Airbnb Plus woes

Sarah1349
Level 3
Charlotte, NC

Airbnb Plus woes

After completing my fixes for Plus in December, and a TON of e-mails begging for them to finalize my listing, I finally got upgraded to plus in early March. I was so eager to get in that I didn't critically review all of my photos and now I'm finding several of them problematic; they don't seem to be edited to Plus standards, or really any professional photographer standards. It seems my bookings have only slowed down since entering Plus which obviously should not be the case, so I can't help but think it is these photos. 

 

When I tried to change my cover photo, the website was glitchy and wouldn't allow it. Since then, they've added a button that allows you to "request a cover photo change." They just sent me my "new options," but despite being very clear several times, my problematic photos remain. (For instance, one of the living room shots has a bunch of cords exposed that we hid for the pictures, and the pillow looks slumped over - I think this was just a test shot, as the photographer sends the whole bundle to Airbnb to pick and edit.) 

 

I hate not having control over my listing, and even worse, not having any access to customer service anymore. I first requested this change on March 7th. They've now provided me with my "options" almost a full month later. I've yet to actually speak to someone from the Plus team, though I've opened and closed two Superhost support cases in desperation. They were unable to help me because the Plus team alone controls this. 

 

Is anyone else having an awful time with Plus support? Please submit your feedback if so. I'm using every channel available to submit mine. If this keeps up I may have to leave the program. 

15 Replies 15
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Sarah1349  There are several threads here on the forum about hosts' disappointment with Plus. Type it into the search engine on this forum. Your experience is not at all unique. You lose control over the photos, the text, all of it. And yes, hosts who had been hosting successfully for years, with high booking rates found their bookings totally dried up after going to Plus.

There's a reason they started offering it for free, when they originally charged $150. They can't admit they made a mistake in the way they are administering this category.

Hi Sarah, my initial search turned up threads over a year old but I've since found some within the last few months. I'll go commiserate with them, but I wanted to share my experience as well because like I said, I'm using every channel possible to complain. 

 

I haven't found that I've lost control over the text. I think that's one area that they've improved, because that wasn't an issue I had, at least not for the way I want to present my listing. But the photos are a serious problem and I see other people complaining as well.

 

All of this would be fine if we could get the support we are used to as Superhosts. Sigh. 

@Sarah977  @Sarah1349 I wonder if the reason is that "Plus" is a little too minimalistic.   Also, maybe people who are looking for a good deal automatically bypass the Plus listings, assuming, probably correctly, that they are more expensive...so if you're on airbnb partially because it's a better deal than a hotel, you wouldn't want a plus listing, so you would go to the regular listings, I know this is what we do when we're looking for ourselves.  Additionally, since there is virtually no copy, even if a guest wanted to read the whole listing...there is no there there, there is no level of detail to answer any questions and while I know people think too many photos is bad, I think too few is worse.

@Mark116  Exactly. The slick, upscale look of the Plus category on the site would certainly look to most guests as if they were super expensive. Not generally what people are looking for when they are booking an Airbnb, otherwise they'd just book a nice hotel suite.

I'd suspect most guests just scroll right past those Plus listings and go to the others. As per usual, Airbnb seems to have zero understanding of human nature. They seem to be wanting to capture some upscale guest market with Plus and all their new hotel listings, but if I had a bunch of disposable income, I'd not be looking on Airbnb for accommodation, I'd be getting my personal assistant to be booking me into the Four Seasons 🙂

@Sarah977  It's so strange, that with all of that granular data, airbnb doesn't seem to understand it's own market.  Yes, absolutely there is a place for the super upscale/unique properties on airbnb, but I'd guess that is a minority of the users.  I know I am seeing what seems more and more like people using the platform strictly as a cost saving measure, and little to no interest in any minimal interaction with the 'hosts'.  I'm sure there was a way to make Plus at least not be harmful to the hosts who signed up for it, like instead of Plus being a special category, just have them show up in the regular searches but with the PLUS branding on the front page. Easy. A user could still click to search only Plus listings, but the majority wouldn't be penalized by not appearing in the broader search.

I have wondered this same thing, about guests passing it over because they think it is more expensive. But in my case, all the other 29 Plus listings in Savannah tend to be booked when I check, while mine is the last one to go. So Savannah does support the market, but I think most Airbnb users have no idea what Plus is. I definitely miss having the "rare find" icon which I think makes more sense to the average user.  

 

When they rolled out Plus I was so relieved that it wasn't in my area, but then when it arrived I felt very boxed in. Savannah is a flooded market and doing anything possible to stand out is super important. I'm at a loss for what to do now - to stay or to go? I guess I'm riding it out for now, but if my initial Airbnb experience had been this poor, I probably would have left long ago. 

@Sarah1349  Maybe 29 actually represents market saturation, unless you can find any consistent point of differentiation between those plus listings and yours, e.g. are they larger, in a different district, have some other amenities.

 

A lot of people have left Plus, based on what I've seen from this forum, either through general frustration at the photo quality, poor customer service, etc.  I'd say if you see your bookings really go down that you might want to opt out.  

Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

@Sarah1349 That all sounds so horrible.  There are some more recent threads and I'm only including them in case you want to connect with other Airbnb Plus hosts -

 

December:  https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Airbnb-Plus-Dont-Do-It/m-p/900950?collapse_discussion=tr...

 

January:  https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Airbnb-Plus-disaster/m-p/929067?collapse_discussion=true...

 

January:  https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Disappointing-Airbnb-Plus-Photos/m-p/921770?collapse_dis...

 

A post from this past Sunday by a host in Charleston:  https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Airbnb-Plus/m-p/979553?collapse_discussion=true&filter=loca...

 

There was a post today in Help, but I'm not sure how helpful you would find it.

 

Hope everything works out for the best.

Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

@Sarah1349 PS: I love your place and have saved it!  My daughter is in Savannah through the summer (finishing grad work at SCAD) and I might run down for a getaway visit.

 

I actually think the photos are really cool - I didn't notice the cords or the slumpy pillow, though I usually do notice things like that (and did notice the propped up books that looked unhappy being stood up like that lol).  I love the vibe and the palette.  It's gorgeous.  And it does look expensive.  But it's a better price than the Perry Street Hotel, where I stayed for Thanksgiving, and your place offers so much more than a hotel.  I would definitely want to stay there based on the photos.

 

I agree, though, that it's horrible to have so little control over your own listing!  And to watch bookings go down - that is just unacceptable.  As another poster said, either here or somewhere else (was it @Mark116?), when are they going to admit that the whole Plus thing did not go as planned?  And why can't they administer it better?  It's mind-boggling.

 

 

Hello Ann! Thank you so much for the links and the kind words. It is actually really helpful to hear your perspective on the photos. The one that's really bothering me is a shot of the kitchen that is flooded with sun spots and weird reflections. It is just really poorly edited. My old photos showed our great view of the bridge. I feel like all of these look washed out. When I compare to other Plus photos in the area, I feel like we weren't given much attention. I don't think it was the photographer though as I think he shot most in our area and he seemed very professional. BUT to hear from someone who has never seen prior photos is extremely helpful and will maybe make me a little less sensitive to the whole thing. The Plus team wrote back and supposedly they are going to have someone do a full review the photos. No idea on timeline, and so disheartening that I can't just speak to someone, but it's better than nothing. 

 

Great question about when they'll admit Plus did not go as planned. My friend is a Plus host in Nashville and she has loved it so I was very encouraged.. but I'm clearly not having the same experience! 

 

Thanks so much for saving my place, though! And congrats to your daughter at SCAD. They have so many great programs and I'm so glad they are there to give the city even more life! 

@Sarah1349 Thanks for writing back!  I looked again at the kitchen picture you mention and liked that one, too.  I think the sun spots kind of work with the industrial chic vibe.  The pictures overall give a great sense of interior place and personality.  I believe that once people start finding the place, your bookings will go up again.  Maybe guests just need to get used to the Plus layout - I know it took me a minute to realize all the things I wanted to know were there.  But now that I know how it works, it will be easy for me to navigate this and other Plus listings.  New things take time, I guess!  All the best with everything.

Shawn221
Level 2
El Dorado Hills, CA

Sara. Did Airbnb respond and resolve your concerns?   

Hi @Shawn221, sorry for the delayed reply. My concerns have been halfway resolved, and I have seen sloooow and steady improvements to the Plus customer service. After lots of cases and complaining, the Plus team replaced a bunch of my photos and edited some. The communication was poor because no one told me this happened - I had to notice for myself in my listing... but of course I was happy to see an improvement. However, some are definitely still problematic. I opened up another case and this time either got a better agent or they are just getting better with training, because she immediately saw the issues, brought it to the photography team, and told me within a day that they decided to schedule a new shoot for me. We're still locking down the date, but I feel like I actually have someone on my side right now which is way better than a few months ago. 

 

My revenue has still gone down A LOT compared to last year - I made about 40% less in June of this year vs last (my first year) - but it is hard to know all the factors. My market is incredibly saturated and only more so every day, to say the least, so I think it may be even worse outside of the advantages of Plus algorithms. For the most part I'm staying booked, but for way less than last year. I'm still not convinced that the average Airbnb user actually understands what the Plus program is so I'm not sure they are swayed by that, but more views probably means more bookings, most of the time. 

Craig308
Level 2
Baltimore, MD

I am having problems receiving my reward for moving to Plus. I put in a lot of time and some expenses to make the move up in part relying on receiving the incentive reward in a timely matter. In their promotion they committed to proving the reward within a month of going live with your listing.  I’ve been live for 6 weeks now and have emailed and called a number of times and the poor customer service folks and their managers have no way of helping because only the Airbnb Plus

onboarding team can help and  according to everyone in customer service with whom I have spoken, they are terribly understaffed. 

 

Has anyone been able to get through to anyone on tehe Plus team?  I’d really like to get this resolved.