Nothing says "We love our hosts" like videos of a guest jumping on the bed

Nothing says "We love our hosts" like videos of a guest jumping on the bed

I just saw this today and was stunned: A commercial showing hosts leaving out an electric guitar for a family and the couple's child jumping up and down on the bed.

What Ad agency thought this was a good idea? And what unrealistic expectations is Airbnb setting for potential guests about what hosts will be providing and what guests are allowed to do in these homes? (note all the hosts who verify they can't get reimbursed for their broken furniture and beds).

And no - it's not cute when it's a minority kid doing it.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/OGXN/airbnb-made-possible-by-hosts-song-2

Please oh please oh please show these things to hosts in a focus group first. Our jobs are hard enough as it is.

89 Replies 89
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Christine615  OMG, just when you think Airbnb couldn't disrespect hosts more, they come out with another gut punch.

 

It's like their cover photo for Pet Friendly stays, with the dog perched on the bed on the white duvet. I' m surprised they don't have a photo of the host and guest laughing together over the dog doodoo on the carpet.

 

I'm so thrilled we have a Host Advisory Board "representing host's interests." WTF are they doing with their advisory position?

I think Brian doesn't understand his business. In corporations there are supposed to be SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).

I attended a class on entrepreneurship and approaching venture capitalists. The banker giving the lecture asked which international company was centered around customer service and hospitality but had a management structure that showed no real experience in that area at the top. (one guess)

Clever and plucky is not a substitute for skill and experience.

@Christine615  Remember the Peter Principal? People rise to the level of their incompetence.

 

I agree, he doesn't understand his business. He was a design school graduate, with a BA degree in industrial design,  not a business school graduate. He had a good idea, but doesn't know how to effectively run the business it grew into. 

 

For example, the recent push to attract new hosts. If he was running the business intelligently, he wouldn't need some campaign to recruit new hosts. If this forum is any indication, tons of hosts have been packing it in with Airbnb and going to other platforms and direct bookings, even if it means they don't get the same volume of traffic. A smart businessman would think What? We're losing all these hosts? Figure out why and change things. He just wants to throw the babies out with the bath water and go find new babies. Ones who are blissfully unaware of what happened to the last babies.

The Advisory Committee has a tough job. Brian and Catherine need to give those members real power to veto things and make changes. I've been a member of enough organizations to know that when committees are in name only, everyone is frustrated and the problems just pile up.

The stories on this community board have a common thread. Better host support, better guest vetting (and identity verification), less emphasis on corporate investor hosts with multiple properties and zero ties to the community or personal involvement in their listings.

Go back to the core principles.

@Christine615   "The banker giving the lecture asked which international company was centered around customer service and hospitality but had a management structure that showed no real experience in that area at the top. (one guess)"

 

Well, yes and no. From 2013 to 2017,  Airbnb had Chip Conley as its global head of hospitality. His experience and expertise in hospitality were unimpeachable, and I think it was his influence that created the hosting interface that veteran hosts liked most about the platform. During his time on the Board, this notion of hospitality extended to the customer-service protocol and the office culture; the perceived openness of the brand and its direct engagement with hosts offset the cult-like approach favored by some others on the team. When he stepped back into a more limited role,  it was like:

5cj8e6.jpg

 

Hospitality as a philosophy is no longer a part of the brand - hosts have to accept that they are just units of inventory on a platform hellbent on market domination, and decide for themselves whether that's compatible with their own needs.

@Anonymous  That crossed my mind the minute I saw the "Arrival Guide" with its associated messaging. 

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Christine615  @Sarah977 

Brian understands his business precisely, he has the runs on the board.....he has built a $30 billion company in less than 15 years. He no doubt used to be a nice guy back some years ago but, money and power change people.

If I rang and asked for an appointment to see Brian, there is no way I would get a positive response, I am a fish that is not worth frying.....I would have been once upon a time, but not any more! So are you Chris and Sarah and all the rest of us here......we don't enter into the company's calculations any more, these adds are designed to attract guests not please or help hosts.

@Kevin1322 said in another post yesterday he was getting a lousy run of entitled guests this year and a few have agreed with him. We don't get to see nice hosts in any of these adds, we just get to see entitled guests!

You figure it out!

 

Cheers.......Rob

Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

@Christine615 this is one of a series of ads they are running now. I saw it the other day and shook my head. Not only does it create the expectation that hosts will leave expensive, breakable items for guest usage (the guitar) but it also sends the message that its okay for your kid to do whatever they want with those items as well as the home in general. 

 

The other ad I have seen is an elderly couple acting goofy to the tune of "I Won't Grow Up." Also a great message to send to guests. Clearly these ads are aimed at making guests feel like whatever they want to do is okay and clean up/repairs are "made possible by hosts."

Kelly149
Level 10
Austin, TX

@Christine615 Good catch, but nothing new. Most of the ABB ads I’ve seen over the years have made me think, oh dear, don’t send those guests my way...

@Kelly149   Oh it's still not quite as bad as this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dx3JyrUtBw&ab_channel=AllAboutAirbnb

 

Yes, they really did represent hosts as an unattended baby in a diaper, ominously walking toward the front door....

@Anonymous  Speechless over that, I had never seen it.  I certainly hope that everyone involved in such a strange commercial had the excuse of being in a very, very altered state of consciousness.  

 

But, that's airbnb.  Guests can do whatever they want!  Play loud guitars!  Jump on the bed!  Act like children! 

 

We had guests last weekend walk out and send pictures of 3 chairs to substantiate their complaint.  Two which had zero flaws, tears, marks, stains or imperfections visible, and a third had a tiny black mark on the top of the upholstery.  That was a first for us, no one has ever even complained to us about cleanliness let alone claim it as a reason to cancel the reservation.  We believe the real reason they left is that they hadn't noticed we live in the house, but whatever, that is no help for us.  Another negative milestone in Airbnbs race to the bottom.

@Mark116  The idea that an Airbnb listing is (often) someone's home, where they live some or all of the time, is something they never quite figured out how to represent in the marketing. It's not hard to see how the public gradually came to understand the meaning of "host" as something more like "remote owner" than "hospitality provider" or "home sharer."  Not just guests - every day when a new post comes up from someone saying they bought a residential home in a place where they don't even live, for the sole purpose of renting it on Airbnb - as though it was simply an ATM for absent investors - I cringe at what a monster this company has created. 

@Anonymous yes. That’s going to be Airbnb’s next downfall…inexperienced and out of state investors  buying property in residential neighborhoods they have no ties too because they believe the hype that they can be millionaires.

 

And I’m still convinced they’re gaming the system with fake reviews.

@Christine615   A fake review from a dummy profile is risky if one gets caught, but it seems easy enough to get one live with a personal cost of around $15. I've seen some dodgy listings that were seeded with them, and even some high-volume hosts that have made it a routine way to fluff their ratings, though a savvy guest who knows what to look for can probably spot the shams.

 

Anyway, the proliferation of this kind of these speculator listings is only emboldening communities in major markets to pass stricter regulations that tend to wind up also hurting legit local hosts. Airbnb is eager to get more speculators on board with the assumption that the current spike in demand for residential STR's represents a long-term trend, but I'm not so sure it is. The first bubble that launched Airbnb into the stratosphere as a huge and (briefly) profitable company was entirely subsidized by venture capital, but now that investors are demanding results, it seems like they're looking to naive hosts to finance the next bubble.