@Kelly149
Thanks! Well, I guess many of us will have experienced both types of managers.
Which is Airbnb?
If you mean in terms of their staff, I have no idea, except for that disturbing article about their triple outsourced 'call centre' staff...
In terms of how they manage hosts (although of course they aren't technically our managers), well, I think they market themselves as one type...
When you call up, you're greeted with "Hello Superhost!" You're then told repeatedly by some rep how valued you are, how much they appreciate you being such a great host and what you do for your guests. They tell you they are there to help you in any way. They will ask if there is anything else they can do for you. They will reward you with an email with a cheerful GIF, a travel credit and maybe even send you a key ring or tea towel.
But, in reality, if you get a 3* review or more than one 4* review within a certain time period, they will send you a threatening email telling you that you need to do better. They suspend hosts without evidence and without any consultation and before any investigation. You are guilty until proven innocent. They might refuse to tell you what you are guilty of, but tell you that you need to fix it and do better. Even once you are proven innocent, you still get reprimanded, the slap on the wrist and told it's now on your record. Don't do it again (even though you've just proved you didn't do it in the first place) or there will be consequences.
I once watched an interesting documentary about health in the workplace and a large part of it was focused on mental health. The thing that researchers have found to be the most demotivational (sic?) and demoralising is to give someone responsibility without authority.
Hosts have the responsibility for providing the product, maintaining standards and keeping customers happy. That's quite a lot to take on. Yet, they don't get the authority that should go with it.
In theory, we are free to choose which guests we accept, but in practice, our acceptance rate is measured and we are told not to let it drop below 88%. Our ranking will decrease if we decline guests. Decline too many and you might even get suspended/delisted. We are pushed to use instant book. We are allowed to select our cancellation policy, but a poorly trained CS rep can choose to override this policy, or will pressurise you into offering full refunds when they are not warranted. We do not have the authority to cancel because we will be heavily penalised. We do not have the authority to collect payment for damages. And on and on...
