Watch the replay of the global host Q&A

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

On November 29th, we held our first global host Q&A and hosts from around the world submitted a total of 11,579 questions and 77,876 votes. While we didn’t have time to answer all of the questions in this first Q&A (it would have taken 191 hours!), we started with the top 9 themes that received the most votes. These included:

• Why are commercial property agents and hotels allowed on Airbnb?
• How is Airbnb improving its Smart Pricing tool?
• Can you ensure guests have actual profile photos of themselves?
• Can Airbnb build greater pricing options for different types of stays?
• Will Airbnb reduce its host fees?
• How can hosts manage guest expectations even when the listing description is clear?
• What should a host do when more people show up than in the reservation?
• How can Airbnb make it easier to contact customer service?
• When are Experiences going to be offered in every city?

Watch the video to hear answers from Brian Chesky, CEO and Head of Community, and other members of the Airbnb team.

Input from our host community plays a vital role in helping us to continually improve. A big thank you to everyone who participated in our first global host Q&A. We appreciate your feedback and are grateful for the dedication you’ve shown by participating in our community.

Hope to see you at the next one!

Lizzie

[Denis130]

Good video by Brian.  Look forward to future updates.

[Nutth0]

@Lizzie Thanks for a video. 

[Kelly149]

Just finished watching... my thoughts...

the questions ~~ followed by my reaction

• Why are commercial property agents and hotels allowed on Airbnb? ~~ cause we can, but if they're bad, we'll remove them. Do I believe this answer? Not really
• How is Airbnb improving its Smart Pricing tool? ~~ just trust us, it's fine. Do I believe this answer? Not really
• Can you ensure guests have actual profile photos of themselves?~~ no we won't, but you (hosts) can go ahead and ask them to fix their profile or review them badly. Is this really the best you can do about this ABB?
• Can Airbnb build greater pricing options for different types of stays?~~ we have new discount options, use that. Ok, I don't feel strongly about this
• Will Airbnb reduce its host fees? ~~ NOPE
• How can hosts manage guest expectations even when the listing description is clear? ~~ write a bad review for the guest and go ahead and respond to all the inaccuracies in their review. OHHHH, and my favorite part (this person clearly had NO IDEA how booking a listing actually works, bc she thinks that guests always see house rules -- NO They Dont!! They just click a button that says they agree to the rules, but they DON'T SEE THEM, bc the rules are hidden!!) ABB you HAVE to show guests the rules, STOP hiding them!!
• What should a host do when more people show up than in the reservation?~~ just submit an alteration and then review the guest for their mess up, we'll back up hosts who have bad guests. Do I believe this answer? Maybe, a little, but does it have to be this difficult?
• How can Airbnb make it easier to contact customer service? ~~we're working on it, but we're just soooo big
• When are Experiences going to be offered in every city? ~~~ Oh my! If you host a home, just watch this section, Brian is completely blase about everything about hosting and TOTALLY animated about Experiences. Didn't answer the question other than to say that THE WHOLE WORLD NEEDS EXPERIENCES. Please could someone at corporate who feels as Brian does about Experiences but about Hosting be put in charge of Hosting?!?

Only other thing that I would say about the Q/A is that there are people (a high school speech or English teacher perhaps) who can help train the Ummms out of folks who are going to present to groups as a part of their livelihood. But that's more of a generic life pet peeve, not so much a hosting one.

[Welcome0]

Thank you, @Kelly-And-Dan0! You brought up some valid points. Anyone who is in a position to respond to thousands of people, should prepare beforehand  by taking a public speaking class. There is no excuse for not being prepared. He knew the questions ahead of time. Most of us do not have the time nor the luxury  to be tortured with drawn out "Ahhs, Mmmm" pauses.  We are running a business enterprise. 

[J-Renato0]

Hello @Lizzie

Can I watch the video without signup for that company that host the video?

I just would like to watch the video, I would not like to sign up.

[Christine615]

I watched the session and was a bit deflated by it. I was in corporate management for a long time and the hosts are the "engine" that drives Airbnb. If you play the session over you'll notice that the answers to questions started with "That is really frustrating" and the phrase was repeated multiple times in succession before an answer was given. For an hour I felt as if there could have been more substance given the questions were known and voted on by hosts in advance.

I did think the answer about how there is a 3% charge was succinct and easy to understand (Airbnb takes on the credit card fee charge we'd pay under different engines). I had hoped there would be more answers with that level of specificity.

You need a corporate communications person to help with that - someone who can tighten the organizations responses so that hosts feel as if they were heard.

There were thousands of questions - few were answered given the format.

There is a real need to be responsive to hosts on a number of substantial issues regarding guest experiences and remediation when guests try to skirt the rules. I've had relatively good experiences and we offer a premium space. I am learning a lot from more experienced hosts and am going to be more stringent about flagging problematic people.

But for now. I hope there are more forums, but that the answers are thought out in advance so in a an hour more ground can be covered.

[Alexandra316]

I was really surprised at how bad it was: it was disappointing. All questions were submitted in advance, as others have noted, and there was lots of lead-up time, so I feel like he should have had more succint answers prepared. I just felt like the answers were rambling and didn't get to the point. If it were a regular event and a few quesitons were answered each time, I wouldn't mind as much, but when something like this gets hyped up with a long lead time and then so little is actually answered, it's disappointing. Hosts have major quesitons and concerns, and when they're not addressed, it's frustrating and it feels like we're not valued.

I think it was also really interesting that he didn't answer any questions about the host guarantee and payouts, which seems to be a major concern here every day.

[David126]

Was a fail on a few issues and probably because there is no acceptable answer, see Smart Pricing.

Something I saw suggested the other day was where people have had problesm with blocked dates being made available a back up is to set the price at say 10x the usual rate so if the day becomes avaailable novody will book it.

Now it should not have any effect on Smart Pricing for other days, but it does!

[Merlin4]

I was also disappointed, especially about the "managing guest expectations" question.

1. This was a complete rephrasing of the question/comment. The person was saying that guests leave bad reviews even though their issues were clearly stated in the listing. They wanted to know what AirBnB was doing about inaccurate reviews.

2. The answer was nothing other than: "we've added extra screens where they have to confirm particular items." Well that's problematic for guests who don't read things anyway. Why would a guest feel any more inclined to read another screen of house rules if they didn't read the first one?

And the photo question should have been easy. Even a simple "we are aware of the issue and are working on it" would have been better than the nonsense that was the answer. Yes, reviewing the guest poorly is a solution, but there should also be a "report inaccurate photo" button.

In fact, there should just be an "accuracy reporting system" separate from reviews. Just because a guest or host was inaccurate does not mean the stay was bad and vice versa. This could even lead to having an "Inaccuracies and Corrections" section for hosts and guests. This would actually force people to change things to be more accurate.

[Susan881]

Trying to figure out how to get in!  😊

[Lizzie]

Hello @Susan881,

Visit our Q&A board to watch the event. It is now live. 🙂

[Alex1095]

I tried for 30 minutes to get to the video and I couldnt 😞 , Im trying to see the replay today, any news? Cheers!