AirBnB Plus? Anyone know how the process works?

I applied and was told that the interior design of my bedroom was not up to snuff - I needed more “personal items” like knick knacks, throw cushions, etc. Basically they want me to add more stuff for the cleaners to dust and wash, and have less space for my guests to put their things. Screw that! I make enough money as it is, I don’t want to more stress having to deal with keeping the bedroom throw cushions clean and whatnot.

I think the program was not very well thought out, sure the photos will look nice but trying to actually run an Airbnb with all that staging is going to be a huge pain in the butt.

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Thanks for reporting on this. And kudos to you for being secure enough about what you offer to be honest with us. Some hosts would just lie.

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My pleasure! I’ll freely admit that it’s boring, just an IKEA bed and nightstands, some generic art above the headboard, reading lights and an alarm clock. I should probably spruce it up, but I’m more concerned that if I do actually join Airbnb plus then I’m going to have to maintain the place to an unreasonable standard. People are always scuffing the walls and causing minor damage to the furniture, if everything had to be perfect I’d have to throw everything out and start all over again!

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Right? I just posted yesterday say no to too many pillows! One plus listing I saw is a tipi and the renter uses the bathroom and kitchen in the owners home. I wonder if the rest of the home has to be Plus as well. Easy to maintain a tipi but the rest? Ugh. But private rooms on Airbnb do qualify for plus.

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I actually have a designated spot in the bedroom closet for excess pillows, as my place sleeps 2-6 in various configurations and I have a day bed with with several decorative pillows and cushions that are left out when I just have 1-2 people and put away when I have large groups.

It’s all a bit ridiculous really; does Airbnb want us to offer a consistent experience like hotels (which don’t have all this crap lying around) or do they want unique spaces that are at risk of causing guest unhappiness because the maintenance and cleanliness is that much harder?

Just happened to come across this listing in Costa Rica while checking out an inquiry on the Chrome extension …

And, yes … Superhost does not mean A-plus accommodations … and yes, it is a bit off the grid, but quite authentic.

I was sent an email telling me I needed to add art in the bedroom above the headboard. I’m totally not going to pursue this, it’s the exact opposite of under promise and over deliver!

Oh, and they have sent me like 4 follow up emails (to send a pic of the room) and none of them mention a $150 fee for the program. So from the first pop-up message I clicked on, to filling out some check lists, to these multiple emails they’ve sent me, not a single mention of the Plus process involving a payment. Maybe they ask at the very end?

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Your listing is gorgeous!! What a view! If they were that nitpicky about your listing, I’m probably not going to make Plus… :slight_smile:

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We had our photography session a couple of weeks ago. Air sent a nice professional photographer who also did the inspection. I was on hand in case he had questions or couldn’t locate something required by the checklist. It took about 45 minutes and, at the end, he gave me a preview of the photos which looked quite nice. Today we got notification that we’re approved but they’re working on editing/touching up the photos.

During the initial review of our listing (pre-inspection), we were told like @cooperjto that we needed more decor on the wall by the bed. We added 2 pieces of wall art being cognizant about not adding decor types that needed dusting. We also added a headboard which we were planning to add anyway. I think it took a couple of weeks for Plus to approve our changes.

Our listing is nice and modern, but it’s not in some magical location, and it’s not super fancy. For that reason, I don’t associate Plus with yuppies or luxury. It means we have soft linens, 4 sets of towels, a saucepan, a ladle, decent wi-fi, etc. I don’t think the Plus program is out of reach for ordinary listings, just a guarantee to guests of certain basics. As I’ve mentioned previously, we’re hoping to have another way of cutting through the search results considering there are thousands of listings in our market.

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Thanks for the update. I look forward to hearing how it improves your booking rate or if you see any change in the kinds of guests who book.

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I went through the application process and experienced much of what is described herein (making some design changes such as adding more accent pillows, more accessories, plants). It took a ridiculous amount of time for ABNB+ to respond to the changes (5+ weeks).

Once design changes were approved, an inspector/photographer was scheduled within days. It took about a week for those to be processed and uploaded for my review along w/ providing written details in THEIR format.

