Tutorial for new users(travelers)

Brian941
Level 1
Destin, FL

Tutorial for new users(travelers)

Airbnb needs to force new users who sign up to take an online tutorial prior to booking. I literally spend 90% of my time answering questions that airbnb should be defining for travelers and teaching how to use their site.  Also it appears theyve farmed out the customer service to a foreign country cause  there is a major communication gap this year.

21 Replies 21
Helen350
Level 10
Whitehaven, United Kingdom

@Cross-Cultural0 Yep! - I spent a couple of hours answering messages last week from a man who was trying to knock me down on price for a £20 room! Then another couple of hours in excruciating conversation with a guest about night shifts, & sleeping during the day, how it was outside normal check in/out, how it should have been requested prior to booking etc etc.... how he should negotiate funny hours with future hosts, not assume..... Now even if I were paid the minimum wage for the tedious tutorial, I'd still be out of pocket..... IF ONLY HOSTS DID NOT HAVE TO EXPLAIN THE SYSTEM, IF ONLY AIRBNB DID......!

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

I would never dream of spending hours answering messages from any guests, let alone one who tried to know me down on price for a £20 room. 

 

£20 a night sounds ridiculously cheap for a room.


Sounds like it's time to increase your prices and stop spending so much time messaging your guest 🙂

Sammy35
Level 10
Pittsburgh, PA

my biggest beef over entitled POTENTIAL guests who demonstrate awful behavior when trying to explain things namely declinations that result for not reading/following booking requirements

i have a cut and past of article links i send then then i redirect questions to CS phone number for help desk support.  they're paying (helfty fees) for it (and so are we) the booking fees are ridiculous so the onus is on support to well...support.  so unless ABB wants to pay me $65/hour to provide tech/booking support i'm not interested.

when i land at an overseas call center i politely disconnect myself and call back till i end up stateside.  its annoying but quick and easy and avoids countless hours of wasted time--especially if there is something urgent (that should always wait for daylight) cause calls made after normal business hours will without DOUBT offshore.  don't bother calling after 4-6pm PST even for urgent issues.  wait till the morning as youre better off documenting and submitting a ticket and getting it reabsorbed by a stateside case manager.

i learned something really important, i control my time and assistance offerings. no, its not great for facilitating bookings but its the cost of doing business.  reframing my expectations about ideal handling (so now i hand off) was the best way for me to tolerate the nonsense with guests who don't (care to) read or don't (care to) understand how this works.

ABB grew too big and too quickly to support the infrastructure.  which is typical for a start up even 10 years old.  they are still playing catchup because they are more focused on biz dev and growing revenue profits than fixing what's not working.  which is (should not be) not surprising either.

~~~~~~~
like nikey: just do it

Wow! That is so helpful.  I got two overseas help agents today who could not understand the very simple issue I was trying to resolve. The last one says they forwarded my request to a supervisor to get a response today and of course, I have not received a resolution or any contact from a supervisor in response.

 

I will try calling back on Monday until I get a US rep.

Sammy35
Level 10
Pittsburgh, PA

my biggest beef over entitled POTENTIAL guests who demonstrate awful behavior when trying to explain things namely declinations that result for not reading/following booking requirements

i have a cut and past of article links i send then then i redirect questions to CS phone number for help desk support.  they're paying (helfty fees) for it (and so are we) the booking fees are ridiculous so the onus is on support to well...support.  so unless ABB wants to pay me $65/hour to provide tech/booking support i'm not interested.

when i land at an overseas call center i politely disconnect myself and call back till i end up stateside.  its annoying but quick and easy and avoids countless hours of wasted time--especially if there is something urgent (that should always wait for daylight) cause calls made after normal business hours will without DOUBT offshore.  don't bother calling after 4-6pm PST even for urgent issues.  wait till the morning as youre better off documenting and submitting a ticket and getting it reabsorbed by a stateside case manager.

i learned something really important, i control my time and assistance offerings. no, its not great for facilitating bookings but its the cost of doing business.  reframing my expectations about ideal handling (so now i hand off) was the best way for me to tolerate the nonsense with guests who don't (care to) read or don't (care to) understand how this works.

ABB grew too big and too quickly to support the infrastructure.  which is typical for a start up even 10 years old.  they are still playing catchup because they are more focused on biz dev and growing revenue profits than fixing what's not working.  which is (should not be) not surprising either.

just enact boundaries and standards for what you will and won't handle.  its not ideal, but i promise it makes a HUGE world of difference.

~~~~~~~
like nikey: just do it
Matt682
Level 9
Hednesford, United Kingdom

TL/DR; Annoying questions from people who don’t know how or can’t be bothered to read the listings properly are infuriating for everyone involved, waste everyone’s time, and lead to less than perfect stays. For £100k ABB could build a tutorial overlay that educates new users.

 

 

 

@Stephanie  I’ve read this thread, and whilst I think the topic expanded slightly, I’d like to try and offer some very specific feedback from my time in IT&D / Projects which I think supports the original post. I hope it’s useful (and I haven’t missed the point)!

