Post by High Priestess on Sept 20, 2015 7:42:33 GMT
What happens to a host who doesn't respond to inquiries in a timely way
Deborah shared 8 months ago on New Hosts Forum
So I have a friend in my area who wanted to become an AIrbnb host, because she's lonely and wanted to meet people. However she is VERY poor at using internet, as well as email. She says, "I can't do email" and refuses to learn how. She is unable to go on the computer to the Airbnb website and forget using the AIrbnb mobile app, she can't do that either. She is an elderly person, and has an office helper who comes once in a while to help her do email. She can do things by phone, but as we all know, inquiries dont' come in as phone calls, and you dont' get a guest's phone number until after they have booked.
So honestly I didn't think she was going to be able to manage this hosting business. I offered to help her out, but I can't hold her hand every day and help her check her emails every single day. However I did help her by intially setting up her whole listing, including taking all the photos and putting them up, and helped her do the verified ID. I also set up her mobile phone to produce an alert when she got an AIrbnb message, so she was able to use that to send messages to inquiring guests. Mostly that has worked for her, but as she is highly distracted and busy, she doesn't catch every single alert.
So over time she has missed many inquiries as well as reservation requests. I would be shocked when I went to her house to help her with email, and find she had an inquiry from 2 weeks ago that she never responded to, or a reservation request which had expired since she had failed to respond to it in any way in the 24 hrs.
Somewhat surprisingly, in spite of her awfully poor abilities in the online part of hosting, She was still getting a good number of inquiries, though, and staying pretty busy, because of the demand in her area and I think too the sheer beauty of her accomodations. So I was surprised to at one point find her listing actually pretty high up in the search results.
But just recently, something happened which I think will eventually come to any host whose online performance and responsiveness is as poor as hers: AIrbnb stepped in and temporarily deactivated her listings. WHen her office person went to her house to help her, they noticed that when she logged into her account, the first thing one sees is a big page that says, "Your listings have been temporarily deactivated" . Then it is stated that this occurred due to failing to respond to inquiries and reservation requests. IN fact, she got an inquiry from someone yesterday, and because Airbnb shut her down yesterday afternoon, that persons' inquiry has now changed to "NOt possible" (it is not being blocked by someone else's reservation or request) and that person is unable to book until my friend reactivates her listings.
One can reactivate one's listings, though I didn't have time to do that yet for her so I didn't see what would be involved.
Just wanted to post this to let everyone know of the consequences that can come when you're not a responsible host in your responsiveness to guests.
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Andrew
Andrew8 months ago
Very important tip there! Actually it is quite lenient of Airbnb to merely suspend the listing temporarily.
I stayed with some hosts in Sri Lanka who were also not very technically inclined.so their listing was managed by their son overseas, who presumably relayed the necessary information by phone. I also talked to someone who ran a network of rural hosts and professionally managed their listings but booked the properties solely through Airbnb in exchange for a commission. Maybe your friend would have better results handing the account over to someone else too?
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Louise
Louise8 months ago
I agree, this is the smartest solution; outsource the boring bits. I don't understand why her assistant has to physically come in to her office to 'do email'. It makes no sense.
Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
She is lame, her assistant is lame -- it's a whole lame crew!
Louise
Louise8 months ago
Yep. If it was a horse, we'd shoot it.
Helen
Helen8 months ago
I'm totally confused by the contempt for this elderly woman who doesn't manage her listing efficiently. What's it to any of us? Who cares if someone doesn't respond to their inquiries -- do you think guests look at one listing at a time and then wait with bated breath next to their computers, desperately hoping for a response? Most guests will barely notice a non-response because they will confirm a booking with someone else within 24 hours anyway.
Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
I know her quite well, she's been an aquaintance of mine for two decades. So she's not just "an elderly woman" to me. Knowing her as I do and as long as I have, I can say that she could definitely do better, and her help could do better. Actually when hosts don't respond to inquiries, it is a problem. Andrew can tell you stories about this, how many hosts he had to contact and how much time he had to waste just to get a booking. The way I see it, people have certain responsibilities as Airbnb hosts, responsibliites to guests, and if they can't manage those responsibilities then perhaps hosting isn't for them.
Andrew
Andrew8 months ago
Helen, I wish it were true that securing a booking is always that easy for guests, but unfortunately this is not my experience when using Airbnb from the guest end. It's especially problematic when you send a Request and never get a response, since you're financially committed to that booking for 24 hours until the host responds. And while it's easy to carpet-bomb a city with inquiries to up your odds, it's still quite a lot of friction for a process that should be much easier. This affects all of us as hosts, especially those who aren't getting as many bookings as we'd like to, since there's no telling how many thousands of people have tried Airbnb, been ignored by inactive hosts or declined for no good reason, and decided not to continue using it. Additionally, in places where hosts are under threat from local laws, we need all the community support we can get - which is a lot likelier to come from fellow satisfied Airbnb users. So yes, I do care very much about other hosts responding to their inquiries and creating positive experiences, and that's my own selfish interest in contributing to this forum.
