Community Center: 2nd Anniversary!

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

I have some celebratory news to share with you—this week marks the 2nd anniversary of the Community Center! As is customary with birthdays we felt we couldn't let this go by without marking the occasion and so we wanted to share with you some highlights from the year.

We would like to say a huge thank you for being part of this fantastic community and for everything you contribute on a daily basis to the life of the Community Center—you really make the community what it is.

A special thank you to those who have been very active contributors during the year: 

@David126, @Linda108, @Alice-and-Jeff0, @Helen3, @Branka-and-Silvia0, @Cynthia-and-Chris1, @Steve143, @Gerry-And-Rashid0, @Jeff158, @Marit-Anne0, @Andrea9, @Marzena4, @Kelly149, @Lawrene0, @Fred13, @Clare0, @Annette33, @Farah1, @Helga0, @Cormac0, @Jessica-and-Henry0, @Oomesh-Kumarsingh0, @Huma0, @Robin4, @Wendy-and-Frank0, @Rachael26, @Ange2, @Huaai0, @Hilary-And-Ed0, @Karen-and-Brian0, @Lilian20, @J-Renato0, @Amy38, @Tim-and-Holly0, @Zacharias0, @Dave-and-Deb0

Lastly, as a birthday doesn't happen every day, it would be great to hear your stories about the Community Center. Things like; what first brought you here, why you like being part of the CC and generally what you've learnt from others—but feel free to expand on this 🙂

We would love to hear from you.

Lizzie & @Quincy

[CRistina587]

Happy Anniversary AIRbnb. I'm so excited, I'm a newby and have so much to tell you. I do not want to steel your thunder! lol. My family and I are so happy to have become hosts. We love it!

[Lizzie]

A huge warm welcome to the Community Center and to the world of hosting @CRistina587. It is lovely to see you happy comment here and I am really looking forward to hearing more about your experience.

I hope you will enjoy exploring the Community Center and joining into conversations, please feel free to start a new discussion sharing some of your early stories of being a host.

In the meantime, I wonder, what brought you to the Community Center? 🙂

Lizzie

[Lawrene0]

Happy anniversary. Thanks for the prompt, @Lizzie. I don't remember which problem brought me to the Community about a year ago, after four years of Airbnb hosting and travelling. I know I didn't have to write a post. Whatever it was I was frantic to ask was already answered. But here were all these nice people giving human relations advice and aesthics and cleaning tips, and I'm no pro there. Needed to hear it all. But there were questions about how to get here or there within the site, and how to change this or that, how to word something tricky, exactly the stuff I like, so I jumped in, often too enthusiastically. Thanks to everyone here, I have avoided some pitfalls, heard some great ideas, and become a better host. Very grateful to you all! 

[Edwin57]

Lizzie Happy anniversary big big thank you for your hard work,and sharing so much information keeping us all of us infrom thank you so much

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Uuu @Lizzie you were busy 🙂 

I discovered Comunity center at the very begining of hosting, while I searched internet for ... what else then how to contact Airbnb :)))

Here I "met" some great people and I am sorry to see that some of them are not here often any more like Vendy, Zacharias, Robbin...  but I am glad some new hosts joined us lately.

We learned a lot here in Comunity center and it made us better hosts in a short time. We really appreciate all advices and tips we learned here from our fellow hosts. Big thanks to you all 🙂

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Lizzie Happy anniversary to the community! I also wanted to thanks all the people who works hard to make this community work properly. The reason why I joined the community almost two years ago was after a last minute cancellation from a guest and I wanted to share this frustrating moment here 🙂 and as I started to read others problems and feedback I started to become a regular members of this wonderful group. Thank you everyone and keep hosting!!! 

[Lizzie]

Aww @Oomesh-Kumarsingh0, @Branka-and-Silvia0 and @Edwin57, it is so lovely to hear your kind words here. I am so pleased to hear you enjoy being part of our life here in the Community Center. 

Branka and Oomesh, it is interesting to hear how you came across the CC and I am very glad you decided to stay, I can't imagine it without you!

It is funny, for me, it feels like 2 years has flown by and I think if we took a look back at what the CC looked like at the end of 2015, we wouldn't recognise the place. We have had a couple of coats of paint along the way. 🙂

Albert, you are quite a new community member in the CC and it is fantastic that you have joined us here, I wonder what first brought you to the CC?

Thanks again for all your lovely comments. 

Lizzie

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Lizzie The pleasure is mine! 

[J-Renato0]

Hello @Lizzie and all CM that has helped to built this great communuty.
Congrats to the Community and to the superb Community Managers and Admins!!!
Congrats to all the members that has done their great contribution to this community.

It is a good place to share ideias, to improve our knowledge about Airbnb by answering questions or reading the topics and news.
I think this community has some very good contributors! I am more of a reader than a poster!
I must confess that to me, sometimes it is funny to see some topics that resemble some sensationalist news...

