Airbnb Plus - photo problem

[Azzuri0]

 Airbnb plus accepted me, photos were taken, I can already see how my plus listing  will look when it is active in Bali, most photos are nice but my problem is that the main photo they choose that will be the thumbnail  photo in the search is the worst one, you can actually see a house in construction on it in behind, it just looks horrible, I also have many beautiful photos of sunset from the terrace, drone shots, etc and it will all be gone soon, is there a way to add them?

I sent an email to airbnb plus team but still no reply from them, was anyone able to edit their photos when on airbnb plus?

[Mark1527]

Hi, I feel your pain! The Airbnb photographer came months ago, spent 5 hours taking photos, yes 5 hours! I have jumped through the hurdles of 'Fixes' including showing close up photos of shampoo & conditioner in all 6 bathrooms amoungst other completely insane requirements.

Today I got the 'preview' approval listing, due to go live in a week. I have paused the Plus listing, why?

Of the 5 bedrooms, not one of them had the correct photos, of the six bathrooms 2 had the right photos and only 4 of them were listed. I can remove photos but do not have access to the pool of potos to make them correct. Anyone else had this experience? Why is it that people with no knowledge of your listing end up making asthetic decisions for hosts? Will this really improve the success of your listing. I agree with many others in that the rules applied to plus are not in the best interests of hosts.

Having read a significant amount of the community conversation regarding Airbnb plus, i am  now very hesitant to go forward with it and also deeply concerned about the consequences of not being compliant. Does anyone know why the super strict and inflexible photo system is being applied?

[Sarah766]

I have the same problem. The photos they have taken are so terrible. Mine were already taken by a proffesional photgrapher. I have a beautiful view of the Mont Blanc range from my balcony and they took a photo from my balcony looking down at my neighbours fence! 

My main photo is a close up of the sofa with the sunlight on half of it and it looks so bad!! I have a loft apartment with exposed beems and they don't show any of it ! Really not happy with the experiance so far. 

[Jack-And-Jerrod0]

Same problem here. Also, they don't have any exterior shots of my building or the hot tubs which is a huge selling point. They told me I can't add my own photos and they can't do anything about it. I don't understand! If you're considering PLUS, don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Michael2621]

We got invited to Airbnb Plus. We went through the process, made all the changes they requested, had their photographer come out for a 5-hour long photo shoot. The whole process from start to finish took about 2 months. I was very excited for the opportunity thinking it would be very beneficial... but it was a let down. They clearly do not have their stuff together yet. Our home is a luxury vacation rental in Hawaii with a pool/hot tub, gorgeous backyard area, BBQ, patio, etc. However, they didn't publish any of these photos. The backyard and pool are the most important part of the listing and they would not post photos because they say they were not satisfied with the quality of the photos from THEIR photographer. I offered to supply our own photos from our original listing but they said they only accept photos taken by the photographer they hired. Seems pretty ridiculous to be so inflexible. The support representative said they could submit an inquiry to see if they would make an exception but it would take 3 weeks to get a response because the Airbnb Plus department is backlogged with service requests. Apparently, the Plus design team has to approve the listing page layout, design, copy content, and most importantly photos. It's very inflexible in this regard for the owner to customize to their liking. We have been on Plus for three weeks now and have not received one booking since the change. Meanwhile, we received plenty of interest and multiple bookings from VRBO during the time. Coincidence? No way. The bottom line, I would not recommend using Plus until they work out their kinks and hire more staff to be more accessible when problems occur. Attached is a link to our VRBO page for reference, I'm going to revert our Airbnb Plus listing back to the standard listing today so it will no longer be online. https://www.vrbo.com/1432848?unitId=1991372

[Steven-and-Marsh0]

We have the same issue.  Our house is in upstate NY and a huge outdoor destination for New Yorkers.  Our 7 acre property is our biggest selling point, however we were provided with only one sad exterior shot.  We're waiting on Airbnb to let us know what they suggest.  If nothing, we might have to opt out.  Hopefully, all works out!

[Ibu-Ketut0]

You all sound lucky.....our main photo for our gorgeous 4 bedroom villa with swimming pool etc. is of some of the plants in the garden near the swimming pool, but guess what, they've even managed to crop the photo in such a way that the swimming pool isn't even showing...... The whole Plus process is time consumming, very un-professional, and Airbnb clearly think that they're better qualified (having never set foot on the property) than we are as owners, at selecting photographs that best represent our properties etc. The fact that they don't permit any photos taken by their appointed photographers to be taken early in the morning and in the evening (which any professional photographer will say is when the lighting is at it's best) they also don't allow for ANY night time pictures. So those of us who have spent a lot of time and money on lighting - both indoors and outdoors - because we know how it can totally transform spaces, are now simply going to have to try and describe our spaces rather than do the obvious and simply photograph it!!!!!!  Luckily, very little of our business comes from Airbnb, and we manage to keep our occupancy levels at well over 80%.... and yet we get bombarded with messages from Airbnb that we could get more bookings if we drop our rates by 50%!!!! 