Rachel
Rachel8 months ago
I just don't understand what this lady's motivation was for opening up her home to Airbnb guests in the first place. It's great that somebody of 75 wants to try new things and new experiences but this simply wasn't one she should have tried and really should not have been encouraged to do so. She would have been safer taking up uni-cycling or something that doesn't involve technology. Andrew is right, we all rely on each other to promote this business, and if Airbnb gets the reputation of being hard to deal with by guests, then we will all lose out eventually. I would not want to stay with her and I suspect most other people would not either, not because of her age, but because of her resistance to change and progress. My 78 year old cousin is as sharp as a knife and was one of the people who helped me when I got stuck with problems on my laptop and there are plenty more out there like her who have embraced technology. Better that she stays deactivated if you ask me.
Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
Rachel -- her motivation is that she literally can't stand to be alone in her own house!. To an extent that I consider neurotic. So she wants company. She's tried long term roommates and had serious problems with bad ones. She has no capacity for adequately screening renters. Fortunately, though she has mostly accepted every single Airbnb guest, things have gone well with them. She's very friendly to guests, in a light way, and she's actually out a lot so they have a lot of time alone at her house. Her housekeeper keeps the place very clean. I agree she could definitely embrace technology if she wanted, but she is extremely stubborn. The irony is, this woman is a multi-unit landlord!!. She rents out 70 apartments, all without knowing how to do email, or even how to screen potential tenants. She manages somewhat with help from an office assistant and myself, but it's nutty as all get-out! She's been renting apartments for over 40 years and has been without adequate skills that whole time. Well her business stays afloat, so I give her that much, but she's had numerous disasters along the way, too.
Louise
Louise8 months ago
Airbnb deactivated the listing? Really? My bet is she accidentally deactivated it herself or her assistant did it as a mercy killing or because the assistant decided her passive-aggressive manipulative boss needed to be taught a lesson. Seriously, too old to learn how to use email? Unless she's suffering some form of dementia, this is utter bollocks.
There are thousands of 'dead' listings on Airbnb which linger like rotting corpses on a battlefield. I can't imagine what a host could do that would be sufficiently heinous to make Airbnb step in and deactivate a listing - Install a secret webcam in their bedroom and sell access by the minute? Greet guests in a leather apron while holding a claw hammer, lock all the exits and gush about how their favourite film of all time is Hostel? Recruit them to Amway? The mind boggles ......
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Andrew
Andrew8 months ago
Cancelling too many bookings definitely gets the listing suspended. Presumably if the response rate dips below a certain number that will do it too...
Louise
Louise8 months ago
I think cancelling would, but not sure about whether the response rate is such a significant metric. I hear regular horror stories from my guests and friends about low response rates, eg based on my admittedly small sample, one can expect a response in <50% of enquiries to NYC. I think as long as you're generating income for Airbnb they'll let your listing stay and even if your listing is dead, as long as you've blocked out all dates as unavailable, they'll leave it in. What's odd to me is that sometimes these zombie listings will figure quite prominently (i.e page 6 out of 70) in search rankings. This really, really bothers me. It's like seeing dead flowers in a vase.
Rebecca
Rebecca8 months ago
Agree wholeheartedly Louise. It is unfathomable to me how Airbnb allows the huge number of inadequate hosts and listings to stay operative. Apart from the obvious boast in numbers to shareholders, of course. Why? Just why would you let your product be denigrated this way? I have the same experience as you from friends, family and guests about the appalling response rate, declines for no good reason etc etc. I just don't get it.
Evelyn
Evelyn8 months ago
Airbnb also deactivated a friend's listing because she wasn't accepting bookings, inquiries. The site gets saturated with hosts whom aren't responding.
Helen
Helen8 months ago
Because the vast majority of people don't search without dates - so as long as dead listings have calendars that are blocked, they aren't showing up in users' search results. Hosts run searches without dates to see what is available in their area but I don't think prospective guests do this -- it's a waste of time since popular listings are rented out months in advance.
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Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
So I went to my friend's house tonight and I think I succeeded in instilling the fear of God in her, or as it were, the fear of Airbnb. I told her that if she didn't stop failing to respond to inquiries, and reservation requests, Airbnb would totally drop her and she wouldnt' be able to be a host anymore. That scared her into trying -- for the first time -- to learn how to use the Airbnb website!
So I did a tutorial for her, on her AARP computer with a touch screen, and wrote all the steps down as well.
