Increasing pressure on hosts!

What power are you referring to specifically? Threatening emails from airbnb? Fewer bookings? Do you feel pressured to lower your price?

I hear her. k9 you just do not get unfair bad reviews like the rest of us. They are soul crushing!!! Especially when they are malicious and hateful like the one that still darkens my page. They do just make you want to quit. I closed down for a month after that horrible jerk left his nasty missive calling me a scammer and a liar. Airbnb would not remove this crazy rant. I totally hear you Alia. :cry:

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The emails from Airbnb, “We know 4.4 stars sounds fine, but it puts you in the bottom 10% of hosts.” “The average star rating of nearby hosts is 4.8” “If you don’t increase your average star rating, we’ll suspend your listing”

I’ve given up trying to justify why we don’t get 5 stars - do we get more first time airbnbers who are expecting a squishier bed and breakfast experience? Do we get guests from less urban areas who think our room is small? Does our room actually suck?

I don’t know. Our two most recent guests seem to have given us a 5 since we didn’t get suspended after all, but I’m really glad we’re about to go on hiatus in our quiet season. I’m sure there are things we could improve, but there’s diminishing returns, too.

I don’t want blown away guests, I want content guests. I don’t want to be compared to people who have roof terraces and luxury accommodation or private bathrooms. We’re still half the price of the hotel where prostitutes take their johns, so…

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Wow that is harsh… how dare they… knowing how arbitrary and unreliable reviews can be it is just totally unfair and unwarranted that they threaten you with suspension over a couple of bad reviews.

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Well my solution is not to read the reviews so as long as my overall number looks OK and the bookings come in I do not care.

I will hopefully have more rooms available next year and will need to expand using other systems, I have had no real issues with ABB but risky having most of my business come through one source. I do get repeat direct business so am building up a sort of data base but too many of my guests are coming here once in a lifetime.

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I’d ignore their warnings and just do your thing. A break will do you good. When I was young I alternated between working full time and going to school full time. I’d be thinking “school sucks” and I’d work. That sucked too. Being away from it and rediscovering you miss the money (or not!) will help.

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You’re right about the break, K9KarmaKasa. After the last debacle I realized I was taking Airbnb waaayyyy too seriously. Incomewise, it’s a part time job.

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I’ve noticed that in the short time I have been with Airbnb, if a situation escalates to a Case Manager level, they seem to be dealing more harshly with hosts.

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I agree. My last case manager was a TOTAL b$#@*%.

I would have expected that a host with your level of experience and contribution would be treated with more respect. I find this disturbing.

This is business.

Hosts ARE the product.

If ratings are the metric, I’d like to see hosts rate Air publicly. This includes

“Was Airbnb policy regarding your interaction with your guest clear and transparent to you?” 1-5
"How effective was your interaction with (CSR, Case Manager")? 1-5
"Did they resolve the matter effectively and to your satisfaction?" 1-5
"Is there anything that they can improve? I.e. clearly understanding host concerns, `addressing the host with respect, explaining a decision thoughtfully, and carefully considering all matters." 1-5

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Wow, thanks so much for the commpliment. They could care less what my experience or standing (one of first few thousand to sign up with Air) with them is, sadly.

Hosts USED to be the most important piece, but now guests are. I see it as the maturing, and possible peaking of the platform. That is because, at the beginning, they had way more guests than hosts. Now, that number is reversed. Way more hosts than guests. So with that, comes the obvious appeal to those they need more… GUESTS. Guests are the ones opening their wallets and remitting payment to Airbnb. Hosts are a dime a dozen. If all of us hosts left tomorrow, a thousand would jump in the vacuum to take their place.

This is just the way of the start up…

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Sobering, but it explains a lot.

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Yes. Beach, pool, river nearby? Gotta have towels for that for sure. Guests don’t pack those and taking a regular bath towel to the beach just doesn’t work.

90% of the people renting, particularly the new users, never read the description. They check the price, pictures and amenities. Hence, the confusion and surprise bad ratings afterwards.

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Here are a few of the unfair reviews I have received as a host/cohost over the years on various properties:

  1. "Only 1 and a half bathrooms. Not enough for 7 people!"
    Property listed as 2BR 1.5 BA.
    4 people max in listing.(Since installed entry cameras.)

  2. "Extremely loud smoke detector going off in the middle of the night. Was unable to sleep."
    This was at a property where I hosted onsite. Two rooms were rented at the time. One of the guests decided to cook bacon at 2 am. Smoke alarm went off, waking me and other guests. Negative review left by guest who set off smoke detector, not by other guest.

  3. "No Keurig."
    Coffeemaker advertised in room with pic of actual coffeemaker. Not a Keurig.

  4. “Children screaming in yard.” Neighbor had a pool party on a Saturday afternoon.

