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I just checked out of a rental and thought you might want to know that there are 2 new screens after I write the review that ask for additional details about the host and their property and the language is oddly negative. (I had to answer NO to all the questions since the listing was accurate and clean).
Was there anything unexpected about your stay?
Photos of this listing were inaccurate
Yes
No
Not sure
The description of this listing on Airbnb was inaccurate
Yes
No
Not sure
I experienced significant issues while checking into my listing
Yes
No
Not sure
One or more amenities that were listed on Airbnb weren’t present or available for use
Yes
No
Not sure
I had to pay an unexpected fee after checking in
Yes
No
Not sure
There were unexpected people on site
Yes
No
Not sure
I was moved to a different space than the one I booked
Yes
No
Not sure
A lock was missing either on the entrance to the entire place OR to my private room
Yes
No
Not sure
Tell us about the cleanliness of your stay.
Did your host clearly communicate how they cleaned the space?
Yes
No
Not sure
Did your host leave out cleaning supplies for you to use?
Yes
No
Not sure
Did your host take steps to enable social distancing during your stay? (e.g. self check-in, avoiding contact)
This is very very dangerous. Questions should be concise and very clear and never from an indirect or negative perspective.
I think a whole bunch of us should immediately post our concerns on Air’s FB page. If this remains in place, many guests will be confused and hosts will be ding’d by mistake - and Air will never fix the crap.
I’ve seen some of these before. I stayed in 2 Airbnbs in Feb and I think that’s where I saw questions about accuracy. Questions about cleaning are new.
I am certain that both sets of guests who checked out today could answer all of these questions and it not hurt me one bit. Glad to know what the guests are seeing, it affirms what I am doing, communicating about cleaning, accurate listing, no surprise charges. All good. I would not worry unless I was deficient in some way.
When I was a guest 2 weeks ago, it was no where near this detailed. But it was still looking like very easy to diss the host as soon as you got to the review page.
Me too. Unless the double-negatives confuse them. It would be really easy to answer incorrectly and hurt a host because of the way the questions are phrased.
Many people do not read well. I have a small not in my check in text with regard to NOT doing something and literally about every fifth guest writes me a text saying “I tried to do X and I couldn’t”. I literally said “do NOT do x”. I would never assume that double negative language like this doesn’t have the potential to turn bad.
Some guests are definitely going to get hung up having to give a negative answer to a negative question. That’s on top of the guests that will fat-finger the wrong answer on their phones.
Yes, add to this that many guests are writing these reviews on their phones while on public transportation, totally distracted, etc. and it’s a large potential problem for miscommunication. As a guest (who had already responded to required questions that I would rec the listing, that it exceeded my expectations and then wrote a 5 star review) I was surprised to get a dedicated screen asking me a fairly long series of negative questions.
This is not good. I deliberately removed my self-check in by key code blurb and have been sending the hubby—mask on—to better control who comes into my listing and now it looks as though they will try to penalize me for it? Why don’t I just take the lock off altogether and let the whole neighborhood in? The next thing you know we will no longer be able to ask for the names and ages of the guests after the reservation has been made.
I recently stayed in 3 properties on Airbnb and had similar questions in all cases. Some were a bit more specific to the listing.
What concerns me is the question “I had to pay an unexpected fee after checking in.”
I have charged my guests extra fees many times. Sometimes they damage something, sometimes they throw a party, sometimes they have extra guests, etc, etc. I clearly state my rates for all of these things but that doesn’t mean the guest read it.
All it takes is a few people saying “yeah, I didn’t expect to have to pay for…” despite it being clearly articulated in my listing.
I wonder what the ramifications of negative responses will be.
I had some trouble with too many guests bringing extra people and it was suggested by more than one person that we greet some of the guests and not be as hands off. We also have the camera. The guests usually arrive while I am still at work. Fortunately, hubby likes meeting people and most everyone likes him so it has been working out ok. If we can not meet them at check in he tries to stop by sometime during their stay for a brief “ how is everything”. No one has seemed put off by it and we have not had anything but delightful guests since we made those changes. Coincidence? I think not.