I found an inquiry in her inbox from February that she had never responded to ! And one from June 4, 18 days ago. And another that she didn't respond to for 2 weeks, and then a reservation request that she failed to respond to at all. I emphasized that she can't keep flaking on these inquiries. She is old and stubborn and tends to avoid taking responsibility for her own mistakes, so she might be too old to learn, but she likes being a host so the threat of losing the opportunity to host might be the thing to teach an old dog new tricks!
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Regina
Regina8 months ago
I was just wondering...how old is she? You make it sound like she's 100!
Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
Well she's 75. In terms of passion and general vivacity, she's about 35, or even 23. She's always running about , a ball of energy --- loves to dance, go out to the theatre. Yet in the sense of being stubborn, set in her ways, she can seem 89 at times. She has a hard time learning from what happens to her. She's made many mistakes and not taken the lesson from those disasters that would be common sensical to take. But -- if she has the motivation -- she can adapt. It's helping her get motivated that is the trick.
scott
scott8 months ago
So when she does manage to get a guest - possibly accidently - what sort of host is she? I can imagine her forgetting that people are arriving or forgetting to make sure the place is clean.
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Rachel
Rachel8 months ago
Totally agree with Louise and Rebecca on their posts above. Far too many dead listings are appearing in my part of London and are high up in the search pages. I update my calendar every day, respond to enquiries as fast as I can (usually within an hour) and yet because I am fairly well booked for the next few weeks I am down on page 7 or 8 at the moment. I've not yet booked as a guest but I would be very upset and cross if I did not receive a response to an enquiry or reservation request that I had made.
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Jeannette
Jeannette8 months ago
OMG I shudder to read this entire thread. The stereotype (at times earned and valid) of older women who can't begin to figure out the first thing on a computer so hurts the rest of us older women ... who live the other end of the spectrum, I'm super comfortable with everything from creating websites to soldering new caps on a motherboard ...
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Andrew
Andrew8 months ago
You go girl! I've also seen plenty of younger folks who are hopeless with technology and scatterbrained with communication. Yes, some of them do appear on the forums sometimes...
Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
Jeannette -- I think the stereotype is not really of older women, specifically, but of older people, generally, who are opposed to technology or uninterested in learning new things.
Actually the stereotype she fits, is not one who is incapable of figuring things out, but one who is resistant both to change as well as to taking responsibility for herself. She is notorious for blaming her own mistakes and shortcomings on others. For instance, I know a painter who went to meet her for an appointment at one of her apartment buildings at 2pm. (She's a multi-unit landlord, runs 70 apartments...all without knowing how to do email!! SHe's done this for 40 years.....) She didn't show up for the appointment. When he called her, she said, "Well, you should have called me this morning to remind me to come!" He made a 2nd appointment with her and she failed to show up to that as well, and blamed that on him as well. IT's this aspect of her which is the more entrenched and difficult for her to face up to. It's also one that is infuriating for others. So far guests have not suffered like this at her hands, but if they did, I would also be advocating for her to stop being a host.
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Deborah
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So I have a friend in my area who wanted to become an AIrbnb host, because she wanted to meet people. However she is not so great at using internet, as well as email. She says, "I can't do email" though she can do texts. She is has had difficulty going to the Airbnb website. She has an office helper who comes once in a while to help her do email. She loves to do things by phone, but as we all know, inquiries dont' come in as phone calls, and you dont' get a guest's phone number until after they have booked.
So honestly I didn't think she was going to be able to manage it easily.
So over time she has missed many inquiries as well as reservation requests. So surprisingly, in spite of missing many inquiries, not responding to them, She was still getting a good number of inquiries, and staying pretty busy, because of the demand in her area and I think too the sheer beauty of her accomodations. So I was surprised to at one point find her listing actually pretty high up in the search results.
But just recently, something happened which I think may eventually come to any host whose online performance and responsiveness is as poor as hers: AIrbnb stepped in and temporarily deactivated her listings. WHen her office person went to her house to help her, they noticed that when she logged into her account, the first thing one sees is a big page that says, "Your listings have been temporarily deactivated" . Then it is stated that this occurred due to failing to respond to inquiries and reservation requests. IN fact, she got an inquiry from someone yesterday, and because Airbnb shut her down yesterday afternoon, that persons' inquiry has now changed to "NOt possible" (it is not being blocked by someone else's reservation or request) and that person is unable to book until my friend reactivates her listings.
One can reactivate one's listings, though I didn't yet see what would be involved.
Just wanted to post this to let everyone know of the consequences that can come when you're not a responsible host in your responsiveness to guests.
Reply 1:
Very important tip there! Actually it is quite lenient of Airbnb to merely suspend the listing temporarily.
I stayed with some hosts in Sri Lanka who were also not very technically inclined.so their listing was managed by their son overseas, who presumably relayed the necessary information by phone. I also talked to someone who ran a network of rural hosts and professionally managed their listings but booked the properties solely through Airbnb in exchange for a commission. Maybe your friend would have better results handing the account over to someone else too?
