Your June 2018 Global Host Q&A

[Lizzie]

----------This message was last updated September, 3rd 2018----------

Update: We’ve gathered the questions and summaries of answers that were covered in the live Q&A. There’s lots more detail in the recording you won’t want to miss! To watch the entire answer to a particular question, just click “watch the full answer” after the question and we’ll take you just the right spot in the recording. Thanks for your feedback and for tuning in!

Why did you add new basic amenities requirements?

Our goal in requiring essential amenities was to meet guest expectations, as these are the items guest tell us they look for. But we’ve changed our approach and are now leaving it to hosts to choose whether or not to include essential amenities. For listings that don’t include essential amenities, we’re exploring ways to let guests know what to expect. Watch the full answer

Why did you change the cancellation policy, making it easier for guests to cancel at no cost?

We added a grace period to the Strict cancellation policy to encourage guests to book with confidence, and to make a way for them to resolve booking mistakes right after booking (as long as the trip is at least 14 days away and they cancel within 48 hours of booking). We have measures in place to make sure guests don’t misuse the grace period by booking more than one listing at a time or cancelling more than three times in a year penalty-free.

Your needs are top of mind as well. When you need to cancel due to an unforeseen situation, you’re covered under our Extenuating Circumstances policy to ensure that unexpected maintenance issues, sudden emergencies, and other covered instances do not impact your record or put an additional burden on you to bear the cost of cancellation penalties or guest rebooking. Watch the full answer

Can you request that guests have a profile picture? Can you share more info about guests upfront?

We’re committed to helping both hosts and guests feel comfortable hosting and traveling on Airbnb. And we understand that you may prefer guest profile photos so you can recognize and welcome guests when they arrive, but we’ve also heard stories of guests being denied acceptance based on their race or appearance. We’ve considered the solutions to the community’s needs carefully and are announcing new profile photo tools that we hope will address those needs equitably. Soon, hosts will be able to require guests to provide a photo before arrival. If you require profile photos, the small percentage of guests without them will not be able to request to book your listing until they upload one. If a host requires a photo, guests will be able to choose whether their photo is shown to the host before or after booking. We feel this is a fair way to address both host and guests preferences. Watch the full answer

You're constantly pushing me to lower my price, why? Who are you comparing me to?

Our tools help you set a competitive price and get more bookings when demand is low, which can mean suggestions to lower your price. But we’re launching improvements that better consider your market during periods of high demand. Soon we’re going to equip you with more data, not just pricing suggestions, to help you set your price.

As for comparisons, we look at successfully booked listings in your area with similar numbers of guests and amenities (listings you won’t see if you’re searching dates they’ve booked). We also look at what guests click before and after visiting your listing. Watch the full answer

What's the short-term rental legislation in my region? Where can I find info about it and ensure I'm compliant?

Understanding the legislation around short-term rentals is one of the first steps in becoming a host. Head over to airbnb.com/responsible-hosting for information about what rules apply to hosting in certain areas. It’s our plan to continue to provide all hosts with more detailed information about how local policies impact their ability to hosts, but in the meantime, we encourage hosts to learn the rules that apply to them before they welcome their first guests. Watch the full answer

Can you add an option to add extra fees for offering extra services?

We’re exploring ways for you to offer and manage these fees through the platform. The types of fees you’ve asked for fall into these categories: standard fees charged to every guest (like resort or linen fees, and local taxes) and optional fees charged for specific services guests could add (like breakfast or airport pickup). Stay tuned for updates! Watch the full answer

The review system can feel unfair sometimes. What are you planning to do to improve it?

We’re going to look into how one-off ratings affect your overall rating and impact your status in programs like Superhost. But it’s important for Airbnb to be a neutral platform for both guests and hosts, so we won’t remove reviews unless they violate our Content Policy. We want to give guests the chance to share their feedback— and for you to respond, too. You can always publicly respond to reviews.

