New programs to help hosts

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

We have exciting news about what’s next for hosts on Airbnb. Earlier today we announced some new programs to help you stand out, get recognized, and attract the guests who’ll love your home.

Get discovered

Now you can select additional predefined features and amenities, such as a private attached bathroom or self check-in, to more easily attract guests who are looking for a home like yours. To take advantage of these new features, update your listing details.

Get featured

By providing the right essentials and maintaining high reviews, you can get featured in a collection—a set of homes perfect for a specific trip or occasion. To find out more about collections, click here.

Stand out and earn more

Introducing Airbnb Plus, a new selection of high-quality homes with hosts known for great reviews and attention to detail. All Airbnb Plus homes are verified in-person for quality and comfort.

Get recognized

We’re updating the Superhost program to help hosts who go above and beyond get the promotion they deserve.

We’re also renewing our commitment to community standards to help ensure guests treat your home as if it’s their own, and providing clearer expectations so that hosts can more easily provide a great stay for their guests.

Watch the replay of CEO Brian Chesky’s livestream to learn more about these announcements (translated subtitles will be available soon).

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Zappa0 but that's not all! You pay 149$ x 5 but if your listing's rating drop under 4,8 you are out of Plus program 🙂

[Lynnie1]

wait, what? No instant book?

[Gary-and-Maria0]

Hi, How do we now customize our URLs?

[Dave-and-Deb0]

This is coming later.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/830/what-benefits-do-superhosts-receive

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Lizzie Great updates!!! But i believe this will create even more challenges to the genuine home owners and play in favor of hotels and real estate agents who are using the network.

[Rebecca181]

@Lizzie -  One question (thus far): I do not yet see these things added to my amenities list, as outlined below - Is this still being rolled out? Thanks! - Rebecca

Get discovered

Now you can select additional predefined features and amenities, such as an ensuite bathroom or self check-in, to more easily attract guests who are looking for a home like yours. To take advantage of these new features, update your listing details."

[Huma0]

@Lizzie

Thanks very much for the update.

There's some welcome changes here, such as the additional amenties feature and the Superguest programme. I agree with the improved standards for hosts. I especially like the option of a photo session instead of travel credit as a Superhost reward. I also really like the idea of setting expectations for guests, but unlike the new requirements for hosts, there's no link to further info. It just says "A new set of requirements will encourage guests to treat your home as if it’s their own." I'd really like to know what these are!

Re Airbnb Plus, I thought this sounded really interesting, so imagine my disappointment when I realised there's no way for me to qualify. Although I fit almost every requirement (and the others are easy enough to achieve), I do not have a private bathroom for each guest room. I have a four bedroom house with three bathrooms and nowhere to put a fourth. Unless I decide to stop washing, there's no way for me to offer a private bathroom for each guestroom!

So, having already been forced to succumb to Instant Booking to make my listings visible again in search results, I guess I'll be pushed down the list again despite being a Superhost and going above and beyond for guests. 

Also, there is a critera for "Easy check-in, such as a lockbox, digital lock, keyboard, on in-person handoff". What does the last bit mean? Is it supposed to be 'or in-person handoff' i.e. personally welcoming the guest and giving them the key?

[Huma0]

I also like that there's a new tool for adding Check in instructions, although not sure why you can only do this from a smartphone and not a laptop. Personally I find the Airbnb App painfully slow and frustrating so I normally do all listing updates from my laptop or iPad using a browswer and only use the App for responding to messages on the go.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Chris464, @Rebecca181, @Oomesh-Kumarsingh0, @Gary-and-Maria0, @Zappa0, @Louise0, @Mary95, @Kristen66, @Tina306, @Jiw0, @Huma0,

It is great to see your comments here, thank you for taking the time to for share your thoughts. I know you are probably eager to find out more about the specific functionality and criteria of each new program, which is completely understandable. I have now passed your questions over to the team. 

Please do continue to share your thoughts and don't forget, we have a live Q&A with Brian on February 27th. You can submit your questions now, take a look here for more information. 

Thanks so much,

Lizzie 

[Ange2]

Good to have standards.  I already fit every amenity, above and beyond in many cases, and most all requirements except the private bathroom and TV.  

