House Rules “Accept” Button

Mitchell77
Level 5
Windsor, Canada

House Rules “Accept” Button

I got thinking about all the hosts who have said their guests never bothered to read house rules or policies on their listing.
This is an ongoing issue that I think can be fixed with the implementation of an “Accept” or “Decline” button for reading and agreeing to the house rules and cancelation policy.

 

The way it would work in my head, would be when a guest requests to book, prior to payment, a new screen pops up with the house rules and the cancelation policy. A guest can then click accept or decline. If a guest clicks “Accept” another window will populate telling them that:


“You have agreed to the host’s house rules and cancellation policy. In addition to that, you also agree to these terms if house rules are broken during your stay.

 

1. Any violation of the hosts house rules will results in cancellation of their reservation. 
2. Guest will not be permitted to book again on the platform for X amount of days or weeks.

3. Guests review privileges will be suspended for the listing in which they just broke house rules for. 

4. Any damages to the listing by the guest automatically suspends their right to leave a review for that listing/stay. 

They would then be asked one more time if they “Agree” or “Decline”

 

If the guest “declines” the house rules & cancelation policy, then the listing is no longer available to them anymore.

 

Instant Book would be similar to the above mentioned process. 

I encourage other host’s opinions, thoughts, changes, feedback. 

 

Coming Soon. A platform that is fair for all. @smartshorttermbnb
29 Replies 29

@Anna9170 I read everything, because I'm nerdy like that.🤓

 

I try to keep my rules and my listing as condensed as I can, but I don't think it even matters, as most guests don't even bother getting far enough to see they are not too onerous a read.

@Anna9170  I was going to say the exact same thing- how many times do we want to read something on a website and have to click on "I accept the privacy policy" or something like that? Who besides @Colleen253 The Nerd (said with affection, Colleen) actually goes and reads through all that. Most people just think, Yeah, yeah, I accept, now let me read this article. So Airbnb guests will do the same thing. Just click Yes so they can get on with it.

 

@Mitchell77  #2 on your list is something I can absolutely guarantee you Airbnb wouldn't even consider. They don't care if guests ignore your house rules, they care about their service fees. Why do you think Airbnb buries the House Rules at the bottom of the page? Because it could be an impediment to a guest booking, that's why. 

And due to what both Anna and I said here, I think it's much better to ask your guests about whether they saw your house rules and agree to respect them in a message to them when they book or request to book, rather than having them click on something they may or may not read.

 

Don't get me wrong, your suggestions are good, but hosts have all sorts of great suggestions and Airbnb isn't the least bit interested in them.

@Anna9170 true but a good percentage may read it? I know when we send a message to the guests, they read it all and follow directions. 

Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

@Mitchell77  yes, yes, yes. Even if guests didn't read it (which most won't) and mindlessly clicked on accept, at least it would hold them to account and they would experience actual consequences of breaking the rules (although that does make me wonder how this would be policed). The house rules are so hidden, most people don't realise they are there unless you specifically direct them to it. It's frustrating beyond belief.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Mitchell77 

What a great post Mitchell, this is exactly the sorts of issues we should be discussing and proposals we should be putting to Airbnb. 

Hopefully the appointment of @Catherine-Powell will bring a positive energy to the hosting community and we can start to have a responsible dialogue, not putting forward silly wish-list  things like getting Airbnb to be responsible for guest damage but, constructive ideas like this post of yours Mitchell.

Well done mate.....any more suggestions.......I am all ears!

 

Cheers.......Rob 

.

@Robin4

 

You wrote:

 

  • Hopefully the appointment of @Catherine-Powell will bring a positive energy to the hosting community and we can start to have a responsible dialogue, ....

 

Well, I felt some positive energy when Laura Chambers started working with airbnb. What she wrote and what she said in her videos sounded real positive but she achieved nothing for us. At one point at her time with airbnb, management must have clearly told her what her job is:

 

  • Laura,
    Your job is not to change things,
    Your job is to make it look as if things would change

 

And then she left.

