Letter to Airbnb

[Robin4]

I would ask the company to consider something.

I am never going to be able to host more than one booking per night, I do not have that corporate structure that the company’s philosophy and strategy appears to be driven towards…

I am a core host, one of the few million who got you going, and where you are today!

My desire is to welcome every guest in the best way I can, and make them feel at easy and comfortable with their decision to book, not only with me, but with Airbnb. I welcome every guest in a different way....... sometimes efficiently, sometimes with humour, sometimes as a host, sometimes as a hotelier.

I can only do this if I can see who I am dealing with. I can’t do this when I am only provided with a name. I open a conversation stream with a guest couple in their 50-60’s entirely differently than I would with a pair of friends in their early 20’s, or a young family. A photo tells me how my contact should be opened, a blank sentence does not!

A photo does not influence whether I host a guest or not, it tells me how to get this hosting off to a good start…

And surely, isn’t that what Airbnb wants?

Please allow me to do my job to the best of my ability and give me back those profile photos that I need to be able to do that!

Cheers.....Rob

[Kenneth-And-Audrey0]

I agree. Please put the pictures back up. I feel like the company is exposing the hosts to less and less information about their potential guests. 

[Zacharias0]

Agreed! We just Instant booked a guy with a cartoon for a picture. Who should I expect to show up? Bugs bunny. I just want to feel safe and that Im dealing with an above the board character. Not to mention they are a local. While hotels cant see the people booking before they arrive to their front desk they also have the guests credit card details, hold a hard deposit, have their ID details and have millions of dollars of insurance if something terrible happens. Airbnb is taking away more and giving hosts less....and less and less. Its starting to feel like its only a matter of time before something goes horribly wrong and I let the wrong person in my house and Ill be the one left holding the bag. Its very frustrating the feeling of helplessness. 

[Thomas1033]

Hi this Yvonna, I cohost with Tom.  We have had 2 locals ask for discounts and to stay with us here.  While we accepted them based on their reasons, neither actually booked thank God.  I wonder what a local cartoon character would want to do at your place that they can’t do at their own.  Most likely a third party book if you ask me.  Be careful!

[Zacharias0]

Hi Thomas, we had a third party book one time and it was a mess! The lady ended up being a headache and she opted to leave, but waited until day 3 of 7 to say something. The guy that checked in today was nice enough. He showed me his phone that showed our chat messages. Apparently, they were tearing up his floors so he had to find a place to stay for the weekend. Keep in mind Vegas has 120,000 hotel rooms at all price points so I'm always at a loss when locals want to book a place on Airbnb.

When I gave him the keys it made me realize how we are handing our investments off to some random stranger hoping that things go well with absolutely ZERO recourse should things not go well.

[Camelia15]

Maybe a knock-knock shop? If they can't tell you some reasonable reason for booking your place then just reject their request, That's what I do.

[Brindley1]

Can a community members please explain to me , how I get paid. Air BNB has never asked me the method how I want to get paid. Primary concern of any host is the money earned by maintaining and renting  out the property but for Air BNB it seems to be not very important because they already have collected their commission  from the guest.  I would like to get paid into my bank account direct.

[Robin4]

@Brindley1

Hi Brindley, a part of the listing procedure is to set in place a 'payout preference' and this is to establish where your hosting payouts are to be sent. I have no idea why you missed this step, but apparently you have. What happens is, you nominate an account where your payouts are to go to and Airbnb will deposit a small amount of money in that account to make sure that all is ready for you to receive funds from your hostings. If this has not happened you have missed a step in the listing procedure.....please do the following..... Click on each photo to see full screen!

When you click on that you will be faced with this screen!

I hope this is of help to you.

Cheers......Rob

[Rebecca0]

@Robin4 I have read many of your posts on here and I salute and respect you for the thought and dedication that you bring to everything.  I also respect your objection, and that of so many other hosts, to the no-photo-before-booking policy.   Personally, I don't have a problem with it and find many of the objections on here to be over-blown.   

I'd like to ask why you change your communication style according to what you perceive from a photo.  For example, why assume that a guest's age predicts their preferences?   It doesn't make sense to me.   My style is the same with everyone, no matter what.  I will adapt my language for guests who clearly speak little English (eg, very short and clear sentences) but otherwise I treat everyone the same.   I keep everything friendly but professional.   I've hosted (and known) enough people to know that it is pointless assuming anything about anyone until you have actually met them.  And even then you can get surprised!

My worst drunken badly behaved guests were in their '60s.  And there have been many occasions when I've  been getting ready to go out on a Saturday night and bumped into 20 year olds  already in their pyjamas and preparing for bed.  The self-professed laid-back young couple pictured smiling with rucksacks on a mountain turned out to be the most sour, mean and picky guests ever.   The stern-looking grey-haired elderly lady who communicated in terse practical sentences turned out to be the most wonderful ageing hippie with a wicked sense of humour and we had a grand old time together.

I do understand why hosts,  live-in ones particularly, feel that removing guest profile photos is yet another blow to their sense of control.  But I think the outrage is mis-placed.  We should be far more angry about the blatant promotion of commercial listings than photos.  I just did a (incognito) search in my area and only 10% of the listings  shown on the first five pages were for traditional private room homestay hosts.

