I know, seriously. Good god, it’s all about me, me, me and if it’s not shoot it down. As you said it really costs them very little and to be so negative about something positive for someone else that isn’t given to you is just. too. much. It’s unlikely a kid would get this kind of opportunity and so what if it’s good PR. So hosts are pissed…I get it but put it where it counts. Geez.
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Not having trouble getting bookings? Your rental still appears as it was and is easy to find, hasn’t disappeared as rentals all over the world have?
Good for you if you don’t see this as a huge problem and it’s not just about me, me, me, it’s systemic and people that count on Air for income are now not able to do that.
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I wasn’t asking about the travel stipends. I asked about the travel housing, which are listed as 2 separate things. As it reads, Airbnb will assist the students with securing housing, and it will be paid for. I do understand that hosts are not being asked to provide housing for free.
My question was whether Chesky is paying for these free-to-students housing, or whether Airbnb is paying for it, the way they give out travel vouchers and Superhost coupons, where the host still gets paid but Airbnb covers the payment, not the booking guest.
It looks like it is all paid by a huge donation from Chesky himself:
“The program is funded by a $100 million personal contribution from Brian Chesky, Airbnb Co-Founder and CEO.”
from https://www.obama.org/voyager-scholarship-faqs/ on the Obama.org website.
Hat off to the guy.
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If that’s the case, then good on him. Catherine Powell should maybe chip in, considering she earned 5 million dollars last year.
Don’t forget that while it’s great that rich people contribute to good causes, it’s a tax write-off for them.
I read an article that listed how much Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and other wealthy people have contributed to charity and their net worth, and the amounts they contributed sound huge, but the fraction of their wealth it amounted to was like regular folks donating a couple of bucks.
I applaud them for sharing the wealth for sure, it was just interesting that it was a drop in the bucket for them, certainly not any sacrifice.
Chesky’s net worth is listed at 9.6 billion dollars. A $100 million donation means he still has 9.5 billion. Hard to even wrap your head around.
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Wow can’t believe so many hosts here are agreeing with your unempathetic comment.
Scholarships are a great way for low income young people from diverse backgrounds to have opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have to travel and develop themselves .
We need future leadership who aren’t all mostly white and from privileged backgrounds
All big corporates spend on CSR. Do you moan every time your supermarket, restaurant chain, car manufacturer or Amazon does this @zillacop
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No one has said that it isn’t a good cause.
But my supermarket doesn’t shaft its customers with “exciting new updates” that make it impossible for their customers to find the products they are looking for.
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Believe me I agree the new changes are crap. When I search for my listings it shows my first availability as being in December when it’s in July and my page views have fallen substantially.
But it’s silly to say there shouldn’t be a scholarship scheme because Airbnb have once again cocked up making changes to their back end.
I bet people haven’t stopped using Amazon because of their dodgy investment practices in Israel.
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Not that silly to object to a CEO making himself look good by donating $100,000,000 to a scholarship fund while he ignores the fact that tens of thousands of the hosts whose hard work he made that money on have had their income stream disappear due to his bad business decisions, IMO.
There are wealthy people who donate vast sums of money to those less fortunate than themselves anonymously. Because they don’t need PR press to do good things. I can understand why he might want to publicize the company making charitable donations, like they did with BLM, but if he is making a personal contribution, that he makes sure everyone hears about it just reinforces my dislike of the guy.
BTW, I have never used Amazon in my life. Not just because of their investments but because of how they have treated their workers. I also believe in supporting small local business if possible, even if it costs a bit more. And I do research who corporations donate to and shop elsewhere if they, for instance, make contributions to the Republican party.
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That was my comment, don’t believe I said anything about not having scholarships. Was expressing total frustration over what Air has done.
I don’t use Amazon because of how they’ve treated their workers.
Don’t complain to car manufacturers because I still drive a 1991 Toyota.
You’re assuming a lot about people that you don’t know.
I’m not assuming anything .
The scholarship is a personal donation from the CEO not a corporate donation.
Amazon is just one example of corporates with dodgy practices. I listed others in my post .
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You’ve been a great contributor, Annet. No need to leave.
The timing of Chesky’s latest philanthropic initiative is just unfortunate given the unintentional outcome of the new AI-determined property categories.
The new scheme is apparently making some listings way less visible to the point of tanking bookings entirely. Those hosts are, understandably, mad at Chesky right now. Some of them will be having difficulty paying the mortgage, etc.
Hard to give someone credit for do-gooding when they are in charge of your supply channel for guests, and its been disrupted with no warning. More evidence for diversifying listing platforms.
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Thank you. I’m not leaving the forum-just not commenting on this thread. I am overwhelmingly tired of people who seem to live to complain.
This is something that could be amazing. If one student is encouraged my goal is met.
I am sick right now. Negative Covid test so I guess it is the mega cold that’s been in the news. Being sick makes me sensitive & grouchy. If this is a cold, I don’t want to know how horrible Covid makes you feel.
