Airbnb’s Director of Community Engagement answers hosts' questions
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We would appreciate a feature that would require the person booking a reservaiton for more than one person to provide the names of the additional guests and a "link" to their Airbnb profiles. This is a security issue for hosts, who should know who they are welcoming into their home. It also makes it easier for us to communicate with and welcome guests if we know all of their names.
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Status:
New
Submitted on
18-01-2018
05:48 PM
Submitted by
Pixie-And-Richa
There needs to be a way that searchers can also find our listing by our name. If a past guest or friend has recommended that a traveler check us out, potential guests have no way to do so other than to scroll through 100's of listings until they can find ours. Some of the filters help, but there is no specific way to find us by host name. Now that we are Superhosts, it narrows the searching a bit, but it would help if our listing would come up with by our name also. How difficult is that really? A simple search bar at the top of the listings page would be so simple. You have location and other filters. OR. Why not put in the current filters: "do you know a certain host? Please type their name here". It would help for repeat guests to find us easily and make it easier for them to refer us to other travelers. Scrolling wastes time and is frustrating when trying to plan travel. Why not make it easier on guests to find us. I bet it would get us all more bookings! It seems like this would be easy to implement.
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I'm really disappointed that the "Basic Requirements" update to the Dashboard essentially attempts to bully hosts into accepting an arbitrary percentage of their requests. I can appreciate that Airbnb wants to cut down on preventable disappointments and practices that appear to be discrimination. I know how frustrating it is to be a guest (especially as a visible minority) and receive multiple declines with no good explanation. But setting a minimum percentage of accepted reservations is an absolutely wrongheaded way to go about solving this. No matter how much people might prefer Instant Book, experienced hosts know that Airbnb's porous verification system and unreliable Host Guarantee are no substitute for our judgment when the nature of a request is inappropriate to what we're offering. In no way do I condone discrimination against guests based on anything such as age, race, gender identity, etc, and I respect the importance of keeping an updated calendar, but there are many legitimate reasons that a decline can be the best decision. Hosts with certain kinds of listings, or in certain locations, are going to get inappropriate requests more than others, too, so those averages are completely irrelevant. Some examples from my own experience: - the guest has clearly not read the listing and believes it is a different kind of property (e.g. Entire Home instead of private room) - the guest requires different dates or has a larger party size than has been manually entered - the guest insists upon special accommodations beyond what is advertised - the guest has been negatively reviewed by previous hosts - the guest does not answer follow-up question within the 24 hour accept/decline window - the request is for something other than accommodation, such as a partyor film shoot - the host has a prior unpleasant experience with a member of the guest party - the guest asks for exceptions to the House Rules, and therefore... - the communication leaves the host feeling unsafe with the guest in their home In all of these situations, the host's only reasonable option is to Decline. I don't mind being asked to justify the choice so that nobody feels treated unfairly. But I've been hosting and since many of Airbnb's tech crew were still in high school, and I do not appreciate seeing a warning message on my screen because the algorithm decided I need to accept a higher percentage of requests. Airbnb, please accept that humans often need to excercise judgment that computers can't.
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As a Superhost for a LONG time, I was surprised to see that I needed to "work on" Basic Requirements/Accepted Reservations. It seems that legitimate reasons for declining a reservation are not taken into account. Some I have encountered with guest reservations were: - not having a profile, no recommendations or reviews and not responding to questions -asking to accommodate more people then listed and not pay the additional charge -wanting to bring a pet even though the listing specifically states "no pets" -wanting to bring young children when, for safety reasons, the listing specifically states "no children" As more and more "first time" guests use Airbnb incorrectly.....some deliberately....hosts should not be penalized for declining a reservation.
