All about new hosts.
Has anyone ever made a claim under Air Cover and actually received the proper amount?
1 Like
āNow featuring even more top-to-bottom protectionā¦ā
āEven moreā of nothing is still nothing, right?
The elephant in the room is that Air Cover payment requires some CS rep deciding whether they will pay out or not. And they conveniently neglect to mention what they consider to be depreciation value. Like you have a perfectly good dining table that happens to be 10 years old that a guest puts hot pots directly on, covering it with burn marks. That it will cost $500 to replace is immaterial- itās 10 years old, so as far Airbnb is concerned, itās worth $25.
4 Likes
My husband likes to joke that our guests treat our property better than family does.
3 Likes
True but those people will probably be dirty regardless. I actually like Airbnb adding this to the guest booking, it canāt hurt and I think that the meaning is clear.
1 Like
Yes, we were just thinking about this. If we have a perfectly good piece of furniture that a guest ruins and we have to replace it they do not care about the cost to replace it, just depreciation. The point is that the cost we are spending to replace it is a direct cause of the guest, so that guest should pay the cost if not AirBnB. We had a one-year-old rocker recliner in great shape that a guest thought was okay to put out their cigarettes on the arms/upholstery leaving burn marks all over (in a non-smoking rental).
2 Likes
Your STR and homeownerās insurance have the same replacement scale. However, I am sure that with enough money spent on premiums, any insurance could cover anything from full replacement value or more.
In the world of insurance, you pay for the coverage you want. Perhaps your homeowners could pay the difference?
If a superhost participates in the new host build assist (Airbnb Setup) they receive the new host referral fee which is $528 (varies by location)
I think this is a rebranding of their āask a superhostā program.
Unfortunately there are too many unscrupulous super hosts participating. Of the 12 people Iāve assisted since Feb 2022, 4 had participated in the āask a superhostā for start up then after the first text were ghosted by the super host.
This connected their accounts so after the new host completes their first booking the superhost receives the payout. Unfortunately once the accounts are connected, Airbnb will not sever the connection. The person who offered no support or mentoring receives $$. Also one host clicked a āshare your email so you can see more Guesty content.ā Guesty was then connected to them & would receive the refer a new host bonus. Apparently this is common among the third party service providers who lure you in with YouTube videos. The new host never knows unless they check the āswitch to travelingā in box.
All four of my good people ended up creating new host accounts.
The Local area Airbnb Facebook groups did a recruitment blitz for this program a few weeks ago.
Iām moving forward doing what I do & collecting the new host referral.
Btw I was working with a new host this morning and the amenities list has GROWN! The choices for describing your listing have grown too.
exactly my thoughts!! 
Iām waiting to see if anyone says anything like this in the CC. iām quietly hoping every host says nothing, that would be powerful, but iām sure someone will come along and wooyay it.
1 Like
I tweak mine a lot, the only new thing i see today is āchildrenās bikesā
take note: thereās a glitch that links Kitchen to Kitchenette so if you say you have no kitchen but tick kitchenette, it will turn Kitchen ON. I already got a low review over this glitch. Weāve reported it in the CC but of courseā¦ āit takes time, weāll let you know when itās fixedā
1 Like
I donāt mind longer stays, they pay well, I just do not discount for them. I have never had more than about 9 day bookings through AirBnb
So I watched the video, so he glossed over the retaliatory review thing. He just said you can ask for old reviews to be taken down. I will be curious to see if anyone has any luck with this.
RR
2 Likes
Iām curious what you advise new Hosts to do on their House manual.
Iāve been working on mine and itās been quite a chore to explain clearly how to work everything. Iāve included pictures and snapshots from the appliance manuals to make it easier and visually interesting, but this seems like a daunting task to a new Host who also has many other things to do to get ready.
I do think having the appliance manuals available, in hard copy or electronic form, can make the task easier and does give the Guest a resource.
How do you advise new Hosts on the House Manual? Does Airbnb give any guidance? A template?
1 Like
Yes, we hold guests accountable for replacement cost (equal or lesser value) when they pay. As a matter of fact, in that particular incident I cited above with the rocker recliner, the guest had agreed to pay $600 to replace it if he could keep the old one and we agreed.
It was our first real claim with AirBnB so we involved them, not realizing that once that happens the guest is out and we cannot communicate or ask them for anything, even what they had agreed on. No one ever said if we ask for AirBnBās help or to monitor it we were forfeiting any right to collect from guest or absolving them from their responsibility. AirBnB wouldnāt even tell us if the guest had to pay anything, and they caused considerable damage (smoked indoors too ā place smelled like an ashtray and cigarette burn holes on other furniture too ā even took our new king comforter).
The house manual is late in the process. There is just so much to do to get ready for bookings & the manual can be prepared later.
Most place a hard copy in the unit & have either an email-able Word doc or shareable Google doc with hard copy quick start appliance instructions in a notebook.
Two created tablet (purchased service) based house manuals with links to appliance manuals. I think a couple more are heading that way after they become more comfortable with hosting.
I show them the guidebook/guestbook in airbnb & no one wants to use it. Generally itās because they have a different vision for their document either hot links or different format.
I highly encourage them to have either on the refrigerator or on guest book cover the address to give 911 in case of emergency & names, addresses, & distances to walk in clinics & emergency services.
You hope no one needs it however one new host commented they were glad to have it. Guest expressed appreciation for it because of Chest pains-turned out to be a minor but scary & needed attention. Of course a quick Google search will pull that info up BUT in an emergency people tend to not think clearly.
There were many more activities (pool table, ping pong, kayaks, volleyball, bicycles, etc.) to select & after selected provide more detail.
For example
Pool
Shared /private
Heated
Indoor/outdoor
Hours
Seasonal/year round
It isnāt obvious the detail sections have been added
Thank you.
Yes, the refrigerator is an ideal place to post important information, and itās a requirement if a Host wants to get the Home Safety Review certification by Breezeway [for which Proper will give you a 5% reduction in your insurance premium]. Here in Worcester MA the Fire Department also recommends that important information, like doctors and family members, be on the refrigerator and their responders are trained to look there in emergency situations.
While there are things I donāt like about the Airbnb guidebook (itās inflexible; canāt easily re-organize/categorize; no new links), I like very much that itās on the app and the site listing. I print out a hard copy and Iām developing some pages that Iāve added (surprise!) to provide more and better organized information.
If the tablets you reference quickly link to the appliance manuals, thatās great. Right or wrong, I felt that I needed to host the manuals on my own Google site (free) because I was concerned that as the appliances got older that the manuals might one day no longer be online. I donāt know how valid a concern that is.
Thank you again for sharing your experience and good luck in your coaching!
1 Like
all that pool stuff was already there, it might only be a few months old.
because i have an indoor, heated (seasonal) pool. 
and I was able to adjust which months itās available (of course, we still had guests who didnāt read, so i have it mentioned again in More Info that we donāt heat it during the v cold months of July/august, and still i had guests message me about the pool!)
I made a claim for extra unexpected cleaning due to guest breaking our house rules.
Got paid within 48hours of my claim.
I hear that I got lucky as most donāt have this experience.
2 Likes
Is anyone else turning of instant book due to some of the vetting ability being removed?
Also, all the child limits have disappeared! No restrictions what so ever.
I turned it off 2 of my 5 listings last year due to too many guests not being honest in their group numbers / children. Those places disappeared for a month.
Have just inserted no children under 12 in the house rules and turned off instant book. I can just see the declines mounting up!
1 Like