@Sarah977 wrote:
@Helen350 It's so ridiculous- whether your photo ID all matches, according to Airbnb's computer bots, has absolutely nothing to do with whether a listing is accurate, a scam, etc. All it verifies is the user's identity, nothing else.
Actually it doesn't really do that, as the facial match and other matches via "the bot" don't have the ability to truly verify identity. As I tried to explain to a rather clueless ABB CSR earlier today, the local US consulate where I am today has problems detecting fake IDs made by Russian and other mafia operations-- we can't assume ABB's tech is any better?
That was in response to the CSR declaring that my host, who I have not seen, and who is clearly operating multiple units in some kind of commercial operation, "is surely a real person, she's passed ID Verification.
If you haven't seen recent news, perhaps check out posts by @nomadmatt on Twitter, such as https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/break-up-with-airbnb/ ; while I don't agree with Matt on a lot of things, the statistics about commercial operations and frauds are indeed concerning-- and like him, I've now found locating genuine "in someone's house" experiences difficult, with the same decline in quality of experience Matt describes in his feed.
@Stephanie The listings that should be receiving these demands ... identifying scam or bad listings at all.
It's fine to require that all users be verified, but if the thrust is to make sure bad or inaccurate listings or bad hosts aren't out there on the platform, this is not the way to do it. You start with the ones that send up red flags, or are new with no reviews or rating yet, not the ones that have been operating successfully for years with no complaints.
Hmm... where to start?
I have noticed that someone at ABB somewhere appears to be rolling out features to identify commercial hosts in some markets. That would be a great thing, but my impression, like NomadMatt's, is that ABB is a mess inside.
Sometimes starting to change requires recognizing that you have a problem. ABB isn't quite there.
I was aghast to hear my CSR today reply with a formulaic "I assure you the reviews are from genuine guests blah blah blah and we have a system to detect problems" when shill reviews have been documented and ABB clearly doesn't have a system to detect this and other problems effectively.
ABB could do all sorts of things. They could better mentor and support hosts, either by assigning them reps / advocates inside the company, or by establishing a host-to-host mentoring program. They could detect altered listing photos, stock photos, stock personal pics, etc algorithmically. Etc.
It's unclear how far they want to go: this is a little bit like Sheryl Sandberg telling Facebook's security officer that he should have lied to the government about Russian intervention etc. When I described ABB's CSR's statements to an attorney today, he replied simply "that's fraud," and there really appears to be a culture of fraud, misrepresentation, and childish incompetence masquerading as diligence throughout Airbnb, Facebook and other companies-- in the pursuit of perceived profits.
I started out intending this comment to simply reply that there were are many jurisdictions in which listing on ABB without a landlord's consent is perfectly normal and legal and within someone's rights-- as I sit here tonight realizing that I still don't know if my host is a genuine long-term superhost who has bought or leased a few buildings and just forgot to deep clean etc etc for a while, or if she's just a fake personality and picture for some other operation ("could be the Russian mob for all I know") -- the variety of entities operating on ABB and the need to identify what they are and weed out a little seems important to me, and something ABB is doing poorly.
Startups, it seems, often start out nimble and quick and reactive, and turn quickly into massive ill-managed bureaucracies even less capable of reacting to change than the so-called dinosaurs they "replaced."
It also seems that Airbnb is having a lot of problems even keeping up with the kinds of organizations and entities that have realized that operating Airbnbs can be immensely profitable, and give them a nice cut of the hotel and tourism industry's profits. And that means chaos: not just fake and truly horrendous listings, but just poor listings because it's a group of 20-something guys in Sofia who want to mostly party, and make some quick buck, and they really don't care about guest experience (or know how to run or clean a house!).
We started with ID verification in all of this, and Airbnb has other programs such as Photo verified and "verified listings" etc -- which may have some value, but (at this point I'm jawing a bit due to the frustration of dealing with ABB's CS, which led me to come here) all of which strike me as a bit artificial and somewhat half-baked pet projects of some manager or another.
ABB needs to work it out and cut through the growing pains and get someone back in control-- not sure anyone in the current crop, as with Uber, can cut it. Someone need to be in charge and making the calls and accountable for the consequences, and Chesky clearly isn't.
Or the darned thing, together with Uber and Facebook and a series of others, needs to be regulated into order, IMHO.
