Why on earth is Airbnb asking guests to rate us on how flexible we are about check in?

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Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Why on earth is Airbnb asking guests to rate us on how flexible we are about check in?

I am sure there are many other hosts like me who have experienced issues with getting guests to agree to an arrival time within the check in window. I have lost count of how many times guests have asked me to check in much earlier, and some times much later, even though my window is 3pm-9pm, so pretty standard for an Airbnb. I've had to make a real point of it in my house rules.

 

So, it really infuriates me that Airbnb is now asking guests if the host was flexible about check in as part of the review process. This is going to give guests the impression that the host SHOULD have been more flexible or offered to let them check in at any time (regardless of whether the previous guests had checked out or not or the time it takes to clean and turnover the listing - a lot of guests simply never consider these points) and may well impact the star rating they leave not only for check in, but overall. It might also encourage them to harass the next host about check in time because they will now think it's something they are entitled to.

 

Airbnb needs to remove this from the review process ASAP.

1 Best Answer
Debra300
Level 10
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

@Huma0,

 

In our guest communication we stressed that we do not have front desk staff and the guest must tell us an estimated time arrival to ensure that someone is available to check them in, and avoid delays for them accessing their rental after a long journey.  This last part seems to really resonate with guests, because it poses a potential inconvenience to them.  We tell guests that we have to wait until 24 hours before arrival to confirm if an early check-in request can be accommodated, but will allow luggage drop-off.  Under certain circumstances we do charge a fee for the extra time that's been added onto the stay.

 

To me, this is another step that Airbnb with little regard for home-shares, because it ignores  hosts who may have more than one guest at the same location.  Early check-ins and late checkouts can disturb and be disruptive to existing guests.

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77 Replies 77
Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Huma0 Ha, the fun never ends.  We just stayed at an Airbnb in Rome but haven't done the review yet but can report on what new insane system is like in a couple of days. I can't find the review clock count down as a guest. But to answe you.....airbnb cares nothing for hosts, host rules or host convenience.

 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Mark116 

 

If you are able to report back RE what the new review process looks like from the guest end, that would be really helpful. If you can take screenshots, even better!

 

I can see there is a lot of confusion here as Airbnb has been really vague about this (intentionally, I am sure), so we are still guessing about a lot of it at this stage...

 

I know I was being naive/wishful, but when I heard that Airbnb was revising the review process, I was led to believe that it was in order to make things better for hosts and also that there might be a revision to the Superhost requirements, i.e. that they would go back to requiring 80% 5* reviews instead of 4.8*. 

 

Instead, we get the chance to select from specific options to give detail about what the guest could have done better. Okay, that might be useful, but we could already state those things in the review if we wanted, e.g. guest checked out late. At the same time, guests can make additional comments about the listing, which seems fair, but not when it's stupid things like whether the check in was flexible or not, as if that was an actual REQUIREMENT for hosts. And, at the same time, they've taken away the ability for us to specify whether we would host that guest again or not, and the IB filter for recommended by other hosts.

 

It seems that Airbnb gives from one hand, but takes three times as much back from the other...

@Huma0  I just went in and started it and now if you click 4 stars the word 'good' comes up.  LMAO.  I only clicked through the first couple of steps because I want to wait until the time is almost up for this review.  But, we know that 'good' at 4.0 is a LIE.  Thus, I would expect everything else that was changed will be bad for hosts. 

 

The words that now correlate with the stars are terrible, bad, okay, good and great.  And 3 star or less you get a prompt to report unsafe behavior.  

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Mark116 

 

Wow, I didn't know that they had started using those words alongside the star ratings again. That is disastrous. This is going to be worse than I thought. 

 

Thanks so much Airbnb! You promised to make the review process better for hosts and have done the exact opposite.

Robbie54
Level 10
North Runcton, United Kingdom

@Gillian166@Mark116@Huma0if you guys haven't already I'd start looking at other platforms to host on, I'll be going live on another site very soon due to Airbnb's increased tinkering.

We have been using alternatives, too. It is very nice not having to stress about what kind of review we might get. Still, about 1/3 to 1/2 of our bookings are from ABB, it is a concern.

@Robbie54

Ted & Chris
Robbie54
Level 10
North Runcton, United Kingdom

@Ted307another "problem" I have is after checking whether my local competitors use IB I have found that a high percentage of them do, so if I turn it off I don't want to hinder my chances of getting a booking. I feel like I'm now in such an awkward position, all made by Airbnb.

A great number of hosts feel that they have to use IB. There are a lot of listings here, it is a popular vacation area, and most seem to use it. We never have, and do still get bookings. Our place is not expensive, we do not accept last minute bookings, and require a 2 day minimum. Perhaps we have left some money on the table, but we are old and retired, we do not want this to be too stressful of a part-time income. I look at it as it beats working part-time at Walmart, but only just barely! 😉

@Robbie54

Ted & Chris
Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Unfortunately, I've yet to find a site here in the UK where homeshare hosts with private rooms in shared listings are allowed/also has traffic.

I signed up to Houfy quite a while back and have not had a single enquiry. I also was in touch with a company that manages accommodation for foreign language students (I've hosted a few of those so thought it would e a good fit for me), but they have set rates that are really far too low for the quality of rooms/convenient location I am offering, and you had to cook dinner for the students every night as well!

I would love to see some real competition for Airbnb in the homeshare market here, but have yet to find it. I think that, at the moment, the only alternative for hosts like me is direct marketing.

@Robbie54

@Huma0  Ugh I did the review.  Now there are several questions on accuracy, cleanliness, host responsiveness where the choices are basically 'extremely, very, moderately, somewhat, not at all'.  Then there was a list of seemingly random amenities they asked about..a crib, heat, ac, refrigerator, kitchen.

 

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Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Mark116 

 

Thanks for posting these. For some reason I was only able to see the first two screenshots and then the page kept hanging, so I'll have another look later.

 

The list of random amenities is not new. I posted some screenshots of that when I stayed at an Airbnb in the summer. 

 

However, the wording used for the categories is deeply worrying to me. Can I ask, does this appear as you are leaving the star ratings, or after you have already completed those?

@Huma0 It's after you leave the stars and the written review, then a screen pops up asking for more details.  I left this host 3 for accuracy [long story..... the photos of the living room were completely different from what was in the apt],  so maybe that is why I got an accuracy screen. 

 

Yes the wording paired with the stars is STUPID.  What is the objective difference between 'extremely' clean and 'very' clean?  I mean what is the point of this differentiation?  Very clean is now not as good as it could be?  More pointless BS that harms the host rating and still nothing but basically false statements about hosts being able to get reviews removed.

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Mark116 

 

Okay, thanks. That's useful to know.

 

In that case, that bit is exactly the same as it was before. You can see the screenshots are the same in the thread I posted in August. And no, I don't think it's because you clicked 3* for accuracy. I got the same screen for every sub category and I left 5* for all of them.

 

The bit that is supposed new, is the extra comments that come up under the ratings themselves. Did you see any of those?

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Mark116 

 

Yes, I take real exception to the wording. 

 

The guest thinks the listing is very clean and very accurate. That would probably result in a 5* rating for both.

 

However, when you ask the guest, "Was it VERY clean, nor EXTREMELY clean?", quite a few of them are going to question whether it was perfect enough... Does it deserve 5*? Maybe not...