Submitted by Susan Lawson, Host2Host Member and host of Retreat in the Heart of Vancouver/Portland area
Hosts gathered for a peer to peer discussion of Airbnb's recent 103 platform changes.
David Boe and Pamela Jeanne moderated. After a brief introduction, we broke into small groups to discuss concerns, questions, likes and dislikes about these changes. Then reconvened with the entire group to share our small group findings. Here is a summary:
CONCERNS:
- Some host’s settings like pricing, cancellation, same day reservations were changed with updates
- Guests have a lot more questions to answer in their review of a host. Hosts do not know what these are and cannot respond to erroneous answers.
LIKES:
- "Today" tab summarizing all bookings for all listings
- Link from Airbnb for a internet speed test you can add to your listing
- Being able to send scheduled messages to guests
- Ability to add video for Experience Stays
SUGGESTIONS:
- Pets listed as an option (like infant) for pet friendly places
- Tightening up on geographic areas in search. If someone puts in a specific city those listings should be shown first. I.e. If one searches Beaverton many Portland listings are shown at the top of the list.
- Filtering age of person. Seems like rules about minimum guest age i.e 25 years old for whole house rental is ignored.
- Key words that host could add to listing and guests could filter to find. For example: urban, residential, near bus.
GENERAL COMPLAINTS:
- Airbnb overriding host’s cancellation policy
- Difficult customer service experiences - 100% to 0% positive. Many agents are reading from a script and do not deviate from it for real help.
- Need better resolution strategies for damages
- Guests need to be educated about review process
Pamela Jeanne talked about Hosting Tips that were helpful in updates.
David Boe talked about how to use the new Schedule Messaging features where you can automatically have messages sent with a new booking, check-in guide and welcome, wifi info etc. David created a 7 minute video that is available on Host2host.
Host2Host members can view the meetup recording here (along with David Boe's video on scheduled messaging).
