Would a ‘read’ indication be useful in messages to confirm delivery?

[Lee386]

Hi folks.... would anyone else find it useful if there was a ‘read’ indication by the side of a message between hosts and guests, when that message had been seen?  

I like this facility on places such as messenger as I know that the message has been seen and takes the guesswork work out of whether they have received the information or not. 
cheers everyone.... stay safe. 

[Paul1255]

Great idea @Lee386  ! Would be a really useful feature.

[Sarah977]

@Lee386  I've seen it suggested before, and yes, it would be really useful. As it is now, hosts have no way of knowing if a guest has received the message and just isn't bothering to reply, or whether they haven't even seen it.

[Emilia42]

This would be useable but I always read a message in my email. Unless the message requires a response, I don't actually go to the Airbnb site to see it. It could be days before I set eyes on my Airbnb inbox which would mark the message as "read."

[Lee386]

@Emilia42 would it matter that your message has been marked as 'read' in the inbox, when you have actually read the message in your email........it gives an indication to the guest that you have seen the message

[Emilia42]

@Lee386 Would the guest know that I opened my gmail account? I'm not sure. Regardless, it is a good idea but I can see it working better on the app than on the website.

[Dennis-and-Maitee0]

@Lee386, We agree 100% with you, a read receipt feature like this will be extremely helpful for hosts. We all know that Airbnb encourage users to communicate via Airbnb App only, but sometimes guests don’t even have the Airbnb App on their phones, making it difficult to understand if they received all the details for their stay or not.

I will go even further... failing to deliver a message to your guest (for example the checkin instructions) could even determine the review a host will get at the end of a stay. If a guest never revised their Airbnb inbox and get lost upon arrival, IMO the guest experience starts with a “bittersweet flavor” and there are high chances that guest will not leave a 5 star rating, even though all the details were sent in advance or even the night before. IMO, it put the Hosts in a unfavorable position.

@Stephanie, 

Is there like a “Master List” where you guys at Airbnb collects the “most wanted features” that Airbnb Community users have suggested to improve the hosting experience? For example, the topic about “scheduled messages” have been in discussion for years and suggested by the Community and it was recently implemented and released, with great acceptance and positive feedback from we all 🙂

[Fred13]

Very good idea. 

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Lee386 

At work, people that use that feature are considered Paper trail creators  trackers and stalkers, the second they get the receipt, they call you on the phone, gotcha!!!!!!!  There was a time when they were popular.  Its a fine idea and could be good for hosts but generally "Return Receipts" come with a privacy feature that allows for "Opt out" for good purposes.   Just my thoughts, stay well, JR  

[Lee386]

@Melodie-And-John0 its always good to have opinion and to put forward a structured reasoning behind it.....thats what makes a conversation interesting. Happy hosting!

[Anthony223]

@Lee386   It's a brilliant suggestion, Lee.  I never have any idea if my guests have read my messages, unless they bother to reply of course.