[Robin4]

@Rebecca0

Hi Rebecca, thanks for those nice comments and I understand what you are saying. I am not talking about IB reservations which are a high percentage but, when someone comes to me with a booking request I try to pitch my message to what I feel is to their demographic.

Once a booking is in place every guest gets the same message ........"Hi XXXXXXX. Thank you for your booking and it will be our pleasure to have you stay here in our cottage on the night of January 11th and I hope we can make your stay a lovely one for you. I will be back in touch with you on the morning of the 11th to get an idea of your arrival time so I can plan my day to make sure all is ready for you when you get here.
All the best XXXXXX, see you on the 11th Jan." 

I never deviate from that, but at that point the guests photo has been provided anyway.

We all realise that booking a STR is not like booking room 386 in the downtown Four Seasons, it is a leap of faith, not just for the host but for the guest as well and my desire is to make them feel comfortable  with their decision to approach me.

Rebecca, this is fairly typical of how I will respond to that first request....

It breaks the ice, and immediately makes these people feel comfortable proceeding to a booking.

This is how that guest responded to that message.

A level of empathy had been established and with 10 minutes they had booked. Now I assesed that as overseas travellers using Airbnbs and seeing his profile and photo, they wanted to experience as much local colour as they could and that is why I responded that way. If he had been an image with a shaved head and a mass of tatts I still woulkd have accepted him but I would have sent a different message.

The other thing is, it is like a handshake, you build a level of comfortableness and when they arrive they almost arrive as friends...and it's a fact people do not like fighting with people they like!

Had that been two sisters coming for a wedding celebration....and elderly couple coming to visit their children and grandchildren, I would have responded in an entirely different fashion.

Rebecca, that photo enables me to build up a picture in my mind of the type of guest I am going to get. It's no big deal, and I certainly respect that it is not for everyone but, this approach has really helped me with my hosting. 

Cheers.....Rob

[Rebecca0]

"when someone comes to me with a booking request I try to pitch my message to what I feel is to their demographic."

That's exactly what I was trying to say!  No offense, but who are you to judge what you think is 'their demographic'?   Honestly, I find this whole approach a bit prejudiced, as in the original meaning of the word, ie.  pre-judging someone based on very limited information.  You say it works for you so maybe it's a case of different demographics... lol!  Perhaps we have different kinds of guests.  It wouldn't work for me to presume anything about the kind of guests I get.

[Robin4]

@Rebecca0

That's fine Rebecca, you have your way of hosting, I have mine. I am not saying what I do is neseccarilly right or wrong, all I am saying is, it works for me. I am trying to welcome them, not judge them!

The CC is here for us to each give our opinions and over the years I have found much wonderful help here, some of it has worked for me some hasn't but resource is fantastic.

All I strive to do is provide that....'authentic Airbnb experience'...we will agree to differ, ok!

Good on you Rebecca I do respect much of your input, keep on saying it, every post here helps someone in some way!

Cheers.....Rob

[Rebecca0]

@Robin4

Yes, you're so right that everybody needs to respect others' hosting style.  There's no right or wrong way, only doing what works for you.   I'm finding this no-photo subject so fascinating, it seems to have resurrected my inner nerd and I can get a bit carried away when that happens!

[Robin4]

@Rebecca0

Some of the ways I talk to guests you would be appalled at. I talk about 'not wanting to be caught feeding the Crocodiles in the lake when they arrive' and all sorts of seemingly crazy, or intrusive comments. But I do it for a reason.......to solicit a response. I had one guest say ..."What Crocodiles! what sort of place am I coming too!" ....but Rebecca, it got a response, we had a laugh when I told him, and people just open up, they remove a few bricks off that defensive wall they build around themselves when dealing with strangers. 

I have a very high proportion of guests who have gone on to be classified as friends....we keep in regular contact!

So as I said, it is just my loopy style, but it works for me!

How are you handling that bloody freezing cold we are seeing on the news services...or is that just the US and not your side of the Atlantic! Our poor garden is in survival mode at the moment. We had a 47c day here last week and flowers are not built to cope with that sort of heat!

Cheers.......Rob

[Rebecca0]

Ha ha, crocodiles!  It's funny, I kind of do the same thing as you.  My house is a bit eccentric, to put it nicely.  So my standard message is all about not expecting too much but to be assured that their room is comfortable and they will be very welcome here etc etc.   I send the same message to everyone, no matter their demographic, because I want to manage expectations.  It works, just like you and your crocodiles!  Sometimes my message elicits a nervous response, 'oh, will there be noisy building work going on while we're there'.  And then I can reassure them that no, I can't be arsed painting anything for the next few weeks (words to that effect, anyway!).

Yes, it's bloody freezing here right now.  I am wearing two pairs of socks, boot slippers and a dressing gown on top of all my clothes.  No snow yet here, though.  I do love some heavy snow.  It makes everything so quiet, looks so beautiful and feels almost like insulation!