Alerting our cleaner about new bookings

[Steven1147]

I live a long way from my Airbnb-listed property and have employed a housekeeping service to help with cleaning and maintenance tasks.  I want to alert the housekeeper about new bookings so they can clean the apartment in a timely manner.  Making them a Co-host is inappropriate - too much detail, some of which is confidential (payments, guest names, etc).  Is there a way to alert housekeeping?

I have only one listing and so Airbnb's 'Team' facilities can't be used as you need to have '6 or more listings'.

I guess he above issue must be pretty common and I hope someone can help.  Thanks in anticipation, Steven

[Dorothy190]

I just text my cleaning person.  Then she adds to her calendar.  Work great for us!

[Steven1147]

Thanks.  We do that right now but I was hoping Airbnb handled it to remove human error - I'm old, forgetful and tired 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Steven1147  An Airbnb tech error resulting in her never getting the info, is probably a lot more likely than your human error 🙂

[Ann72 · Accepted solution]

@Steven1147  Airbnb doesn't have a function for this, and they won't budge on allowing any Team member to see all the info.  They claim the cleaning person - or anyone - can just look at the public calendar and see the prices.  They don't get it.

I also host remotely and have tried several things, but my housekeeper and I just keep going back to a plain old Word document listing all the bookings in order.  When there are new bookings I add them in bold and send her a new version with a new date.  

For a time we used TurnoverBnB, an excellent tool, but they started charging a fee and I just didn't want to pay it.  

I have done deep dives into Google Calendar and it's basically impossible.  If you import an Airbnb calendar into your Google calendar, it is not considered "your" calendar so you can not make it private.

[Steven1147]

Thanks for that.  I'm new to Airbnb but been in the software industry for over 40 years.  Again, it must be a common problem with Hosts but I truly know it's easy to fix.  The reluctance is usually because the product management and development teams do not use the app in the real world each day and use in the 'lab' will never give them a true understanding from a Host perspective.

I'm also using the Airbnb export calendar function to export bookings, importing the bookings into my Apple iCal calendar (actually a sub-calendar dedicated to my Airbnb listing) so I can see them too and then I invite whoever needs to be aware of the booking including the cleaner.

This works fine but I'd still like Airbnb to support this.

[Ann72]

@Steven1147  That's exactly my impression - the tech team members don't host and therefore have faulty knowledge of what we need.  They do seek feedback, though!  But some changes take longer than others.

I don't understand why they can't implement permission levels, something one can do on so many platforms.  Technically, yes, anyone can see the published prices.  But how often does "anyone" sit down with a calculator and factor in nightly price X number of nights + cleaning fee - occupancy tax - service fee?  

I'm not trying to hide anything, but I'm quite sure my housekeeper doesn't want to have to wade through a lot of data to get to the piece she needs to know - the turnover date.

I'm going to tag @Scott on this discussion so he can see I'm not the only one :):):)

[Colleen253]

@Ann72 “the tech team members don't host and therefore have faulty knowledge of what we need.” 

True for just about anyone who works behind the scenes at Airbnb, I’m quite sure.

Even the CS ambassadors who assure us “Don’t worry, I understand completely. I am a host too”. 

Explains why we do without many of the most basic features that would make life so much easier.

[Ann72]

I know that some do host @Colleen253 - but perhaps they're "hosting lite"?  They only host when they go away?  If you don't host year-round, you might not feel these are pressing issues.  I have a full-time day job and need all the automation I can get so I can work as efficiently as possible.

The searchable inbox and scheduled messaging have been great additions.  I want to be able to sort reservations by all the different columns - booked date, for instance - and I've been told they're working on that.  Still on my wishlist is assigning different permission to Team members.

The point is that we want to use as many of the Airbnb features as possible.  There are plenty of products out there that take up the slack, but they all require us to sign up with other platforms or apps, and does Airbnb want that?  I get that they can't do everything - they can't be our channel managers when we use different booking platforms, for instance.  (Although they do make that easy with calendar sync and import/export.)  But don't overlook important people like housekeepers without whom we couldn't keep everything running smoothly!

[Sarah977]

@Colleen253  I believe "I'm a host, too" like I believe that I'm totally covered by the "million dollar guarantee".

When they say that, we should respond, "Cool. Can you send me the link to your listing- I'd love to check it out".

[Steven1147]

I agree, I don't mind the Housekeeper seeing the information but it's unnecessary and way too much for her.  The Housekeeper manages 33 properties (not all on Airbnb) and so imagine the number of messages she would get!  Having roles and privileges solves all of this, no need for a Pro version, a Lite version or any other variant.

[Scott]

Hi @Ann72 sorry if I misspoke in the past, but I wanted to clarify that team members with the "Tasks" permission are NOT able to see the price of a reservation.  

More info on the "Teams" feature of Professional hosting tools here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2513/hosting-with-a-team

More info on the "Tasks" feature of Professional hosting tools here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/topic/1577/tasks

[Emilia42]

@Ann72 They claim the cleaning person - or anyone - can just look at the public calendar and see the prices.

That is bogus. With that logic then all my guests know exactly what every other guest is paying because at one point they looked at my calendar. When in reality every single reservation is a different price.

[Ann72]

@Emilia42  Exactly!  If we manually changed prices or used a dynamic pricing tool, every night would have had a different price.  You would have to take screenshots daily to know what the prices were and even then they might well have changed between the time you took the screenshot and the time they were booked.  And after they're booked, of course, no one can see the price.

[Steven1147]

I agree.  Further, the cleaner is actively saying I see too much irrelevant information, I just need the booking start and end dates and, perhaps, any requests for an early checkin or late check out to provide a great service.  Again, my cleaner manages many properties in the area and so I truly understand the issue for her and the others that help to ensure every guest gets the best experience possible.  The latter lines up perfectly with Airbnb's stated goals