Reply 2:
I agree, this is the smartest solution; outsource the boring bits. I don't understand why her assistant has to physically come in to her office to 'do email'. It makes no sense.
Reply 3:
She struggles, her assistant is lame, the computer too is lame --outdated -- it's a whole lame crew!
Reply 4:
Yep. If it was a horse, we'd shoot it.
Reply 5:
I'm totally confused by the contempt for this elderly woman who doesn't manage her listing efficiently. What's it to any of us? Who cares if someone doesn't respond to their inquiries -- do you think guests look at one listing at a time and then wait with bated breath next to their computers, desperately hoping for a response? Most guests will barely notice a non-response because they will confirm a booking with someone else within 24 hours anyway.
Reply 6:
I know her quite well, she's been an aquaintance of mine for two decades. So she's not just "an elderly woman" to me. Knowing her as I do and as long as I have, I can say that she could do better, and actually has done much better since the "temporary deactivation notice". Actually when hosts don't respond to inquiries, it is a problem. Others can tell you stories about this, how many hosts tehy had to contact and how much time they had to waste just to get a booking. The way I see it, people have certain responsibilities as Airbnb hosts, responsibliites to guests, and if they can't manage those responsibilities then perhaps hosting isn't for them.
Reply 7:
I wish it were true that securing a booking is always that easy for guests, but unfortunately this is not my experience when using Airbnb from the guest end. It's especially problematic when you send a Request and never get a response, since you're financially committed to that booking for 24 hours until the host responds. And while it's easy to carpet-bomb a city with inquiries to up your odds, it's still quite a lot of friction for a process that should be much easier. This affects all of us as hosts, especially those who aren't getting as many bookings as we'd like to, since there's no telling how many thousands of people have tried Airbnb, been ignored by inactive hosts or declined for no good reason, and decided not to continue using it. Additionally, in places where hosts are under threat from local laws, we need all the community support we can get - which is a lot likelier to come from fellow satisfied Airbnb users. So yes, I do care very much about other hosts responding to their inquiries and creating positive experiences, and that's my own selfish interest in contributing to this forum.
Reply 8:
I just don't understand what this lady's motivation was for opening up her home to Airbnb guests in the first place. It's great that somebody of 75 wants to try new things and new experiences but this simply wasn't one she should have tried and really should not have been encouraged to do so. She would have been safer taking up uni-cycling or something that doesn't involve technology. Andrew is right, we all rely on each other to promote this business, and if Airbnb gets the reputation of being hard to deal with by guests, then we will all lose out eventually. I would not want to stay with her and I suspect most other people would not either, not because of her age, but because of her resistance to change and progress. My 78 year old cousin is as sharp as a knife and was one of the people who helped me when I got stuck with problems on my laptop and there are plenty more out there like her who have embraced technology. Better that she stays deactivated if you ask me.
Reply 9:
her motivation is that she doesn't like to be alone in her house!. So she wants company. She's tried long term roommates and had serious problems with bad ones. She has a hard time adequately screening renters. Fortunately, though she has mostly accepted every single Airbnb guest, things have gone well with them. She's very friendly to guests, in a light way, and she's actually out a lot so they have a lot of time alone at her house. Her housekeeper keeps the place very clean. I agree she could embrace more technology. The irony is, she is a multiunit landlord, and rents out She rents out 70 apartments, all by hardly doing any email. She's been renting apartments for over 40 years and has been low tech that whole time. Well her business stays afloat, so I give her that much, so it goes to show that in this high tech world one can actually get along well with pretty low tech.
Reply 10:
Airbnb deactivated the listing? Really? My bet is she accidentally deactivated it herself or her assistant did it as a mercy killing or because the assistant decided her passive-aggressive manipulative boss needed to be taught a lesson. Seriously, too old to learn how to use email? Unless she's suffering some form of dementia, this is utter bollocks.
There are thousands of 'dead' listings on Airbnb which linger like rotting corpses on a battlefield. I can't imagine what a host could do that would be sufficiently heinous to make Airbnb step in and deactivate a listing - Install a secret webcam in their bedroom and sell access by the minute? Greet guests in a leather apron while holding a claw hammer, lock all the exits and gush about how their favourite film of all time is Hostel? Recruit them to Amway? The mind boggles ......
Reply 11:
Cancelling too many bookings definitely gets the listing suspended. Presumably if the response rate dips below a certain number that will do it too...
REply 12:
I think cancelling would, but not sure about whether the response rate is such a significant metric. I hear regular horror stories from my guests and friends about low response rates, eg based on my admittedly small sample, one can expect a response in <50% of enquiries to NYC. I think as long as you're generating income for Airbnb they'll let your listing stay and even if your listing is dead, as long as you've blocked out all dates as unavailable, they'll leave it in. What's odd to me is that sometimes these zombie listings will figure quite prominently (i.e page 6 out of 70) in search rankings. This really, really bothers me. It's like seeing dead flowers in a vase.
