Split Company Into Two Divisions: Corporate & Home Based

[Rebecca160]

I submitted this question to the Global Q&A and would really enjoy hearing some feedback on it:

Why doesn't the company split into two distinct divisions: one for the original home based hosts (with hosts on advisory board) and the other with the hotels and corporate rentals? Separate web platforms, logins, money handling, etc.

It seems to me that the company has veered from from its original mission. If it had a separate division, or even another company, to encompass all of the new (boutique & corparate hotels , etc) and completely separated from the home based hosts, then I feel we would all be much happier.  There really is just no way to have the same rules, logic, payment systems and support for corporate and home based hosts.

[Rebecca160]

Why doesn't the company split into two distinct divisions: one for the original home based hosts (with hosts on advisory board) and the other with the hotels and corporate rentals? Separate web platforms, logins, money handling, etc.

It seems to me that the company has veered from from its original mission. If it had a separate division, or even another company, to encompass all of the new (boutique & corparate hotels , etc) and completely separated from the home based hosts, then I feel we would all be much happier.  There really is just no way to have the same rules, logic, payment systems and support for corporate and home based hosts.

[Sarah977]

 Well said, Rebecca. As well, many hosting a space in their homes will not use Instant Book. We want to be able to vet the strangers who we will be sharing our homes with. For this, we are punished with low search rankings. (There are no rewards for not having to contact airbnb support to deal with guest issues, like trashing the place, disregarding house rules, etc, which I'd be willing to bet happens far less when hosts live on-site and vet guests pre-booking)

 Presently, there are hosts who are using IB, when they would much prefer not to, simply so their listings aren't buried on the last pages.

 If there were 2 divisions, as you propose, hosts who will not use IB for security reasons, as well as guests who feel the same (there are MANY- I don't understand why the company seems to think all guests prefer IB), would not be frustrated by low search ranking, in the case of hosts, and difficulty finding appropriate listings in the case of guests. 

[Rebecca160]

@Sarah0 I had forgotten completely about the IB issue! Of course, IB is essential to hotels, but a lot of the home based hosts either do not use it, as you said, or use it only because we do not want to hurt our list rankings (true of me.)  It is true that vetted guests are the better guests!

[Daniel1606]

I completely agree

[Helen427]

It would be for the betterment of all if Hotel/ Hostel and Motel type listings are kept separate from Private Room/ Private Home listings where occupants live on site and in their homes as they are quite a different type of Living like a Local experience.

It would foster the development of better working relation if Airbnb looked into these issues or ot becomes too hard to find anything.

Search options for listings need serious work on them as they don't come up when one reasonably expects them to.

Thanks

[Lilly28]

I think that a separate search algorythm should be provided for SELF-chech-in and out and for hosts meeting in person their guests.

I think that the stars should remain, but now it is a pure mess - Superhosts for self-check-in properties, managed either by a property-managers or by a host living in another country!

I do not agree with Rebecca - I have seen luxury and exclusive flats in NY managed by their hosts, they should have two ratings - 5 Superstar as for hotels - for lux and location (with one more than 2 to 5 stars for exclusive and unusual properties), and what they deserve as Superhosts. I mentioned before in another discussion that  now Superhosts are so many that the badge is devalued. And giving it to a manager or host living in another country is ridiculous!

Flats and rooms not managed in person should have another star-rating - not as a host, but for managment. Superhosts might be separated as Platinum, Gold and Silver - depending on the % ratings given by guests.

And what I would also suggest for both groups - with real hosts and managed properties- is that the ratings (for kind and for host or managment) should be cleared periodically to include only the last two years.    

[Pete28]

Airbnb is fixing the over population issue with 4.8avg req. get one 3* review and out you go...

[Julia1]

I totally agree, home hosts are being forced to thenottom of the pile and we are the USP of Airbnb.  If there was a separate listing it could have policies that work for those of us who rent rooms in our homes instead of the stupid system now that only really supports business hosts.

[Fred13]

This issue we seriously kicked around a few months back. The tricky part is what contitudes commercial & private, single home-based and multiple-listings  and so on. Also many hosts are moving from one model to another, so when do their designation change? Too much maintenance (and definitely too much  whining). Here is what I would propose >

Airbnb should have a quick ~iconize~ designation for all listing that the potential-guest reader instantly can tell what the listing is about. Half the time, it is so hard to know what the listing is or isn't; is it a shared room, a separate private section, a separate building, a condominium, a farm etc. Oftentimes it resembles a minefield. Many host do show irrelevant opening pictures or write scatter-brain descriptions that are indeed hard to follow. Guests could choose the one that best describe in their opinion of what they offer, per listing; Airbnb double checks if true & applicable. Some Listings may require more than one icon: farm + shared space, for example.

This convention Airbnb can also use to set up their sub-categories ribbon. While at it Airbnb could drop those extremely silly 'Highlights' and replace that nonsense with an icon ribbon showing what the listing is and even what it offers. Imagine how quickly the browser could scan through endless list of non-applicable offerings to them, and zoom in what they are interested in.  

An icon (not a host-selected picture) is worth a 1,000 words.