Brace yourself: The Airbnb Winter Release is Coming

[Huma0]

Not sure how many of you know, but Airbnb is about to announce its Winter Release. Yes, that's right. It's the follow up to the Summer Release that caused quite a stir.

I have heard a few things about this, including:

- It will be announced within hours as part of the Q3 Earnings Call.

- @Catherine-Powell will be doing interviews about it over the coming week.

- There may be revisions to the review process, including how Superhost is assessed.

Now, I don't know any of the above for a fact and that information came from more than one source. I was also sent this article below, which speculates about what might be coming. I have no idea if the publication has insider info, or is simply guessing based on what happened with the Summer Release, but some might find it an interesting read:

https://www.rentandrelaxus.com/2022/10/31/airbnb-2022-winter-release-rental-scale-up-2/

[Huma0]

@John5097 

Yes, by going public, I think Airbnb has put itself in a position where it has to show higher and higher profit margins in the short term, but with some of the ideas it just feels like they are clutching at straws.

I don't know if I was affected too much by the 'any weekend, any week, any month' set up. I suspect most long term guests search with specific dates and locations in mind. However, I was affected by something when they changed the algorithms, as my views totally plummeted.

Guests have sometimes told me before that it's hard to find a good, reasonably priced, reasonably central airbnb in London for a long stay, even though there are so many listings here.

In the last few months though, guests are telling me this more and more. I don't know if it's just prices going up and quality going down or the search function that is making so difficult (it could be both), but for sure they are struggling to find what they want.

A current guest told me he was so delighted to find my listing because it seemed to him that most airbnbs here were charging £5,000 a month for "some of the worst real estate I have ever seen". Well, I do not know where he was seeing those prices. I suspect the algorithm is still automatically showing the more expensive places until the guest enters a specific price range.

[Huma0]

Hello. It's been brought to my attention by a couple of hosts that my post above has been copy/pasted (photo and all) to a FB group called Airhost Academy. 

It's no big deal as obviously people share content on social media all the time (and it's not like I own the GoT photo!). Ideally, it would have been nice if I had been asked, but no matter. However, it would be normal to credit the source of the material rather than copy/paste it with no mention of where it came from or who wrote it. Those are my words, after all. 

Could the person who posted it either do that, or please remove it?

Many thanks.

[Huma0]

UPDATE: Sorry I jumped the gun when I posted this thread but, from what I have heard, the Winter Release IS coming on 16th November. Airbnb says there will be 'ten new updates for hosts', so yes, 'brace yourselves' is probably still apt.

[Gillian166]

@Huma0  I wonder what host group they worked with to create these updates and get feedback. If they consulted with hosts who are actually currently hosting I think we all have a top 10 list of updates we'd love to see, but somehow I suspect all the things we constantly ask for will not be supplied. 

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

I don't know who they consulted, but I was told that there would be changes coming to the review process before the end of the year and asked if I wanted to be involved, to which I said yes, but I never heard about it again. Another host suggested that might be part of the winter release announcement, but who knows?

[Adriano78]

https://youtu.be/zYrXoBhnaaY   winter releaase

[Huma0]

And here it is:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/2022-winter?_set_bev_on_new_domain=1667089568_YjNmMmQ1NTBlYjA0

A lot of the focus is on recruiting new hosts, but there IS something about changes to the review process, and in particular, about removing retaliatory reviews.

[Huma0]

By the way, did anyone else wonder why this thread was posted with comments disabled?

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-updates/How-Hosts-helped-shape-the-2022-Winter-Release/m-...

Could it have been because Airbnb knew that a lot of hosts would not buy it in the slightest?

I'd love to know which hosts helped shaped the Winter Release...

[Sybe]

@Huma0 The main thread was posted with comments disabled to try and make sure that questions or feedback about the different topics were left as replies on those specific threads. That way we can make sure we collect all feedback correctly. 🙂

[Huma0]

@Sybe 

But it makes it very confusing when discussion is split between multiple threads. Also, several of the topics are closely linked and relevant to each other. So, someone comments on one thread and are told it's not relevant and they should post on a different thread instead and it just dilutes the whole discussion.

[Sybe]

@Huma0 I understand that, as you may remember the Summer Release had most of the feedback and questions on the main post which sometimes made it a challenge to collect and respond in a timely manner. We're always open to suggestions though so if you know a way to improve this, let us know! 😃

[Huma0]

@Sybe , what might be helpful (and I know I am not the first to suggest this) would be a topic category for updates, where not only Airbnb and the admins could post policy and other important updates, and discussions relating to those.

If you feel you need to divide discussions into different, more specific threads, at least members could easily find the various discussions relating to a particular update more easily.

It would also be a great way for hosts, especially those who are newer to the CC, to catch up on recent changes.