]

@Lizzie  Thank you for passing this on. I suppose I could now use that attestation option to send the map as it being check-in instructions. As long as it doesn't end up getting flagged somehow by the Airbnb algorithms and my account suspended 🙂

[Robin4]

@Airbnb  @Lizzie @Stephanie  

Thank you Admin for keeping us informed about the various messaging options between guest and host.

I agree with many others that the 'sanitised' email option in the message section was not a feature that was popular....I myself have never used it.

Having said that there are times when it would be advantageous both to host and to guests to send screenshot information in the message stream once a booking was in place..

I understand the need to keep personal information restricted until a confirmed reservation is in place but, once a booking is set in stone could that possibly trigger the allowable inclusion of a 'text box' into the message stream such as we are able to do in DM messages. The message stream automatically accepts a text box as part of the typed message regardless of what is in that text box.....it can be a photo, a map plan, or screenshot of a targeted section of the house rules or listing description. 

We can of course currently do this by sending an sms to the guests phone, but it then becomes anonymous as far as Airbnb are concerned......it's information being exchanged outside the platform  I would prefer all information to remain within the message stream so there is a record of it should it ever be needed in future. I am sure this would also be beneficial to Airbnb should any future disputes arise.

I have just noticed that @Lawrene0  says she can do this, but the last time I tried a couple of weeks ago the function was not available, although I have used it in the DM section. If it has now been included to all hosts in the message stream, please disregard this  post

Thanks Lizzie for keeping us up to date here.

Cheers........Rob