Which is exactly why they don’t want the real numbers to be accessible- they want to own those customers!
Once a guest checks in it’s up to the host to approach them and ask for their phone number if the guest expresses interest to return. Airbnb cannot prevent that and why would a host want a potential guest’s phone number even before an initial stay - as long as the hidden phone number that Airbnb offers is functional and ensures a reliable mean of contact.
Additionally, it would be great if Airbnb would use phone numbers that are verified with all the telecommunications companies so the caller ID would actually show up as Airbnb and both hosts and guests would be fully aware who is calling. I get so many spam phone calls that I already have to put guest’s phone numbers in my address book so I won’t miss one of their calls and still avoid unsolicited calls. To me this would be a benefit.
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At the moment there is no way for a potential guest and me, the host, to communicate via any phone. So, this feature will help. Once the booking has been made, we can communicate with each other the way we choose to, can’t we?
I don’t think you understand. A change like this does not mean you will be able to communicate by phone with a guest before a booking is confirmed, it means you will not be given the guest’s actual phone number even after a confirmed booking.
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I explained upthread why it would be a hassle for me and my guests.
Can you explain why this is?
She said “potential” guest, so I would assume she means before a booking is confirmed.
I can’t find it where you mentioned that. I just saw this statement from you:
How would this new “feature” make it more of a hassle for you if you already have given all your guests your email address during their first stay?
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You asked "[quote=“Hosterer, post:22, topic:63119”]
why would a host want a potential guest’s phone number even before an initial stay
[/quote]
not
If they book through Airbnb on their initial stay, and they only could call me with a regular phone call to let me know when they are ready for a pick-up at the bus depot, instead of calling or messaging on whatsapp, most of them would be hooped- they don’t have regular calling ability outside their home country only data.
Thoughts:
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Guests would be happy to keep personal number private
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Solves international calling rates for mobile plans without free country to country if everyone get’s a virtual number from their home country. (Although, would it be a free call if host is out of their home country?)
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AI support agents could review all chats and calls instantly and cheaply
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slightly hinders rebooking direct… MOST guests just DO NOT think to look up past stays directly even if you explain it to them as saving money. Some do, but with each passing year Abb cements themselves as the dominant gatekeeper. Remember, the promise of the internet was to make communication free and easy, these platforms are tollbooths that the people did not ask for and guests aren’t really even aware of the additional costs involved.
Too bad anti-trust lost it’s way. Expedia+VRBO+HomeAWAY should not have been allowed. -
If virtual number is the default, why would any guest go the extra step to give host private number? (perhaps only what muddy is saying: whatsapp is the most rock solid communication platform?)
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Any call my Canadian guests (which is most of them) make while here costs them $15/day.
I give out my personal number in my welcome/check in message, as a “just in case you need to reach me”. Most continue to use the app but I have some guests, especially those who are older, who have a lot of trouble with the app and find it easier to call or text my number. In 100s of bookings (9+ listings), no one has abused this. And some have used it to re-book directly although very few. Do you think Airbnb will block this from my message if they go to this new system? I sure hope not.
OMG a solution in search of a problem!!! Seriously, we get a lot of older guests and this process will put them in befuddleland…why make the booking process MORE convoluted?
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That’s what I like about BDC - we also get a temporary email address to communicate with the guests besides the phone number of the guest that they provide. So both regular cellular service and data/roaming ways to connect with guests. And it has worked great so far.
I mostly agree.
We get many guests who don’t have WhatsApp installed on their mobile devices. In Eastern Europe/Asia many people use alternative apps (Viber, Telegram etc.) which are popular there.
I think what @muddy was trying to say is that besides a phone number, guests should be able to have another mean of contacting the host and vice versa. Whether it is email or another messaging service doesn’t matter, as long as folks don’t have to rely solely on cellular service.
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Someone has to say it so it might as well be me … sticking up for the oldies. 
I always tend to feel a bit slighted when people suggest that older people aren’t au fait with technology. It might be the case with some older people but not with all of us.
I’m not the oldest member of this forum - I know that there are one or two who are older than me - but I’m up there - and yet pioneers and inventors of the internet, the iphone, the computer, along with app developers, coders and online entrepreneurs tend to have been born (like me) in the last century and not this one.
Old lady rant over.
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I’m 75 and while I didn’t rush out and buy a smart phone when they first came out, and though when my friend who was a host kept encouraging me to list my guest room back in 2015, I was intimidated by the thought of trying to run a business online, I am now pretty tech proficient. And if I am confused about something, it’s easy to google and find the answer.
And I love DIY youtube videos. I fixed my leaking fridge the other day when the technician I called never showed up. It wasn’t rocket science and didn’t require any special tools or expertise.
Most of my friends in my age bracket have no problem being tech savvy.
My dad was about 70 years old when we entered the age of the internet. A retired mechanical engineer, he loved new gadgets and technology and picked up online stuff as soon as it became available. We had the first TV on our block when I was a kid, and he fixed everything around our place- our cars never had to go to the mechanic, plumbers and electricians never needed to be called. Before DIY videos existed, when his favorite armchair needed reupholstering, he went to the library, checked out upholstery books and reupholstered it himself.
After he died, my stepmom came from the UK to visit me in Mexico. She was 86 at the time and navigated her smartphone like a teenager, booking flights and hotels, facebooking with her friends, etc.
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Your dad sounds a bit like mine, @muddy. He was born in 1924 and had no problem at all with any sort of gadget, including his iPhone, his computer and the iPad.
Of course, during his business life he’d also adapted to what is now obsolete technology - fax machines. CD roms, photocopiers and all sorts of machinery that didn’t exist when he was young.
A couple of years before he died, we were speaking on the phone and he told me that they’d had a thick snowfall so he was going out to ‘check on the old people in the village’. He was in his mid-nineties at the time.
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I actually find it easier to communicate with older folks online or with texting or whatsapp than younger people. The older ones use new technology to communicate but in a traditional way. So they tend to put everything they want to say or ask into one message, whereas the younger ones use the send button like a period, sending ten 5 word messages in a row, which drives me crazy.
Older person:
“It looks like our arrival time may be delayed by about an hour. We are currently at Highway X and Y, but seem to be caught in rush-hour traffic. As it’s not self check-in will let you know when we are getting close to your place.”
Younger person:
“Will be late”
“Heavy traffic”
“Rush hour?”
“We’re here”
“Door is locked”
“Where’s the key?”
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