Surprise, surprise

[Sarah977]

So apparently verifying our listings is going to cost us $. That is, if we don't want to end up on the bottom of the pile.https://skift.com/2019/11/15/airbnb-hosts-will-be-able-to-pay-to-fast-track-verification-of-their-li...

[Rebecca181]

Also known as "Pay To Play". Sounds like Airbnb-Plus: The Sequel. I imagine hosts will cover the costs of the Airbnb inspector's plane flights, lodging, food, etc to earn their 'Trust Badge' and the ability to show up in searches?

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse...

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Sarah977 @Rebecca181 I wonder if those with airbnb photos will count as already verified.

[Rebecca181]

That would not surprise me, @Mike-And-Helen0. Airbnb's rash, knee-jerk reaction to the Orinda shootings and the Vice article ("All 7 million listings will be verified!") will no doubt result in more poorly thought out policies and practices that harm hosts. 

[Susan17]

So lets's just remind ourselves what out "Global Head of Homes Hosts and Community", Laura Chambers had to share (or not share) with Airbnb's "core host community", in Airbnb's own official Community Centre  - after leaving us hanging for a full 2 weeks - while Skift was already sharing these details with the world.... 

"I want to update you that our 10 day sprint is being wrapped up today.  To provide a little more context, the 'sprint' has involved lots of different teams coming together, looking at all the projects currently underway (and new ones suggested by hosts) and working out how to accelerate them, while making sure that we are prioritizing the things that you and other hosts care about. 

We are now working on communicating the highest priority changes to hosts - we want to ensure we explain the changes clearly, in lots of detail, and get those details translated for hosts around the world. Over the next few weeks, we'll be announcing several changes to better support our hosts. To give you a sneak peek, these changes will include things like new enforceable guest standards, improved review policies, and improved host protections. There are other items we're working on as well, but they may take a little longer to work out the details and execution on.

Stay tuned - we'll ensure we post the formal detailed announcements here on the Community Center as they come out. I know it has been frustrating to wait these 10 days, especially with the guest-oriented announcements out there already, but I do appreciate your understanding and patience"  Laura

[Susan17]

Now let's remind ourselves of the recent "investigation" that was carried out by Skift, that led to the Airbnb Guest Blacklist Group on FB being shut down, coincidentally, at Halloween - the time of the Orinda tragedies. This is part of what I wrote on that thread at the time... 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/let-s-be-careful-out-there/td-p/1168374

"The Blacklist group shone a vivid spotlight on the "Airbnb Party" phenomenon, and on the chaos and destruction that these wild (and frequently violent) "events" cause - on a nightly basis - in many towns and cities. It also highlighted Airbnb's consistent failures and negligence in dealing with the issue, and was shockingly bad PR for the company. As such - and regardless of how it was run - the page was always going to be shut down... one way or the other."

[Rebecca181]

@Susan17 Um, as in, Brian Chesky and Mark Zuckerberg may be BFFs?

[Susan17]

I also wrote... 

"Several Blacklist group members actively sought out social media posts advertising upcoming parties in Airbnb listings, and dedicated a great deal of their own time and resources to tracking down the real identities of the guests and the addresses of the listings, and informing both the unsuspecting hosts and Airbnb itself of exactly what the guests were planning. It's important to note here that despite incontrovertible proof of the guests' nefarious intentions being provided to the company by the Blacklist group, in many such instances, Airbnb were either resistant to the host cancelling at all, or they re-housed the guests without ever letting the new hosts know why they were cancelled by the previous hosts. That's a fact, and I have the evidence to support it"

[Susan17]

And I gave Skift a special mention here.. 

"Also, the original investigation/report into the Airbnb Vent and Airbnb Blacklist groups, was carried out by Skift, a "travel intelligence" media company and marketing platform, whose flagship conference, the Skift Short Term Rental Summit for "a high level audience - Executives, Founders, Hotel Brands, Investors, Media, Property Managers, StartUps, Technologists and Vendors", takes place in NYC on December 5th. Hopefully, they'll have drummed up a few nice ticket sales for themselves ($595 to €895 apiece), on the back of their sensationalist, one-sided article.

The speakers at the salubrious event include top dogs from VC and speculator-backed corporate Airbnb mega-hosts such as Sonder, Stay Alfred, Domio, Turnkey, Vacasa etc (with tens of thousands of listings between them). Also appearing at the event is Andrew Kitchell, CEO of Lyric, another mega-host in which Airbnb itself recently led a $160 million funding round. 

Considering the fact that the unmonitored listings of many of the corporate mega-hosts have - ironically - an abysmal reputation when it comes to wild parties and anti-social guest behaviour, it's all rather convenient that the embarrassing Airbnb Guest Blacklist group has been shut down and eliminated. Better for all that sort of distasteful stuff to be brushed under the carpet. It would only upset the investors... "

[Susan17]

And lo and behold... guess who else is a Guest Speaker at The Skift Short Term Rental Summit? Only our very own Margaret Richardson, Airbnb VP of Trust, and Leader of the now infamous Ten Day Sprint...

[Denis227]

@Susan17 

Goodness me. They make puppets look like robots these days.    She has the look of a robot :  dull dress code of robots   , the detached smile of robots, the empty gaze of robots...

This woman is either

a - under strong  influence of a powerful  guru

b- alienated by  a non human friendly cause 

c- a virtual executive without real physical  consistency

[Rebecca181]

"VP of Trust". Is someone up at the top deliberately creating these Orwellian 'Newspeak' terms just to yank our chains?

[Susan17]

Topics to be discuseesd at the Skift Short-Term Rental Summit include... wait for it...

[Michelle53]

@Susan17    I'd suggest that, yes, the Independent Host is worth pursuing, only to the extent that we provide a necessary front in the marketing campaigns to local jurisdictions, who are afraid of Airbnb swallowing up local housing stock by large-owner short-term rentals. 

If one can sell the idea that the person next door to you is only Airbnb'ing their space to cover their own personal bills, and that those dollars are being spent in the local community, it puts a human face on things, and attempts to stop the uproar against the swamping of neighborhoods with "tourists", "strangers", "parties"  etc etc etc. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sofialottopersio/2019/11/18/airbnb-olympic-partnership-ahead-ipo/

[Susan17]

Trust, my arse.

Wake up, Airbnb - there is no trust in your company, or your platform, anymore - and there hasn't been for a very long time. As a direct and inevitable result of the ugly, toxic operating environment your company has managed to create, through your insatiable greed and your relentless quest for global domination, nobody  trusts anybody in Airbnb-land anymore. 

Hosts don't trust guests. Guests don't trust hosts. And nobody  trusts Airbnb - not hosts, nor guests, nor the (unbiased) media, nor local residents, nor regulators, nor policymakers, nor law enforcement agencies, nor the general public, nor the man in the moon. 

The trust is dead. And Airbnb killed it.