New to the Community Center? Introduce yourself here (Updated)

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

A warm welcome to the Community Center. 

This discussion is for introducing yourself to your fellow Airbnb Community members, as well as welcoming and saying hello to newcomers in return. Thanks to all of you who have already introduced yourself and contributed in our previous thread, here.  

I'm Lizzie and I am the Community Manager here, along with my teammate @Quincy. I have been managing the Airbnb Community Center since it officially opened in November 2015. It is fantastic to speak with amazing community members here. 

To kickstart this topic, I would like to share a few things about myself:

1. I love to travel, hot or cold it doesn't matter - I'm ready with my sun lotion or a raincoat! 
2. I play several instruments, but my main one is the flute. I always enjoy a good conversation about music. 
3. Lastly, over the past year I have become very interested in all things eco/sustainablilty related.

How about you? Any interesting facts or hobbies?

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. 

Lizzie

[Amelia334]

Hello Lizzie @Quincy , 

My name is Amelia. I began hosting on Airbnb in April 2022. I'm pretty new, and one of the things on my to do list is to join an online group to learn about how others are managing their Airbnb site. 

I guess I'll follow your lead. 3 things about me:

1.  I love music. I play the fiddle, focusing on old-time traditional fiddle music.

2. I enjoy travelling and sure find it wonderful to come  home.

3. I belong to a group that studies CG Jung's work. 

[Diane1051]

I called about the same concerns. If this is public for the guests they could take advantage of this to our demise. You know there are scoundrels out there and I have had a few already 

[D-Michelle72]

Hello everyone!

My husband, Carson, and I have 2 AIRBNBs in Durham, NC.  We are dog friendly locations.  We have had nothing but good experiences with AIRBNB and I am thankful for this outlet to voice concerns and praises.  We are SuperHosts and work diligently to keep that rating.  I did post some concerns about the new refund policy and I think that maybe, with clarification about what determines unclean or pests, we could avoid having guests that may try to abuse the policy.  While most people are genuine and honest, there are those that are not and may try to take advantage of us.  We need some safeguards there.

Thank you again for this forum.

Without HOSTS, there are  no GUESTS.  It's important to truly understand who the customer is for AIRBNB.

[Yanti14]

Hello just started hosting and so far so good! What is co-hosting?

[Maria-Teresa--Mayte-0]

Hola a todos, mi nombre Mayte llevo poco tiempo en Airbnb estoy entre  la costa del sol en Mijas y Casabermeja en Málaga. Me encanta viajar y poder disfrutar de alguno de los hospedajes que ofrecen otros anfitriones seria genial.

[Carlette4]

Hi Lizzie and The Airbnb Family:

We have been hosting since Dec. 2016 and absolutely love our guests and Airbnb Customer Service. Our guest house, La Casita, saved us from going bankrupt. Our business Save-A-Heart, which we started in 1988, died on March 15, 2020 when the country closed down. It is still down about 90%.

We built La Casita in 2005 for friends and relatives but not with the intention of renting it out. In 2016 we saw an opportunity to make a little extra money and opened up our place to others to enjoy. We were semi-retired at the time and always wondered when we would actually retire. COVID told us when. 

I look forward to getting to know some of you as we continue to open our places to others. 

Oh, by the way, Lizzie my son has an Eco-Adventure Rainforest Retreat, Cacao plantation in a Superfood Forest located in Savegre Valley in Costa Rica. Check out his place at www.buenadventuracr.com   

Have a lovely evening.

Carlette Anderson

Alpine, CA

La Casita Spa + Mini Golf Course

[Robin620]

Thank you for your thoughts . It is sad, AIRBNB makes Billions. If it weren't for Us, Hosts, there would be no AIRBNB. Sadly AIRBNB, "Always" sides with The Guest..Hosts get less and less Respec Equal Fairness, for any Negative issue with a guest. We are exposed to Strangers, No Photo to view of Guest, prior to a confirmed Booking. While Guest sees a Hosts Photo, right away.  We're the ones taking a Safety Chance, with every guest

with a Stranger in Our homes. They bring on Bed Bugs and we are the one Penalized.  A Bad Review, High cost of Treatment, mental anguish and stress, and now, No guests will book, due to seeing the last Review, the Guest who reported bed bugs and refuses that they brought them in.

[Harish15]

Hey Robin, i missed this post of yours. I fully and wholeheartedly agree with you. One guest tried to sub let my own property, that too within Airbnb and when i caught him, left a 1 star review. The only one penalised was me! I took it up with Airbnb in Twitter and all other social media platforms, just to get the automated response each time that 'we are unable to remove the guest's review because of our stringent policies'. From a superhost for two years, i dropped beyond recognition. I got back by adding my listing on other such websites such as booking.com, trivago, etc. Now I'm getting pretty good offers. Bottom-line... All Airbnb cares about is their cut, we hosts can go take a hop!

