[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

[Lawrene0]

@Robin4 , just checked again, and as of today, attaching photos, in both the app and the browser, is supported. Only for booked guests, of course. The sheaf-of-papers icon allows only saved messages. I was sure last week that I saw a third icon, a pdf icon, but I was rushed and did not screenshot or try it. It may never have been there. I'm cursing my ridiculous optimism.  

[Robin4]

@Lawrene0 

Hi Lawrene, hey,  just checked again and it's there! Makes my post a bit redundant.

Why on earth do we have to stumble across these alterations by accident!

*

We pulled into Sydney on our cruise from NY to Quebec and Nova Scotia  being noted for its fine cut crystal, I watched a display of the cutting art when this young girl came and stood next to me with this fantastic tub of what looked like a magical icecream tower. I said to her...."Where did you get that"? , She pointed and said...." just down there off the highway, at Tim Hortons"!  Bugger the crystal cutting, that icecream was for me, so I headed in the direction she pointed.

For those who don't know Tim Hortons is a cafe/restaurant chain of stores operating on the east side of Canada that serves anything from a half reasonable dine in meal, to a takeaway  'heart attack in a bag'! 

I fronted up to the icecream counter, there were a couple of people before me but I could immediately see this was not going to be simple! The base of this desert was cold plate icecream. The assistant would drag a scoop of icecream out of a tub with a couple of metal scoops the size of rowing boat paddles, and start mallying this icecream around on this refrigerated plate. The customer simply had to select what condiments they wanted mallied into this blob of icecream from an extensive list.....

Now, this is where the difficult part came in!!!!

All the icecream combinations had these outrageous names......"Cookies and Cream you love it doughn't you know".....what th! One had to be precise because there were a number of combinations so, one couldn't just take the shortcut and ask for a "Cookies & Cream"! 

I sort of hung back a bit to see how others tackled the ordering procedure. There was no way I was going to front up to the counter and blurt out...."Can I please have a cookies and cream you love it doughn't you know!"......... I know how to make an idiot of myself without being prompted!

In the end I couldn't hang back any longer, my stomach was getting the better of me so I fronted up to the glass window. This woman had a big cheesy grin on her face that told me she derived extreme pleasure in getting her customers to make a fool of themselves. That look in her eyes told me if I did not state my desired flavour combination in a loud enough voice she would ask me to repeat it with a bit more gusto!!!!

I might not be the sharpest knife in the draw, but I'm not exactly a meat tenderised,  so I said to her in a nice concise Australian accent (because I thought she might take pity on me)...."Can I please have the 3rd from the left"? She looked at me with a defeated smile and prepared to 'mallie' my icecream.

From that point there is a new love in my life......Tim Hortons....oh for a 'cookies and cream you love it doughn't you know' back here in the Adelaide hills.!!

You're in a great part of the world Lawrene!

Cheers......Rob

[Lawrene0]

What you experienced, @Robin4, was the short-lived collaboration in Canada of Tim Hortons with Cold Stone Creamery. The latter brand was pulled in 2014. I am sorry that this love of your life was done in by its corporate bottom line. Come back to Canada for the pretty woods next time, maybe?

Those stores with the ice cream, as I remember, were only in tourist places like your Nova Scotia stop. The Tim Hortons around here are coffee and doughnuts with a few other menu items thrown in. Much beloved by the local crowd, as Mr. Horton was a hockey player and Canadians are fond of hockey and coffee and doughnuts.

Now that I hear your story, I wonder if it was the impractically long and embarrassing names that sunk that ice cream ship!

[Charles224]

@Robin4 and when do you release the book of short stories?

I loved this one, feeling both the hunger and excitement! 

Keep washing those hands..

Cheers, Charles

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Robin4 , Thats funny schnitz right there!   Craft breweries have become all the rage in NY as of late, the names of the brews.  One we have at the bottom of our hill (Foothills) has a "KUNGFU Honey Blonde" 6.2% that is to die for and for our gluten free lovers, there is the "Running Free GF Maple MIld" 4.8% for those who like a flavor of something other than beer in their beer (not me), Maple is for pancakes not beer!  Cheery day!   Be well, JR

[Robin4]

@Melodie-And-John0  @Charles224 

Talking about beers and stories, I have to tell you guys this one!

Our previous dog (Jetti) who crossed that rainbow bridge in 2013 was an amazing dog, I am sure he was more human than dog. If I can tell a couple of stories....

Jetti’s outdoor favourite was one of two large chairs on the rear veranda of our house.

