Really trying to limit access!
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Airbnb does not have my personal number. Guests never get my personal number. They all get my business number.
The very purpose of that number is business and Airbnb is a place that I use to advertise my business. So Airbnbâs efforts are, in this case, pointless.
Also, for those who rely on Airbnb to manage disputes or whatever it is they do, note that it says that they may record conversations, not will.
Airbnb is the medium by which hosts and guests are put in touch, just like a newspaper ad, an Instagram account or a Google listing. Guests do not belong to Airbnb.
I continue to communicate with guests in whatever way they prefer. Phone, text, email, Airbnb messages, whatever they decide.
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Ugh. More big brother stuff. That would be a serious drag for me and my guests. Guests whatsapp me when they get on the bus at the airport an hour away, and again whwn they arrive, so I can go pick them up. Most guests are international and donât have the capability to use regular phone calls or SMS without paying their out-of-country phone provider more $. For those from Canada, that costs $15/day, even if you only make one call. With whatsapp, all they need is data, which all of them have.
And an Airbnb routed phone call means we are relying on Airbnbâs often glitchy tech. Like there could be a delay in the call being routed, leaving my guests sitting at the bus station, thinking Iâm just not responding. Or a host not getting a call from a guest about an emergency situation immediately.
I also use whatsapp to send my guests a location pin. When I used to send them a map via those coded email addresses Airbnb used, half the time guests would tell me they got the email, but there was no attachment.
Did you get this questionnaire by email or is it on your hosting pages?
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Came up when leaving a review after a recent stay.
I agree with Muddy, to many issues to mention with the instability of the site, and frankly - they need to stay on their side of the fence!
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I thought that too but additionally, how much is this âfeatureâ going to cost?
Tech is glitchy, thereâs nothing we can do about that, but how much is this system going to cost? And how will it increase the fees that we pay?
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What problem does this solve for the host or the guest? Or is it all part of controlling âleakageâ of service fees?
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Think you hit the nail on the head.
I guess there could be considered some positive aspects, like horrible guests not being able to threaten to extort hosts by not leaving a terrible review if the host refunds them, and being savvy enough to do so by phone rather than Airbnb message.
But I doubt that Airbnbâs âideaâ is based upon their love and respect for hosts and trying to protect us.
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Well, what I can do about Airbnbâs glitchy tech is use whatsapp with my guests, which has never been glitchy. I get guest whatsapp messages the moment they send them. Whereas I have had delayed notifications of Airbnb guest messages, or sometimes no notification at all of a guest message.
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The only positive I could see is that âtraditionalâ phone calls (NOT VoIP, WhatsApp, Messenger etc.!!!) could be monitored to help either the host or the guest in case of a problem, since, thus far, phone conversations were not documented (unless recorded during the call by one participant on their phone directly).
In theory, this would help Airbnb strengthen each partyâs rights in case of trouble and to avoid hear-say.
However, this comes at a cost as outlined by other members above. Itâs their sandbox, they could implement it and we have to take it or leave it.
Looks like they dipping their feet to test how friendly the waters areâŚ
Iâm wondering how this could possibly work for the more âcorporateâ hosts who are actually property managers looking after several properties?
Each guest would have a different phone number okay, but wouldnât this cause quite a bit of confusion?
AndâŚ.how would it appear on your phone?
Private number?
International call?
I get so many spam callsâŚâŚ
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Most guests and hosts know to keep the important communication on the platform. Itâs easier for AirBnB to simply warn everyone to keep all their communications on the platform (actually, I think they do already).
So the only reason I can think of to monitor phone calls is to try to keep more service fees and push even harder to keep guests from booking directly with a host on a return stay.
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How would it make it harder for guests to book a return stay? I give all my guests my email address during their first stay, and if Airbnb were to block my actual phone number, I would give them my phone number, too. In fact, I would give it to them at the beginning of their first stay, so they could get in touch with me easily during their stay.
So far, Iâve only had one repeat booker, who has stayed 4 or 5 times now. After the first stay, booked through Airbnb, she just whatsapps me, transfers $ directly to my bank acct. and I block her dates on my calendar.
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Exactly. âMostâ - not all!
If the 1 percent of guests and hosts who âdonât know to keep the important communication on the platformâ use the phone to try to settle things and matters get out of hand, there is no documentation. This way Airbnb has a way to investigate unless guest and hosts start communicating elsewhere or in person without recording it.
Iâm trying to take this initiative innocently assuming that this is to protect their operation. What other agendas may be at play is only guesswork.
Every time they âprotect their operationâ itâs never an improvement for hosts. Most often itâs the exact opposite.
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I have many repeat guests and apart from one couple who always book via Airbnb, they all simply call me to book.
Whatâs hard to understand is why Airbnb wants to discourage small businesses from flourishing. Airbnb is one of the âbig boysâ in this industry and presumably has no worries about where its next guest is coming from - Airbnb is a global business.
I love that Airbnb introduces guests to the STR services I offer but once that introduction has been made, itâs the services provided by the host that make people return, not the services provided by Airbnb.
There are millions of guests and potential guests worldwide so why would Airbnb want to deprive hosts of repeat business from guests who have loved what their hosts provided?
Are you seriously asking that? Itâs called corporate greed. Billionnaires at the top making more and more money, while those who actually do the work are paid as little as possible, receive as few benefits as possible, and the CEOs exert dictator-like control. Itâs why they hate workersâ unions.
When Musk took over Twitter, he right away told employees they had to bring their own toilet paper to work.
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I had a passionate conversation on that topic with the CEO of Vrbo about 8 years ago. I told him âafter guests leave our home, they tell their friends about how much fun they had, how nice our house was, how beautiful the view is and how they miss it and canât wait to go back. They donât wax enthusiastic about how easy it was to book through Vrboâ.
For some reason, I wasnât invited to the next yearâs meeting.
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But you were absolutely right in what you said.
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I wont be accepting Airbnbâs mobile number thatâs for sure. At this point it seems to be just a questionnaire where we can say if weâre interested in having that mobile number. Iâve rarely needed to be in touch with guests that way, thoâ we could swap numbers if necessary, once theyâre here. If theyâre locals who want to stay again, they get in touch outside the site.