Fortunally I have not had yet any funny story to tell... except for a guest that, with a great talent to cause problems, make his debut with a great performance  immediatelly after the first night of his stay.
I thought he was a very serious and responsable guest, but to my huge surprise, I was thunderstruck in a memorable sunday in the morning, when he phoned me to say there was an emergency! He said that the glass sliding door of the shower box broke without a reason! When I arrived in the apartment to see what was going on, there was an almost empty bottle of whisky on a table and some empty cans of beer around! The guest was somewhat loaded... In view of the circunstances, I decided to talk to him later on about the damage. In the following days and till the rest of his stay everything returned to normal or almost to normal... as far as I know!  When he left, except for the broken glass door, the apartment it was organized and tidy. Fortunatelly!

[Linda108]

Oh Dear, I forgot why I started on this site...#seniormoment.  Sigh!  Anyway once I made it part of my 4:30 AM routine...  There is not a lot of competition for my time at 4:30 AM but if I have a problem it is a great time to call Air BNB CS :D.  Anyway, I found myself drawn into the details of host experience in so many parts of the world.  Most posts are about the platform and if I can help with that navigation, then I am happy to do so.  Often the questions prompt me to wonder about it as well, so I learn stuff I didn't know I needed to know.

More importantly, I feel a sense of belonging and the responsibility for the community.  I have a confession.  At first I was Ms. Judgemental, but I have evolved (good character development) into wanting each host to be the best that they can be.  Therefore I hope my postings are helpful and supportive.

I think my development is a combination of thinking I might have helped someone and the acknowledgement of this lovely staff of this site.  Thank you @Lizzie

[Nutth0]

Thank for @Lizzie for 2 years. I hope you got another great year. BTW I think " all discuss rooms " is too many rooms so maybe cut it down only select an important one.

[Cormac0]

@Lizzie

I think one of the biggest changes I seen since I started making contribution to these blogs, is the ability to log a call within the help centre, which when the staff are properly trained will certainly enhance Airbnb reputation.

Unfortunately, the same old question keeps on arising, which Airbnb seem incapable of sorting out.

"How do I contact Airbnb"

"Location, Location, Location"

"Not so smart pricing"

I read a post recently where a Host was advised to reduce his prices by "x" to achieve "y%" extra bookings, the fact that the host was fully book seemed to escape the algorithms logic, it seem to suggest that its garbage and the suggested prices are nonsense based on a notional supply and demand.

"Identity issues"



My campaign to "Stop Hosting Incognito Travelers", found no traction and to be honest I did not spend too much time on it fortunately! now that Airbnb is running tests on having no Photo id displayed at all.

"Cleaning, Cleaning, Cleaning"

Guest "your place is filty" Host "Now its not I'm a hippie, its cool man" 

"Imaginary Bed Bugs"

No evidence found!

Another thing I've observed is that Host that have full calendars and top nightly rates will run to the defence of Airbnb, as if there wearing rose tinted glasses and even suggest that the people unhappy with the service should leave. I got a lengthy lecture from one chap about self-reliance (of course he wasn't to know I ran a successful and profitable multimillion-euro business for 14 years) coincidentally his nighty rate was circa $500 per night and he was booked out till 2019.

What also surprises me is peoples inability now a days to discuss issues without getting polarised in their views and they rather dismiss then rethink their point of view.

I would like to thank Lizzie, Kristie and latterly Quincy for keeping me on the straight and narrow and reprimanding me if I've over stepped the mark.

Happy Birthday Folks

[Marie405]

Happy Anniversary to the Community Center!  This is the place I went to seek for help when I started and it's been my source of knowledge for hosting.  

And big thanks also to all the expert hosts for generously sharing their experiences and for constantly giving tips.

To give back, I sometimes give advise to the newbies asking simple questions that sometimes sound so silly.  But as silly their questions might sound like, when you're a new host you really know nothing and I knew exactly what its like.  And its nice when someone helps.

Cheers to everyone! 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

Hello @Lizzie and all the wonderful hosts out there!!! 

@David, @Linda, @Alice & Jeff, @Helen, @Branka & Silvia, @Cynthia & Chris, @Steve, @Gerry And Rashid, @Jeff, @Marit Anne, @Andrea, @Marzena, @Kelly, @Lawrene, @Fred, @Clare, @Annette, @Farah, @Helga, @Cormac, @Oomesh Kumarsingh, @Huma, @Robin, @Wendy & Frank, @Rachael, @Ange, @Huai, @Hilary And Ed, @Karen & Brian, @Simply Traveling The World VIP, @José Renato, @Amy, @Tim & Holly, @Zacharias, @Dave & Deb

I started hosting earlier this year and the CC has been a source of great information and suggestions for a newbie host. Despite the different hosting environment each and every host has, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for taking the time to share experiences and make suggestions based on your own personal hosting experiences. 

My own hosting experience has mostly been very positive and although Henry and I are a bit stressed out right now, we would not have been able to manage and keep ourselves in check without the CC. Because we were warned by other hosts that this type of problem could happen, and because we were able to learn from other hosts' experiences, I think we are managing a difficult and stressful situation pretty well. And despite recent challenges, Henry and I plan to continue to open our home to guests because we want to believe that most guests are decent and well-meaning people and we know that no one is perfect. 

Happy hosting everyone~! 

And a special thanks to @Lizzie and @Quincy and everyone who supports and manages the CC.