Host Advisory Board - Top 3 Suggestions

[Mike-And-Jane0]

As The host advisory board members appear to have been instructed to engage with the official Airbnb Community Centre perhaps we could suggest the top 3 concerns for them to take forward to Airbnb. Not an ideal method but it may encourage them/Airbnb to actually do something more efficient to canvass hosts.

My top 3 are:

Reviews - Allow hosts to remove the star rating of 1 review per year. Comments would stay.

Cancellation policy - Apply the hosts cancellation policy EXCEPT where it is inconsistent with the law in the host's country.

Payment - Take responsibility (ie pay) if a guest is introduced to a host but their payment method falls over at a later date.

[Anonymous]

@Bez8  What you said was:  "I currently collect $100 pet deposit from all guests on my own."

But what you actually described was neither collection nor a deposit.  And you're right - at best, it's a decorative deterrent. Just like when the host "security deposit" is mentioned under a listing's Policies tab but not actually authorized as a hold. It's a Guard Dog sign with no dog.

I'll leave it to the moderators to decide whether this is too off-topic to merit inclusion in a thread that also includes a digression about Eric Clapton. But whether you're a surrogate for hosts or a surrogate for Airbnb, I would say that one of the most useful things you could possibly do in your new position is insist that Airbnb either add a real Security Deposit feature or come clean about the fact that it doesn't have one. Every day we have posts from hosts who are devastated to learn that the sense of security Airbnb promoted to them was built largely around a huge glaring lie, and many of them have suffered financially as a result. The silence around this topic has been deafening, even when insiders such as @Catherine-Powell are included in the conversation. 

If your role is to advocate on behalf of the host community, why would you want to change the subject when people are trying to tell you what they need to be advocated most? I don't want to DM you here; I think everyone involved has a right to know what you have to say.

[Bez8]

@Anonymous 

Facts are important. As a society we tend to act on little to almost no information. You mentioned that I had stated Airbnb did in fact have a pet deposit. You chose to misinterpret my advice regarding my own personal ritual as a concrete statement. This indicates such a strong biased towards a blanket statement. You're focusing your anger in the wrong place and I would really appreciate it if you didn't falsely quote me in the future. It would be nice to ask for clarification rather than jumping to conclusions. 

My pre-booking messages with guests regarding pets has been great. Would a pet deposit feature be nice? of course. But until that comes around I'd rather be proactive than reactive and think outside the box. I let our guests know that I will be more strict in terms of a checkout inspection when pets are involved. I give them this warning prior to check in to be as transparent as possible. It's a small risk mitigation that I've implemented for me. 

So naturally it worries me when you bend my words to get the following. 

"but now you're at least the second HABM in a week who has used the CC to advance the fiction that security deposits exist for Airbnb hosts"

That was not the case and it's quite obvious. Many hosts have suggested a pet deposit option and it's a feature that I personally would love as well. Please don't bending the truth to communicate your anger. 

Again, lets talk facts since you a habit of misreading what I said. I have been listening to suggestions from hosts on this thread and pet deposit seems to be a common theme. I asked you to DM me regarding your perception that the HAB has indicated that a pet deposit does exist. This is why I asked you to message me. Not the suggestion of having one in the first place. 

"If your role is to advocate on behalf of the host community, why would you want to change the subject when people are trying to tell you what they need to be advocated most? I don't want to DM you here; I think everyone involved has a right to know what you have to say."

Manipulative tactics like this will not work with me Andrew. I'm here to help and listen and have done so since the moment I joined the CC. I'm a new member and have really enjoyed listening to all of you. But I will not respond to fear and manipulative comments like that.  You can read everything I've written on here has come from a place of curiosity and passion. 

The HAB is the voice of all hosts. We're just starting out and our success is directly related to collaboration with the greater host community. But please refrain from misquoting and bending/fabricating my words to make a point. 

But what I think i heard you say is that you'd like a pet deposit feature? is that the suggestion you have?  Is there anything else that an experienced host /CC member would like to share? I would love to hear thoughts. 

[Sarah977]

@Bez8  Andrew didn't say he wanted a pet deposit. He said he wanted there to be a real security deposit. As we all do. If there were a real security deposit that hosts didn't have to get guests to agree to pay when they cause damages, there wouldn't even be a need for a pet deposit.

[Bez8]

@Sarah977 

I understand that. But I was talking about a pet deposit. I was actually replying to several hosts letting them know what I do in absence of an actual pet deposit option. 

[Anonymous]

@Bez8  What you do in absence of an "actual pet deposit option" is apply the claim policy that already exists. And as @Sarah977  said in more concise terms that I hope you found easier to understand, that existing policy is the underlying problem. Clearly your feathers have been ruffled, and you've expressed some concerns about being misquoted, but I only quoted you with your exact words. If what you've gotten out of everything that I said is that what I'm asking Airbnb for is a "pet deposit," I can only assume that at the next board meeting you'll misrepresent all of us as badly as you've misrepresented me.