How does that make any sense???

Assuming a nightly rate of $200 at an occupancy of 80% x 292 nights resulting in annual earnings of $58,400 - Now, let's assume we adopt the Airbnb model and drop the rates to $100 nightly....... with this incredible strategy resulting in our occupancy increasing to 100% ..... Let's see, we now have annual earnings of $36,500 - with no time off for our staff, no time to work on the place, and certainly not enough time to have Airbnb representatives access our properties suitability for inclusion in the Airbnb Plus program. Some of us clearly don't need advice on how to better run our businesses.... Simply dropping rates isn't the answer.... and it certainly wouldn't help us, so please stop suggesting we drop our rates all the time. It might result in Airbnb making more money, but clearly at our expense.

How difficult would it be for Airbnb, to give it their best shot with photo selection, and then allow us to add our photographs, delete some of theirs, and then alter the order in which they appear etc.

[Michael2621]

We are having the same problem with our 4bd luxury home with  a pool. They posted photos of a bookshelf and a mirror with a hand towel, but they didn't publish any photos of our pool or backyard area. So ridiculous. Thank you for posting. Where do you get most of your bookings if not from Airbnb? We use VRBO in addition to Airbnb. Is there another booking platform you use? See our listing on VRBO here: https://www.vrbo.com/1432848?unitId=1991372

[Aniceto1]

The AirBnB plus chose an awful photo as the cover photo for our apartment... we contacted them and they told us that they cannot change it. Our booking rate is actually going down, we are very disappointed with the program so we are sigining off, and losing $ 150... 

[Giorgio215]

Hello

yesterday I delete the picture of the cover on Airbnb plus because I don’t like it ( it’s the picture of the street so I want to change it with another one inside the apartment), than after this my ad it’s not available so no one can book it or see it . Some one can help me? , the assistance sent a request to Airbnb plus but I don’t know when they will fix the problem 

thank you very much

[Bruce-and-Katy0]

Only three months ago we  joined AirBnB hosting listing our apartment and at first we have been very happy with the service support etc..... but after gaining 100% 5 star reviews we have recently been invited to list on AirBnB Plus, which  we have been led to belive was the premium way of listing our Studio apatment with more support and much more coverage.

So great lets get our listing on there ASAP so the next available appointmet for viewing and the proffesional photography package was a Sunday ( weekends our busiest time) but we want to give our new business venture the best chace we can so we booked it, AirBnB blocked out the date and we blocked  out the day before ( so we could get it all ready & obviously no chance of weekend booking) and it was then cancelled due to unfortunate problem.......please reshedule ...... so next date (dont want a weekend) was Monday Oct 22nd.

We then had a request for a booking for the 19th - 21st  requesting a late check out time after 2pm... so we offered 12pm (normal check out 10pm) but as this was very important appointment with AirBnB Plus and we needed to get The Studio all perfect we could not offer them the later check out time..... so they booked alternative accomodation .... we also had to organise our main business and give two guys day off....... then txt message arrived Sunday 21st morning  and once again problem with profeesional photographer have to cancel and we need to re schedule 3rd appointment!!@

So we missed out on £210 booking and lost days work for 3 people with our landscaping business!!!

I phoned AirBnB was on hold for 20mins then cut off, phoned again this time from landline and once again cut off.

Started and finished writing email to them while on hold for the third time.... finally very helpful and apologetic guy in support team explained nothing he could do and this was an ongoing issue with many hosts experiencing the same problems very new AirBnB Plus and basically couldnt handle the voulme....Just not good enough!

"Can we get compensation for our finacial loss?" aparently not.

Best course of action go on hosting site click on Help and then" Feedback" then AirBnB plus  then give feedback on what they could do better etc!!! yea quite long account of what could have been done better and then no reply nothing no apology explanation nothing,  just automated pleae re shedule for a new AirBnB plus appointment.

  Thats just GREAT! thanks AirBnB Plus for you great service and no support...... part of the excuse is the people booked to check and photograh your property are not manged by AirBnB and so no direct contact by the support team is available, what a great setup. 

