Back in business! Anything I should know?

[Trude0]

In mid-August 2021, I decided to take a looong break from Airbnb, and was not sure if I would return.

I was quite tired of Airbnb, after some disappointing own experiences with customer service, and after reading about some disturbing experiences shared by hosts here in Community Center.

I told my 19-year old daughter she could move into the tinyhouse/guest house.

But end of September, I decided to "re-open" again.

Cleaned the house, made some minor upgrades to make it more practical, and some slight updates to the decor (quite happy with the result, if I do say so myself) - and tadaaaa: Back in business!

During this year of not hosting, I have of course lost my Superhost status.

Which is a pity - but I'm not to bothered about it. 

I thought it would take a while until I received any bookings - it being autumn, Sweden, my listing probably ranking low in searches etc. 

But it only took me about a week to get my first booking - a fantastic guest who left me my 47th 5-star rating (out of 47).

And yesterday, I confirmed my second booking request - a young couple new to Airbnb, but who seem responsible and nice.

But to my point/question:

As I took a year-long break from hosting, I also took a break from this forum, so am not updated on the latest.

Is there anything new that I should know about, any new rules, things to look out for, anything I should read up on?

Would be greatful for any tips, links to threads I should check out etc!

Thanks!

[Helen427]

Welcome Back @Trude0 
It's great to see you have had a break and back into business.

[Trude0]

Thanks @Helen427 , it feels good to be back!

[Mariann4]

Welcome back @Trude0 😊 Strangely enough I haven't had Swedish guests since I started 7 years ago. Do you get any Norwegians?

I do much the same as @Robin4 , (allthough he is far more experienced than me of course) I don't use CS much. And after the constant rush of new bad stories I don't want to use them either. I'm pre-angry, and that is not a good way to start a conversation. But I'm lucky to have few to no damages done to my home. Probably because I homeshare and stay around with guests.

I too was impacted by the Summer Release. I had a full stop in bookings. But where @Huma0 still experience big issues with one of her listings, it somehow picked up here and I had the best August ever. 

One new thing is that now pet damages are covered by the guarantee. Before it only covered damages made by humans... I don't allow pets so I just think about the bumps in my oak stairs caused by guests dropping their heavy suitcases down the stairs in stead of carrying them....

With the current energy crizis going on I also struggle to prize correctly to add the extra cost of electricity. But my season has finished now to around mid April so I can turn down the heat and walk around in my wool knitted socks made by my grandmother. ❤️ I do welcome the initiative to be able to charge separately for electricity in Europe.

Hej då 😊

[Huma0]

Hi @Mariann4 , I hope all is well with you.

Ah, well I guess that is one advantage to hosting only in the spring/summer season - you don't have guests constantly whingeing about being too cold.

Not all interactions with CS are bad (especially if it's a simple issue like a third party booking that you spot in advance), but it's a bit of a lottery. If it's a problem/disagreement with a current guest, I would always try to resolve that myself before resorting to contacting CS. You have no idea if they are going to help or only make it worse!

My bookings are okay at the moment. I wouldn't say it's picked up to pre-Summer Release levels at all. One of my rooms that got over 2,000 views in the month directly before the release has less than 400 for the past month, but that'a a huge improvement on how things were. I think it got down to about 3 or 4 views a month at some point. So, slowly the rooms are getting booked up, but I think that's because 

A. I host long term guests so don't need loads of bookings.

B. A lot of my calendar is filled by repeat guests.

C. It's slim pickings for long term guests here, at least within the same budget

Glad to hear that you had a good August though! Hope the success continues in the spring.

[Mariann4]

And @Trude0 : you say you charge a deposit. Airbnb no longer allows deposits...

[Huma0]

@Mariann4 

I think quite a few hosts charge a deposit themselves directly. I don't know if that is not allowed or not as I have never tried to do it.

When Airbnb did charge a deposit in the past, it was a fake one anyway. They never collected any money upfront and the host had to ask the guest to agree to pay from it, so it was a load of nonsense and just a misleading marketing thing.

[Mariann4]

It is explicitly forbidden to charge deposits now, @Huma0 . Hosts still do, and I find it odd that we can't protect our own property by charging a deposit when you do with any other rental... But who knows what happens to those Airbnb expose as rulebreakers...

I'm glad to hear that you are picking up a little bit. Very much so! I hope it continues on the same path. 

As for the CS, of course it's not all bad. It's probably most good with good solutions and answers. So me being pre-angry is only me laughing a bit about myself and keep reminding myself to start off on a good foot should I need to contact CS. I have called them two or three times in seven years. One case is yet to be resolved but it's on goverment level towards big business. So I've put it to rest and forgotten about it... The others were quick-fix.

But I need to point out that I have mostly very decent guests and those that differ are more like a hair in the soup than soup in the hair...

[Huma0]

@Mariann4 

I have never heard this expression, but I like it!

