Airbnb Plus delays

Miriam321
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

Airbnb Plus delays

We have had a shambolic experience with Airbnb Plus and can't get a straight answer out of them. Here is our 'plus journey' timeline - I wondered if other people have experienced such a horrific experience, being constantly lied to and deceived, as well as the process taking almost a year?!

 

September 2017 - approached by 'Airbnb Select' to take part in new pilot

 

November 2017 - first photoshoot for 'airbnb select' which turned into airbnb plus. The photograher didn't take any pictures of the garden, and said we could use the ones from our current listing. I also asked him if we could transfer the pictures from 'bedroom 4' as I had given birth 5 weeks prior and this was the baby's room, which was a little untidy. I made it clear that I would tidy it up for pictures if I needed to, but he confirmed I could use the old pictures of it.

 

Early February 2018 - completed all the 'fixes' and followed up with airbnb about the garden photos being merged to the new listing.

 

Mid February 2018 - after countless emails chasing airbnb they informed me that 'we are not able to transfer your original photos' and blamed it on 'bedroom 4' not being 'guest ready'

 

Late February 2018 - went 'live' on airbnb plus and listing was littered with errors - ie: house was listed as 3-bed, not 4, missing photos, wrong title.

 

March 2018 - was advised that home will need a 're-shoot' and it would have to be for the entire home, not just bedroom 4 and the garden. More work to get it cleaned, linen put on etc. Airbnb paid for this for me, thank goodness.

 

Mid March 2018 - did re-shoot. Was advised by airbnb that nothing else needed to be done as the listing was already live in the launch so no extra checks needed to be carried out. Was advised that review process would take 3-4 weeks from the date the photos were submitted.

 

Mid April 2018 - chased and was told they don't have a specific timeline to offer right now. 

 

May 2018 - was sent lots of ridiculous 'fixes' to complete, many of which had been present when my house was first put on airbnb. Such as, 'clean up your bookshelves' (these bookshelves looked exactly the same in November 2017 and were neat and tidy. I suspected airbnb was stalling as they were too busy. I was also told to buy a new single bed, when the one I had was newly purchased a couple of years ago for £400! I was also told that I can't have my baby's crib visible or any toys/books for kids. 

 

June 2018 - submitted final fix photo. Received automated email on 26 June 2018 saying 'congrats - all your fixes are approved!'. It said 'Over the next few weeks, our photo team will touch up your pro photos and edit them to perfection.'

 

Mid-July 2018 - chased airbnb. They said 'Unfortunately I do not have a timeframe for when your listing will go live but if you have not gone live in the next two weeks please contact me and I can escalate the case to try and get some additional information.'

 

End of July 2018 - chased airbnb again. They said 'I can see that you have completed all the steps but unfortunately I don't have an exact date for this to go live on Plus. I have escalated this to see if I can get an answer and will be in touch with some additional news.'

 

August 2018 - airbnb emailed to say 'Quick update. I have pushed the activation team on this and at this time they don't have an exact date for the listing going live but you have not been forgotten and they are looking into the issue and will keep me updated so I can keep you updated. '

 

3 October 2018 - chased airbnb again. We are now 2 months since the 'activation team' was pushed, 7.5 months since the re-shoot and almost a year since the original airbnb plus shoot! They said 'I just heard back from the engineering team on the 1st October and they have confirmed that they are close to activating your listing.'

 

4 October 2018 - airbnb emailed saying 'I have been advised that the end is near with your listing and I thank you for your continued patience with this.'

 

22 October 2018 - automated email from airbnb plus saying 'We’re reaching out to let you know that your listing is still on its way to being part of Airbnb Plus, but we’ll need to complete another photoshoot of your space. ' - nothing has changed in our property so I have no idea what they are talking about.