One morning I had been out to get the morning paper and clean out the letterbox. As I walked back around to the veranda I was distracted by something else, and put the newspaper and other material down on one of the two chairs and went off to attend to what had distracted me. Unseen by him, I watched as Jetti finished his breakfast, had his customary piddle or two in the garden and trotted up to his chair. He studied this intruding collection of papers sitting on his chair for a few seconds, went to grab it and suddenly stopped! He stepped back, looked along the veranda to the left and then to the right, and then around into the garden to assure himself nobody was watching, he carefully picked up the newspaper in his mouth and put it in the same spot on the other chair. He did the same with the other leaflets! He then ambled back to his chair and took up residence.

I could just imagine him thinking to himself……….

“There, the dumb bastard will never know the difference”!

One really hot summers day I took him down to Glenelg (one of our local beaches) for a swim. We both had a good romp in the ocean and after a while I coaxed him out of the water and we went to 'The Beachcomber bar' at The Grand and I had a beer. I had to give Jetti a drink as well, and as I didn’t have a bowl for him, I ordered a pint for myself and a butcher (small beer) for Jetti.

One of the other patrons saw me holding this glass while Jetti’s tongue eagerly scooped out the contents and we got into conversation about the great relationship humans have with their animals. We had a good verbal exchange over a quarter of an hour or so, and he said to me….”Can I buy you a beer”? I thanked him and said….”Thanks mate that would be great, hey while you are there, here is 5 bucks, can you grab the hound another pony”! He waved my money away and said…”Hey, this ones on me”!

We spent about 40 minutes there at the bar had another round of beers, another couple intrigued by the dog joined in and we really enjoyed our moments there together. Time came to go, we said our farewells, Jetti needed a piss on the first bit of grass we came across and we made our way home.

I had a chuckle to myself as I am driving along thinking, that guy must be scratching his head as he thinks to himself…..”Did I really just buy a dog a beer”!!

Cheers……Rob

[J-Renato0]

@Lizzie 

Giving feedback. 

Actually, I do not remeber if I took part in a previous poll regarding the guest email feature.

Anyway, here goes my feedback about about the discontinuation of this feature.

I rarely used the Airbnb email feature.

As far as I can remember, If I used it was about 2 times, at the most 3 times. I can not say it precisely.

Actually It is been a long time since I used it for the last time... maybe about 1 and half year ago..or more.

There are other means to contact the guest if we have to send some attached file. 

I will not miss this feature.

Thank you!

[J-Renato0]

@Lizzie 

In additon - I found out the original thread about feedback.

My answer it was like:

Answer: Sometimes.

Motive: Once in a while I have to send some file attached.

Now... Updating and enforcing - Nowadays I do NOT need this feature anymore.

[Marit-Anne0]

I use it to send detailed directions, info for the arrival, contact details for the caretaker, info on what linen to bring etc. Would be lost without it and would certainly cause poor reviews !

[Lizzie]

Hello @Marit-Anne0,

Lovely to hear from you, I hope you are doing ok. I've missed seeing you here in the CC.

Just to check are you ok with the changes outlined above? 

[Sarah977]

@Robin4   "We can of course currently do this by sending an sms to the guests phone"

No, I cannot send a text message to many of my guests because they are in countries which my phone plan doesn't support me calling or texting. It would cost a small fortune.

[Debra300]

I've used it to send documents to guest, but they do not receive them.  It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to obfuscate the guest's email address, but the host's email address is visible by the guest when the message is received.  Anonymity should be provided for the host's privacy, also.  Another thing that I would like to see, is an indicator that a message has been sent and read by the guest.  This feature is available on Expedia.com, and Booking.com provides a confirmation that a message has been delivered.

[Stephanie]

Hiya everyone,

I thought I'd update you all on where we are now with this feature. The guest email function has now been removed however you are still able to access it is you are a host who has Professional Tools enabled. In regards to sending attachments, we are working on having that option in Airbnb chat but you are able to share links to important documents in the meantime.

For the full article on this update, please review here: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/resources/hosting-homes/a/an-update-for-hosts-who-use-the-guest-email-featu...

Many thanks,

Stephanie

@Lawrene0 @J-Renato0 @Sarah977 @Debra300 @Marit-Anne0 @Robin4 

[Debra300]

@Stephanie,

Thanks for the up date. I read the article yesterday.  I still hope that indicators for read messages are still under considerations.  It's quite frustrating to send messages via Airbnb, and not know if the intended receiver has read them.  With a checkmark indicator, the sender can determine more quickly if alternative communication methods are necessary.  Another item that needs to be addressed is notification of money requests appearing in the inbox on the mobile app.

[Lawrene0]

Links! Yes, of course. Thanks, @Stephanie . I was wondering what I would do without a way to attach pdfs, but a link will work. In my case I will put the pdf up at cloud.acrobat and link to it there. That's a very reasonable workaround that hadn't occurred to me until I read your post.

It has the added advantage of a read-receipt. "Notifications" there shows who has opened the file, and that will be very handy!