January 2020 Host Newsletter

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

Welcome to a great new year, I hope you have had a good start to 2020. 

Here is the first edition of 2020:

January 2020 Host News

Highlights:

• In Case You Missed It: Another review update and more

We heard your feedback on our latest review changes—now our tool will also detect an inconsistency if a guest gives you 4 stars overall but 5 stars in every category. Learn about this update and more in the latest installment of our In Case You Missed It series. Find out what’s new

• New year, fresh start: Hosts share their home improvement projects

From easy, affordable upgrades to major renovations, there are so many ways to spruce up your space for the year ahead. Hosts from all over the world reveal their projects—get ready to get inspired! Read on

• Tips to earn more during your peak season

Do you host in a popular summer travel destination? Or maybe there’s a world-famous festival in your city. Whatever time of year is the busiest for you, plan ahead to make the most of it. Follow these top tips for setting your calendar, pricing your space, and more. Start planning now

• 5 steps to creating a hosting business plan

Superhosts Nick and Sarah have turned hosting into full-time jobs in Columbus, Ohio. The husband-and-wife team share how you too can build a successful business on Airbnb. Check it out

• Hosting lessons from one couple’s world tour

While traveling through 30 countries back in 2014, Hojin and Sarah learned so much about hospitality from their stays in Airbnb properties. They’ve since turned those learnings into a thriving vacation rental business in Seoul, South Korea. Read their story

• What hosts are talking about

Every day in the Community Center, hosts share hospitality tips, answer each other’s questions, and swap stories. Here are some recent conversations you might want to join: How has your hosting style evolved over time? / What are your tips for interacting with international guests?

I hope you find this a useful read.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Sammy74]

We would like more training from Airbnb  to improve our hosting performance and marketing

[Michael915]

LOL....inconsistencies? How about 47 5 star and then 1 1star? And the review department represented by Charles does not see a problem with her review and closes the discussion?

@Airbnb you have let a Superhost down…

I had a guest that broke all house rules mentioned in the proper way on my listing and I opened a case to get assistance. I did get that and the guest got evicted from my property before the reservation finished. When she wrote her review, it was of course all retaliation and extorsion, filled with biased comments and non-relevant items.

I opened a new case and it was escalated to the review department. I thought I can discuss there, but I simply got the message that her review did not violate your guidelines for reviews. And how it does, even more with the background of her eviction, but still no red flags in Airbnb. The case manager only had a simple standard answer for me and off he was to the a new case
.
In addition, after my review for her and even after the 14 days period, she is now claiming all her money back, for the entire time. And the case manager does not see the red flags either.
What is happening? Where is your support for a Superhost ?
47 five star reviews versus 1 one star? Does not look strange? Do you think I woke up one morning and changed completely and decided to make her stay miserable?

Even more that I have presented you all the evidence and in her review she even states how she broke the house rules ? Do you favour the guest over the superhost? Lots of questions and no answers as you are not responding to my messages.

Thank you if you can have a fresh set of unbiased eyes looking at that! I had actually asked for a supervisor or manager to contact me but it was just brushed off and not mentioned anymore. Well to you the review might not matter but to me it’s the world for my listing. And this every day and every hour since those lies and unrelevant statements are up.

SHAME ON YOU, @Airbnb ....learn or teach your people what BIASED means...you have it as a central point in your new guidelines...

[Patricia148]

Airbnb must be more neutral and offer faster resolutions to problems presented by hosts.

Their platform must reviewed so potential guests must complete form and provide all relevant information, such as names of persons and the number too.

[Alex-And-Rhea0]

@Michael915 Hi! Dang! I  am sorry to hear this and can't believe this happens.  In my short experience, it seems that is the luck of the draw-that gets an inexperienced idiot, or you get someone with experience.

BTW where and how are these CS people vetted? If at all- they're probably reading from a manual as they speak to you.

But all these stories seem to have a similar context, i.e., Air Bnb doesn't really care about us hosts or Super Hosts. It's business as usual because they know there are more guests than there are hosts.

So take ten deep breaths and move on.

What do you think about having a minimum of say 5 reviews before you accept their reservation?

Would that prevent guests from hell?

Personally. after lurking on these forums, I really don"t have much faith in Air Bnb, one thing I have working for my business is that I have to keep passport records, and if there was a major damage incident, I could call the police.  But even that is nonsense because the idea is to prevent loss and damage, not to report it.

[Susan17]

@Alex-And-Rhea0 

If every host, in every country, was required to keep passport records - as opposed to being forced to rely on Airbnb's farcical and wholly unreliable verification processes - then it absolutely would  prevent a huge percentage of the negative, anti-social and criminal incidents that are plaguing the platform. 

People tend to behave a whole lot better when they know that they won't be able to hide behind Airbnb's "guest privacy" shield, and that if they cross the line, that they can - and will - be held personally accountable for their actions. 

As for the CS staff - they're overworked, underpaid, inadequately trained (and sometimes, untrained altogether), and thrown into the lion's den. It's not they who formulate Airbnb's abusive and exploitative policies. They're only following orders, and doing what they've been told to do - often, in horribly difficult and stressful conditions. 

[Alex-And-Rhea0]

@Susan2 Absolutely on all counts. Japan has very strict rules and regulations, anyone checking in to a hotel or lodge must have shown their id, and in that respect we are lucky.

As far as the Air Bnb staff are concerned you're right but they are the only ones we can deal with.

That means they are also important and we have a lot riding on their decision-making process.

Sometimes inadequate.

Hopefully, with good people working in Air Bnb, it will evolve into an awesome business but the main problems are at the moment the recalcitrant, the rip-offs, the grifter guests.

This is more of a police problem really, my problems, which pale in comparison to some of the horror stories I have read, is in dealing with overseas people, not Japanese people.

So it's about educating people to respect

other peop[le's property, that your actions have consequences.

[Trevor243]

At the bottom of the newsletter, is a rating system - sad, neutral and smiley faces. I think this should be changed to match the 5* rating system used for hosts. We can then give 5*s on each element of the newsletter, and 2* overall. The AirBnB staff will then be told that they need to improve or be out of a job.