Regarding reviews of your location, we understand that your location isn’t something you can change. But it is something that helps guests decide if it’s the right spot for them to book. Guests are asked to rate how convenient they think the location is, and that’s subjective, since preferences vary. This rating doesn’t say anything about the quality of your hosting or your listing and it does not affect your search ranking, overall experience rating, or eligibility for special programs like Superhost or Plus.

Correction: Previously we stated that guests who cancel before check-in, without seeing or visiting the space, shouldn't be able to leave a review, and that if hosts contacted us, we would remove reviews left by these guests. But it’s not always that simple. We only remove reviews which violate our content guidelines. We apologize for any confusion we may have caused in the Host Q&A. We take this seriously, and moving forward, we’re committed to being more clear.

When do you plan to expand Experiences to my city?

Since they began two years ago, Experiences on Airbnb have grown from 500 offerings in 12 cities to 12,000 Experiences in 180 cities, with more regions and countries soon to come. You can apply to host your own Experience at airbnb.com/host/experiences. Watch the full answer

Additional updates!

We couldn’t end the Host Q&A without sharing some exciting things we’ve been working on for you. We’re improving the reservation page so you can print, sort, and filter—and so the page is quicker to load. Your calendar will load faster now too, and we’ve made design changes so it’s larger, easier to identify blocked days, and so you can scroll to future months with ease. Finally, we’re working on photo services and tips to help your listing stand out in search like never before. Watch the full recording

We can’t wait to keep the conversation going here in the Community Center and in the next global Host Q&A.

[Clare0]

@Kathryn221 Have you indicated the trip is for work, even if it is not?  All Business Ready listings 

have self check in.  The choices are limited, but it will do the trick for self check in if that is important to you. 

Also, even if you don't select the Trip type as For Work, you should be able to select Self Check in under Amenities when searching for places to stay.  

I hope this is helpful!

[Kerry57]

Hello there im in Australia and I've just received my first booking since July 1st. Customers have been charged 11% goods and services tax. I only know this because they queried the charge so I had to contact help desk for more details and they took a while to figure it out. 

Are all guests being charged that on bookings in Australia now?

Why werent we given a heads up so we knew it was coming?

I had some home away bookings this week and customers were not charged gst on that platform.  

Feedback please asap????

Kerry

[The-Residence0]

Hi there, 

am new in airbnb and would like to ask how can I get more booking 😊 as not many people viewing my property yet 

thank you 

[Mathew25]

Yes

[Annie447]

I agree. I'm a slow learner, actually learning disabled. 5 yrs of hosting, more exstatic reviews than crappy. Many return visitors. Many friends tell me thanks to having found me on Airbnb, staying with me helped their lives profoundly by being the unique stepping stone to Tahoe that I am, by having shared my home with them. But I am now banned excluded. I had just figured out finally after a failed memorial weekend, 1 good review 1 cancellation, much too much time consuming filtering to choose those 2 guests, that I will not use Airbnb for "DIY" guests anymore because of the review system flaws. I will only use Airbnb exclusively when I can be home to actively host my unique product. I've been running my home like a Euro Guest house, a danish social experiment, based on my fav travel experiences. I mix a diverse mess of people together screening with my heart and a ton of time consuming communication. I get the best reviews of course when I'm home to actively host. But I enjoy sharing my home with a mix of long time locals, temp transient locals like J1 students, and fancier nightly guests, leaving the longest monthly housemates to sort of host & let the right type of guest strangers into the mix when I'm not home. I communicate to potential guests that the kitchen and other shared areas are only as clean as they & my housemates keep them. Sometimes I accept guests with last min reservations to arrive after longtime housemates have departed and I haven't been home to prep the room & home as I like to myself. I've tried paying friends to clean for me, I paid way way above min wage. It didn't work as well as doing it myself & wasn't cost effective. I can't afford the professional companies. Even if I get 5 stars on everything else, I will get less on cleanliness even though the guest agrees to "as is" "diy" make your own bed with linens in the closet etc, because the way the review questions are worded. I suggested that Airbnb make a "diy" button for this that would negate the weight of the cleanliness stars. Many guests have enjoyed my home, exactly the crazy way I do things, though I know its clearly not everyone's cup of tea. Now I'm banned off the site just as I figured out how I too could become a "super host." My new strategy was to simply no longer host on Airbnb unless I'd be home, and use other methods for when I'm not, and never again accept Sacramento guests online. Slow learner, stupid, too late. Now what? Back to paper flyers, business cards and maybe try the other sites.

