Yes, I completely agree. Airbnb PLUS is extremely difficult. Airbn plus has developed into real stress for us. You hardly have any control over your own ad. Airbnb decides which photos are good for you. Apparently you have an "omniscient" marketing department. You're patronized and can't get the real character of your accommodation through the ad. The text you can insert is minimal. Many guests come with completely exaggerated expectations. There is a lot of trouble. You have no chance to describe the true character of your accommodation in the ad. Airbnb says that the photos sell the accommodation. But that is only half the truth and in my opinion excessive marketing thinking. Before a guest arrives there are many details to clarify. As an Airbnb PLUS member you can no longer show all this in the advertisement. What follows is an endless chat between guest and host. By the Airbnb PLUS concept the expectations of the guests are extremely screwed up. I operate another accommodation at one of the best locations on the holiday island Phuket. I have invested almost 1 million THB to meet the increased requirements. For a private house on Phuket I have a high standard, but nevertheless the guests give a mediocre feedback. That's strange, when I was Airbn Superhost, I always had a 5-star rating. Why please, has something suddenly gotten worse just because it's advertised higher? I notice two things: On the one hand the expectations of the guests increase extremely. They book Airbnb and expect a 5-star all-round service. Questions such as: "Is there breakfast available daily", "Is there a reception available 24 hours a day" or "Please clean my rooms today" are not uncommon. NO! I am no Hotel! I am a private person who give the best to make his guests feel comfortable. I often have to remind the guests that they have booked Airbnb and not a 5-star hotel.
And secondly, Airbnb means in my eyes, the letting of living space for guests when you don't need it yourself. That's how it originally started. As a "room share service". Unfortunately, Airbnb is pushing the system further and further into professional, i.e. offering standard rooms without extra services is hardly successful. With their system of the Superhost and Airbnbplus and the extremely perfect representations of accommodations, they make it very difficult for the private person to keep up at all. In addition, more and more professional accommodations, which are looked after around the clock, are romping around on Airbnb, even entire hotels are settling here. Which private person can keep up here?
What I mean to say is that the expectations of the guests are extremely high. It follows from this that they are often disappointed (disappointment folds from excessive expectations). The guests want a) something special, b) cheap and c) full service.
I see this trend since about 1/2 year. The evaluations become worse, although one sets everything to become always better.
Yes, AirbnbPLUS is very difficult for a private person and in my eyes not what Airbnb once stood for.
I believe they will soon drop the private operators. They are developing into a professional portal like Booking.com.
This trend is already emerging today. Many guesthouses or professionally managed condominiums are taking over Airbnb. Private users will have it more and more difficult. And Airbnb PLUS is not a solution. it means only very much stress, very high investments and one is driven into a hotel business, which one did not want as a private person actually in such a way. What is your opinion?
