Airbnb Plus Program Nightmare

[Jeff471]

Is it just me or are others absolutely stunned at how poorly managed the Airbnb Plus program is?

Apparently making phone calls to Airbnb regarding the Plus program is a complete waste of time as all the customer service agents do is 'send an email to Airbnb Plus team' where it sits unresolved.

First and foremost, the Airbnb Plus program for me has been horrific. It all started with the initial visit. The person they sent did a terrible job. It took FOUR HOURS to inspect a 3br/2.5ba townhome. I had soooo many issues but they were trivial AND some of them weren't issues.  For example, the reviewer noted an issue with Wifi.  He didn't actually use the Wifi credentials to test the speed but he noted it as an issue so that I could take the screen shot. That's just being lazy.  Another example, he submitted six issues for the same thing: not having four pillows on each of the three beds. For some reason he felt that each bedroom needed to be called out twice for the same problem. Finally, he dinged me for not having a guest book and to highlight the issue he...submitted a picture of the guest book. LOL. But, whatever.

In any case, ALL of the open items were FIXED and ACCEPTED by Airbnb Plus and I was told to schedule the final photographer, which I did. As part of the email regarding the photo shoot there was clear messaging this was NOT another inspection, however, that wasn't an issue because all the issues had already been resolved. Now, after the photographer came out I expected to see some awesome photos from the professional photographer. Nope. I haven't seen or heard anything. And when I called about this I was told Airbnb Plus would decide what photos to use, not me. What I did get was a message telling me I need to fix 13 issues!  These were the SAME issues that had already been fixed and approved by Airbnb Plus otherwise (I assume) I wouldn't have been told to schedule the final photographer. I was pretty livid when I got this message so I called and complained. I was told an 'email will be sent to the Airbnb Plus' team. No one has responded.

So I get yet another message (automated I assume) telling me to fix the items. Against my will I went into the system to RESUBMIT the evidence for fixes. But, again, I get stuck on the absolutely stupid process they have for fixing the 'Check-in instructions' issue. You can't actually submit a fix like the other items.  An error messages tells me to 'Please publish a check-in guide to submit this item for review.' Guess what? There isn't a 'publish' of anything. There is a text field for this information. And, guess what again? THE INFORMATION THEY WANT IS ALREADY THERE! In fact, I had to call customer support during this initial fix process to resolve this.  In any case, it had already been submitted and accepted as resolved.

At this point I hate this program and I WOULD NOT recommend it to anyone. It has caused me A LOT of grief and frustration. I placed another call to customer support today only (again) to be told all they can do is send an email to the Airbnb Plus team. As I outlined before, that's a useless black hole.

[Elizabeth1085]

Jeff, I am also an AirBNB Plus condo owner in Scottsdale. Since signing on as a Plus member we have actually seen a decline in bookings. As a matter of fact, using the regular platform we were seeing 52% of our bookings from Airbnb. Since we've signed on PLUS, its declined to 39%.  
Additionally, I haven't increased my rates to reflect being a Plus property (one of the supposed benefits).
At this point, I am considering going back to the regular platform since there hasn't been ANY added benefit thus far. 
IMO, I think the Plus platform is confusing to people. It isn't very straightforward like the regular platform where you can find ALL the information you need on one page. Airbnb tried to over fancify things.  
Maybe it's just me (or my property)...but I am still waiting to hear from someone that has positive things to say.

[Cormac0]

or maybe guests on AirBnb are looking for cheaper accommodation and the plus programme is evaluated (as it should be) as costing more and they avoid it.

[Wayan25]

This is exactly my experience too. Worst program ever.

Airbnb have lost the plot.

[Melissa9]

Hi.  I jumped through the hurdles to get my place approved on time.  I was supposed to receive $500 for my efforts but this hasn't happened (6 weeks later).  I had to import a carbon monoxide detector for my apartment on the beach in Thailand even though there is no heating system and gas is banned in condos in Thailand.  Everything is electric.  Airbnb doesn't care so now I have a carbon monoxide detector.

