Is there anyone out there that has anything positive to say about the Airbnb Plus Program?

[Justin271]

Dear AirBnb Hosts and Guests, I am big fan of Airbnb and have had a wonderful experience hosting and guesting so far (besides the occasional broken glass or stained sheets, etc.) so when I was asked to join the Airbnb Plus program my first reaction was beyond joyous. I feel my listing meets the criteria as well checks everything on the Airbnb checklist and so I excitingly scheduled my inspection and photoshoot. It went well. They waived the $149 fee was very kind so I felt that I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Then I read all the conversations on the community board as well as several articles and have found not one positive review or article about the program. In fact it was all very terrifying. Does anyone have any positive experience or advice with this program and does anyone feel that it will eventually succeed?  That there's hope of the program working out the kinks that turns so many hosts off?

Thank you,

Justin

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Justin271  It's a poor competitor to sites like onefinestay and you end up as a glorified butler got no corresponding increase in fees nor bookings

[Cormac0]

@Gerry-And-Rashid0 

Your back on the cell block what was you crime this time, i thought you'd left Airbnb?

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Cormac0  Hehe... thought we would see if anything had changed - had two weeks free in August as decided to leave hols till Dec. Opened both weeks on both AirBnB and BDC - booked within  2 days on BDC with 4x3 night bookings - pity Airbnb has slowed down so much but not surprised given the platform problems and difficultly is speaking to anyone. Will give it another try later in the year.

[Cormac0]

@Justin271 

I'm on the CC almost every day since I joined Airbnb three years ago, and what I have seen written on the community is a universal condemnation of the "plus" programme.

@Gerry-And-Rashid0  are top hosts and I would listen to what they have to say, the plus programme has created an expectation with your guests that is not match by an increase in a hosts revenue, and for that reason alone you should avoid it like the plague.

[Justin271]

Thanks @Cormac0  and @Gerry-And-Rashid0 ! It’s proven to me just today how badly managed the program is. I’ve already done the inspection/photo shoot and received two notifications today that the photographer/inspector has to cancel our appointment that was scheduled 2 days ago; Sunday. Shortly after the inspection I went to the status and it said the inspection was complete and that they had already reviewed the photos and I’d receive a report in up to 5 days. Now it’s saying to schedule an appointment.

I’ve been extremely satisfied with Airbnb and have had a solid 90% occupancy (witch I prefer over 100%) and have found the platform so much easier to manage as well as like the style esthetics. The clientele too is much more appealing and I haven’t had any bad experiences with close to 100 bookings in the last year and a half.

I guess my biggest question is at this point is do I go through with this program. If I don’t follow through I know I’ll be left in the dust especially with how many hosts in my area would be drooling to be in this program. Airbnb could possibly and effectively hash out these ridiculous rules, control over image, text, etc.

There’s definitely things I do like about it for example the design, the image resolution, the placement on the feed and the fact that you get global exposure but this program needs serious help from Airbnb internally.

For starters they are throwing very good money away hiring 3rd party agencies to inspect and photograph listings. $149 that they dont really charge anyone now is fraction of what these

inspectors/photographers charge then the company that hires these rookies charge Airbnb. On top of it probably 1/2 photo shoots end up getting re shoot because it’s so bad. They send the images to another company to retouch and editors and so called design experts. To really kick a horse when it’s down they insist on controlling your listing as if you weren’t doing a good enough job in the first place. 

This all sadly is very harmful to their business and is diminishing the love and dedication hosts have poured into Airbnb.