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Airbnb should rethink their new policy on babies. I would suggest that Airbnb ask the parents of these babies if they are, in fact, people. My guess is that most of them 😉 would say that yes, they really are people too. If the parents consider them people, then I think the company should believe them. Also, they might want to ask the parents if these tiny little adorable people are also "work". Again, my bet is that most parents would agree that there is additional work involved where babies are concerned. This is not limited to the parents when they are guests at someone else's home. There is additional water (babies take baths! and use sheets!), and loads of laundry involved. Additional space is needed - babies require beds. Most people don't have cribs at the ready for any incoming babies, and would need to prepare (and might not even have the space. They frequently throw up, or the diapers often don't do their job of containment 100%, causing additional attrition of sheets, slipcovers, etc. There is also additional liability involved where there are decks, pools, hot tubs.. I speak as both a parent, and someone who genuinely likes being around babies, and thinks they are charming. However, I understand that not everyone thinks so. People should have the right to not have children in their homes if they don't want to. If people don't want to take on the risk, prep work and clean up, that should be entirely up to them. Some people are renting out small bedrooms for two people in small apartments. If I were living in one room in a small apartment, renting out the other, I would not appreciate a couple bringing up to five infants into that space. I also believe it would be very unsafe for the babies, and a huge liability for the host. Last comment - Five babies is not five times the work and mess. The differential is not linear. it is exponential.
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20 likes of a topic gets Lizzie to actually read it. We all want our home descriptions back. We have lost all personality with this change. SO folks, please like this and pass it around. The subject is on a couple of boards, but not enough individual likes to work.
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I would like to suggest that if guests cancel it should show up on their review page same as it does on the hosts page. Even if a host cancels a year in advance it is there, a huge negative, most people do not bother to look further than "Cancelled". Guest and host should have right of response to clarify why in the spirit of transparency promoted by Airbnb. But, however it's done, in this spirit of promoting honesty and trust that Airbnb states it holds in high esteem, it should be on the guests page, epecially given that even Strict refund has been halved and the host only gets 50% instead of 100%. Many of us are not hotels, we are sharing our apartment. Knowing someone has a history of cancelling just before check-in would be valued information, given that cancellations especially at peak times are a severe dent to our business, not to mention that the host has no doubt prepared for the guests stay and incurred costs and also limited their schedule to be available to host the guest. Thank you
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Currently, guests and hosts who break AirBnb rules and are found at fault in a dispute are still able to leave negative reviews. As long as they don't specifically mention that an AirBnb investigation was opened against them (by explictly mentioning the case number or name of the AirBnb customer service person involved) or attempt to extort their host or guest into leaving a positive review or dropping their complaint entirely, they are free to say whatever they want (including blatant lies) in their review as retaliation against being found to be at fault. This policy means that guests and hosts who have had negative experiences at the hands of these individuals have to choose between getting help from AirBnb customer support to resolve the issue and risk recieving a retalitory review, or to stay silent. Guests and hosts who are found to have broken AirBnb rules or are found at fault in an Airbnb dispute should not be allowed to leave retaliatory reviews. After they have been found at fault, the option to leave a review should either be removed or their review should be subject to extra scrutiny to ensure that it is not penalizing the victimized host/guest for making a valid complaint.
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Hi - I was presented with the option to turn on the STRICT (with grace period) option for my listing. I would be comfortable doing it (because I think it is right for the consumer) and taking the financial risk but I am VERY concerned about protecting my physical location and entry instructions from folks who are NOT confirmed guests. This is one of the main reasons I choose strict...I figure unscrupulous actors will not risk a financial penalty and instead go after "lower hanging fruit". I use lock boxes and electronic locks for the ease of check in for my guests. My recommendation: Allow this feature BUT change the viewability of the EXACT ADDRESS, ACCESS INSTRUCTIONS or WIFI INFO to the guest until after the 48 hours window has elapsed and they are truly a "confirmed guest". This allows the flexibility to guests (which I support) and still protects hosts from bad actors. Thanks!
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The way we have to alter a reservation to charge the pet fee is just ridiculous! Nearly every guest I have brings a pet which involves several messages back and forth to explain how it works, alter the reservation, have them accept the reservation, etc. etc. etc. I am an instant book host and one of the primary reasons it that it cuts down on the back and forth messages and questions - - but the minute someone wants to bring a pet - - well the messaging begins! How can this get changed???
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