I just received my AirBnB listing and the photos are very limited and in most cases, not as good as my original photos.  I would be happy to ADD their photos to my photos but this is not an option.  They have taken away all my photos and their photos have one close-up photo of my guest bedroom bed, no photos of the guest bedroom, close-ups in both bathrooms but no full bathroom shots, no full kitchen shot, no balcony shots, no pool shots, no photo of the bed made up on the sofa and deleted all my photos of the surrounding area. 

They wrote one generic paragraph for the description and deleted my lengthy detailed description of all the rooms and surrounding area.  I can see how a content writer might want to edit my description but to just delete it and replace it with something generic doesn't make sense.  Obviously the owner knows a lot more about the property than somebody sitting in London (or wherever) who has never seen it.

I have paused the change to Airbnb Plus but now am doubtful that anyone will get back to me.  I looked at editing it myself but this is not possible.  You can only delete photos of theirs and not add any of yours back.  They completely skipped photos of the balcony, pool and beach which are the major draws.  This simply does not work and I am sure a switch to Airbnb Plus would cause a decrease in rentals.  I already have a high occupany rate and am a Super Host.  If they won't let me make changes then I will not be joing Airbnb Plus.  I will have lost $149 plus the money I spent on items and repairs requested by Airbnb Plus.

Airbnb Plus was subcontracted to a company in London (at least for my place in Thailand) and the people taking photos and editing content work for that company, not Airbnb.  I think there is a big disconnect between the two.  The content writers are writing a short generic paragraph.  I don't see how this will help most owners.  The photographer wasn't bad but I wasn't there when he could come and he just missed too much to rely solely on his photos.

Will update this post if/when I hear back.

[Koral1]

@Melissa9  Wondering where things stand with this issue now?  I'm currently in the same place.  The pictures the Plus photographer took were so bad that I paused the upgrade to Plus and contacted Airbnb about a reshoot.  They wouldn't do a reshoot, but did agree to let me submit my own pictures to supplement the Plus pictures.  The problem now is that I would like to use photos from the original listing but I don't have copies of the high resolution pictures that they require.  All the Airbnb customer service people I talk to say they can't access the original pictures and the photographer says he signed a contract that won't allow him to provide me with the original pictures.  SMH.  The bureaucracy and lack of communication between the different departments in Airbnb is astounding!  The cynical side of me thinks they just want to tire you out so you give up and go away.

[Elizabeth24]

Thanks for sharing your experience. These are the exact problems I had with it that made me revert back to my old listing. It’s unfortunate bc with a few tweaks to the current system it could possibly be successful if done correctly, I just don’t know why they aren’t listening to anyone. What they should be doing is previewing the pictures already on the listings before they go to photograph to see what photos are important to the owner and play off that or improve on them. But instead the photographers go in completely blind and run down a rigid checklist and are terrified to go out of that box at all for fear they will not get paid for the shoot if they do it “incorrectly”. And you’re right, replacing thoughtful descriptions written by owners for a few sentences written by some under staffed satellite office is truly disheartening and completely eliminates the original purpose of Airbnb which was to provide lodging for guests who wanted a locals perspective and insight. I had complained about this and they were able to bring my descriptions back at least so hopefully they can do that for you. But the photos were a no go... keep sharing and possibly at some point they will listen. I’m actually going to list with vrbo this weekend, my brother has listed his property with vrbo and Airbnb and vrbo is outperforming Airbnb 5:1, so unfortunately since they are not willing to help or make this right for any of their very long term hosts - I’m afraid they are going to start losing some of that business to companies who haven’t produced gimmicks that are putting a greater priority on gathering a dime a dozen listings over staying true to the local experience.  Such a shame bc the fix is so simple...

[Phillip-and-Dani0]

Wow, all this information is great to know. I was contacted by  Junior Project Manager Tori Baldassari inviting us to join the Airbnb Plus program. Scheduled a call which she never followed through with, scheduled another call, again no follow through. We had a call scheduled 4 times of which she never followed through with. Terrible, terrible customer service, but seems to be a blessing in disguise after reading all these comments.

