Another update which will increase guest refund requests

[Mary419]

I’m very concerned to see this new update.

Giving a guest 72 hours to report problems instead of 24 hours is going to make the free stay scammers ecstatic. 24 hours was plenty. Why should a guest get to complain about cleanliness after staying for over 2 days?

After hosting thousands of guests I can give many examples including once when I went to re-clean a kitchen floor for a family who clearly had spilled their own takeout food sauces all over it and then told me the floor was dirty. I’m getting very worried about the future of this business when I see changes like this:

 

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  Yeah, I saw that too.  It shows that the search criteria has been BS all along, all you have to do now is pay a fee and your 20 4.3 rated rat traps can appear on the first pages.  Super host=means nothing.

ETA, I'm not sure what Airbnb 'wants' or if they know what they want or even know what is really good for the company and it's growth.  In fact, I strongly suspect they have no idea what they should focus on and how best to expand.

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  Hey, I've seen listings on the first page that have star ratings that make 4.3 look like a high score. Seriously, down in the 2.somethings.

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  I  haven't done a search for a while, but last time I did one for Jersey City I was SO PO, because there were a lot of listings that were in the low 4's on the first few pages. 

I could not believe it [I know, I should not be shocked by crazy Airbnb behavior],but I was shocked.  Here I am slaving away, cleaning like a maniac, living in fear someone sees an ant or a dusty window sill, spending tons of time trying to source high end toiletry items and cotton sheets at a discount, driving out to buy cake....  And yet all these 4.3, 4.4. 3.7 listings are showing ahead of mine.

Sad.  

[Katrina314]

@Mary419 @Sarah977 @Mark116 

None of this is new though - even the paid promotion clause has been around for some time. Airbnb has been courting and prioritising the giant corporate and institutional players for many years, while simultaneously spending hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing their illusory "live like a local" brand image and cynically using individual hosts (and latterly, long-established, often family-run, local vacation rental firms) as unwitting frontmen and stooges in their regulatory battles. They weren't even all that clandestine or subtle about it - but people just didn't want to see it.

The big problem for Airbnb though, is that many of their favoured "partners" have tens of thousands of (yes, cookie-cutter) rentals each, typically concentrated in saturated (ie the most popular/lucrative) markets, where competition is fierce. However, a number of major data analytics firms have produced reports which confirm that smaller, personally-involved hosts and property managers *far* outstrip the hands-off, absentee corporate and institutional "hosts" in terms of performance, reviews and ratings. 

Consequently, if Airbnb were to play fair and reward those smaller hosts with the high visibility and the top placements in search rankings that they deserve (and have worked so hard for), then the poorly-performing, low-rated listings of their corp/inst. partners (who are often Airbnb investors too) would never get booked, would they? 

It's no coincidence that experienced, superbly-rated superhosts are being suspended/delisted in droves - all day, every day - for no valid reasons at all. Not only are they surplus to Airbnb requirements, they're actually a hindrance to the listings of the mega-players getting booked. So it's in Airbnb's greater interests (and future plans) to quietly oust as many of the smaller fish as possible, by fair means or foul. And foul is clearly the option they've plumped for. 

[Michelle2137]

I had no idea hosts were able to pay to be put on the front page. no wonder i have barely had a booking for 8 months after being booked 3 years solid since the day i started hosting.

I thought i'd lost the algorithm due to the fact that Australia locked us down for the last 6 months last year. During that time most of the real estates have renovated all their homes into luxury accommodation that charge almost $1000 a night on homes they were renting for $1000 per month.

My recent guest said they couldn't find anywhere that was my price and i thought i was high.

I don't know what game Airbnb are playing but it's obviously not for the smaller hosts. What is to stop them from siding with every discrepancy so they make sure the bigger players get every single booking, now at the smaller hosts expense because we have to not only refund but make up the difference of a higher priced stay. ie more fees to airbnb.

Considering the history of how hosts have been treated, which is getting worse and worse by the day, I can see no limit to what they've allowed themselves to do.

[Sharon1428]

didn't know, still don't know how, where, the amount..to go up on ranks? first page.... 

[Nena-and-Hub0]

That place sounds awesome! That’s a shame they gave up over that one guest.  I would have taken it with a grain of salt! The first ever Airbnb we stayed at which was supposed to be superhost and amazing, had two palmetto bugs right here in Texas! One in the silverware drawer and one walked across the bathroom floor in the middle of the night on cue just because I was wondering if there were any more.  I wrote it off as having just had a big rainstorm and we were on the edge of a green belt.  I did tell the host just so she was aware and she was upset but I left a great review and it had nothing to do with the experience.  Their place was clean.

[Mary419]

guest completed 2 day bookingnotes from actual listing

[Nanette42]

Hi Catherine,

Perhaps you can clarify:

I read this as the guest having 72 hours to submit a claim. 

I do not read someone gets 3 days free stay at a hosts home. My eperience is, if they did not report a nonfunctioning kitchen sink, they knew before using the home for 3 days.

This policy is so absent owners need some kind of onsite response and not ruin guests stay.

 Am I understanding correctly?

[Sharon1428]

They do allow them to abuse this. I have had it happen. A wall inside of a walk-in closet did not have the same paint color in one spot that was patched 4 by 4 inches- they could not stay! And a piece of trim between the kitchen and the living room was missing   

And another time, claimed floors were not clean because the dust mop had accidentally hit the edge of the bed frame and lost some lint there.   And I am not exaggerating! 

And a claim there was pet hair (from the cowhide rug) the ABB worker was very adamant they would get a refund - and as a side note: he also told me a guest can get up into the attic and underneath the house any time they want (like an inspector, for what reason who knows- just his side note of what a guest can do!) 

[AZ-Housing0]

Please do something about it, if it is really you off course. Not your assistant who is answering here to everyone. This is getting out of control. I am getting 2-3 days stays who start to use this window for free stay.

[Sunday0]

I literally had a gust doctor a video that made it seem like there is water gushing out of the ceiling, asking for a discount! I freaked out! Called a plumber to inspect it right away. The ceilings were dry as a bone! I took the plumber's service call out of their security deposit.

[Sarah977]

@Mary419  Yes, it's outrageous. Their "examples" are senseless and absurd. What, a guest only notices it isn't clean or a "major appliance" doesn't work on the 3rd day? And why would they need 72 hours to report that that the door code or a key wasn't provided and they couldn't get in?

What idiot writes this stuff? 

Seems like Airbnb wants us to host scammers for free. 

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Yes, this is what I found to be the most outrageous part. Who in their right mind waits 72 hours to report that they can't even get into the listing??!!

[Sharon1428]

free stays for all apparently