@Sybe
Yes, I can see how that could also happen and how they might feel that they are stuck between a rock and a hard place, but I'm afraid that is Airbnb's doing.
To announce and promote that a panel of hosts has been put in place to represent the rest of us but to give us no choice whatsoever in who is selected nor how they are selected is problematic enough, but to then give us barely any information about what they do or what influence they have is obviously going to create not only frustration but suspicion.
That is not how 'advocacy' works. Imagine if someone else chose your MP or your legal representation and then you are kept in the dark about what that MP/representative was saying or doing on your behalf. I know that Airbnb is a private corporation, so it's not the same thing, but then it should not pretend that these people are our advocates.
The solution is more transparency as @Helen3 said. I understand that certain things they work on need to be kept confidential until ready to be announced, but we are no longer even being updated as to what they have been working on previously. Why so cloak and dagger? Is there any reason the monthly updates stopped last August? The last one indicated there were more to come.
At the end of the day, members of the HAB are supposed to be OUR advocates but how can we trust that they are advocating for us or that, if they are, their voices are heard? We only have Airbnb's word for that and I for one am not going to rely on the word of a multi-billion $ corporation that keeps introducing more and more policies and changes that anti-host.
I started hosting properly back in 2016 and I can assure you that, overall, it's become much harder since then and almost entirely due to decisions made by Airbnb and this has certainly not improved since the HAB was introduced. In fact, quite the opposite. That does not mean I am blaming them. I am sure they have good intentions and try their best, but I see little evidence that they have much influence at all.
Although I am very open to being proven wrong...