I don't want to give you a hard time about misunderstanding something, because obviously English is not your first language and sometimes things get lost in translation. But you're in the unfortunate position of being someone whose voice Airbnb has decided it values over others, so if you dare to presume to speak for anyone other than yourself, I truly hope you start making a better effort to understand what people are going into excruciating detail to tell you.

This is not a manipulation tactic, and I think we all recognize that you are not the person who created the problem we're talking about. But to lay it out as plainly as I possibly can in what I hope will get through the fuzz (and let me know what  your native language is; perhaps that's one in which I can communicate with you better):  Airbnb suggests that hosts specify a Security Deposit in their listing. But they don't collect or hold a security deposit. Hosts believe that they have a deposit they can claim against when there is damage, but that does not exist. To date, no representative of Airbnb has ever engaged with the community on this fundamentally dishonest tactic. And when people like you who were handpicked - for purposes that have yet to be made apparent - choose to obfuscate and start proclaiming themselves victims of manipulation in order to dodge that topic, I don't think anyone is going to be convinced that you're capable of advocating on our behalf.

I'm not angry, though. This is par for the course. I just hope you're getting paid well for the crap assignment you got.

[Bez8]

@Anonymous 

I must have hit a nerve for you to question my language skills. You're actually right, Klingon is my first language. English is my second. My parents immigrated to Canada when I was 4 years old. I will make sure to give that feedback to the Canadian educational system. More specifically Mr. Howard who was my Grade 8 English teacher. I also suffer from multiple learning disabilities (dyslexia and ADHD to name a few). Perhaps I could learn English from you? 

"But you're in the unfortunate position of being someone whose voice Airbnb has decided it values over others, so if you dare to presume to speak for anyone other than yourself, I truly hope you start making a better effort to understand what people are going into excruciating detail to tell you."

It's these assumptions that make me not take you seriously. There is so much anger and hate in everything you say. My voice or the HAB is not more important. It might be my broken english, but you continue to make statements that are simply not true. I have been listening to everything anyone has told me on here. Go ahead and provide one instance that proves that I haven't listened to the hosts here.  

Your words are not factual. They have no substance or truth to them. But you have no problem making clear false assumption about someone who you don't even know. 

I will repeat it again because that's what helps me learn. I am here to listen and learn from all hosts. The HAB does not have a separate agenda. We're all hosts that have experienced many of the same good and bad. 

[Anonymous]

@Bez8  Unfortunately Klingon is not one of the languages I'm fluent in, but this is a diverse community and we might have a translator.

One thing I am fluent in is hollow millennial rhetoric, and it's hard to feel like you're "here to listen and learn from all hosts" when you divert attention from the topic everyone is trying to discuss to suddenly make it all about yourself and your feelings of victimhood.

Are you somehow under orders from Airbnb to divert discussions away from the topic of how it's deliberately misled hosts about its fictional deposit scheme? Or are you being melodramatic on your own volition?  Perhaps your arguments made more sense in the original Klingon.

[Bez8]

@Anonymous  

I take offense to people making assumptions based on nothing. You don't know me and you dont know any of the HAB members. Yet you have no problem making assumptions about it. I know you're probably used to getting away with it before. But it won't happen with me. I will call you out on it every single time because that's how you spread hate and misinformation. 

I have enough self respect and courage to stand against tactical manipulation. I will stand up against the truth being bent to prove a point. I would do that for myself or anyone else. Let's speak fact to fact. The amusing part of all of this is that you don't even need to bend the truth to make your frustration heard. I've felt all of it since the day I made my first post in the CC. 

I wasn't even talking about a fictional deposit scheme. I was simply communicating what I was doing as a preventative method for bookings with pets. That's all. 

I have been actively listening and agreeing with every host suggestion. It's all on here. I have no idea where you're getting your information from. It's so easy to hate and spread bigotry towards a group of people who you don't even know. I've met every single HAB member and they are amazing hosts in their local communities. We all wanted to do this because it's important to us and we want to make a difference. 

Let me know when you find a Klingon translator. 

Hollow millennial rhetoric? who hurt you for you to have so much hate? It makes me sad because I've seen it before. Also thank you for the compliment on being a millennial. I guess I look younger than I actually am. 

Also, yes I agree with everything regarding an actual damage deposit. 

wo’ batlhvaD which is for the honor of the empire in my native tongue.  

[Anonymous]

@Bez8  I have no idea what you look like (profile photo indistinct), but I remember you telling us you were 37. The first round of millennials are about 40 this year. 

I harbor no hatred toward you; as far as I'm concerned you are just a fellow host with your own passions and self-interests and feelings, which seem to be your primary topic here. But look, if you present yourself to a group of people as their advocate and then start whining about feeling hated when they challenge or contradict you, that's probably a sign that you're trying to play a role that fits you about as well as Zoe Saldana fit the role of Nina Simone. 

I don't blame you for that at all - Airbnb sometimes behaves like a teen-movie high school. Creating all kinds of artificial hierarchies, badges and trophies and levels, but also lots of crazy threats of being denied status and cast down from whatever inane Brownie Point you levelled up to. People shed actual saline tears over losing Superhost status - real life adults! 

