I was surprised by a couple of the listings. They were not large, expensive or fancy & made the list.
https://news.airbnb.com/the-number-one-new-host-in-each-us-state/
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Pass me the bucket, please.
If it’s new hosts, then maybe it should be the top new cannon fodder of the year.
JF
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Naughty step worthy.
I looked at the one in my state and I wouldn’t stay there for free.
But to be fair, anyone who started hosting in 2021 deserves some kind of call out for their effort.
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More vomit-worthy nothingness from Airbnb. How they “pick” listings to feature or how they picked the members of their so-called host advisory board seems more to do with picking people who think Airbnb is the best thing since sliced bread and are eager to bleat their praises, than any other criteria.
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Sigh. Looks like you want to join @JohnF on the naughty step
I was just sharing something I thought was interesting especially because 2021 was such a tough rental year & I was surprised they selected some humble rentals.
It’s ok if no one reads it. I don’t have a pony in this race.
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No, you didn’t. You’ve passed on info, and just misread me and mudders 
Remember, we’re a cynical bunch here.
JF
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Hey, I wasn’t faulting you at all for posting it- you didn’t write it nor did you put forth any opinion other than to say you were surprised by what was featured. My response wasn’t directed at you, but at Airbnb’s PR.
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Nah, you just got jumped by the snark-meisters. It’s all good and interesting information. I like to see what folks are doing in their neighborhoods and if there are any good ideas I can “acquire” for my listing.
If AirBnB spent as much time training CS reps and backing up their hosts as they do on their image, it would be a happier place.
Then again, what would we do with all our free time?
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Exactly. That is why I get irritated by these Airbnb PR tidbits. If they had good customer service and were supportive to hosts, I wouldn’t be critical of such articles. But they put time, money and energy into this stuff while ignoring the basics of good business practices.
I have no issue with anyone who finds articles like this interesting, though.
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I think I’ve just been insulted, mildly.
Full price shipping for you m’dear on your next HBC order 
JF
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As someone who use to write dumb articles like that one, I feel confident that it only took one person, a computer and 3 or 4 hours to write it. And I doubt they were paid overtime or even for lunch for it.
To add: I also doubt that this same person was going to be useful on the phone lines anyway.
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Writing is only one aspect, though, right? Someone came up with the idea, they probably had a meeting about it, they chose the featured properties, etc.
HBC - Hit By Car???
No insult, compliment. My family believes that sarcasm and irony are love languages. And snark should be an art form.
My cousin once dated a man none of us could stand. He had a laundry list of things that offended him (and this was the early 1990s!!) and we killed him with kindness. When she finally kicked him to the curb, she said “I don’t understand why everyone is so happy XXXX is gone. You were all so nice to him… oh shit! You were nice!!” She slapped herself in the head and we still laugh about it.
When I insult someone, they know it!
Yes, SEO/PR bs at its best. 
Ugh.
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Ouch…good PR people ARE good on the phone lines…they have to be. Yeah, I was one and I could answer ANYTHING about the multi-national I worked for. I was better trained and could get answers faster than the CS reps, truthfully.
But hey, I still 
love you.
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Sure, someone came up with the idea. But the idea came to them on the toilet or during a commute so no time lost there. If by meeting you mean, an email from a better paid person to a lesser paid person, probably a for-free intern actually, saying, “I need this by Thursday”, then sure (the poor sucker didn’t even get an actual byline, it just says, “by Airbnb”). And if by choose you mean that they ran some kind software that gave them a list of places that fit their very specific requirements, which they revealed in the article, and then the, well, the intern (99% chance), picked the first one on the list for each state and knocked out that article in 3-4 hours, then yeah.
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Yup. Spent a year in high tech PR and working a phone effectively is an art.
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Totally agreed. However, there’s nothing about the article that suggests it was written by a good, bad or otherwise even remotely a PR person. That certainly would be a waste. This is copywriting. It may have been a good PR person who sent the email to the intern in the copywriting department and told them to write the article, but you really don’t want the copywriters on the phone (not only including myself but especially myself). I maintain that this article did not have a discernible affect on customer service.
Us snarkmeisters have a tradition to uphold. Between the self-esteem movement and the anti-discrimination movement, you can’t say hardly anything these days without someone finding it offensive. Everyone is constantly admonished to be “nice” and “kind”.
Yet TV is full of comedians and talk show hosts and interviewers who make their living off of being snarky and critical.
I fear the day when all restaurant, book and movie reviews will only all be “nice” and all 5*s.
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Ah okay, I agree it has no impact on customer service. It does give media outlets, or travel bloggers, in each state something new to write about. Most outlets are understaffed and can’t do their own research so this kinda stuff works well.
And lots of people are intrigued by “new” anything. Personally I think it is an effective use of data for media and stories. And super easy to pull together. And the hosts are probably thrilled to get the visibility.
I’m just not going to dump on this idea. Sorry. I’d like them to do lots of these roundups and send them out — hosts with most guest stays; hosts with more than (some number) 5 stars; and so on.
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