Shared bathroom (new listing requirement??)

[Lisa367]

I just upgraded my listing and there's now a drop down that requires you to select either "private bathroom" or "shared bathroom".  Even though my husband and I are the only ones in the house, the bathroom now says  "shared", very prominately, on the listing.  People are going to think that we're a hostel!  This needs to be removed ASAP!  The words "Shared bathroom" would scare anyone.  All I think is 20 people fighting for the bathroom at once.  AIRBNB, change it back to just: Bathroom: 1

[Robin4]

@Lisa367....I understand exactly what you are saying Lisa....you want a return to the tab that says 'No of bathrooms.....(1)', so that hopefully guests will not put two and two together right there at the head of the page! But that is why ABB have made the decision to go down this path. It is not simply an idea that someone came up with.

When you do a review ABB requests that you leave feedback about the guest which will not be shared with the guest. Well, they do the same for guests, and this feedback is correlated! A significant amount of that guest feedback revolved around the issue of private facilities! In many instances guests felt 'that bathroom 1' related to their component of the listing.

I know this because, this topic came up in a discussion with other issues I had with the help heighrachy.

Now you can say, more fool the guest, you have to read the rules properly! But it was seen as a significant enough problem for ABB to alter the way bathrooms are listed. They will now show as Private...1, Shared....1 or 2 or however many! But they will definitely state off the top, the status of that bathroom/s

Lisa, there is no going back, the decision is made and it will be up to you to come up with creative ways to minimse the effect of having that item 'front and centre' on your listing page instead of being buried down in the rules somewhere.

Lisa I was not trying to be nasty to you, and I probably took a harder line with you because you are an experienced superhost....and a bloody good one at that! Your guests love you...."Honestly, Lisa and Elio couldn't have been more accommodating. Their apartments is not only spacious and wonderfully lit by natural light but their pride in making sure their guests are well taken care of is what makes staying here such a treat." Lisa you can't 'buy' reviews like that!!

There are lots of changes we would like to see reversed because we have come to feel comfortable with the way it used to be. But it's up to us to get creative when these new changes come along and work with them.....'Our bathroom is big enough for a small army, but fortunately, you are only going to have to share it with Elio and I'!!....'When our building was built there were no such things as bathrooms! We have spent a fortune making ours a beautiful easy to use dream, and we would love to offer you the use of that dream......just not at the same time as us!!!'

I am only an old 'has been' Lisa but I am sure you could come up with a great comedy line that, while not exactly turning this change into a positive, would limit its impact on what you obviously do so well.

Cheers....Rob

[Paul154]

I am in favor of airbnb's new disclosure of private/shared bathrooms.

For many guests this is their #1 concern.

While we may be fearful that we will lose business because some people will be afraid of sharing with 20 people, we can also take a more pragmatic stance that we don't want to rent to people who are afraid of 20 people sharing the bathroom!

It's better to pass on some opportunites than risk an unhappy / unrealistic guest. Life is too short.

That said, you can quell a guest's fear by stating only you and your tidy husband are the only people who share the bathroom.

Furthermore since the guest knows that the bathroom is shared they too can inquire "who and how many others will share the bathrooom?" "Can you guarantee their tidiness?" "Do you clean the bathroom daily?"

It's all good. Guests who want a private bath can pay more and get a private bath. Guests who want to save money may risk a shared bathroom and reduce their risk by inquiring of the host's level of service.

You are lucky by renting in Italy. As an American travelling in Europe, I will assume a lower level of privacy and comfort.

I will assume that I will share a bathroom with dirty backpackers who will wash their dishes in the sink. I will assume the bed and room will be small and damp and that I will gladly pay more for this ambience.

[Betsy0]

I had a similar problem. I didn't want my listing to say shared or private because I have 2 listings in the same house. if only one room is rented then it is private if both are rented then it is shared. I didn't want to deter people either way so to leave it with saying 1  bathroom no description I went to manage my listing, changed it to 0 bathrooms and then changed it back to 1 and leave it saying select for the description. Hope this helps.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Lisa367 

It's not a matter of 2 vs. 20 other people using the same bathroom.

Even if you were a single host with 2 bedrooms, one for the host and one for the guest, and one bathroom shared by one guest and one host, this is still a SHARED bathroom. 

Insisting that your bathroom situation could ever be considered "private" is just not acceptable. - Unless you and your husband do not use the bathroom AT ALL when you have a guest. 

[Parul1]

As a guest, I can attest that anything that is not exclusively only used by guest must not be labeled private. Shared with host is still shared, and must be disclosed. Even if we were to find out later and cancel booking, airbnb doesn't refund service fee which can be pretty hefty for expensive properties with longer stays, so guest is at receiving end if a clear and full disclosure is not made. Anyone who was specifically seeking a private bath is likely to be very upset anyway when they walk into the property and realize it is, in fact, not private. 

[Tracey284]

Hi every one, i,m in Australia, i,m only new at this but do have my super host badge haha, any way, my question is this,     i have a bedroom with its own internal en suite for my guests sole use.

we do not enter their space. only to clean after they check out.

my listing used to say en suite, private bathroom,

but now its saying shared.

i have read a few of the messages above,

and to be honest i came away more confused haha.

will i be able to change it back ? i have tried! it just defaults back to shared.

please help 🙂 thanks every one 🙂

[Helen3]

Can’t see why you can’t change it back @Tracey284 - what happened when you tried this?

[Lyn3]

@Tracey284 

Recently, there was a glitch on Airbnb where some of us discovered that various rooms/areas in our listings suddenly appeared as "Shared" 🙂 In some instances these even included BEDROOMS!!!  It was NOT the case in reality.

We hosts needed to go into our listings and manually change the areas such as bedrooms, bathrooms,patios, gardens, etc, ...back to being private for guests.

Hope you are able to change your listing where necessary.

Cheers.