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:

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Huma0 

I don't know the exact details of that situation and what happened there but, if Airbnb is really trying to protect the guests' safety, isn't it a bit too late by the time they have complied and analysed data from the reviews for 'verification' purposes?

This is precisely the trust and safety issue, right here. And this policy has not been brought about by there being a glut of host safety issues. It has been brought about by killings in Airbnb's which were not the fault of the host.

Classic diversionary techniques.

[Cormac0]

@Lawrene0 

We've come a long long way from renting space in the living room with air mattresses as bedding.

Airbnb have lost the plot!

[Helen350]

@Cormac0 👍👍👍👍👍

[Michelle53]

The issue with applying "standards" to all Airbnb listings is whose standards does one apply ?    Airbnb is in how many countries ? Is Airbnb going to tell every host in every country that a coffee maker, for example,  is a "minimum standard" ? 

It seems reasonable to verify that, if an amenity is offered on a listing, it should, in fact, exist, and that photos should reflect the reality of the listing - but does it get as granular as being out of compliance if one changes out a comforter or the throw pillows ?  Surely, one shouldn't have to retake all the photos for that.

And are people really going to verify the make and model of the refrigerator ?    I think it should, at least,  be  a working refrigerator.

But, what happens if a guest just chooses to skip answering all the questions ? Does this immediately make a listing "unverified" ? 

It just seems like yet another project that marketing ran with, ahead of the actual implementation plan,  in order to get to press, and now Airbnb is scrambling to try and fill in the blanks. 

[Mark116]

@Michelle53  We must have been one of the first tests of the verification policy.  Airbnb made an appointment and we did a zoom walk through with the guy on the other end, walking through each room of the apartment, pointing out...cause he never asked, LOL...here is the fire extinguisher, here is the smoke alarm, etc.  Of course we never heard anything back.  But it is nonsense that they would be using the reviews to verify the listing when Zoom already exists and is in wide use due to the pandemic. 

[Michelle53]

@Mark116   I think Airbnb shot themselves in the foot by promising 100% verification by December 15, 2020. 

Zoom walkthroughs would work, given a lot of time and personnel, but not in the timeframe they marketed to the outside world, and after all those layoffs. 

With Covid-19, and so much travel shut down, I can't see how they would do it.  Of course, Covid-19 is a great "out". 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Mark116 

Simple question... Did your zoom walk through commence outside your listing showing the building and access?

Specifically, did the staffer who was verifying your place over Zoom, require you to show anything to prove that your place was actually the same address as you have on your Airbnb listing?

[Mark116]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  Yes, we went outside on the porch and then walked back in, although not sure that would verify the street address, but the house numbers could be seen, I believe that this was our idea though, not the airbnb person.  The only thing he specifically asked about was the wifi, which since the router isn't in the guest area, might  have been tricky but we had our laptop in use so could show it that way.  But, again, this happened WEEKS ago, and nothing back from Airbnb at all.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Mark116 

Well nothing surprises me anymore with what AirBnb do or say. Your actions probably saved the whole point of the verification process.

The whole verifying listings thing in the first place, was a response to Allie Contis Vice article about scamming hosts that were pulling off bait and switch scams on guests, putting them in listings other than the ones the guest thought they'd booked. So there's no point in verifying a listing, if you're not verifying the actual address.

[Super47]

@Mark116  @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0

How frightfully amusing! So Airbnb are "verifying" whether or not a host has Wi-Fi, but they're not verifying that the actual address of the property is the same address provided to them by the host, in relation to that particular listing? Well, blow me down with a feather! 

Rather defeats the primary purpose of the verification exercise, and one can't imagine that municipal authorities and regulators will be thrilled skinny at Airbnb's claims of "verifying all 7 million listings" then! Well, they do have to try and maintain their plausible deniability stance in relation to fraudulent and illegal listings somehow, one supposes. 

And you got a freebie verification @Mark116? How terribly fortunate! Shouldn't be long now until the rest of us are given the 'opportunity' to shell out a princely sum to "fast-track" our own verification tours, in order to collect yet another shiny, sparkly virtual Airbnb badge. At least by doing so, we'll be able to save ourselves from being relegated to the deep, dark recesses of the search placements on account of not having  stumped up for a Zoom inspection by a barely-trained young agent in a cubicle somewhere far, far away, who's actually not at all sure what it is that he/she is supposed to be inspecting. Yippee!

Hosts Will Be Able To Pay To Fast Track Verifications Of Their Listings

https://www.google.com/amp/s/skift.com/2019/11/15/airbnb-hosts-will-be-able-to-pay-to-fast-track-ver...

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Super47 @Mark116 

At least by doing so, we'll be able to save ourselves from being relegated to the deep, dark recesses of the search placements on account of not having  stumped up for a Zoom inspection by a barely-trained young agent in a cubicle somewhere far, far away, who's actually not at all sure what it is that he/she is supposed to be inspecting. Yippee!

The only saving grace of this is the fact that they can't even do guest verifications properly either. On both sides there's a mission of creating pointless data on the back of what seems like a principled proposition producing GIGO results. Garbage In - Garbage Out. 'Verification' is certainly NOT what it used to be.

Guest verification thread:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Guest-Identity-verification/m-p/1333290/highlight/true#M289...

@Ann487   @Emilia42 @Debra300 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Super47 

Welcome to the Community Centre Penelope. Interesting article.

[Super47]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0

Thank you so much for the very kind welcome! (Am I speaking with Ian or Anne-Marie?)

I've been a lurker for a long time but was always a little reticent at getting involved for a couple of reasons. 1) Being a new poster on an online forum seems to be jolly daunting! And 2) My (now ex) husband is a somewhat high-profile politician with establishment links, and would highly disapprove of me posting on internet groups or social media. However, he's now taken flight with another woman, so I've decided to liberate myself a little and try a few things I wasn't free to do while he was around! As long as I'm discrete, I can't see the harm in it. 🙂 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Super47 

It’s Ian. Welcome to your new found freedom. Enjoy.

[Cathie19]

Welcome @Super47 to the community centre and may I wish you the very best of luck with positive personal adventures as you continue to find yourself.  Pleased to hear you are stretching your wings and now feel you can breathe more to your life pace..

It’s the best gift to yourself. 💐