Review rules : changed?

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

Review rules : changed?

Greetings all ~

 

A question came up in one of the Facebook Airbnb groups I’m in and I didn’t know the answer.

 

Recently, folks noticed a very subtle difference in the wording of the How do Reviews Work page.  They don’t believe it was like this before, though I couldn’t say.

 

Quoting part of a post:

I noticed that the wording has changed .... https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/13/how-do-reviews-work "You have 14 days after checkout to write a review for a trip. Reviews will be posted once both the host and guest complete a review." .... It used to specifically say that a review would be posted after 14 days even if the other party had not reciprocated.”

 

So I had a quick look at what it told me at the end of a review I gave today:

9B79BE04-726E-4164-B7B6-23BD97A47C18.png

 

 

Noticing it doesn’t say “or after 14 days” on the splash screen. Did it before?

 

The Facebook community are fairly confident this is different than it was before and has been changed very recently. If it is, then the consequences are significant for the review system.

 

Thoughts? Conspiracy theory or actual change?

 

 

Edit: holy crap, I just had a thought... is it possible they are implementing some, or part, of the changes recommended in this other post?? 😮 Doubtful... right? 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Making-reviews-more-fair-for-hosts/bc-p/959758/hi...

85 Replies 85

@Susan17 Gee, if I squint my eyes just a wee little bit, it's almost like I'm reading about how abusive narcissists operate in their personal and professional lives (something I am privy to, unfortunately, given my profession) in order to maintain control over people, places, and things. 

 

Or, alternatively - Maybe I actually am!!

@Rebecca181 

That's exactly what you're seeing. I've written many times that being an Airbnb host is very often akin to being in an abusive relationship with a narcissistic sociopath. Textbook example. Initially, the charm, the seduction, the showering with praise and attention, the idealization, the love-bombing...  closely followed by the lies, the deception, the gaslighting, the grandiosity, the delusion, the toxic projection, the stonewalling, the blaming and shaming, the exploitation, the bullying, the control, the manipulation, the psychological, emotional and financial violation. It's all there. Ticks every single box. 

@Susan17 "First they woo ya....Then they screw ya." (Ouch). 

 

 

@Rebecca181 This sounds like Orwell's 1984 :P. And it's freaking not that far from what is actually happening in every sphere.

😆👏

 

🤔

 

🤦‍♀️🥊🤕 😳🥺😢😠😡🤢🤮

 

Im not sure how much more of the toxic, narcissistic corporate pseudo psychological manipulation for global dominance :pile_of_poo: I can stomach.

 

Utterly pathological tactics and I know in my bones your theories are accurate about the cult psychology.  You’re actually describing psychpathic social engineering Hitler, Mousillini, and other smaller players have employed:

so·cial en·gi·neer·ing
/ˈsōSHəl ˌenjəˈni(ə)riNG/
noun
  1. 1.
    the use of centralized planning in an attempt to manage social change and regulate the future development and behavior of a society.
    "the country's unique blend of open economics, authoritarian politics, and social engineering"

Like so many aspects of life, it can be used for positive reasons or not. 

 

I dream of creating a new platform based on the ideals this one was allegedly founded upon. Keep it simple and honest. Safety first (photomatched government IDs, background checks) with full profiles required for all. 

Efficient bookings. Great Service.  Great experiences.  

If it breaks, fix it.

Repeat.

Everyone who participates profits.

 

@Susan1028  You can count this fellow(ess) Oregonian in ...

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Rebecca181 @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Sarah977 @Ann72 @Emiel1 Folks, thanks for chiming in. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this mystery...

 

After pushing on the FB forum, someone posted to say they had very recently (a few days ago) had a Guest not give them a review after 14 days. They had given the guest a review, but according to them it didn’t show up on the guests profile. I don’t know how credible the person is though and it’s not something they can generate evidence or a screen shot for.... at least we couldn’t think of a way... so I’m still suspicious. I think we ought to keep an eye out for this.

 

In terms of what I’m sure of, I had a review expire from a guest in mid February. I have checked and I can see my review for the guest shows up on their profile, so it was definitely “business as usual” up to 15 February ( I was testing my “last minute review sniper” code).

 

Have any of you had more recent expired reviews?

@Ben551 If you stop and think about it, isn't it kind of bizarre that we even have to have these kinds of conversations / community investigations? Airbnb certainly does excel at conducting covert business operations. On a related note: Is it really true that their 'Trust & Security' Department is now run by a former CIA dude?

@Rebecca181 

 

Yes, that is indeed true. Airbnb's Global Head of Trust and Risk Management is Nick Shapiro, who was previously the CIA’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to CIA Director John Brennan. Shapiro served on the National Security Council staff and was a White House counterterrorism and homeland security aide. 

 

A few snippets of wisdom from Mr Shapiro, who asserts that in order to overcome "stranger danger bias" on the platform, trust must be approached as "a hierarchy of needs"

 

https://www.airbnbcitizen.com/perfect-strangers-how-airbnb-is-building-trust-between-hosts-guests-2/

 

https://youtu.be/vhngkDXTGmM

 

https://qz.com/1322785/airbnb-has-a-dilemma-with-how-to-treat-people-with-criminal-convictions/

 

@Ben551 - I had a guest check out on March 2nd. So that means the review period ended on the 16th. They did not leave me a review. I just checked and my review DOES show up on their profile.

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Emilia42 Yay! A recent one! So that’s only like 5 days ago. This is reassuring and supports the theory that it’s only a wording change not a functionality change. Less likely to have changed functionality in the last 5 days.... 

@Susan17 Thank you for providing yet another example of how certain key Western psychological principles have been co-opted by Airbnb for reasons that should be obvious to anyone reading your spectaculary informative comments of late. For those of you who don't know this reference and are curious, see:

 

@Susan

 

OMG That first link is about the biggest load of BS I've heard. Especially the part about background checks on guests and hosts??

 

I had a guest tell me she read that someone from ABB visits each listing before someone can host. I'm not sure if that is actually written somewhere, or if she was mistaken and maybe misread or misheard, but I wouldn't be surprised if they told that to guests.

Yes, @Ben I have.  I wrote a review of a guest for april 6/7 and submitted it within the 2 week time limit.  It does not show up, although the guest's (positive) review of me does.  The timeframe expired and notifications is still asking me to write the review, which can't happen.

 

There are also reviews guests have written that do not show up in my review feed.

 

This impacts searches, because in my expereince, listings with more reviews show up higher in the queue.  My placement in the queue and booking requests have dropped dramatically since my recent independent-minded post about the psychology of many globally-minded corporate entities.  I've called "support" and encountered syrupy replies with links to the "hosting support" areas I'm already familair with, so I'm pretty sure Im not being paranoid about being "on thier radar."