Here's a story I haven't told often because I didn't want to get anyone in trouble, but it was a few years ago, so here goes...
Around the same time that I was guaranteed the free photoshoot reward, which I was subsequently denied, I was asked to do an interview for the Airbnb newsletter, which I agreed to. The interview was done over the phone, the journalist was very nice, and it was all straightforward.
Then, Airbnb marketing told me they needed to come to my house to shoot a portrait. They said it would take a couple of hours, but it would be better if no guests were staying. I explained that was impossible before their deadline as my rooms were already booked. I managed to block out one day for them though, and they said they would reimburse me for lost earnings (which they never did).
The two hours turned into almost a full day. The photographer was suddenly coming at 11am instead of 1pm, which I explained was difficult because I needed the morning to get the house prepped as I had guests checking out. They told me that was fine, I could go about my business, they just needed to test lights etc and wouldn't bother me while I was cleaning. Not true. I was expected to pose the entire time and it was impossible to get the rooms ready for the next guests. I also didn't like them being photographed just after guests had checked out and they were messy, but hey ho.
They decided last minute to send someone else to film and interview me as well for another thing about International Women's Day. No idea what happened to that as they said they would send me the coverage but never did. Meanwhile, the photographer was stressed, because she had a long list of photos she had to get, including every room of my house, me visiting local attractions, posing in the street (was pouring with rain the whole day which didn't help) and on and on.
At the end of all of this, I was told that I could not use any of the photos/videos on my listing (I never even saw them) because the copyright belonged to the photographer. This is not true, which I was able to easily find out because I work in an industry that deals with this. Airbnb had bought the copyright from the photographer, so I don't know why they felt the need to lie to me about it.
Still no idea what happened with the videos, but the article, with one photo was eventually published but kind of hidden. They never informed me as promised. I found out by accident from a friend who had stumbled across it. It was somewhere on the CC. Again I found out by accident when a couple of fellow hosts stumbled across it. The article edited in such as way so that it wasn't really my words at all (stuff included that I did not say). There was one photo. I have never seen the others that were taken in seven hours of non-stop shooting.
They spent almost a whole day photographing me and my house for their marketing purposes and I got no payment, no use of photos, not even a notification of when and where anything was published.
Meanwhile, CS decided that I didn't deserve the Superhost bonus of free photoshoot (these normally take about an hour) as promised, while Airbnb got a free full day photoshoot at my house for their marketing purposes. I was not happy to say the least.
So, @M199
Yes, you are right. Expect the worst.