I received notification this morning that my ABNB+ listing went live today. I reviewed it, and I have asked for some additional photos to be added (still waiting on that). I also had to revise their wording. Their go2 Title seems to be “Chic”. I realize that “Chic” is pronounced “Sheik” but I can’t help think that many will perceive it as a “Chick Guest House”. I was able to revise that to something similar to what I had originally - “Modern Guest House”

Items to NOTE:

  1. It limits what hosts can do do with their own listing (photos, description, edits)
  2. There is not a current way to discuss the concerns with ABNB+ team. You have to go through the standard help desk who then draft a note to be sent to Plus team.

Also worth noting, there was no $149 fee ever mentioned or charged.

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Thanks for returning to update us.

Thanks for the update. I’m being “inspected” next week. I’m wondering if the photographer will be a separate entity, then if it will be the same person Air sent when we started. If so, I am NOT going to be coerced into being photographer’s assistant this time. My knees still haven’t recovered.

A question. When you went live with Air+, did your original listing stay up as well?

I did not have anyone visit prior to this inspection / photography session. All was done during the same 90 minute session.

He was very independent, didn’t need assistance from me. I did help him with the inspection, as it speeded up the process, pointing to things he needed to confirm were there.

Here’s a detailed description of what the process was for me:

  1. The first part is the inspection … he has a long checklist of things to validate exist (i.e. iron, ironing board, extra TP, towels, kitchen items, wifi speed, etc) and to validate the condition of the spaces and to ensure that everything meets expectations. He takes iPhone panoramas to be submitted with the checklist as part of the inspection.

  2. The second part is the photography, this time using a professional camera & tripod that is bluetooth connected to an ipad. He told me that initial pictures needed to be as per ABNB guidelines (mostly straight on views, specific things that need to be photographed, and that all shades and curtains need to be completely open). Once that was complete, he went back and did detailed pictures (i.e. art, amenities, etc) as well as some that provided different angles / perspectives. I’ve looked at some ABNB+ postings and there does seem to be a template for what and how they photograph. I would suggest that if possible you schedule the photography session at a time when the daylight works best for your listing, especially if your listing has a lot of outdoor shots.

  3. A day or two after the inspection I received notification that based on the inspection I was missing Tea and to submit a picture that validated it had been corrected. It had been there, adjacent to the other items the inspector noted (salt/pepper, coffee, oil). After submitting a picture, it took about an hour or two for PLUS to respond that I was compliant with all ABNB requirements and that I would hear back from them once the photography had been edited and processed.

  4. After the inspection but before I saw the photographs, I received a survey to rate the experience and photographer; similar process to a guest rating a host.

  5. About a week later I received an email asking me to review the photographs that PLUS selected and provide description comments and edits. This was more challenging than any of the other tasks. The system limits the number of characters, is specific about how it wants capitalization, doesn’t allow certain punctuation, doesn’t allow words that have been used before. It required a lot of trial and error before I could get to a point where I could save / submit.

  6. A few days from that point is when I received a note that the PLUS listing went live.

The PLUS listing replaced the original listing; Some of the original detailed information was carried over, but many of the descriptions were modified. I recommend going through everything carefully to ensure its accurate and reflects how you want it represented.

Thanks for the detailed explanation about the Plus process!
My concern is … After they took their photos, can I delete and/or add mine?

Why this?

  1. I believe I’m a pretty good interior photographer and I like the photos I have.
  2. I constantly make changes to my space which means I constantly took photo sessions of it.

I believe hosts might be able to delete some pictures but at this point ABNB+ does not allow hosts to add pictures. Hosts do not even have access to see the pictures the photographer took (that are not posted). @SuiteInSeattle, @PatrickMLong, and I are all trying to have alternate pictures (that we know were taken by the photographer) added and are waiting for ABNB+ to respond to each of our requests made through the standard Helpdesk (who have emailed the requests to the ABNB+ org).

That’s what we’re all asking. There are still questions in how the ongoing process will be managed, how pictures will get updated, and most importantly when we will get accessible PLUS Support.

