Two for One Problem

[Kelly149]

Dearest Hosts, can you help me put to rest or better solve a problem (or tell me if you think it is unsolvable in this Covid era)??

Problem One, please tell me what you think this means:

In an abundance of caution, we are making the barn available primarily to single household groups traveling independently. If you are a group made up of multiple households or your visit to Austin includes extended visits with people outside your household or if your travel includes public transport (airplanes) then please discuss with owners to see if your trip can be accommodated (this may require higher cleaning fees or purchasing days before or after your stay as a buffer).

Problem Two: I'm not sure if it is participating in CC or the collection of guests we've had or the moving target of ABB expectations or my personal predilection to perfectionism, but such a high percentage of guests are a problem that hosting is more dread than joy. Even the money doesn't seem to outweigh the ninnys. So, ideas?? Turn off IB, turn off listing (this may happen on ABB in a week when I don't sign Cleaning thingy, but we'll still be on Vrbo), shorten listing, lengthen listing, take less guests....

I look forward to your suggestions!

[Debra300]

@Anonymous,

As of now, my calendar hasn't been blocked, my listings still appear in search results, and they can be reserved.  @Lisa723 also said that she wasn't going to sign up.  I must admit that it has been a very difficult decision for me.  Since I cannot open my guesthouse to most international travelers, we are receiving no income for that property, which is a purpose built short-term rental business.

Although signing up for the policies would have little impact to the way that we host, because we share almost no indoor common space with guests, just the hallway to the laundry room.  Since we installed washers in the guest suites, I won't be doing laundry for most guests during their stay, and probably would have almost no interaction with them after check-in.  However, it literally brought pangs to my heart whenever I thought about giving in to Airbnb's over-reaching policy, and bully tactic to make hosts sign up for it. 

I've told @Ann72 that it's possible that: Airbnb is giving a grace period to non-homeshare spaces; a significant amount of hosts didn't sign up, and could impact inventory levels; and/or, Airbnb is so focused on the upcoming IPO that they don't want to generate more interest/bring into question their terms and conditions.

I've been working on thekeepcool website, updating the guesthouse listings on Booking, and am presently working on Vrbo updates for all of my listings.  I have been transitioning to longer-term stays in Atlanta, and will try to attract similar stays in St. Lucia (guests that have been in the region for at least 21 days or have completed the 14 day quarantine can stay with us).

[Lisa723]

@Debra300 @Anonymous @Kelly149 

I still have not signed up, and I am not going to. So far, the only detectable consequence is having to click "I understand" on a daily basis. But I'm not assuming our listings won't be deactivated at any moment, and that's OK. I feel confident that, at least with our reduced availability due to vacancy buffers, we can backfill with guests from Vrbo and our direct site-- both of which are much preferable to Airbnb bookings at this point anyway.

[Clare167]

@Anonymous @Debra300 I did not sign, and if I look at my listing, which is snoozed, Airbnb encourages me to relist. However, when I had a look at my one reservation, made months ago, a link seemed to show that host (and guest) "must" comply with the new Airbnb covid rules. 

[Debra300]

@Clare167,

Maybe that's how Airbnb is going to enforce compliance.  The booking won't be confirmed unless the guest and host both agree to the policies.  For most guests, they will agree with little thought, because the consequences won't be readily visible.  Hosts will probably receive booking notifications that say the reservation is pending our acceptance of the policy, and most will sign up for the same reasons as the guest, non-transparency of the penalties for being accused of non-compliance (and little to no recourse to appeal).

[Clare167]

@Debra300 yes, my guess is the same; I also feel that a guest who booked before 20 November will be led to expect the compliance we never promised, and probably backed by Airbnb in any complaints made on that basis.

[Kelly149]

@Anonymous same as others, I haven't signed up... don't intend to, although at some point I suppose I could. My objections remain: the policy is written poorly, the loopholes could fit a moose, I think most hosts clicked a button without really understanding what they were agreeing to, therefore most aren't "actually" doing it, but then again "doing" the protocol was never the point was it? Which brings me back to why I'm not clicking the button.

Like @Lisa723 says, I just have to bypass the policy every time I try to go into my account, who knows where we are in search? But we're definitely still live.