I do not want to offer a TV and my guests haven't wanted one either, they are here to have fun, explore, discover, go to plays and concerts, see the sights, not watch TV.  Anyway, in this day of computers, tablets, phones, why is a TV such a necessity? There is also a problem that offering a TV brings, many people jack up the volume to super loud (in hotels that is a known disturbance problem).  I do have 2 bathrooms but only one has a shower and it has not been a problem. To comply with the 'ask' would not be cost effective (if even a possibility), the increase in fees alone would price me out of the market, that or I have to buy a gym membership to take a shower there!

Will my listing disappear or never be seen, because I am never going to make 'Super Plus Host' status.  I imagine if someone sees a listing in a similar price range to mine but with a private bathroom and TV, even if they don't care about either they will book that rather than spend time going to the end of the list to see the lowly 'Super Host' listings.  

Plus, I do not see what having extra amenities, a pristine state of the art, all mod-cons, hotel-like offering has to do with being a great host!  Filters are enough to search for specific criteria.  This penalizes great hosts who just cannot offer all that is required.

[Huma0]

@Ange2

Yes, that private bathroom criteria is a real sticking point for me. There's just no way for me to do it! I've not had any complaints about the three bathrooms split between four rooms. In fact, a guest commented only the other day about having so many options for showering!

Last weekend I found my guests curled up on the sofa watching one of my DVDs on the TV. I almost fell over. I think they are literally the only guests I have ever had who have turned on the TV, apart from one long-term guest (3.5 months) who used to watch TV with me and my housemate on a Sunday night. I agree that most guests are out and about too much to want a TV and when people do want to watch something, they'd rather do it in bed using their devices. It's a bit outdated to include a TV as a 'must'.

[Ange2]

@Huma0   Seems to me that this is in part a way to deal with guests who do not read the description and amenities offered, and to lure new guests who have been put off by horror stories, such as no toilet paper, scuffed floors and no morning coffee.

Fair enough,  Airbnb do need some standards, oversight has been sorely lacking and resulted in myriad problems and bad press, and limited its inability to tap into a wider area of the market.   But, why add Plus to  SuperHost status?   Surely another catchy award/medal could have been invented to cater to the non-filtering, non-reading, unrealistic price/offer expectation guests and convince nay-sayers (without having to read the description) that there is a minimum standard - a hotel-like experience that they can expect with confidence.

Could also be that Airbnb is souring on 'unique shared spaces'  as being too tough to neatly box and label and not worth the challenges they pose.  I am not sure 'unique', 'live like a local' was ever considered an effective long term sell anyway, so little has been done to keep it front and center. 

I suggest that Airbnb invent a new award/medal  for Superhosts of  'shared spaces' that has equal billing with SuperHost Plus,  which markets the positives to guests who don't mind not having a TV or sharing a bathroom.

[Huma0]

@Ange2

Yes, I agree, there should be standards. Should a host supply toilet paper, towels, bedlnen, pillows etc? Yes, I think they should. Guests shouldn't have to bring these things themselves. There should also be a certain level of cleanliness if you are going to charge people money to stay in your place.

RE the Superhost status, perhaps that should be enough and Airbnb should do more to promote Superhosts rather than bringing in these new categories. However, Superhost status is largely based on reviews and ratings and those are subjective.  As hosts, many of us know the pain of the bad review/rating from a guest, not becuase we didn't deliver what was promised, but because they couldn't be bothered to read the listing. I guess with Plus, you are getting a fixed set of criteria so the guest (in theory) knows exactly what to expect without having to think too much about it.

I do also understand the desire for a private bathroom. I would also prefer one if I had the option (incidentally, I stumbled upon a site recently that listed the top 100 Airbnb listings in any given location and almost all of the London ones had en suites). However, I would also expect to pay more for this. I have checked out the competition and similar listings with en suites cost much, much more. I don't mind if they get to be part of a club I can't join. My problem is if my listings, which tick so many other boxes, get lost in the search results because I can't be a Plus host.

[Ange2]

@Huma0    I just saw some London Plus Airbnb's and they have shared bathrooms, so maybe that is not as hard and fast a requirement as it appears. Plus some I looked at are as cheap as non Airbnb Plus so competition may well be  tough, especially as Plus get  'verified' written by their name, which adds another level of confidence for the buyer.  This one for example https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/select/14676498?location=London&s=IvuX2jAs

[Huma0]

@Ange2

That’s interesting. Maybe the criteria is not set in stone. I might call Airbnb to ask about this. I will report back on my findings!