[Annie447]

whoops that was a reply to a comment about the star review system. How unfair its become. A super host was bummed that 1 guest out of 18 can make him loose his superhost status. I lost my entire privilege to host because how the review is worded, even guests who are satisfied with the value of what they got for what they were expecting, agreeing to a place less than clean, not disapointed by the degree of cleanliness, leaving nice words and returning to my place, leave less than 5 stars for cleanliness sometimes, which now has me banned. 

[Annie447]

To Kuala Lumpur person: every time you touch your description, add a photo, do anything, it puts you higher up like a new listing. Also you can create different listings, different products with the same space. You can make a shared hostel type space and rent the beds separately or the room by itself as a private room.This will up your views and bookings.

[Roberto729]

Good evening,

My name is Roberto calabuig López from Valencía, Spain. I am really happy and satisfied with Airbnb's service as a Host and as a Guest.

Said this, I had, what I think is an iteresting idea last week and thought I should share this with Airbnb and its community. Here is the situation: I am an Airbnb Host and a local personal care product store owner. So the idea is that I would like to have an "Ad" posted on the booking confirmation emails sent to guests making reservations in a 10km area. Obviusly I would be willing to pay a fee for this ad/promotion service (this could apply to larger companies too). I think Airbnb has a really nice platform and some not intruding ads in confirmation emails would not harm customers but they would help and guide them. This Ads can allow segmentation through age, gender, amount of people in the reservation (family, friends, couples, singles, business...) and get the Ad only to kind of people your ad/company/product wants to reach through Airbnb. Maybe even offering discounts to these customers. It would be a way to boost local businesses, expand airbnb's service, generate more income and keep users happy.

I would be happy to hear from airbnb what they think about this. And if they would wish to move into this, I would be very happy to be a part of it.

Best regards to all Airbnb and its community,

Thanks,

Roberto Calabuig López

[凯i0]

great

[Ange2]

@Lizzie 

I would be interested to know what you think about this –  the full post reference is on link below (page 11).  It certainly doesn't promote trust to apparently be told by an Airbnb employee  that  "what is said in this video  [the latest Q&A] on this subject does not reflect the company's current policy."

quote from post:

Host Question:   Why ask thousands of people around the world months in advance to ask questions if the answers are worthless? Brian Chesky himself was present for this much anticipated video. I set a wake-up call to watch this video live.

Airbnb Answer:   - What is said in this video on this subject does not reflect the company's current policy. This has not been sufficiently prepared.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/To-Clara-Liang-Product-Director-Last-min-cancellation-be...

[Em22]

Hi Everyone! Sorry to interrupt to this conversation but I would like to ask help from anybody. My client was wondering if why she was charged triple on her reservation on my listing. How will I manage this kind of matter? Any help will be highly appreciated. Thank You so much.

[Manilyn0]

Hi, another good review from my guest is not showing on my profile. Why is it happening again? Thanks!

[Kath20]

I CAN NOT FIND MY LISTING ON AIRBNB.COM.AU. BUT CAN FIND IT IF YOU SERCH AIRBNB GOOGLE SEARCH CAN ANY ON TELL ME WHY.......

[Clare0]

@Kath20. Try searching dates that your listing is available and enter 2 guests.  Be sure to indicate Private Room.  I found your listing on page 1 out of 10.  

[Etienne72]

I have had an excellent run in Cape Town with AirBNB - wth generally great reviews

I had some problems in the last few weeks with my previous local co-host , and also concerns about the water situation -which resulted in my listing being suspended

How do I change this?

Why is there no communication possible between host and AirBNB?

Local support in Cape Town is very much needed

Feedback would be welcomed 🙂

Etienne,

Cape Town