All of these posts have been really helpful. I now have a long list of queries/issues that I will raise tomorrow when The Inspector Calls.

FYI: I wouldn’t expect too much from the ‘inspector/photographer’; that person is an independent contractor (not an employee). The one that I met with was experiencing similar challenges of getting information from the PLUS team. They hadn’t even told him that the ABNB+ had gone live in our city. I made him aware of that, which allowed him to see his own photography online.

Well I’ve had the first response from what I assume is the Airbnb Plus group, though they didn’t sign it that way, just a name on the email. Here’s what they sent with my reactions in parenthesis. I haven’t crafted a response yet…


Thanks for reaching out to Plus. I am aware that you have also been in contact with my colleagues in customer service and I can only apologise for the delay in reaching your email.

I understand that you are unhappy with the new photos however please note that these professional new photos were taken based on extensive guest feedback. Travellers told us what they want and look for in a listing and the Plus program was created to fulfil these needs and create a new look product that is attractive to guests.

We currently don’t allow for photos outside of those added by the photographer/inspector to be uploaded to the listing. ( But you don’t allow the host to provide input as to what they’d like to highlight) This is because part of the Plus program entails that everything has been inspected and verified and for this reason we cannot accept any external images. (Absolutely agree with the inspection/verification requirement. That’s a major draw for hosts too! But let hosts be involved in at least assisting the photographer with suggestions and helping to pick the best ones - we also have done market research - with our own customers…) We also have a very specific look that we need to adhere to. We understand this can mean some individual flair is lost. However we have found that views for Plus listings increase and nights booked have increased by up to 70% across Plus listings. (This hasn’t seen anything like that at all.)

With this policy in mind please see below comments in response to your email…

GARDEN PHOTOS

Unfortunately, in light of the above policy only the garden photos which were taken by the Plus photographer can be used. (We have no idea what photographs were taken! We could at least provide some input on those!)

PHOTO SEQUENCE

Your arrangement of photos / Room album covers are automatically chosen by the system. (Now this is just silly. I suspect the “automatic” part of the program looks for TVs in the living space as a good first picture. In our unit the TV is on a rolling cart in the media closet that can be moved to any part of the room. But the picture the automatic program chose is this closet, not a beautiful shot of the living area. A real human would have caught this in a second and just switched the order.) Unfortunately the system is not set up in a way to provide alternative processes to the current program at the minute therefore they cannot be changed. (Who’s in charge? The machines or us? Hal, open the pod bay doors, and change the order of the pictures?)

COVER PHOTO

I understand that you would like to change the cover photo as it is of the garden shed and not your actual main listing. In these circumstances I can escalate your case to the photo editing team and see if they are able to accommodate your request. However the new cover photo would have to be one that is plus approved therefore if you’re happy to proceed please send me a screenshot of your preferred Plus image and I can ask our photo editing team to take a look at them. (We don’t have any access to other pictures the photographer took except the few Airbnb chose to send us. The photographer was here for hours - certainly there are more options than the few Airbnb selected for us. We can’t send a “screenshot” of something we don’t have…)

The Plus team is constantly re-evaluating the program requirements and are open to possible changes based on feedback received from hosts. Our requirements around photos and processes may change as the program evolves. If any changes are made to the program requirements we will be sure to let you know however for now we thank you for your patience and willingness to work with the current structure.

Kindest Regards

Sinead


Obviously this is going to be a bit of pushing a rock uphill. I’ll certainly respond in a respectful manner, but everyone with concerns should let Airbnb know and ask for the changes they should make. On the other hand, I wonder if programs like Plus are aimed at large professional hosts rather than small hosts like us. They are really moving ahead with corporate hosting and services for businesses. Wonder how long we’ll be second class because the major revenue for Airbnb will be coming from big professional hosts. Doesn’t sound like Chesny’s vision…

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I have read elsewhere about the uptick in views, but not the corresponding lift in bookings. One Airbnb plus listing was so over all the extra time spent in answering questions that were outlined in the listing that he asked to withdraw from the program.