Reply 13:
Agree wholeheartedly. It is unfathomable to me how Airbnb allows the huge number of inadequate hosts and listings to stay operative. Apart from the obvious boast in numbers to shareholders, of course. Why? Just why would you let your product be denigrated this way? I have the same experience as you from friends, family and guests about the appalling response rate, declines for no good reason etc etc. I just don't get it.
Reply 14:
Airbnb also deactivated a friend's listing because she wasn't accepting bookings, inquiries. The site gets saturated with hosts whom aren't responding.
Reply 15:
Because the vast majority of people don't search without dates - so as long as dead listings have calendars that are blocked, they aren't showing up in users' search results. Hosts run searches without dates to see what is available in their area but I don't think prospective guests do this -- it's a waste of time since popular listings are rented out months in advance.
Reply 16
So I went to my friend's house tonight and I think I succeeded in instilling the fear of God in her, or as it were, the fear of Airbnb. I told her that if she didn't stop failing to respond to inquiries, and reservation requests, Airbnb would drop her and she wouldnt' be able to be a host anymore. So she was motivated to learn more about how to use the Airbnb website!
So I did a tutorial for her.
I found an inquiry in her inbox from many months ago that she had never responded to ! And one from 18 days ago. And another that she didn't respond to for 2 weeks, and then a reservation request that she failed to respond to at all. I emphasized that she can't keep flaking on these inquiries. But she likes being a host so I think she is motivated.
Reply 17:
So when she does manage to get a guest - possibly accidently - what sort of host is she? I can imagine her forgetting that people are arriving or forgetting to make sure the place is clean.
Reply 18:
Totally agree with their posts above. Far too many dead listings are appearing in my part of London and are high up in the search pages. I update my calendar every day, respond to enquiries as fast as I can (usually within an hour) and yet because I am fairly well booked for the next few weeks I am down on page 7 or 8 at the moment. I've not yet booked as a guest but I would be very upset and cross if I did not receive a response to an enquiry or reservation request that I had made.
Deborah shared 8 months ago on New Hosts Forum
So I have a friend in my area who wanted to become an AIrbnb host, because she's lonely and wanted to meet people. However she is VERY poor at using internet, as well as email. She says, "I can't do email" and refuses to learn how. She is unable to go on the computer to the Airbnb website and forget using the AIrbnb mobile app, she can't do that either. She is an elderly person, and has an office helper who comes once in a while to help her do email. She can do things by phone, but as we all know, inquiries dont' come in as phone calls, and you dont' get a guest's phone number until after they have booked.
So honestly I didn't think she was going to be able to manage this hosting business. I offered to help her out, but I can't hold her hand every day and help her check her emails every single day. However I did help her by intially setting up her whole listing, including taking all the photos and putting them up, and helped her do the verified ID. I also set up her mobile phone to produce an alert when she got an AIrbnb message, so she was able to use that to send messages to inquiring guests. Mostly that has worked for her, but as she is highly distracted and busy, she doesn't catch every single alert.
So over time she has missed many inquiries as well as reservation requests. I would be shocked when I went to her house to help her with email, and find she had an inquiry from 2 weeks ago that she never responded to, or a reservation request which had expired since she had failed to respond to it in any way in the 24 hrs.
Somewhat surprisingly, in spite of her awfully poor abilities in the online part of hosting, She was still getting a good number of inquiries, though, and staying pretty busy, because of the demand in her area and I think too the sheer beauty of her accomodations. So I was surprised to at one point find her listing actually pretty high up in the search results.
But just recently, something happened which I think will eventually come to any host whose online performance and responsiveness is as poor as hers: AIrbnb stepped in and temporarily deactivated her listings. WHen her office person went to her house to help her, they noticed that when she logged into her account, the first thing one sees is a big page that says, "Your listings have been temporarily deactivated" . Then it is stated that this occurred due to failing to respond to inquiries and reservation requests. IN fact, she got an inquiry from someone yesterday, and because Airbnb shut her down yesterday afternoon, that persons' inquiry has now changed to "NOt possible" (it is not being blocked by someone else's reservation or request) and that person is unable to book until my friend reactivates her listings.
One can reactivate one's listings, though I didn't have time to do that yet for her so I didn't see what would be involved.
Just wanted to post this to let everyone know of the consequences that can come when you're not a responsible host in your responsiveness to guests.
8 comments•7 likes
Following
Like
Fleur, Dan and kids
Julie and Eric
Andrew
Francisco
Nic and Rach
+2
more
Edit
Delete
Andrew
Andrew8 months ago
Very important tip there! Actually it is quite lenient of Airbnb to merely suspend the listing temporarily.