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@Mariann4 wrote:

But I need to point out that I have mostly very decent guests and those that differ are more like a hair in the soup than soup in the hair...

---

So, with CS, you are right to be pre-angry, because it has definitely gone downhill (and Airbnb do actually know this), but you are also right that it's always best to start the conversation on a good foot. There is no point screaming at someone who A. Isn't responsible for the problem and B. Probably has no authority to make any decisions. It's best to try to keep them on side so that at least they will try to help if they can.

It is terribly frustrating. My most recent interactions with CS I would say are really bad two out of three times.

[Mariann4]

I'm so sorry to hear that @Huma0 . Sometimes when reading about experiences with CS you wonder wth happened...? I believe in your experience. But in general it is that one hear about the bad stories because people need to vent. But you often don't hear about the majority of good stories. I try to remember that about CS as well. But there are too many stories from hosts like you that tells a different story.

[Huma0]

@Mariann4 

You are right. People generally post about customer service when it has bad. People generally review things on sites like Google and Trustpilot when it is bad. The often forget to leave a review about something that was good.

I try to remember that. I do sometimes leave reviews when it's really bad, but will also leave reviews when it's really good. I tend to not bother when it was just okay (except for Airbnb guests of course). The thing is, a few years ago I created a thread in defence of CS as my experiences had been good until that point and I wanted to share that given all the negative posts about them.

Unfortunately, it has gone severely down hill, especially since the pandemic started and they laid of most of the experienced, knowledgable staff and replaced them with poorly trained, poorly paid outsourced staff (there is plenty of info out there about this if you are interested in reading it) and a senior person at Airbnb admitted this to me herself, i.e. said it was a massive mistake. So, I'm not just complaining about my own experience, which is hit and miss, but based on other evidence.

It's a shame. I used to really like the call centre in Ireland before those people got sacked. They were great.

[Mariann4]

Sometimes I really miss the thumb down button in here @Huma0 

I thought Ireland still remained decent? I will have to check it out. Too many old posts re-surfacing so I miss some good information at times...

[Huma0]

@Mariann4 

I never get through to Ireland anymore. I asked Airbnb about it and they told me it still existed.

However, Susan sent me an article about Airbnb selling the office in Dublin. She told me most of the staff were laid off. Later, they opened a small call centre in Cork, but they did not rehire the experienced staff, so the people are as useless as any of the other inexperienced reps. I can't really comment on that as I am never put through to them, but I know I used to usually get through to Ireland in the early days because they were responsible for the UK.

[Trude0]

@Mariann4 : Actually, I AM Norwegian! 🙂 I'll make sure to check out your listing. 

But no - in the 2,5 years I have hosted, I've only had 1 booking from Norway. Several from Finland and Denmark, though. Weird.

So, @Robin4 mentioned that you "disappeared" around the same time I did? Did you take a break from hosting, too, or you just weren't that active in here?

"Pre-angry" - I love that expression, I will now start using it myself! Yes, I also avoid CS when I can. It just makes me so frustrated to receive a standard, pre-written answer, that has nothing at all to do with the question I asked...

I've been lucky too, all guests but one family have been great. I have almost the same situation as you; my guests don't stay in my house, but in my garden, so I am always here. Which surely helps to avoid issues.

Pet damages now covered by the guarantee? Well, since most other damages seem to be considered by Airbnb as "ordinary wear and tear", and not covered by the "guarantee", I think I'll pass on allowing pets... (also for allergy reasons). Even if I do love dogs...

Thanks for the tip about the deposit! It is an old text, from before I took my break, and I had forgotten all about it. I will find it now and delete it.

Oh, the energy crisis... 😞 I've only opened my calendar for October and November, I have to consider if I really want to host December-February. 

Enjoy your "off-season"!

[Mariann4]

You have a beatiful hytte @Trude0 . Litt sånn ekte midtsommerferie 😊 My place is very basic and nothing fancy, but guests like it here. And as long as I keep liking it I keep hosting.

I started hosting when I lost my job some years ago. I liked it here in CC because it was filled with experienced and patient hosts. I like to learn, get info, and inspired by the ever giving other hosts I tried to also offer some help to newbies. And also the discussions were interesting. So I became active. And you being Norwegian know that people from my city are not known to shut up... So I got noticed. But I can never reach up to other great host on here. 

And then life happened.... I got sick. Needed to take time off from life and rebuild. On two occasions I closed down. Luckily during low season. But getting back on track showed me that I didn't have the same stamina as before. One thing that wears me out more than before is writing in English. It's like my brain has shrunk... And so I'm not that frequent in posting as I was. I lurk around to learn from the best, and I try to contribute when I know I have enough time to post and/or reply something of substance. 

And then during the pandemic we closed down completly for tourists and domestic travels and I had no bookings. Fair enough since I share bathroom and that is a no-go during a pandemic. But at that period of time nothing happened in my Airbnb-life. So I forgot a little bit about CC... 🤷‍