[Robin620]

Hi, I'm Robin from Brentwood TN. Super Host, with 200 Reviews. Sadly, last week a Guest brought a few Bed Bugs, into My Guest AIRBNB Room. And, the room I sleep in, when No Guests. Guest had 0 Reviews. Was there 3 days and captured a bed bug crawling on top of Comforter. I've never had 1 Bed Bug. AIRBNB will not budge, from Posting his Review. This will 100% destroy any Future Bookings.  Help, I'm 62 and this is my only Income.  This 1 Guest has now Tarnished  me, with getting Bookings.. Any suggestions?

[Rjgaurora3-Juno-Com0]

Robin,  I hear you...I'm not too satisfied with AirBnb Customer Service, either.

Just a couple of thoughts:

(1) Re-list your place under another name or as another listing with Airbnb. You may loose

       your SuperHost status...but maybe able to build it up quickly again.  Make sure you comment on the Bad Guest Comment.  You have to speak up for yourself.   Some Guest made a "bad" comment about my place and I made sure he and everyone else that read his comment that I wasn't about to "disgrace" my place.  I' ve worked too hard for it...

(2) Don't know if you have your place listed on other Platforms (i.e VRBO, Expedia, etc)  .  I 

      think Airbnb, by far, has the marketing thing down pretty good...but competition is

      always good.  

I've been with Airbnb for about 5 years.  Recently, I changed my "tune" with them by renting out a Yurt; rather than  my home.  It's a different "gig," but it pays the bills.  Make sure you explain upfront to your Future Potential Guests, that you had a problem with the BB;'s, but you got it under control.  Show documentation...whatever.  With Covid...some people are is on "hyper alert" and  fear if you even look at them. I'll say a prayer for you.  It's a power weapon against the enemy.

[Harish15]

@Robin620 @Hey Robin,i can understand the duress you are under. I too had a similar experience with an unruly guest who tried to sub let my property. But again, Airbnb refused to remove his review, resulting in my loss of superhost status and I'm still trying to recover lost ground

[Geraldo55]

Hi My name is Geraldo and I have just become a host a couple of months a go. I have really being enjoying the experience so far and I am still learning my way around using Airbnb tools effectively.

[Neetu6]

Hello, I am Neetu, from India. Good day to all and stay safe

https://www.airbnb.co.in/users/68809846/listings?s=13

[Teguh5]

helo everyone, i from https://www.karimunjawa-islands.com/ 

[Patrick2298]

Hi all! My name is Patrick and I am closing escrow on a 2-unit property in beautiful Paso Robles, CA in two days! I've been a real estate broker for 11 years, but this will be my first experience as an Airbnb host so trying to pack in as much knowledge as possible. To start, any tips on how to list a property with a 3BR/2BA main house and a studio/1BA guest house? Keep them separate listings? Offer them together? Any links that you'd like to share that might've been great resources for when you first started would be greatly appreciated!

[Katerina334]

Hello! My name is Katerina and my partner and I am about to host for the first time in Arnold, California.

We are thrilled to be part of this community and can't wait to learn from all of you. Thank you!

[Yasir16]

Assalamualaikum . 

Yasir here from loving & caring Pakistan . 

I am here to enlighten your vision about fun , peace and joy we have whenever we travel or have a meal . We have spectacular level of food in our country from north to south . It keeps your taste buds a new 🔥. 

Thousands of dishes to try in just Karachi . With tons of places to have in a moody weather of Karachi. 

Love you all @Yasir16 

[Kim2422]

Hello everyone 

I have been hosting since 2017, but never really got to joining until now. Im hoping to learn more to become a super host.

Wish me luck 🙏🏼

[Pedram11]

Hello!

This is Pedram from Istanbul. I'm 23 and the loveliest part of hosting for me is sitting down and looking at all these different people from different cultures and enjoy at how smart, kind, happy, and lovely they are all together and at the same time, their governments have big problems. in 5 years of hosting experience, I saw people from everywhere on this earth and I loved all of them. I learned life lessons from them and I'm still learning.

recently I'm trying to grow my business and manage other Airbnb accounts as not everyone like me has enough time to don't lose their first 10 minutes of golden time to answer their guests or even they don't have enough experience about how to manage to be a host

[Jim1702]

Hi Lizzie.   I'm Jim in Santa Barbara and am glad to know of this forum