I stayed with some hosts in Sri Lanka who were also not very technically inclined.so their listing was managed by their son overseas, who presumably relayed the necessary information by phone. I also talked to someone who ran a network of rural hosts and professionally managed their listings but booked the properties solely through Airbnb in exchange for a commission. Maybe your friend would have better results handing the account over to someone else too?
Reply Like 8 replies•2 likes Delete
Louise
Louise8 months ago
I agree, this is the smartest solution; outsource the boring bits. I don't understand why her assistant has to physically come in to her office to 'do email'. It makes no sense.
Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
She is lame, her assistant is lame -- it's a whole lame crew!
Louise
Louise8 months ago
Yep. If it was a horse, we'd shoot it.
Helen
Helen8 months ago
I'm totally confused by the contempt for this elderly woman who doesn't manage her listing efficiently. What's it to any of us? Who cares if someone doesn't respond to their inquiries -- do you think guests look at one listing at a time and then wait with bated breath next to their computers, desperately hoping for a response? Most guests will barely notice a non-response because they will confirm a booking with someone else within 24 hours anyway.
Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
I know her quite well, she's been an aquaintance of mine for two decades. So she's not just "an elderly woman" to me. Knowing her as I do and as long as I have, I can say that she could definitely do better, and her help could do better. Actually when hosts don't respond to inquiries, it is a problem. Andrew can tell you stories about this, how many hosts he had to contact and how much time he had to waste just to get a booking. The way I see it, people have certain responsibilities as Airbnb hosts, responsibliites to guests, and if they can't manage those responsibilities then perhaps hosting isn't for them.
Andrew
Andrew8 months ago
Helen, I wish it were true that securing a booking is always that easy for guests, but unfortunately this is not my experience when using Airbnb from the guest end. It's especially problematic when you send a Request and never get a response, since you're financially committed to that booking for 24 hours until the host responds. And while it's easy to carpet-bomb a city with inquiries to up your odds, it's still quite a lot of friction for a process that should be much easier. This affects all of us as hosts, especially those who aren't getting as many bookings as we'd like to, since there's no telling how many thousands of people have tried Airbnb, been ignored by inactive hosts or declined for no good reason, and decided not to continue using it. Additionally, in places where hosts are under threat from local laws, we need all the community support we can get - which is a lot likelier to come from fellow satisfied Airbnb users. So yes, I do care very much about other hosts responding to their inquiries and creating positive experiences, and that's my own selfish interest in contributing to this forum.
Rachel
Rachel8 months ago
I just don't understand what this lady's motivation was for opening up her home to Airbnb guests in the first place. It's great that somebody of 75 wants to try new things and new experiences but this simply wasn't one she should have tried and really should not have been encouraged to do so. She would have been safer taking up uni-cycling or something that doesn't involve technology. Andrew is right, we all rely on each other to promote this business, and if Airbnb gets the reputation of being hard to deal with by guests, then we will all lose out eventually. I would not want to stay with her and I suspect most other people would not either, not because of her age, but because of her resistance to change and progress. My 78 year old cousin is as sharp as a knife and was one of the people who helped me when I got stuck with problems on my laptop and there are plenty more out there like her who have embraced technology. Better that she stays deactivated if you ask me.
Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
Rachel -- her motivation is that she literally can't stand to be alone in her own house!. To an extent that I consider neurotic. So she wants company. She's tried long term roommates and had serious problems with bad ones. She has no capacity for adequately screening renters. Fortunately, though she has mostly accepted every single Airbnb guest, things have gone well with them. She's very friendly to guests, in a light way, and she's actually out a lot so they have a lot of time alone at her house. Her housekeeper keeps the place very clean. I agree she could definitely embrace technology if she wanted, but she is extremely stubborn. The irony is, this woman is a multi-unit landlord!!. She rents out 70 apartments, all without knowing how to do email, or even how to screen potential tenants. She manages somewhat with help from an office assistant and myself, but it's nutty as all get-out! She's been renting apartments for over 40 years and has been without adequate skills that whole time. Well her business stays afloat, so I give her that much, but she's had numerous disasters along the way, too.
Louise
Louise8 months ago
Airbnb deactivated the listing? Really? My bet is she accidentally deactivated it herself or her assistant did it as a mercy killing or because the assistant decided her passive-aggressive manipulative boss needed to be taught a lesson. Seriously, too old to learn how to use email? Unless she's suffering some form of dementia, this is utter bollocks.
There are thousands of 'dead' listings on Airbnb which linger like rotting corpses on a battlefield. I can't imagine what a host could do that would be sufficiently heinous to make Airbnb step in and deactivate a listing - Install a secret webcam in their bedroom and sell access by the minute? Greet guests in a leather apron while holding a claw hammer, lock all the exits and gush about how their favourite film of all time is Hostel? Recruit them to Amway? The mind boggles ......
