Airbnb retiring pre-booking questions

[Donata12]

Hi all! Just got this email from Airbnb and at first thought it was fake. Bit it isn’t apparently. Despite the typos and the totally unprofessional way they communicate to hosts,  again a useful tool is taken away from us. I don’t even use IB so I shouldn’t have received this in the first place but I contacted them because I wanted to make sure it was for real. It is. Still working with them in it but I thought I would share 

[Mark1357]

Hi...I got the Sam poorly written message also. It seems a little hackish? What did you find out? 

[Donata12]

Yes. They apologized and it s being escalated . I demanded an errata corrige email sent to the same recipients. They have a product mnager now working on the case for not only the typos but also the confusing content. 

[Maria-and-Graham0]

Hi Donata - I’ll be interested in their response too, not just for the typos but why Airbnb think that hosts shouldn’t be able to get more info from potential guests before accepting them! Now that the profile and photo have been obscured before a booking is accepted, if a guest makes an enquiry I want an idea of who is coming to my home and what brings them to London, so if they haven’t outlined this in their message I ask them before accepting.  Agree it’s another level of protection being taken away from hosts. It will certainly make me more cautious when accepting bookings!

[Donata12]

Hi Maria and Graham,

i have a very long thread of messages as I escalated it to team product manager. They are going to send out an email to rectify this one. As for the content of the email and the fact that they are pushing away hosts all the time, I am not sure they see it this way. I will copy and paste the most interesting excerpts from the conversation shortly!

[Bonnie201]

Hello Donata, Mark, Maria, and Graham,

I got the same message this morning. Makes no sense and was poorly written. I have started using Vrbo and have not had any of the increasing controlling intrusions to my personal property and hosting opportunities. Air B&B is not the only game in town!

And the TIME I spend chasing down the answers to these continual changes is very annoying. 

[Catherine940]

I too, received the same typo filled email. It took me a while to realize it pertains to IB which I turned off because I want to have a conversation with my guests before they book. I used IB for a few months and some people gave poor reviews because they did not understand the details of my listing when they booked.  Taking pre-booking questions away does seem like a step in the wrong direction Airbnb!

[Mike790]

Yes, I received this message too, and wondering why they didn’t give a reason for retiring the prebooking questions.  Logically I think they might be setting up a predetermined set of questions to select from, rather than have a free form to ask whatever questions.  Donata,  did you get an explanation when chatting with them??

[Donata12]

Hello all! I figured it would be best to copy here all the exchange thread I had with Airbnb last night. They should be sending a new explanatory email soon.

[Jennifer1421]

@Donata12 

My favourtie part of this exchange is:

10:14: "None of us...are feeling bad about the poor communication"

[Jenny325]

Ugh, the rely above was full of typos too!

The new pre-booking message box is very small-only 160 characters! My previous pre-booking questions did not fit in it.

[April96]

I find this COMPLETE BULL**bleep**.

I host shared space. One by one, Airbnb is RIPPING away our safety and rights. 

These are my questions and they NEED to  be answered because I'm a single female - and thanks to some people ruining it for ALL of us, we don't get profile photos, either.

WHY can't we use pre-booking questions now???? This is completely unreasonable and I expect BOTH guests to be registered. No one has had ANY problem answering these- ever- and it gives me a clearer picture of who they are and what they're looking for when they get here, Ie: we're in town for Gator Nationals/to hit the beach and see the sights/to see my husband's parents, etc.

I am very upset and this continual safety stuff being taken away. Can anyone suggest how to battle it? Do I have to remove Instant Book now? Seems to be the only option. 

Hi! Thank you for booking and I look forward to hosting you!

• What brings you to the area?
• Who are you coming with?
• When do you think you’ll arrive?
• If you are booking for two & aren't verified through Airbnb on the same account, please register your guest by sharing your trip with them.

[Donata12]

I don’t use IB so I am not familiar with how much space you were given before to ask your questions. I would wait and see the new email that they promised to send out to rectify the one from last night. In the meantime, the more of us that complain formally the better!

[Darcy44]

I agree completely. I do use IB, but rarely do my guests fully answer the questions so that's why I want to start a conversation. I'm very uncomfortable not being able to do that. At the same time, it seems that Airbnb puts a lot of pressure on hosts to use instant book - which now complete eliminates the opportunity for conversation. It is not just a matter of safety for me (though that is a concern) but rather I'd like the chance to prepare specially for who is coming like if its a special celebration or someone has an allergy, etc... I especially want to chat if they've never used Airbnb before. 

While I'm griping, I also feel that Airbnb is putting constant pressure for lower and lower rates. It seems Airbnb has lost its way and the emphasis of meeting new people, sharing cultures, hospitality etc.. is going by the wayside. What's up? Prepping for an IPO?? 

And back to original point - what possible reason is there to eliminate IB?

[April96]

@Darcy44  Yes. To everything you said.

I dunno about you, but I ignore the "Lower your rate and book more!" messages. They're annoying. Airbnb's "smart booking" isn't smart, either. It'll low ball you at the height of tourist season - so, be careful!