First Live Q&A with Donna Boyer, Director of Product

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

I am pleased to share some very exciting news with you. We will be hosting our first Live Q&A session, exclusively here in the Community Center on Monday, June 19th at 12pm PST (San Francisco time).

[To make sure you are aware in your different times zones: 3pm EST (New York time) / 8pm BST (London time) / 5am AEST (Sydney time-June 20th)]

You might be asking yourself, what is a Live Q&A? In simple words, a Live Q&A is a live online event in which members of our Community will have the opportunity to ask questions to an individual from Airbnb, basically like an interview. During the Live Q&A this person will try to answer as many questions as possible in the allocated time. Sounds exciting, no?

So, who will be our first guest for our Live Q&A? It’s going to be Donna Boyer 🙂

Donna is Director of Product at Airbnb where she leads the Product Team focused on host experience. In addition to being a Superhost, Donna is a mother of two and has spent over 20 years empowering product teams, leading product at Hyperion Solutions, Yahoo!, RMG Networks, Callaway Digital Arts and Blurb. Donna also serves on the board of Girls in Tech, a non-profit focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of girls and women who are passionate about technology.

The Live Q&A will be a global event across all our Communities, so if you see another member asking questions in a different language – don’t be surprised and enjoy the diversity of our Community. We’ll do our best to give you a provisional translation during the event, so that you are able to follow the discussion.

Take out your calendar and set a reminder to be part of our first Live Q&A session, which is going to take place on Monday, June 19th at 12pm PST (please see above for a guide on what time this is in different timezones). Don’t miss it! 🙂

The following link will bring you directly to our Live Thread. Please note that the Live Thread will only be open for questions when the Q&A starts.

Thank you,

Lizzie

[Bandula-and0]

Hallo Airbnb!

I am a host of SriLanka.When my property shown in the listing, the sleeping arrangement didn't display.So can you please make the mistake or do I want to correct it.If so how can I do it?I have one double bed & one single bed in my property.I'll attach my link of listing with this.

http://abnb.me/EVmg/TOxtMojBAD

Thanks you

[Journey-King0]

Dear Donna Boyer,

My property name is "JK Rooms - Sitabuldi Railway Station, Nagpur" and I'm suffering by payment method where always showing errors, even I got first payment in same account, but now showing error, most important there are no point of contacts in India regarding payments, I have also raise the tickets but no reply / no solution.

I hope you will understand my issues...

 

Regards,

Sanjay

[Personal information hidden]

JK Rooms,

INDIA

[Tina200]

I'd like to be able to set up my pricing with more options, such as a one night only stay cleaning fee as well as other ideas. Currently this is not an option.

[Christine1]

@Tina200, yes Tina, you can do all these things which you mentioned. Using the host tools via "listings" .check out pricing, availability, a whole heap of things.

Good luck, have fun.

[Stefanie73]

Hello! I am a brand new host. I didnt even have my first booking for our River House in Dambulla, Sri Lanka. I need to get more clued up on how to attract guests. I think I have given decent, comprehensive information about the house, what we offer, the surroundings, the staff, etc and I feel I have given a fair, entry-friendly price for 3BR full house - starting at USD 65.-. My calender opened on 1.6. - so very new. I appreicate tips on how to attracts guests and how to manage them for best experience and feedback. I'd like to paricipate in the online Q&A to learn from others and their experiences. This is a great idea! Thank you! Warm regards, Stefanie

[Hugh22]

Hi

We are hosts also and guests and use Air BnB extensively both for business and pleasure. Just a few quick suggestions.

We booked a trip in Feb 2016 for Christmas 16/New year 2017  to New York 11 months in advance. We had to pay out the complete amount (over $2000) 11 months in advance. I feel  a booking deposit of maybe 10/20% in advance would be fairer with the balance maybe a few months before hand. AirBnB had this considerable amount of money (like a bank ) for 11 months. We had paid as the guest and the host does not recieve this money until after we arrived. What happens if the host cancelled a few weeks before hand?. Air BnB would have has $2000 for 11 months and we could have ended up with no accommodation, even though we booked 11 months in advance. I feel you should look at this if the booking is greater thean 4-6 months out and the amount involved is over $1000.