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Andrew
Andrew8 months ago
Cancelling too many bookings definitely gets the listing suspended. Presumably if the response rate dips below a certain number that will do it too...
Louise
Louise8 months ago
I think cancelling would, but not sure about whether the response rate is such a significant metric. I hear regular horror stories from my guests and friends about low response rates, eg based on my admittedly small sample, one can expect a response in <50% of enquiries to NYC. I think as long as you're generating income for Airbnb they'll let your listing stay and even if your listing is dead, as long as you've blocked out all dates as unavailable, they'll leave it in. What's odd to me is that sometimes these zombie listings will figure quite prominently (i.e page 6 out of 70) in search rankings. This really, really bothers me. It's like seeing dead flowers in a vase.
Rebecca
Rebecca8 months ago
Agree wholeheartedly Louise. It is unfathomable to me how Airbnb allows the huge number of inadequate hosts and listings to stay operative. Apart from the obvious boast in numbers to shareholders, of course. Why? Just why would you let your product be denigrated this way? I have the same experience as you from friends, family and guests about the appalling response rate, declines for no good reason etc etc. I just don't get it.
Evelyn
Evelyn8 months ago
Airbnb also deactivated a friend's listing because she wasn't accepting bookings, inquiries. The site gets saturated with hosts whom aren't responding.
Helen
Helen8 months ago
Because the vast majority of people don't search without dates - so as long as dead listings have calendars that are blocked, they aren't showing up in users' search results. Hosts run searches without dates to see what is available in their area but I don't think prospective guests do this -- it's a waste of time since popular listings are rented out months in advance.
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Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
So I went to my friend's house tonight and I think I succeeded in instilling the fear of God in her, or as it were, the fear of Airbnb. I told her that if she didn't stop failing to respond to inquiries, and reservation requests, Airbnb would totally drop her and she wouldnt' be able to be a host anymore. That scared her into trying -- for the first time -- to learn how to use the Airbnb website!
So I did a tutorial for her, on her AARP computer with a touch screen, and wrote all the steps down as well.
I found an inquiry in her inbox from February that she had never responded to ! And one from June 4, 18 days ago. And another that she didn't respond to for 2 weeks, and then a reservation request that she failed to respond to at all. I emphasized that she can't keep flaking on these inquiries. She is old and stubborn and tends to avoid taking responsibility for her own mistakes, so she might be too old to learn, but she likes being a host so the threat of losing the opportunity to host might be the thing to teach an old dog new tricks!
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Regina
Regina8 months ago
I was just wondering...how old is she? You make it sound like she's 100!
Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
Well she's 75. In terms of passion and general vivacity, she's about 35, or even 23. She's always running about , a ball of energy --- loves to dance, go out to the theatre. Yet in the sense of being stubborn, set in her ways, she can seem 89 at times. She has a hard time learning from what happens to her. She's made many mistakes and not taken the lesson from those disasters that would be common sensical to take. But -- if she has the motivation -- she can adapt. It's helping her get motivated that is the trick.
scott
scott8 months ago
So when she does manage to get a guest - possibly accidently - what sort of host is she? I can imagine her forgetting that people are arriving or forgetting to make sure the place is clean.
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Rachel
Rachel8 months ago
Totally agree with Louise and Rebecca on their posts above. Far too many dead listings are appearing in my part of London and are high up in the search pages. I update my calendar every day, respond to enquiries as fast as I can (usually within an hour) and yet because I am fairly well booked for the next few weeks I am down on page 7 or 8 at the moment. I've not yet booked as a guest but I would be very upset and cross if I did not receive a response to an enquiry or reservation request that I had made.
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Jeannette
Jeannette8 months ago
OMG I shudder to read this entire thread. The stereotype (at times earned and valid) of older women who can't begin to figure out the first thing on a computer so hurts the rest of us older women ... who live the other end of the spectrum, I'm super comfortable with everything from creating websites to soldering new caps on a motherboard ...
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Andrew
Andrew8 months ago
You go girl! I've also seen plenty of younger folks who are hopeless with technology and scatterbrained with communication. Yes, some of them do appear on the forums sometimes...
Deborah
Deborah8 months ago
Jeannette -- I think the stereotype is not really of older women, specifically, but of older people, generally, who are opposed to technology or uninterested in learning new things.
Actually the stereotype she fits, is not one who is incapable of figuring things out, but one who is resistant both to change as well as to taking responsibility for herself. She is notorious for blaming her own mistakes and shortcomings on others. For instance, I know a painter who went to meet her for an appointment at one of her apartment buildings at 2pm. (She's a multi-unit landlord, runs 70 apartments...all without knowing how to do email!! SHe's done this for 40 years.....) She didn't show up for the appointment. When he called her, she said, "Well, you should have called me this morning to remind me to come!" He made a 2nd appointment with her and she failed to show up to that as well, and blamed that on him as well. IT's this aspect of her which is the more entrenched and difficult for her to face up to. It's also one that is infuriating for others. So far guests have not suffered like this at her hands, but if they did, I would also be advocating for her to stop being a host.