 

 

There is a general assumption with modern tech that users will not require “training” as the user interface is designed to be intuitive, that is, users can just assume where something will be and be correct most of the time. It makes all platforms easier to use, and the fact ABB seem to do the same thing is arguably following best practice.

 

The issue being consistently raised by hosts in this forum (and specifically this conversation thread), is that the app and/or desktop interfaces are intuitive enough to allow users to book listings and message hosts, but not so intuitive that they don’t try and resolve their own (often basic) queries first. In the last week alone I have been asked the location three times by different guests, had a third party booking despite ABB T&Cs & my own house rules, been told they are arriving 3h after my check-in window, and have been asked for a microwave - I can’t imagine what busier hosts have to deal with whilst also having kids, full-time jobs, and their own life-demands have to deal with too.

 

I’ve not done a focus group, but I can imagine these problems occur because either:

A) The user can’t easily decipher the information available to them on a listing, or,

B) The user could decipher the information if they tried, but they don’t realise it’s there, or,

C) The user could decipher the information if they tried, but they don’t think they should have to

 

All three of these reasons are massively frustrating for hosts because we all spend a lot of time creating and managing our listings. ABB promote ‘self-service features’ like the Wi-Fi instructions, Check-in instructions, House Manuals, Guidebooks etc., but these, along with the listing descriptions, are not being fully utilised by our guests. This results in needless questioning and requests for help; at best it’s an annoyance, but at worst it puts a high amount of stress on the host, prevents hosting being ‘worth our while’, and leads to frustrating delays for a guest who wants information right now. We are a community, and helping each other is an understood part of that, but it’s also a fair statement to say that it simply isn’t a host’s job to teach guests how to use the platform. Note, that those hosts who it will frustrate more will be those who have invested more time and effort in already filling out detailed instructions / descriptions and who care about response times & good customer service; therefore it can be assumed to be the upper end of your host-base that feels the impact more acutely (the ones who make ABB what it is and who ABB want to retain and/or expand).

 

So so now that the “problem” has been defined, what’s a possible solution?

 

 

Well, the original poster suggested a tutorial of some description; it doesn’t eve have to be a 20 minute online course with an exam to pass.

 

All three of the reasons could be fixed relatively easily with a very small amount of development work from ABB, either in-house, or by using a third party tutorial overlay software.

 

Have you ever opened a gaming app on your ‘phone, and it has little videos or step by step instructions saying, ‘click here to do x’, or ‘now click here’? Sometimes it’s a little avatar that speaks to you, other times it’s bubbles and arrows on the screen? It would be relatively simple develop and deploy this for all new accounts.

 

Setting up an account: “Verifications help engender trust within our community, and the more you have, the better it is. Click here to register your Govt ID in a few simple steps. We don’t share these details with your hosts, but we do add a badge to your profile to tell them we have verified you. You will be unable to book some listings until you have done this.”

 

First time they search: “Refine your search by using filters. Select whether you want a single room, or a whole place, or if you’re flexible select both. Hover your mouse over each of the words to see what each one means.”

 

After they have applied a filter: “Is the location important to you? If so, check out the map here -> where you can view listings arranged over the map by general location. Remember, specific addresses will only be shared after your booking is confirmed.”

 

After clicking on a listing: “Not sure where this specific listing is? Scroll down now to see the embedded map.”

 

First time they look at a listing: “Really need a hairdryer? Click here to see what amenities are available to you at this property. Hosts take time to fill this out for you because they vary from place to place, so if something is important to you, check for it here before booking”.

 

Before they book for the first time: “Have you read the House Rules? These vary by listing, make sure you’ve understood them before booking to ensure the listing is a good fit for your needs / plans.”

 

There are loads of other examples I could give, but I’m sure you get the idea. For a one-off cost of realistically less than £100k, ABB could design and deploy these features, improving the host experience, improving customer experience (booking and staying), and increase retention of both groups.

 

 

With a slightly more advanced rule set you could even flag guests who rate one of their first three stays poorly on certain metrics for advanced help or repeat tuition:

 

Bad location rating: “Location was important for you during your last stay, click the map here to view the general area. You can read how the host has described the neighbourhood in this section.”

 

Bad communication rating: “Good communication is important to guests and hosts. Click here to see when the host makes themselves available. You can click here to view their average response times.”

 

 

 

Anyway, it’s a bit long, but if you want to discuss it further, please feel free to message me and I’ll expand or clarify as needed.

 

 

Matt

Daphne70
Level 8
Montagu, South Africa

@Matt682  I completely support this proposal. I lost a potential booking this weekend because a new user could not work out how to verify her ID and it is one of our non negotiable requirements. Now I have also just lost a three night booking from an extremely desirable guest with 11 glowing reviews. He sent a booking request, I don't use instant book so I sent him my usual first response asking him to confirm that he had read the entire listing and was happy that the amenities met his requirements. Next thing the booking request is cancelled by admin. He later sent me a message apologising because he did not notice at first that we are not self catering, and this was an experienced Airbnb guest.  

 

I am not in IT but I do a lot online and I'm sure there are many means that could be employed to make the booking process better for guest and host. Just moving the "Book now" button lower down the page would be a good start.