Btw I don’t know what was in the news first terminology-wise: mega cold or Johnny Depp’s mega glass of wine. (Google it 
)
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People are so negative these days that they don’t even appreciate efficient wine drinking 
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You are a small business owner. Airbnb is an advertising platform. You don’t get to “count on Air for income”, it is not a public service. What are you talking about? It’s not an entitlement.
If Craigslist or something else brings you more business, then advertise there. Do you think that Airbnb owes you something? And why? Did you sign a partnership contract?
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You’re right about everything. Yes, I’m entitled.
I wasn’t complaining for myself. So far my rental is still there.
Hosts and guests count on this site and it does some major shake up without testing it.
Hope you’re getting the usual amount of bookings as thousands are not. Oh, I guess they’re entitled too.
Go to the Community Center and read under hosts circle all the frustrations from all of the entitled hosts that use Air.
Maybe you’ll get a little understanding as to what hundreds are talking about. Your listing hasn’t disappeared, so you have no concept of what people are going through.
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Ok. I did. I went to the CC and found the hosts that were confused and complaining about the new search options, who also thought their listings were “gone” or “lost”, etc.
And I easily found every single one of their listings in a simple search by just entering their city or town name and then zooming in. The listings are there and they come up for their location. (Though there were a few that should come off of the platform because of their low rating, eek).
I only put in their location and that’s it. I did not enter any of the new themes/ways to search, like boats, chef’s kitchen, beachfront, etc. And I didn’t because it is not really relevant. Most guests are going to only search by location and date as they always have. These new themes are just a new additional way to search for people who have a lot of flexibility but most people don’t.
I am booking as usual, despite the fact that there are a ton of new listings in my area, because 98% of my guests need to come to my neighborhood in my city. They are not going to go 2 states over to have a yurt because that is not why they are traveling. But for hosts who are directly competing with a yurt or a grand piano or an amazing pool who don’t have those things, they won’t get booked for those things…just like they weren’t before.
The main issue looks to be that there are tons of new listings. In my city, I know that there are at least 200 new listings in my neighborhood that were not there last summer. Meanwhile, there is a decrease in use by guests. More hosts, fewer guests, that is the issue, not being able to search for a barn if you want to stay in a barn. But as I said in another post, I can see how this would be frustrating to have a special “Barn” search toggle and have a barn and not show up under “Barn”, but that is the only issue I can see with this new option.
The problem is that whether a guest is flexible or not, the algorithm is programmed to pick out features that it has identified
would be most attractive to the demographic this update is aimed at.
Which is why it has picked out, first “dedicated workspace”, and then “free parking” to highlight on my listing. This is counterproductive for both hosts, who know which guests will be a good fit, and guests, who know what is important to them.
99% of my guests would find a private bathroom far more relevant to their requirements than free parking.
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Those things have been on listings for a couple of years, they are not new and don’t have anything to do with these new search options. That dedicated workspace thing started at least as far back as summer 2020 when people started booking to work “from home”. And you have the free parking thing because you don’t have some of the other things that would normally go in that space and/or because it’s popular in your general area. I saw several other hosts in your area that also had “free parking” so it is probably because people search for it when looking in that area. It may also just be a place holder for the other things that go in those spots.
Here are the things that go in those spots: Self Check-In, Superhost, Fast Wifi (it only shows if you’ve done the speedtest), what recent guests have said about something, usually location (but if you’ve been closed for awhile because of the pandemic, you don’t have recent guests), Free Parking and Dedicated Work Space.
So they are going to put something in those spots and if you don’t have the other ones, they will put what you do have, like Free Parking. As I mentioned, I did the wifi speedtest because I noticed that it replaces the recent guests thing about location and it worked.
Looking in your area today, they were the same that I see everywhere, except that I saw one I haven’t seen anywhere before (and I was seriously envious): “Furry Friends” for a pet-friendly place.
You may just haven’t been on your listing that much in the last couple or three years but the things you’re talking about have been there long before now.
I cannot imagine that “Free Parking” is of any interest to the majority of people who book in Sayulita, regardless of the type of listing. The only people who drive here are Mexicans who live a few hours away. The vast majority of tourists who come here, even from other parts of Mexico, arrive by air and take the bus or taxi to Sayulita. They then either walk everywhere, as anywhere is reachable within mostly a 5 or 10 minute walk, aside from places like mine, which involve a 20 minute walk, or rent a golf cart, which one can easily find a place to squeeze into and park.
And the only places where it is difficult to find parking is in the few blocks of the downtown core.
So sorry, but your theory just isn’t true.
Neither dedicated workspace nor free parking has ever been highlighted on my listing before this update. There were no highlights, except as I mentioned, the “compliments” and “95% of guests…”
So this most definitely has to do with the update, at least in my part of the world.