 

Let's wait and see untill Kathrin Powell has that meeting and what happens then.

 

@Kelly149  put it perfectly clear: Airbnb will not change the way houserules are displayed bc that could deter guests from booking.

 

The only thing they have done in this departement is, that they have changed the designation „houserules“ into „things to keep in mind“, bc they felt "houserules" sounds a little harsh.

 

cc:  @Colleen253 @Emilia42  @Anna9170  

 

 

 

@Ute42  Yes, "Things to keep in mind" conveys that these are things you should be aware of, but hey, if you happen to forget, no biggie. Bringing three children to a "No children" listing, then becomes on par with turning off the lights when you go out.

 

And I mentioned Laura Chambers in another post here. She was going to do such great things for hosts, yadda, yadda. She asked me if I'd be interested in a phone call with her, soon after she took over, to discuss issues that affect hosts. We talked for an hour, and she agreed that all the things I brought up needed to be addressed. 

 

Sounded good, and gave me reason to believe that she was committed to driving change. 

Nothing, not one thing we discussed, has been addressed. In the 2 years she was our so-called "host rep".

 

I'd like to think Catherine will do some major overhauls, but company employees can only lie to their users for so long before everything they say is disbelieved. So far, all that has happened is more of the same- PR videos and feel-good posts full of promises and "We're listening".

 

Cathie19
Level 10
Darwin, Australia

@Ute42 , @Robin4 , @Colleen253 , @Kath9 , @Sarah977 , @Emilia42 

 

Hi @Mitchell77 , I like the idea of limiting a guests options for a suspended period, if there is PROOF, that house rules have been broken.  A minority of hosts (who probably need weeding from the STR platform) might not be as ethical, and state a rule has been broken, just to avoid a review, or punish a picky or high maintenance guest, when in fact that is something which can be subjective;  hence the need for proof.

 

Look I don’t send documents to be signed or have hidden texts or messages.

 

I just usually say something along the lines that, as you’ve requested to book, you have accepted all the house rules, which are there for your wellbeing and safety. 🙂

 

or

The instant booking process, tells me that you have accepted all our house rules, with no exceptions. 🙂

 

Simple! But making personal house rules VISIBLE, or worded as “individual listing’s house rules - please open for details, as you will need to accept for booking”, might go along way! 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Mitchell77 

 

While I agree with your sentiments, as others have pointed out, the guests are already required to tick a box accepting the house rules when they book. 

 

The main problem seems to be that many guests just tick the box without reading them. Certainly, making this a bit more prominent, e.g. adding a second pop up to remind the guest that they have just agreed to abide by the rules, could help, but the fact that most of the rules are hidden both during this process and on the listing, unless the guest bothers to click on links, is more of an issue.

 

Again, as others have said, this is not an oversight on Airbnb's part. It is deliberate.

 

As for your suggestions:

 

1. Any violation of the hosts house rules will results in cancellation of their reservation. 
2. Guest will not be permitted to book again on the platform for X amount of days or weeks.

3. Guests review privileges will be suspended for the listing in which they just broke house rules for. 

4. Any damages to the listing by the guest automatically suspends their right to leave a review for that listing/stay. 

 

Yep, of course these all make sense to us as hosts, but I wouldn't hold your breath on any of these penalties being applied. These points cover issues (such as retaliatory reviews following damage claims) that hosts have repeatedly and very vocally been asking Airbnb to address for years. It's pretty clear that Airbnb has no intention of doing so. It's not in the company's best interests. There is a very obvious reason why Airbnb is so guest-centric and that's because they make most of their money from the guests. They are not going to do anything that deter guests from making bookings/using the platform again.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Mitchell77  Yes, repercussions to guests who abuse the system is the real issue here. Giving guests more things to click on is useless if Airbnb refuses to penalize, in any way, guests who don't abide by the rules.

 

The fact that guests can easily IB, with just a click, without having even read thoroughly through the listing description or rules, means that hosts have far more issues with IB guests, in general, than those who have to have their request approved (or at least it appears that way to me from a couple year's reading on this forum).