[Roderick8]

The program is a total disaster based on a Soviet Union model of centralized control. The only way to properly do this is via trained local staff. Instead all the approvals and work is centralized in California with an American mentality (bottled water and CO detectors) that does not understand the rest of the world. The loss of control is pretty frightening how good is my current flat profile: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2645317/.

[Cormac0]

@Jeff471

I suspect that anybody having difficulty with the “plus program” aka franchise, is not regarded as a suitable candidate for the aforementioned.

Any person that buys into the Airbnb community nonsense is been taken for a schmuck.

[Susan17]

Nail on the head, @Cormac0 As with all things Airbnb, nothing is ever as its purported to be.

Airbnb Plus is primarily just another vehicle for professional and commercial operators to ply their wares. Backdoor method, so to speak. Those with vast inventories on the platform will typically have only one or two listings on Plus, but these will act as a conduit to the host's many other listings. As always, there has to be a sprinkling of regular hosts in the mix, to keep up the facade that Airbnb absolutely hasn't  morphed into a poor man's booking dot com. It's still all  about those fuzzy-warm, personal host-guest connections... isn't it??  

[Roderick8]

Hey,

Let's get over this nonsense about the dichotomy between personal relationships and hard hearted distant commercial operations.

I run a real estate business incorporated in Hungary and yes, I am a proud it is professional and not just a couple rooms in my own flat. My apartments are featured in interior design journals and my guests don't want rooms - they want their own self contained property and accompanying privacy. 

And yes, I greet all my guests and in fact even clean the properties for about 70% of the stays.

[Susan17]

According to your profile, you only have 3 listings @Roderick8. To be classed as a "professional", as per Airbnb's stated parameters, you need to have 6 listings or more, so it's unclear what your point is? Unless, of course, you have multiple profiles/accounts on the platform? 

[Roderick8]

Susan, I don't care how AirBnB defines professional. The fact is that I run a highly successful business with 300 m2 of top notch apartment speace and I operate (debt free) in the same category as other small-to-medium size businesses. The bigger point is that you need to stop complaining about AirBnB moving away from its roots. AirBnB does not have any sort of obligation to focus on single room providers. That was simply a starting point for them.The single room phenomenon is largely for people who are young or don't have much income. It is not a group that many of us property owners want to target.

[Susan17]

@Roderick8 

Ah ok...I get it. For whatever reasons, you appear to think that what you offer is somehow far superior - and more professional - to what I offer, that my guests must have "lower income" than your guests, and that it's ok for you  to complain bitterly about Airbnb, while accusing others of complaining about something completely different to what they're actually  comlaining about - all apparently based entirely on your very mistaken, very arrogant and very condescending assumptions. 

I suggest you do your homework and get your facts straight before pontificating to others on what they "need" to do. The issues I bring up have precisely nothing to do with Airbnb "moving away from its roots", and everything  to do with the raft of preferential policies and practices Airbnb employs to unfairly advantage and benefit one sector of its host user base over the other. I'm not alone in my concerns either - under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the EU Commission has recently introduced new legislation, specific to Airbnb, to combat this very issue. Unfortunately, it appears that Airbnb has so far failed to adequately comply with their rulings. 

And as such a self-proclaimed accomplished and highly successful real estate professional operating in the EU, and a shining, debt-free example to us all, it seems incongruous that you'd be oblivious to your legal obligations as an EU business host offering accommodation for rent on Airbnb, which you appear to be in clear breach of. 

https://www.airbnb.ie/help/article/1321/legal-obligations-of-eu-business-hosts-offering-accommodatio...

[Cormac0]

@Susan17 

Well said Susan, he obviously thinks he's cornered the market in professionalism, and it just goes to show you the chasm that has opened up between Airbnb traditional base and the new Airbnb focus on corporate franchises