We've run 80% of our stays thru Vrbo for the last 18/24mo, I'm down to only 7 stays in my SH stats, so it's not a huge loss to ignore the ABB demands. It's just all so unfortunate, they were my favorite in the beginning, we could have been great.....

[Debra300]

@Kelly149,

"they were my favorite in the beginning, we could have been great....." Sounds like when new Coke was introduced.  Original Coca-Cola was the leading carbonated beverage in the world, but someone said, "We can get an even larger share of the market with a new version."  It was a flop, and the failure opened up the doors for many more soft drinks to enter the market and take away customers from CC.  Right now, Airbnb does have the largest share of the STR market, but if they keep making these types of missteps, not only will Vrbo make gains, but other platforms will become more prominent.

[Kelly149]

yes @Debra300 it's just like that, I know that in an office or a zoom call somewhere people are making these decisions on purpose.... it's like they have on some kind of special goggles that make them unable to see past their fingertips to realize the ripples each of these decisions makes. I know that ABB isn't looking out for me and consequently other platforms get more of my business and those customers pay less to book with us through those other platforms bc there is just less risk from other vendors

[Lisa723]

@Kelly149 @Debra300 exactly... when we bought our houses five years ago our aim was to move all bookings to Airbnb because everything was so much easier, starting with the ability to automatically split payments with our co-host. Well, we know what happened to that feature, and usability has steadily degraded ever since. Most recently, with the removal of the guest email feature, LockState can no longer automatically send our check-in codes a week before check-in so this is just one more thing we now must do manually. And with the general deterioration of customer support, with unreasonable and capricious decisions abounding, not to mention the clear risk of being summarily delisted for unknown causes, Airbnb has completely lost its "stickiness." Our aim is now to reverse our reliance on Airbnb and we have been succeeding.

[Ann72]

@Lisa723  This so brilliantly and succinctly sums up the problems @Catherine-Powell and other new executives have to contend with.  The deterioration of usability is a REAL problem.  How many extra keystrokes a day have accumulated over the years?  Any business' goal should be increased productivity and efficiency. 

[Sarah977]

"it's like they have on some kind of special goggles that make them unable to see past their fingertips to realize the ripples each of these decisions makes."

That's a good way to put it. I also suspect a lot of the people that are coming up with these ideas just have little life experience or insight into human nature on which to base any anticipation of the repercussions and turmoil these decisions result in.

Just like whoever came up with that 5-step process, who someone here said had probably ever picked up a spray bottle of cleaner in their lives. We're not supposed to re-enter the room after sterilizing, yet step 5 tells us to "reset" the room, making the bed and putting in fresh amenities??? It's like no one read over it and said "Hey, wait a minute, this doesn't make any sense".

@Kelly149

[Debra300]

I have an update. I have IB turned on, and about an hour ago I received a reservation.  When I went to my dashboard, I was greeted with the usual message to sign up for the new policies, and I skipped passed that, as usual.  There are messages on the booking instructing me to follow the policies, but agreement to the policies is not required for the reservation to be confirmed.

I accept longer-term rentals, because I am not always onsite, and it's easier for my senior neighbor/property manager to handle fewer turnovers.

@Anonymous,@Ann72,@Kelly149,@Lisa723,@Clare167,@Sarah977,@Ann783 

[Kelly149]

@Debra300 that's good, I guess... but right there in the reservation, it tells you to do the things that you haven't agreed to do. I wonder what it looks like from the guest side???

[Debra300]

@Kelly149,

I will assume that most guests agreed to the policies before or when making the reservation.  They probably didn't read the penalties, and even if they did, they have far less to lose if they are accused of breaching them.  Unless they feel physically threatened, most hosts will let a repeated mask or social distance transgression slide.  They just need to know that hosts cannot be as relaxed, because guests are now empowered with another method to get out of paying for a stay.

[Kelly149]

@Debra300 yes, that is one of my beefs with this policy. It places all effort and all risk on the host. Where was the part that said a guest must abide by government regulations, report exposure or symptoms, utilize good hygiene??? A guest could literally be coming straight from testing with a known case and they can lick and sneeze all over your entire house and this is of no concern to anyone. How backwards!