the very first question asked of the guest in the review is...

[Lawrene0]

Hello, fellow hosts!

Last week I was a guest for three nights. Not keen on travel right now, but I had to for work. 

It was interesting to see, though, what guests are asked these days.

So, first of all, the stay went very well. The host sent daily messages asking whether everything was okay, and I replied as soon as I could every day that, yes, everything was fine. Lots of thanking each other on both sides. The usual. 🙂

I opened the review link at the end of the stay. The first question was,

"Did you feel unsafe during this stay? We would like to know what happened."

Good lord. Shouldn't I have notified someone immediately if I had felt unsafe? Why would I leave it to the review? Do they want me to be that sort of guest? 

Anyway, the second question was all about whether the host was misleading or I had any issues.

Screenshots of both are below. I took them because I was appalled that the accent is on the negative. "Unsafe", "misleading" -- what's that all about? 

In my own case, I am waiting for a review from my own guest a week ago, a local who thought I should have notified her that she might hear rumbles of thunder in the distance during her stay. Oh goody. Now she can report that she felt unsafe because she didn't think to check her weather app.

I feel like this is a trap. I feel like there are enough traps with the reviews that we don't need another one. 

The rest of the questions were about whether the amenities were provided, etc., but I have seen those before. It was just the first two questions that were different from last time I was a guest. Just to be clear, this was not the "survey" at the end. This was the start of the review, before the stars, before the written portion.  Here are the screenshots:

[Emilia42]

@Michelle53 @Ann72 So you are aware . . . These amenity questions come after the review is completed and are completely optional so they carry no weight in the star ratings. I believe they are purely used to "verify" if the listing is what it says it is and to flag scamming hosts who are advertising something that isn't there.

 

[Ann72]

@Emilia42  Thanks for clarifying - that’s very good to know.

[Mark116]

@Michelle53   It's still terrible and is Airbnb trying to get the guest to do their own work of verification, that they rashly promised the public they can verify millions of listings by the end of the year.  

[Michelle53]

@Emilia42    Thanks for that. I was more concerned, actually, with the questions putting ideas into folks minds for future bookings. i.e. creating a "standard amenities" list that some people can't or don't choose to provide. 

[Emilia42]

@Michelle53 That is possible. I have hosted quite a few guests that have stayed at other Airbnbs on their trip before getting to mine up north. I always get nervous since the other listings look much nicer and bigger than mine. But luckily, the guests have all been great and talk about the specific positives of my space and don't negatively compare it to past stays. Hopefully, that is the norm.

[Kath9]

@Michelle53, I agree, it does set up expectations for guests and it just moves us further and further away from the whole notion of Airbnb being about 'living like the locals'. Going through the review process, I felt BAD ticking 'no' to 'was there a pool?', 'was there a spa?', etc. because I felt that somehow I was marking the host down, even though she and the accommodation were both great! It's just over the top. I think the review process needs to be simplified right down - star ratings for the basics (cleanliness, communication, accuracy, etc.) (but getting rid of location, which is just stupid), with overall rating as an average of individual stars  and then space for a written review - that's it. All that other stuff is just guff (although I'm sure it is all collected and sorted by algorithms to help Airbnb with marketing, etc.)

[Cathie19]

Hear hear! @Kath9 .

[Sarah977]

@Emilia42 @Ann72 @Michelle53 @Kath9   "Was there space to relax and work out?"  Work out? Gimme a break. I'm not running a gym here. And most of my guests relax in their bed- they lay there reading or on their laptops. There's places for them to sit outside on the balcony or at the dining table, but the bed seems to be the preference.

[Emilia42]

@Sarah977 Not to mention, relaxing and working out are two totally separate things. 

[Sarah977]

@Emilia42  I guess relaxing and working out are the two most important life activities to the San Francisco millennials at Airbnb who come up with this stuff 😜

[Emilia42]

@Sarah977 haha, of course, they spend probably 1/3 of their workday in little break out rooms specifically designed for "relaxing and working out"

[Michelle53]

@Sarah977  Yeah, I know.  Sheesh. People generally book my listing in order to attend events, family gatherings, take a vacation, and relax.    The only folks I generally get wanting to work out are folks who are runners, and then they usually ask if there's a park nearby. 

Oh yeah - I've also had a couple of folks here during the Chicago Marathon, wanting to watch someone else run. 

[Kath9]

@Sarah977I know right? Maybe I should dedicate a room in my house to a gym because I'm certain all of my guests would use it (not).

[Michelle53]

As if 2020 couldn't get any crazier, we had a freak accident occur on our block, last night, while I have guests staying. 

A car, driving too fast, or course, sideswiped two other cars, the driver over-corrected, and her car ended up passenger-door-up, driver-door on the road. Perpendicular.   The driver managed to get out ok, but I didn't see how it happened, I was just awakened by the thud, and the car alarms. 

I looked out of my window to see police cars and a fire truck, and a street full of concerned neighbors.  This occurred around 10.15pm last night, and the street was finally cleared around midnight, by a towtruck. 

I'm not sure if my guests were here or not, but I did check in with them to see if they were ok.  Haven't heard back yet. Their car, thank heavens, wasn't hit, but two other cars on the street were damaged. 

How are they going to answer a "safety" question ???  

What could I do, as a host, if anything, about this, except to make sure they are ok, and reassure them this is definitely not the norm ??

I feel like 2020 has dealt out some pretty crazy stuff, but this episode is too much for my nerves. Really. 

@Lawrene0 @Cathie19 @Kath9 @Emilia42 @Sarah977  @Ann72 

[Kath9]

Sheesh @Michelle53 you poor thing! Let's just hope your guests don't GET the safety question!