Time to leave AirBnB given the new targets for superhosts

[Kendall-and-Derek0]

We have hosted exchange students for years, started with Airbnb a few years ago and became Superhosts... We work hard and provide a nice place to stay. I have now been informed that my overall star rating is now a 4.7 ?? When you look at our listing all 5's states we are a 4.9 and yet this. 

It is not that the Superhost ranking is a big deal.. but we provide a home and room for everyone that has come to enjoy. We got a 4 for location?, and a 4 for value...?? Of the overall 4 stars they all gave us 5 stars on all levals... 

The lack of appreciaton and support has been clear thru the community boards and lack of anything but a form/boilerplate response when we did ask a question. 

We are honoring the reservations that are now booked. But will be stopping and have snoozed our listing for now. We enjoy meeting others and we are like the commercials ... but as many have said Times are changing... It was a fun season.. but not worth the stress.

Kendall

[Ron196]

This is the first time I've read any "community" threads and now I have a better idea why the top of my skull has come off trying to deal with Airbnb. My partner and I own an IT company and previously hosted for fun and trivial extra income. When we picked up a second place in Miami we focused on maximizing vacant time in our primary residence and as a result became more focused on hosting particulars and as a result discovered the extremely poor Airbnb/Host relationship.

Consequently, we've started building a "Host collective group" with the intention of leveraging Airbnb for better support relations through a strength in numbers approach that aims to balance the conflict of interests.

We've only recently started focus on this Super Host track and have noticed most of the issues mentioned here within the first few weeks. If you notice, on the ratings they are all ratios except cancellations which is set at a hard number of "0." Obviously, Airbnb prefers hosts to turn down no one.

In our thinking, this should be a ratio of declines to bookings of about 1/10  which gives hosts the ability to decline guests based on legal and reasonable "savy awareness" of what may or may not make for a good guest/host relationship. For those who have done this even a short while, I'm sure you know, and have most likely experienced, the vibe I'm speaking of. We too have 5 stars across the board and have made friends we still know and vist around the world.

We've found: Their calculations of rations to be incorrect (We're both economists), "special features" notes are added at random, with no basis, from Airbnb employees, and we've come to strongly suspect that lodging complaints to Airbnb about Host support and other unresolved issues results in behind the scenes negative impact. We have already confirmed (because we operate under 3 different accounts) that Airbnb CS employees will tag a host with unfavorable identifiers if you press them on issues or their performance and they'll simply sand bag you - even if you're a 5 star host.

Additionally, we've learned that if you try to search your own listing from another account you can often find that the filters won't locate your property very easily. Views to bookings have gone down along with room rates. We tested this by dropping our top rental from 85.00/ night to 10.00/night after we confronted them and guess what we found...? virtual invisiability.

Uber has fast earned a reputation among drivers that they are not good to their drivers. (Not surprising given the public press of their other employee issues) They will side with the rider at the cost of the driver because, like servers in restaurants, have a replacement supply creating the moral hazzard we're experiencing. It appears that Airbnb is not far behind.

It's extremely disappointing - and has encouraged us to put our thinking caps on about how to use technology to balance the playing field and the Host/BnB business relationship.

[Sally221]

Hey Ron,

strength in numbers indeed; that's Golden State's motto!  We've only been hosts for not quite a year & its been the fulfillment of my secret dream to have a BnB  A micro BnB in my own home! Legitimizing the effort I put into my garden ! Meeting mostly lovely people!  Clearly, we have enjoyed the experience (mostly) but have felt the pressure of constantly being asked to lower our prices; at first I complied but at a certain point it became ridiculous and I put them back close to what we originally charged. I appreciate having a 3rd party collect & remit the monies, run the platform and provide vetting of guests but I am very uneasy about both the newer protocols and some of the experiences fellow hosts have recounted on these forums. I would be happy to be part of a "Host collective group" Sounds hella Berkeley, really.  Where do I sign up? Sally

[Ros-and-Chris0]

Hi Sally, I share your hosting ethos and your reasons for using Airbnb. I work my socks off to provide an immaculate suite  of rooms and a friendly but not intrusive service for my guests. However I’m afraid Airbnb don’t ‘vet’ guests, anybody can join and apply for a reservation with no proof of ID except the email and phone number. I think this is a major flaw and say I won’t accept a reservation without government ID, but I get constant requests from people without it, then penalised by a reduced ‘response time’ whilst I’m waiting for the guest to upload ID. I also get a lot of requests to hire my place for parties, which I decline, again being penalised. People do this despite the no parties box being ticked. 

I have loved hosting the vast majority of my guests, but have just been trolled by dirty, inconsiderate and noisy guests who broke my house rules. My 5 star rating has dropped to 4.7 because of this one vindictive review and I get a snotty message from Airbnb, telling me I need to improve or risk being suspended. This is despite my being in contact with them to dispute the 1 star review on the grounds of inaccuracy (lies).  

I’m afraid it seems the host/ company relationship has crashed this year and I am seriously considering taking our listing down. 

[Andrea887]

Hi,

I am reading all this comments, and I see that I am not alone in that opinion.. this system sucks. I know there have to be some rules... but this running for superhosting is insane. It works in a way that the guest is always right, and it is not supposed to be like that, because we are not proffesionals in that business, but we kinda became. It is for restaurants, hotels and bars, but we should be even. It is not a fairplay like this.

