AirBnB Plus? Anyone know how the process works?

I have an old cottage in the Catskills that has seen many generations of vacationing families. The scuffs and worn down wood are a badge of honor! Hell, I charge extra for the authentic vintage, historic charm. The whole thing is total bull.

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But your 'flat caps, whippets, etc are your special selling point surely!!

Tomorrow, Tuesday Feb. 27, 18 is the Airbnb Q & A. Maybe they will answer all our questions! Ha Ha!
CEO and Head of Community Brian Chesky will answer your top questions via livestream on February 27, 10am Pacific Standard Time.

Looking at the homes that are already deemed “plus” they don’t seem standardized in terms of design. But that all seem like they are above average in some way that is hard to put into words. That’s the part I think will be hard. When people think they have a nice listing and Airbnb deems it unworthy. Quirky doesn’t disqualify you. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/select/6324828?s=Flp2lpAE

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Exactly! I mentioned how I stayed in the Plantation Cottages in Kauai, a five star place. The designers had put DELIBRATE scuffs on the wall to make it more authentic as they were vintage paniolo cottages. I kid you not. I actually thought it was dirt and I looked a little closer and could see it was painted on. Designer distress! :rofl::rofl:

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I think they are just drawing people into a higher level of superho.
Ordinary superho had become commonplace. Or as K9 says, “when everyone is special, no one is.”

They had to raise the standard to something higher, due to rampant superho inflation.

If you look at their checklist, some of it is laughable. No owner clutter in the room, no dead plants around.

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Maintain above 4.7 to stay on the site, drop below 4.3 and you are no longer welcome. Yes I agree that poorly performing hosts need to go , Now a malicious review could kill your business in one go and how do you defend yourself?
I really feel that Airbnb are trying to move on and

they want only high end homes and places. More return for them and better media because every bad STR is always associated with Airbnb

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Exactly!!! That is why I wouldn’t choose a hotel! I want the quirky. How often will they be inspecting anyway? Just because something is a certain way on a certain day doesn’t mean it will remain that way.

For me I think the outdoor space would be the hardest to keep up. I can’t afford a gardener! From time to time our yard looks like crap although we try to keep it up there could be a dead plant here or there. In fact, the planter right by the entryway door is not looking great right now. I have some new plants but haven’t had time. Spring and summer I’ll pay more attention. I’m hoping the guests are forgiving since it’s February and that once they see the view they forget about the dying plants.

We just received an email from the guy who contacted us in the first place back in August/September, and he’s now to busy for us to answer whether we have to pay the $149. Why not just say yes or no and then dismiss us.image|230x500

I really sounds like they got enough listings to launch and now everyone will have to pay. If I were in your situation I’d be furious if I now had to pay. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t do it out of sheer stubbornness.

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Yes, the whole process was unprofessional. We also received a phone call from Airbnb saying that if I was willing to take a long survey, I could get $200. They even gave me time slots to do the said survey. They asked me 3 questions, put me on hold, and told me I didn’t qualify. Our theory was they wanted the answer to the 3 questions and nothing else. We feel a bit like guinea pigs.

Luckily our place is booked enough, not being a part of the plus program won’t hurt us. I’d be curious to hear from people who have been approved.

If we have any forum members who’ve been approved they are keeping it to themselves for now. We’ve had some say they want to apply. Hopefully they’ll share their experience if they do.

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Super ho now but if I got the invite I would really have to think about it. Stressing over keeping up the stats and getting a horror of reviews now because it is starting to feel that the expectations are huge and it is becoming harder and harder to meet them. I do my best but whines about location and moaning about the price
 starting to feel that I have been sold an ulcer by Airbnb!

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This is my problem too. The grounds of our building are not my responsibility. The homeowners’ association will only pay for a certain amount of maintenance to the outside areas. Much as I want my guests to love our place, looking after the exterior to the benefit of all owners is not something I have the time to do or am prepared to do.

I have to maintain my yard and it’s a bear to do, especially in Hawaii in the rainy season when the jungle can grow as much as an inch a day. I consider weed eating and yard work part of maintaining the place so guests don’t look through a weed pit to see a sunset.

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This and superhost are so different. Anyone with any kind of listing could become a SH. Plus is about the home not the host. Yes the host has to meet SH standard but the standards for the house are what sets it apart.

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Lolz-Hell no to this! I don’t need more work. I’ve notice that all of the Airbnb Plus listings in my neighborhood of L.A. have had their images updated and the things in their places were updated too. They have actually gone in and added or rearranged the furniture and painted and changed drapes, etc. They are going in and styling the places. I’m sure Airbnb picked a handful of properties in my hot, hot, hot neighborhood and gave them that stuff for free, just to get everyone else in the neighborhood to bite at their new Airbnb Plus offer. It’s so freaking obvious!

The current L.A. “example” of a Plus rental was clearly staged like a model home in a new development would be. It’s fake or at the very least manipulated beyond belief. It’s probably shot on a soundstage. But the writing’s on the wall. For years I’ve been telling anyone who would listen that Airbnb is going to favor buyers over sellers (just like ebay and a host of other ecommerce sites did after they had created sufficient supply) via methods like incessantly forcing prices down and insane EC policies. The endless updates and changes with their Orwellian hipster doubletalk (e.g., the “Stats” page is now “Progress”), the silly soup to nuts bs of “Experiences” that hosts have to compete with for precious front page real estate.

ABnB Plus is just the next step. They don’t want the crappy room in someone’s house business. They want upscale and they want control so they can go after business travelers with their expense accounts and tax write offs and overall cache. That’s an ENORMOUS, lucrative business. They’re going to get it too because if you don’t play ball with them you are going to get BURIED. Just look at how they display search results in Plus cities and you’ll see what I mean.

Even then I could understand it all to some degree. They’re in business to make money and they want to go public. A lot of fortunes are balled up in stock options waiting to be unleashed. What sickens me is Cheskey himself. He has the nerve to pitch this as an earnest, aw shucks desire to create a “place for everyone” while he prances around the stage in his sneakers, What a tool. It makes me shudder to even do business with him.

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I wonder if another start up will come along and take it, or Airbnb could sell it off. There is a market for it, but who wants to provide the market. Is it impossible to make money with it? I’d actually like a platform like that. I don’t see why I should be lumped in with people who have 6 homes, true VRs, apartment complexes, traditional bnbs
I’d like a platform where every rental was owner occupied. It could be a basement suite but the owner has to live on site. And yes people could still offer a bed in their living room.

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