[Michael2126]

I am on phone hold for AirBnB support now and while waiting I see we al share the same issue with the AirBnB Plus listing. The amazing part of my house is the kitchen, yet there is no way for me to choose that picture as the featured image/thumbnail photo. Instead, a photo of a bed is pictured. That does not stand out as the unique feature of my property. I hope I get a helpful answer on the phone, but since I am fully booked before I became a Plus listing, I will likely drop off the program at some point. It would be nice if my listing were both a "normal" listing I fully control and a "Plus" listing.  The program is a nice idea, but the loss of total control of a listing by AirBnB's most successful hosts/properties is a poor business decision on their part.  

[Azzuri0]

Hi Eddie  and Bella, Airbnb did eventually change the main photo, but it wasn't with the one I wanted,  they said they have some guidelines for photos they have to follow.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Azzuri0,

Thanks for the update on this. I just took a look at your listing and I really like your main photo, I would certainly like to stay there. 🙂 

What kind of photo would you have wanted the main photo to be? Would it have been from a similar view point?

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Rebekah57]

Hello Lizzie maybe you could help me - i have tried to reach out to airbnb plus team but no reply and just keep receiving automated email to approve my listing to AIRBNB PLUS.

The apartment i did up was picked up by Airbnb Plus team to participate in the programme.  Anyway, the photos they sent me is showing a totally different colour sofa than what it really is.  It totally doesnt look right 😞 😞 and i am concern that guests will complain, and also the photo looks bad because the original sofa is goldish velvet/suede, but the photo show it being GREY and totally boring.  It is only a studio so you can imagine that the sofa plays quite a role in bringing the whole apt together......

Sigh - i am sad.  I thoroughly enjoyed the Airbnb Plus experience and truly the studio apt is amazing. What should i do next?  I have not heard from anyone from Airbnb Plus.  And i will be doing up a few more apts... Any advise would be appreciated. Thank you kindly!!

[Bella-and-Eddie0]

Hi Azzuri, This is your friends Eddie and Bella in Seminyak,  I am an airbnb plus host as well and am having problems with my photo selections and order. I contacted customer service and asked why, is it my app, online or a problem inherent in the plus system? they were completly un helpful and suggested that I do exactly what I told them I had already tried. Then I came accross your post here and realize we are in the same possision.

I hope they fix this glitch,because  my exterior is what should be featured as its the most impresive thing about my villa. As you know very few Bali villas have a good deal of outdoor space, and that is my selling point.

Just a coincidece we happen to talk today on a totally unrelated subject. Keep up the good work, see you soon.

[Letti0]

@Bella-and-Eddie0  It's not a glitch, you can not change the description or photo's in the Plus program. That's just the way it works you lose all control over your listing it's what they want and what they say period. 

[Andrew757]

Anyone manage to have the Photo order changed to your preference?

[Cor3]

Hi @Azzuri0, @Pam206, @Louise364, @Angie10,

Personally, I think the whole Plus program is still pretty much immature.

Initially, I was pretty excited about it. But the more I think about it, the less enthusiastic I do become.

Okay, the look pretty nice. But: Only a couple photos, hardly any text in these listings, lack of control on your listing, and last but not least, it would even make our listing illegitimate (because of the omission of our license number).

On top of that: The Plus listings seem to load very slowly (for some reason).

Furthermore, I have my sincere doubts, whether it will bring us the benefits, we hope for.

Also the roll-out seems to be very slow and a cumbersome process (at least for now).

As all of you are describing.

When the program, hits ‘our’ region (supposed to be later this year). I will keep a very close eye on how our competition will be onboarding this program.

I will not go through this exercise, just to see my page-views doubling. And to take some pride in the fact, that we’re a Plus-listing host?

[Pete28]

i do wonder why the plus listings are so utterly different in format and layout that it almost feels like a competitor platform.

It also starts to feel like Airbnb is encouraging hosts to pay them to get more business over other hosts. Even uber has not gone that far yet...

[Pam206]

I was approached by Airbnb to have both of my listings put on the Plus program.  I received the photos today and am completely disappointed with them.  They are far inferior in quality to the ones I paid a professional photographer to take a couple of months ago and I don't feel the Plus photos represent my properties nearly as well.  They completely overlooked the fact that I have a washer/dryer in one of the units.  I see no way to mention I offer either twin or queen air mattress nor a Pack n Play.  The photo they did of one of my roof decks was ghastly as were two of the bedroom shots.  Also, as someone else mentioned, the cover photo they chose is not something I would have chosen in a million years.  I'm totally booked out now and get 40% of my reservations from Airbnb.  I really don't see how this program is going to help my reservations. I feel it will only hurt.  I'm so very annoyed right now.