Once guest asked me to chek in earlier - I allowed, to check out later - I allowed, he broke my toilet, he asked me to bring his dog - I allowed. I have a garden, and I expected that the dog was in the garden most of the time, but he was all over the place, the bed, couch.... (I know because of tons of hair).. and after all that he left a **bleep**ty review (for CLEANLINESS, location....).  and I almost fell from a superhost chair. 

And there are many, many other things which make me really think about staying in this community.

Andrea

[Mimi20]

I totally relate to this and I actually find it really heartbreaking. Guests have said similar things - I couldn’t give it five stars as she had a child. We shared a bathroom. There’s a dog. All things I make very clear when promoting my super clean and safe but very budget room! When you go out of your way to accommodate people and be kind and they feel authorized to be picky and rude back it’s very sad. I do think there are many different Airbnb’s and the home sharers need and deserve their own space separate to the ultra glam Airbnb plus homes which are run by professional hosts. Our needs and our clientele are totally different and sadly Airbnb keeps us as their poster child to ward off complaints about the rich people hosting multiple spaces. Yet we are treated the worst. I don’t want to become an Airbnb plus host. I just want to keep my room as a budget space for friendly curious likeminded travelers! Being told otherwise is so depressing and I also feel like leaving this site after several really bad experiences.

[Fred13]

In the hope of saving some time to some, perhaps the following 'impressions' may prove helpful.

1. The messages you get from Airbnb are automatically generated by a computer (handling 100,000,000 bookings a year), and their sometime rude manner (of course) is unnecessary.

2. The most important economic benefit to Airbnb is that potential guests book with them (with any of their host) vs. with a competitor (VRBO, Bookings, etc). Price, to Airbnb it appears, is the best weapon for that to happen., the lower the 'better'.

3. To the host a high-volume of bookings is great, but at too low a price it is not, but don't expect Airbnb to educate you on that reality. 

4. Generally speaking, the lower the price, usually the 'worse' the guests tends to be, so beware.

5. Airbnb's recent popularity (welcomed to the high-volume arena) has created new problems. Today  it is riddled with ridiculous conventions and inexplicably policies.

6. On the plus side, Airbnb brings the big numbers to their participating hosts in comparison to the competition, but needless to say, it is not a Godsend to all, some are definitely better off elsewhere. 

7. Yes, Airbnb does tend to side with the guest, not the host, regardless of their rank or history,  probably because the people in their Customer Service who make the first decisions are given such explicit instructions. 

8. Airbnb consistently tries to have it both ways with hosts, and that is when the Airbnb-host relationship runs into the most problems.

Life with Airbnb (circa 2018). 

[Kendall-and-Derek0]

Fred,

Yep to the post and pic. Thank you for the bullet points.. you are spot on.

If ego is taken out and not caring about the A (superhost)... it is fine. This thread has allowed me to vent and get some amazing feedback.. We have decided to snooze our listing for a bit. Our own vacation and  some painting and upgrades we are doing for us. Interesting our bnb in Iceland is co listed on Airbnb and tripadvisor. I was able to read so many wonderful comments...about the guesthouse that we are even more comfortable with our upcoming lodgings.. The get away is much needed... 

We have been booked and continue to be for every weekend thru Aug. Will most likely not be that open again... but it has helped us work out kinks on our end. We have had other Superhosts stay with us.. a couple with 430+ reviews.. they were great and gave us some suggestions for streamlining.. 

I have appreciated all the replies here.... and the community we have outside of Airbnb corporate.

[Robin4]

@Fred13

Fred I like your VRBO listing and your comprehensive description. You do have a reference to Airbnb in there, is that an oversight or intentional!!

"#5 - Extra Guests: Because of the new additions to the island, bringing extra guests is now an easy option. Upon booking, if you are not sure how many extra guests there will be, perhaps it is best to book only 2, but change your reservation with Airbnb as you get closer to actual arrival. Only children under 5 years old are free."

Cheers....Rob

[Fred13]

Actually I caught a 2nd, changed. I always change my description in Airbnb first, then copy & paste it to VRBO. They usually ask me to change it, sooner or later, but they probably haven't seen those yet.  

[Kendall-and-Derek0]

Your Airbnb listing review gave me a chuckle. First of all your place is amazing... We have been to Belize (Love it) but it was years ago and did not make it down to Placencia.... 

The only negative I saw.. (which is why I was laughing my tush off) was the comment there are bugs... I'm sorry, you are on an amazing tropical Island.. what do you expect.. 

But those are the reviews that make you scratch your head... It seems it was years ago.. but really??

LOL... Thank you again for all of your help and support.

Kendall

[Gisele20]

I am doing the same, I have 3 listings and 2 are on snooze because I still have guests that booked.

This Superhost thing is totally weird...I looked at the stats....one says I am all 5* for 365 days and then there is another one 4.4 not enough and another one 5 good job and another one 4.7 not enough. Tired of being put under pressure by Airbnb!

 I probably will stop, what am I ? A slave? Their stats don’t even make sense!

[Bert-and-Marianne0]

There is another solution. I work with Avaibook, a channel manager that also collects reviews. The know that there will always be guests that lie or are unthruthfull, it is part of our world we live in these days. The solution for this that Avaibook came op with is that you can refuse 15% of the reviews if you think they are dishonnest or false.
I think this would solve all problems on all review websites. Meaning that always 85 % of the reviews are placed, overall score might go up but it is a much better comparison.

[Breanne2]

Is this convo still active? 

[Jenny]

Hi @Breanne2 

It looks like nobody has replied to this conversation in quite a while - you're welcome to start a new conversation if you've got an experience you'd like to discuss!

Jenny