A loyality scheme for hosts or guests would be nice. Credit to use on Airbnb for travel for loyal guests who host or travel alot. Not just credit for referrals please....

Thank you.

Hugh

Sligo

Ireland

[Lizzie]

Hello everybody, 

@Hugh22, @Stefanie73, @Tina200, @Journey-King0, @Monika86, @Bandula-and0

It is lovely to meet you and thank you for your questions here, it is great to see so many of you are interested in participating in the live Q&A.

Unfortunately, the live Q&A session hasn't begun yet, this post is only the announcement for it. The session will take place on Monday June 19th, 12PM (PST) and here is the link to where it will happen: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Start-June-19th-12PM-PT-Live-Q-amp-A-with-Donna-B...

You can view the thread now, as it has shares more details on Donna and how the Live Q&A will work. Please note, you will only be able to post in this thread above once the Q&A session starts. Only questions that are asked during the live session and are in the live Q&A discussion can be considered (link above).

In order for Donna to answer as many questions as possible, we have a few tips or guidelines, these are also explained in the live Q&A post:

• Please ask your questions in the live Q&A thread, otherwise we will not be able to see this and Donna will not be able to get it
• Of course, you can ask several questions, but please try to ask only one question per post, this will help Donna to follow all of the questions being asked
• Think about our Community Center mentality, be respectful of the interview partner, our members and their questions
• We will answer as many questions as possible, but it will not be possible to answer all, so please do not ask the same question again and again. This does not increase the likelihood that this will be answered
• Questions should be associated with Donna's role at Airbnb, this is a great opportunity to ask a senior member of the team questions so lets make the most of the time she's going to spend with us
• Trying to summarize your questions as much as possible will save us time and allow Donna to answer more of your questions. You can formulate your questions before the beginning of the live questionnaire and post them after the start

I see several of you have questions regarding specific things with your account, you may wish to explore the Community Center here and if you can't find an answer, you recomment posting in the help board, fellow hosts may have experienced something similar and may have some tips to help you. 

Thank you all and I look forward to seeing you in the live Q&A session on Monday June 19th. 🙂

Lizzie

[Deb18]

Look forward to it.

[Lizzie]

Great to hear @Deb18 🙂

[Paolo223]

when you say 12 pm pst what does it means? US western time zone or what?

[Lizzie]

Hello @Paolo223,

Thanks for checking on this. There are so many timezones I could have added to this. 🙂

Yes, PST refers to west coast US (San Francisco).

If you are based in Italy, this is 9PM on Monday 19th June. 

I hope you can join us...start thinking of some great questions you would like to ask. 

Hope to see you then.

Lizzie

[Paolo223]

thank you Lizzie, uhm it sounds good since at 12 pm EU timezone I'll flight from italy to brussels while at 9 pm should be perfect since i'll be there relaxed. i would and probably i could join you. best, paolo.

[Bea21]

One thing we want to discuss with you Donna.

In a 'boiling planet' today where its not obvious for some governments to join forces  horisontal with as many as possible countries in the world in order to fight rapid climate changes WE would Airbnb t introduce new categories of Hosting houses like ours. OUT OF THE GRID TOTALLY ! Unfortunately so far we havent seen anything like it. Entirely 100%  solar energy 

THANKS Bea & giorgos

[James250]

Hi Bea,

I have solar and have not paid for electrical use in four years.

[Bea21]

THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERINCE !!!! You probably then understand that  we find it very strange to find a category on Airbnb which is called TESLA and not one which reads 100%  "driven houses" by solar energy ! we live in our house  this way from day 1 in 2004 !