But nobody came here to talk about your feelings. Are they even any of our business?

[Bez8]

@Anonymous 

this is getting amusing but I guess it is groundhog day.  You continue to make assumptions to feed your ego. It is what it is. 

That's all you got from what I've been saying? I honestly have nothing more to say.

I have consistently said I do agree with every suggestion here. I did not agree with you randomly targeting and bending my words to make your point. I'm sure deep down you can sympathize with that. I will never stand for that and I will always speak up because that behavior is viral. 

If you're ok with making assumptions about a group of people who you don't even know then I guess I have to be ok with it too.  No need to continue. 

[Anonymous]

@Bez8 The idea that I don't know any of you is an assumption in itself, is it not? It turns out not to be quite correct, but alas I can only refer back to pre-Zoom times, when knowing people involved sharing air space.

My impression is that you really, fervently, want us all to know who you are and what you're about - so, perhaps it would help us all better understand where you're coming from if you tell us candidly what you're personally fighting for, and so driven to change or improve that it's worth doing these humiliating errands for Airbnb. That gets the respect of your peers so much more effectively than blowing sunshine up their bums.

[Bez8]

of course @Anonymous 

I briefly talked about it at the beginning of this thread  

1 - Retaliatory reviews - We need to put more emphasis on established and experienced users on the platform. This could come into play in many ways. But I would like to see superhosts being able to remove one review per year.. In general I'd like more flexibility and rewards for experienced and proven users (hosts and guests). 

2 - Better customer support and training for hosts in tough situations (kicking out guests due to house violation, parties and others)

3 - More actively protecting hosts against proven guest offenders. If proof is documented and provided to airbnb, then a more urgent reaction to protect the host community. 

4 - I'm also an advocate for both host and guest education. Providing hosts with marketing material for their listing. A more dynamic and valuable superhost reward system. 

and more

@Sarah977  and others expanded on all these and I agree with everything they said

[Anonymous]

@Bez8  Thank you for elaborating, and it's good to know what you care about. Especially on points 2 and 3 I would enthusiastically support your efforts to advance better policy, and I think the others are also worthy of further discussion.

I don't want to create a dynamic in which you feel subjected to hatred or bigotry - that's really not my intention here, no matter how it looks in the autotranslate to Klingon. You're a decent person volunteering your valuable time to a company run by billionaires who like surrounding themselves with human shields, and in that schemata you don't deserve to be the target of anyone's ire. But do you wonder why you've found yourself being some kind of surrogate or intermediary, in a venue where any employee who's involved in a relevant committee could much more easily just engage directly with the people who had a question or concern about a feature?

Perhaps you've already been briefed on the fact that internal employees are forbidden from posting in the CC. Or maybe you just noticed the conspicuous absence. But considering that it takes a Skift reporter about 30 seconds to take the temperature of these boards (and in many cases, quote the users - warning to all) I almost have to wonder what was going on in the head of someone who thought creating an ambiguous board of semi-sycophants was more useful than engaging with the people on their own platform insistently trying to communicate with them.

I say "almost," because much of this can be explained by narcissistic personality disorder. (Not yours - please don't misunderstand me on that point)

[Bez8]

@Anonymous 

Thank you. I actually didn't know some of the things you mentioned. 

I can't answer or explain what you've noted. 

I have definitely noticed the frustration of a lot of the CC members. I know it's a deep and complicated rooted issue. 

Generally speaking I've had a great overall experience with Airbnb. It literally saved my life (perhaps I will share this story at one of the social zoom calls) My good experiences with the platform far outweigh the bad ones. I've had a few terrible experiences that pushed me to my limits. I mostly took it out on the unfortunate CS rep at the time. 

But I'm not representing myself. I'm part of a group of hosts that represent all of you. This means that I'm not blind to all the feedback and stories I've heard over years. My goal is to everything I can in my power to improve the platform. At the end the HAB will be successful through action and meaningful change. I'm hoping that ultimately I will look back and judge myself by what we achieved. 

The CC is much more vocal than some of the other community groups. I can only imagine that the frustration comes from history and passion. 

All I can do right now is validate that everything on this thread will not be ignored. The HAB will do everything we can in our power to address some of the major concerns. I truly believe that future HAB members will benefit from the work we're doing right now. This HAB can only improve with time and this is just a start. 

The clear message here is that the CC is wanting change. No promises or lip service, but rather measurable and effective change. 

I really hope that there will be formal communication in the near future regarding our work thus far. 

Thank you for being patient

[Anonymous]

@Bez8  I wish you the best in your efforts! But please don't take it personally when Airbnb abandons this project for the next shiny object. These guys love the methlike bump they get in the press when a new initiative catches positive attention, but they've never had the commitment for the follow-through. So I'd be very surprised if this project still exists 2 years from now.

You know how all those great female characters in "Mad Men" simultaneously think they're dating Don Draper? Well, there you go.