 

22 October 2018 - emailed airbnb asking what was going on as nothing had changed in our property since the March re-shoot! They said 'It looks like you recently updated some interior design elements in your home and we want to include these changes in your photos to ensure your listing page is as accurate as possible. On occasion, when hosts finish the fixes stage of Plus we require a reshoot to make sure that these changes are captured in the listing. If you could reschedule at your earliest convenience that would be great :)'

 

23 October 2018 - told airbnb plus that nothing had changed with my listing. They said 'I understand your frustration and have contacted the photography department in order to get some further information regarding the reshoot and if it is completely necessary.'

 

This experience has been the most frustrating one to date with airbnb. Their plus team is a shambles. Every email has been a lie - I am constantly told that the end is near with my listing, and then they say they need ANOTHER re-shoot, even when nothing has changed since March!! An absolute disaster of a product, and I am sure I am being picked out as a target because I have been firm in chasing them. 

 

What have other peoples experiences been with the plus team? 

 

 

8 Replies 8
Gerry-And-Rashid0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Miriam321 Anecdotal feedback is they can't cope and complaints are mounting up - certainly you search our air for Plus and you aj property 5 miles away - not exactly what you might need!

Steven65
Level 10
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Hi Miriam. That is very poor performance, and there are similar discussions on this forum. What i would really like to know is Plus attracting higher prices and more bookings? If yes, then it might be worth your wait.

Agreed @Steven65 - that would be very useful to know. I know that when we were listed in the launch we saw a bump in bookings, but I wonder if that was due to the launch rather than a long term change in consumers. Our property fits best with Plus, so I feel I am forced to wait, but I am not sure how much longer is reasonable! We haven't got any bookings in the past few months (incredibly rare for us), and I suspect this is because airbnb are pushing plus properties over ours. 

Mark1256
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

i would not recommend applying for Airbnb Plus. i certainly would not recommend that you pay for the application process, and do NOT withhold any inventory thinking your approval is imminent. The process is as mentioned above nothing short of shambolic. Airbnb is currently driving demand from hosts which it is incapable of processing, so hosts are caught up in a pipeline that is not being managed. What is more, they can give you no estimate of the timelime to completion. They just stonewall you. My photography was done one month ago, and I have been approved, I am simply waiting for them to "make the finishing touches to their photographer".  Airbnb invited ME into the process, I did not apply. My case manager is non-communicative and ineffectual, and shows very little if any ownership of resolution and refuses to take any responsibility for the impact on your income, EVEN THOOUGH Airbnb recommends that you leave some days unbooked to prep for inspection and photography and demands investment. You do all of this and then Airbnb holds up the processs so you can't recoup the investment. If you live in a market ike the UK where you can only do 90 days per annum anyway, i would say, don't do it. it's not worthy the hassle. Airbnb hasn't got its act together in this space at all.

 Really helpful! Yes, in the end I tried to rebook the photography (for a 3rd time!!), paid for cleaning and linen only to have the photographer cancel the day before! I actually ended up sourcing my own property photographer and have updated my listing myself. Totally not worth the hassle, will never bother with Airbnb Plus again. Can you believe it has been over a year since my first photoshoot with them and still no listing...crazy!

i find it a tad dishonest. I am so glad i didn't apply and pay their fee, i would feel outraged by their "response'. Apart from the fact that they seem unable to resolve any of it, it has cost me a lot of money and bookings. The whole process is flawed. It could be done within days. My property is in an apartment building, and the building is in a neighbourhood, neither of which has any gas supply. The apartments for hundred of metres in any direction are only served by electricty. There are therefore no gas appliances anywhere to be found in the vicinity, and therefore there can be no carbon monoxide. All of this was discussed with the inspector. Then i get a point, telling me its a worldwide requirement to fit carbon monoxide detectors. I have even complied with this kind of point to complete their list of demands, some even worse than this one. it's laughable. and they can't even pull their finger out to complete a review of the output of the photograoher who came ver a month ago. utterly risible as a process and a booking partner.

Were your issues resolved ? 

Tony134
Level 10
Sarasota, FL

Airbnb corporate team actually think they know hosting better than their hosts...

Chuckle... HUBRIS.