Yet there are no repercussions for guests who show up at a listing thinking they are getting an entire house, when the listing clearly said Private room, or bring along their dog or children to a No pets, no children listing. Quite the opposite- when a guest has failed to inform themselves of what they are booking, and the rules, it's the host who takes the hit, either because the guest leaves as soon as they arrive and gets a full refund, stay and ignore the rules, or leave a terrible review.

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Mitchell77 

 

I admire your optimism and I wish I could be as optimistic, but as @Ute42 mentioned, we've been through all this before with Laura Chambers. Perhaps this time will be different but, as I am sure you've seen, there has already been a lot of discussion on the threads with Catherine about some of the issues covered in your post. You can see on those threads that I asked her if Airbnb was going to address the problem of retaliatory reviews and her response was along the lines of, "It's difficult for CS to arbitrate between hosts and guests." I didn't see an indication that there was any real intention of tackling this issue.

 

I have been hosting on a regular basis for a few years now and what I have noticed from following discussions on the CC and the changes that Airbnb has implemented is that, rather than take on the feedback from hosts as is frequently promised, the company has done the exact opposite, i.e. bring in more and more policies than undermine hosts.

 

At the same time, they offer us token promises of things like strategies to deal with outlier reviews or introduce a Superguest programme - all things that were announced here on the CC but never actually materialised. So, one can only guess that these were PR strategies to appease us with 0% results to back them up.

Michelle1164
Level 10
Clearwater, KS

@Mitchell77  Here is a follow up message I send out if guest has not responded to my initial message to them about booking with us. Most respond to my 1st message without issue. But to the few who have not, I have had 100% response to this message so far.


Hello [Guest Name],
We still have not heard from you stating whether you acknowledge the terms for our Airbnb listing and read the hold harmless agreement we sent to you. We know you are a busy person and it probably just slipped your mind.
Let this be a reminder to please response back to this message prior to your arrival date. Remember, not responding to this message indicates to us that you are no longer interested in staying in our home. You will then be subject to the payment and/or cancellation terms in your itinerary and access to our home will not be given. Please note: a reservation is officially canceled when the guest clicks the cancellation button on the cancellation confirmation page. So, if you have changed your mind about staying with us, I suggest you cancel your reservation prior to [date] to receive the best refund.
Our desire is that you will respond to this message, saying you acknowledge these terms, so that we can provide you with great accommodations as well as the directions and necessary information needed to enter our home. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

“It’s not where you go, it’s who you meet along the way.” Wizard of Oz
Harvin0
Level 3
Thorold, Canada

Only if  Ab Cared. House rules are  intentionally. I have had problem with guests bringing in visitors, soliciting from the apartment. In my house rules I have specifically mentioned no visitors or extra guests. I have had incidents where guests are running prostitution, trading in cars ( they are in/out of the low level apartment 100+ times a day. freaking out our neighbors. It would be nice at that time for air bnb & tell the guest(s) that their reservation will be canceled as they are in violation of rules. instead host trying to communicate that end up into argument. I have had to call police to evict such people, & one time even police told me I'll have to let the girl live inside as she has no place to go even though she is high as a kite on crack or something else. So police or uninvited visitors doesn't make neighbors feel very safe.

only solution I have come up is to put my Rules such as no Visitors/extra-guests in the description   of my listing. so they can not miss it & it's easier for me to show the guests when they question where it say we not allowed to have visitors. 

Russell49
Level 10
Katoomba, Australia

I like the idea, but AirBnB has a tendency to sway towards it's guests as they are generating their money, while we are in essence their workers. I do not really like the way AirBnB treats hosts for the most part. I like the attitude of other companies that would refer to us as their "business partners".

 

We have been getting a lot of 0 review guests lately. I believe because of AirBnB giving 1st timers some coupon. AirBnB really need to help vet new guests and ensure that they act as part of the community. An explaination between the difference of AirBnB and other accommodations would be useful as well.

Quincy
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

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