Superhost assessment to be postponed due to pandemic

[AandM56]

Hello Airbnb hosts,

After years of hard work, I will lose my Superhost status because of the lack of chances to boost my ratings. I want to formally ask Airbnb to postpone the Superhost assessment during the covid pandemic. Who's with me?

[Susan17]

@Huma0 

Even in "normal" conditions, nine times out of ten, our SH-line calls from Dublin get routed through to the Philippines anyway, even though the offices are only 10 minutes down the road! (that's when they even get picked up)

[Huma0]

@Susan17 

Very true. However, in the early days of hosting, before I became a Superhost, I almost always got through to Ireland if I called during office hours. The wait time was no longer than the 'Superhost Hotline/Batphone', i.e. normally super quick, so there was no advantage that I could see.

It was a real downside of becoming a Superhost to instead be redirected to call centres all over the world. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I got very good reps on the line in other countries, but I would say that was 50/50 pot luck and I don't know how many times I was the one having to explain their own policies to them, whereas with Ireland, as far as I remember, I have always gotten a reasonable, well-trained person on the phone. That's why my heart always leaps when I occasionally hear that Irish accent on the other end of the line!

[Huma0]

PS @AandM56 

I believe also if the guest threatened to leave a bad review if you did not give him a refund, and you can prove this (i.e. it is in the message thread), then Airbnb are supposed to delete that review as a matter of policy. They can also remove reviews that refer to any resolution case. Well, they are supposed to anyway...

[AandM56]

They actually pushed me to make a decision before the 14 days deadline, can you believe it?

I asked for some time to decide how much to refund (the guest did not stay but also did not cancel!)

I told them it would have been more fair to wait for the review period to be gone. They said they needed to act promptly to close the case with the guest. 

Horrible service for us, hosts!

[Huma0]

@AandM56 

Yes, there's always been something off with the timings when it comes to damage claims and reviews (something often commented on here in the CC).

The guest has two full weeks to leave a review, but any damage claim must be reported within, what is it, 24 or 48 hours, or before the next guest checks in? I never paid too much attention to that as I always had guests checking in soon after the previous ones left (until now of course). So, the important point for me was 'before the next guest checks in'. So, it's simply impossible to prevent a guest leaving a retaliatory review.

Only Airbnb has the power to do this by removing retaliatory reviews where there is evidence that they are such, but they seem so reluctant to do so. If you have evidence in the message thread, then what is Airbnb's beef with that? Just remove the review!

[Fred13]

I can't believe I actually read this entire thread..this is how it left me..

[AandM56]

😂😂

[AandM56]

I guess we’re all bored nowadays lol

[Fred13]

That was my point; nothing new today. No new promises, announcements or checks in the mail. 😄😄

[Stephanie]

Hiya everyone,

Great to see you discussing this here on the CC. Several weeks ago we announced the changes to the Superhost criteria during this period which I urge you to review here: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/resources/hosting-homes/a/answers-for-superhosts-about-the-coronavirus-160

If you have questions unanswered by this, please do comment your feedback so I can feed it back to "them upstairs"!

Thanks,

Stephanie

[AandM56]

Hi @Ste6 ,

that article is indeed the problem!

hosts cannot be review on their performance if in the past three months they underwent serious disruptions!

I understand the SH is still measured across the year, but three months with less than 10% occupancy, several last minute cancellations without remuneration, and uncertainty can badly affect your commitment and effort in delivering an impeccable service to guests.

i could have maintained my status as i did in the previous 5 years, if i’d had the chance to get more reservations! 

Going ahead with the assessment was unfair now and will be unfair in the future till the pandemic is sorted! It’s already pretty bad to lose money, as hosts, you added the weight of missing the chance if having reviews and missing the chance of having booking (till last week, when you blocked all calendars, guests could cancel for free till the day of the reservation - @keeping our calendar blocked)

very bad action against your hosts, who trustfully rely on you and make your business run. Very bad indeed

[Stephanie]

Hiya @AandM56 ,

The criteria are laxed to the previous years of stats and considerably lowered to support the booking decline from the virus. These are applied to hosting since the start of 2019 (so includes the AU bush fires crisis also). Hosting at least 10 stays is one of the criteria that has been waived. Cancellations only affect the account if they are carried out by the host - any cancellation around the Covid-19 EC should be carried out by Airbnb or initiated by the guest.

Hope that helps,

Stephanie

[Barbara2169]

 I blocked my calendar for the entire year after it took several hours to back out of an auto booking with a couple with an autoimmune disorder. This was in early March before the virus really got rolling in the U.S. I was afraid I'd been exposed to COVID and didn't want to pass it on. I hadn't had it as it turns out. The auto booking is encouraged, but can be a problem, as in this scenario.