  5. "Never got the cookies"
    Another guest mentioned in review that I had baked him cookies to take with him for his ongoing travels. Apparently, this guest expected that as well.

  6. "Would not allow early check in/late checkout."
    Back to back bookings. 4 pm check in/11am check out. This guest wanted to check in 9 am. Other guest wasn’t checking out until 11am with a 3 hour turnover time. Guest also wanted 2pm late checkout. New guest arriving at 4pm. (Also asking for early check in.)

  7. "Internet not available."
    Problem was with guest’s computer, not house Wifi. Myself and other guest got wifi just fine. I spent 2 hours with guest trying to help configure laptop. Narrowed it down to network adaptor in laptop. (Driver issue.) Offered to fix thfixfor him but guest said “he was too tired and going to bed.” Allowed guest to use my computer to check mail.

  8. "Jacuzzi jets weak."
    It’s a jacuzzi, not a whirlpool. This from a guest that rented for 5 days, never went anywhere, sat in the jacuzzi over 10 hours a day smoking a cigar and watched porn loudly every night until asked to turn it down.

  9. “Car was broken into. 3k in valuables stolen. Filing claim.” Listing is in trendy neighborhood downtown. Guests are advised of street parking. How is car getting broken into preventable? Don’t leave 3k in valuables visible in your car!

10)"Too many rules"
Guests ignored 99% of House Manual, which is included on platform before booking and in room. I go over manual upon arrival. Manual states park in back lot. Guests kept parking in front driveway. Manual states no entry after 10 pm unless previously discussed. Guests came in after 1am 2 nights in a row. Then sat in living room with TV on loudly. Manual states no food in room. Guests cooked and brought food to room. Dishes never came out. Called Airbnb and asked guests to leave after 5 days. (2 week booking.) Negative review for too many rules and “rude host” because I had discussions with them about the manual.
Me: Have you read the manual regarding XXX?
Them: Yes.
Me: Is there some misunderstanding? Why are you parking in the driveway? I need to get my car out.
Them: You are very rude. Then they retort: “Why should WE have to walk around to front when YOU get to park in driveway?” Ummmm…because it’s MY house? And because I have 3 spots in back and don’t want a lot of cars in my driveway as it not only blocks me in, but produces wear and tear and also tends to draw attention from neighbors. I built a parking pad in back specifically fir Airbnb that fits 3 vehicles. Why do I have to explain my reasons?

  1. “Not centrally located/too far from venue/not near public transportation/not near university etc” Listing clearly states location is not centrally located/3 miles from venue/not near public transportation/not near university. That is why it is $79 a night instead of $179 a night like my other listing in town which was available when you booked.

  2. "Dog ate my sandal."
    Yeah, that happened. Listing states dogs on premises. Guest said she booked because of “adorable dogs.” Guest bonded with dogs, played with dogs, took dogs for walk on beach. Asked if one dog could sleep in room with her. I agreed. While she was in shower, she closed door to bathroom and bedroom and dog got her sandal and chewed it. (Anxiety.) Target sandals. Not Gucci. Reimbursed her. Made her breakfast. Apologized.

  3. "Creepy van parked out front every day. Since found out registered sex offender lives in area."
    Ummmmm…Dafuq? (Checked sex offender database. 33 sex offenders live within 3 miles. ) It’s the city, people! Guest did not have kids, btw.

I could go on and on but these are just a few I remember. You can’t make this stuff up. All reviews were removed.

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Lordy!!! With these kinds of guests, one wonders what on earth would possess a person to keep hosting!
All were removed? I’ve never once had a review successfully removed. What is your secret?

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I don’t get why. I’m a traveller as well and I pack my beach towels unless it’s specified they provide them. I usually email the place where I’m going to stay, to find out. So far, only 4-5 star hotels have provided me with some (I’m in Europe). If I can do it, others can for sure.

It depends. Most of my guests travel light because they fly and come long distances…Asia, Europe, and a big fluffy beach/pool towel takes up lots of room.

Our Palm Desert condo has a whole cupboard full of big pool towels, which are essential. People flip out! I’ve gotten desperate phone calls. Lol

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I should have been more specific. All were not removed by Airbnb specifically. Many were removed by guests after an intervention of sorts. In some cases, Airbnb reached out to guest and in some cases, I did. And you are correct… It wasn’t easy when trying to get Airbnb to remove without guest agreement. Much easier to get guest to remove independently. The ones that Airbnb did remove were due to documentation of guest error (location ones, Keurig one) and documentation of guest not following rules in House Manual. I also make sure all communication is done through Airbnb platform. That was the key in many cases.

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Even in the case of guest making errors, Airbnb won’t touch it. I wonder if they are more lenient in other countries. Are you in the US?

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