So are we going to talk about this disturbing article in Bloomberg?

[Christine615]

This showed up in my feed when I was checking the stock price. I'm posting here on the closed Host Circle so the discussion isn't out in the general public.

We, as hosts, have been shouting about the safety issues and Airbnb not doing a proper job of verifying host and guest identities for years. Now I'm reading that one of the groups that were laid off were the very people who were working on Trust and Safety?

What is the corporate response to this?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-06-15/airbnb-spends-millions-making-nightmares-at-live-...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9688361/Airbnb-secret-black-box-team-forks-50-million-year-...

[Michelle53]

@Christine615   I wasn't really aware at all of my Uber rating !  I just noticed I'm a 4.43  😉   I guess that's pretty bad, but of course, I really don't know why, since there's no text attached. 

I'm not really a chatty passenger. I feel it's distracting to a driver to be talking to the back of their head, all the time. The few times I've used Uber were really to run back and forth to the shop when my car was in for service. When I still had my dog, I had to take her with me because she was blind and would get fretful if left at home alone. I would always ask the drivers if it was ok, and nobody cancelled me, but I guess they must have still marked me down. 

Oh, and I backseat drove, one time, when I knew the one-ways that would get to my place faster in rush hour than the gps tracker.  I'm sure drivers hate that. 

[Sarah977]

@Christine615  I could never wrap my head around the hiding of profile photos to prevent discrimination. As you say, it would seem to me that a guest wouldn't want to put any money in the pocket of a prejudiced host, certainly wouldn't want to show up to get an obviously prejudiced bad vibe, and would prefer to get declined at the outset. 

It would also seem a poor way of getting racist, homophobic, etc hosts off the platform. Rather than forcing them into accepting bookings from those they have a hate on for, those hosts could be ferretted out by algorithms that look at which bookings they declined. If they decline all bookings from people of color, it's obvious that they discriminate.

[Anonymous]

@Sarah977  Awhile back, @Ute42  dug up some information that I hadn't been aware of:  Airbnb's decision to hide guest profile pictures before booking was apparently mandated by a court order following a discrimination lawsuit. Naturally, they don't want the narrative to be that they lost a lawsuit, so instead they presented it as their own initiative. I have to wonder how many other unpopular policies have similar origins.

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous  Now that you mention it, I do remember that info. I had forgotten.

[Suzanne302]

Wow. That's a pretty dark read. Airbnb needs to realize it can't operate like a hotel. There MUST be transparency between hosts and guests. This is a personal platform (which is what sets it apart from a hotel in the first place) and both guests and hosts should know as much about each other as possible without violating any privacy/safety issues. 

Uber is a great example. Both driver and rider have most of the information they need to decide if they are comfortable proceeding. Airbnb is too afraid of losing guests and us hosts pay the price. As evidenced by this article the company prioritizes "fixing" problems with public perception instead of simply investing in good customer service.

Some of y'all are probably tired of hearing me say this, but Airbnb is trying to be too many things to too many people. I would love another platform to come along that would focus solely on those who homeshare or both those who homeshare and those who are single property owners. We have vastly different needs than corporations running dozens and even hundreds of properties.

[Sarah977]

@Suzanne302  Not only do home-share and on-site hosts have vastly different needs, we tend to get a different type of guest. Someone looking to throw a party or sneak in extra guests or pets, doesn't knowingly book a place where the host is on-site. I'm quite sure the majority of damage claims, rule-breaker reports, claims for extra guests, come from hosts of off-site, entire home listings. We cost the company a lot less in terms of both damage payouts and customer service attention.

[Suzanne302]

@Sarah977  

"We cost the company a lot less in terms of both damage payouts and customer service attention."

OMG YES! Great point!!!

[John5097]

I've been thinking about this since reading it and just seeing this topic now. 

A few ideas: 

1) Airbnb should require government ID, or some reliable ID, from all host and guest. 

2) If guest don't want to include their last name, or use a different name on booking, Airbnb should alert host and give them the option to cancel the reservation without penalty, or better yet it would need to be approved first if the guest verified ID doesn't match the profile name. 

3) If guest are worried about ID theft Airbnb could do more to reassure them with clear policy. These guest likely still use online backing and purchase things off Amazon everyday, and 99% probably use their name and face on social media.  

I don't want paranoid guest anyway. 

My guest have been great, by the way. I just don't understand why Airbnb takes so much risk. As someone else said you can't be everything to everyone. Guest should feel reassured as host are verified. This is something we should encourage. 

[Afi377]

I now ask guests to send me their govt ID, since I know AIRBNB does not check. If they desire to stay in my house I need to verify who they are.A lot of guests use nick names to book

[Christine615]

The vast majority of my guests have been great and appreciative. But I signed on to Airbnb when it was about community and cultural exchange. Now it’s anonymous people looking for a cheap hotel equivalent they can rip off and out of state investor hosts disrupting neighborhoods. We just shut another one down in our neighborhood.

Airbnb doesn’t vett hosts or guests. Someone sent me a private note to say the problem is worse then what’s reflected in the article. That assaults are higher. I don’t want to do this and then a year down the road get that one bad guest who hurts one of my family members. 

Packing in bodies and homes to raise the stock price is going to destroy the company. On several FB pages the number of hosts reporting guests stealing or destroying their property seems to be rising. Or refusing to leave or….    and no one can get CS in the phone 

When I reported a host who accepted my reservation then demanded money outside the platform before she’d give me checkin information it took 2 days to get a “nothing we can do” answer.

I used to think it would take an assault or murder to get Airbnb to wake up but apparently that’s been happening and the response was to require arbitration and a non-disclosure for the settlement. 

So is Catherine Powell’s job to placate hosts while quietly maintaining the status quo snd paying off victims?

[Michelle53]

@Christine615  It hit the New York Post yesterday. One wonders when the politicians will grab onto it.  There are many who don't like the influence of "Big Tech". 

https://nypost.com/2021/06/20/how-airbnb-keeps-its-dirtiest-secrets-out-of-the-news/

[Christine615]

This quote from the article is what I fear :

”….Make no mistake: This company has made the internal calculation that spending $50 million a year to shut victims up is cheaper than making things right….”

[Colleen253]

@Christine615 "Airbnb doesn’t vett hosts or guests". I know this already, and know that 'verified id' can't be trusted in. As if my early hosting experience with my identity verified and 'known to police' guest wasn't enough,  I just experienced more disturbing proof that the identity verification process is indeed a complete and utter sham. I still require all guests to be identity verified (just because). One of my recent confirmed reservations had a first name and last initial only. I contacted Airbnb to provide me the last name of this guest and they can't because they don't  know what it is. This person signed up and completed the id verification and booking process with only a first name.

@Catherine-Powell @Brian @Airbnb @Tara-Bunch 

[Afi377]

Colleen- That is why I ask for ID now. No image sent to me, no STAY.

[John5097]

@Christine615 @Colleen253 @Michelle53 

Its not unusual for DOJ to file investigation into big companies. This is an example of Western Union settling case filed by DOJ. Pretty much said WU should have done more to protect its customers from criminal activity. 

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-begins-first-distribution-funds-recovered-through-...