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Deborah
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So I have a friend in my area who wanted to become an AIrbnb host, because she wanted to meet people. However she is not so great at using internet, as well as email. She says, "I can't do email" though she can do texts. She is has had difficulty going to the Airbnb website. She has an office helper who comes once in a while to help her do email. She loves to do things by phone, but as we all know, inquiries dont' come in as phone calls, and you dont' get a guest's phone number until after they have booked.
So honestly I didn't think she was going to be able to manage it easily.
So over time she has missed many inquiries as well as reservation requests. So surprisingly, in spite of missing many inquiries, not responding to them, She was still getting a good number of inquiries, and staying pretty busy, because of the demand in her area and I think too the sheer beauty of her accomodations. So I was surprised to at one point find her listing actually pretty high up in the search results.
But just recently, something happened which I think may eventually come to any host whose online performance and responsiveness is as poor as hers: AIrbnb stepped in and temporarily deactivated her listings. WHen her office person went to her house to help her, they noticed that when she logged into her account, the first thing one sees is a big page that says, "Your listings have been temporarily deactivated" . Then it is stated that this occurred due to failing to respond to inquiries and reservation requests. IN fact, she got an inquiry from someone yesterday, and because Airbnb shut her down yesterday afternoon, that persons' inquiry has now changed to "NOt possible" (it is not being blocked by someone else's reservation or request) and that person is unable to book until my friend reactivates her listings.
One can reactivate one's listings, though I didn't yet see what would be involved.
Just wanted to post this to let everyone know of the consequences that can come when you're not a responsible host in your responsiveness to guests.
Reply 1:
Very important tip there! Actually it is quite lenient of Airbnb to merely suspend the listing temporarily.
I stayed with some hosts in Sri Lanka who were also not very technically inclined.so their listing was managed by their son overseas, who presumably relayed the necessary information by phone. I also talked to someone who ran a network of rural hosts and professionally managed their listings but booked the properties solely through Airbnb in exchange for a commission. Maybe your friend would have better results handing the account over to someone else too?
Reply 2:
I agree, this is the smartest solution; outsource the boring bits. I don't understand why her assistant has to physically come in to her office to 'do email'. It makes no sense.
Reply 3:
She struggles, her assistant is lame, the computer too is lame --outdated -- it's a whole lame crew!
Reply 4:
Yep. If it was a horse, we'd shoot it.
Reply 5:
I'm totally confused by the contempt for this elderly woman who doesn't manage her listing efficiently. What's it to any of us? Who cares if someone doesn't respond to their inquiries -- do you think guests look at one listing at a time and then wait with bated breath next to their computers, desperately hoping for a response? Most guests will barely notice a non-response because they will confirm a booking with someone else within 24 hours anyway.
Reply 6:
I know her quite well, she's been an aquaintance of mine for two decades. So she's not just "an elderly woman" to me. Knowing her as I do and as long as I have, I can say that she could do better, and actually has done much better since the "temporary deactivation notice". Actually when hosts don't respond to inquiries, it is a problem. Others can tell you stories about this, how many hosts tehy had to contact and how much time they had to waste just to get a booking. The way I see it, people have certain responsibilities as Airbnb hosts, responsibliites to guests, and if they can't manage those responsibilities then perhaps hosting isn't for them.
Reply 7:
I wish it were true that securing a booking is always that easy for guests, but unfortunately this is not my experience when using Airbnb from the guest end. It's especially problematic when you send a Request and never get a response, since you're financially committed to that booking for 24 hours until the host responds. And while it's easy to carpet-bomb a city with inquiries to up your odds, it's still quite a lot of friction for a process that should be much easier. This affects all of us as hosts, especially those who aren't getting as many bookings as we'd like to, since there's no telling how many thousands of people have tried Airbnb, been ignored by inactive hosts or declined for no good reason, and decided not to continue using it. Additionally, in places where hosts are under threat from local laws, we need all the community support we can get - which is a lot likelier to come from fellow satisfied Airbnb users. So yes, I do care very much about other hosts responding to their inquiries and creating positive experiences, and that's my own selfish interest in contributing to this forum.
Reply 8:
I just don't understand what this lady's motivation was for opening up her home to Airbnb guests in the first place. It's great that somebody of 75 wants to try new things and new experiences but this simply wasn't one she should have tried and really should not have been encouraged to do so. She would have been safer taking up uni-cycling or something that doesn't involve technology. Andrew is right, we all rely on each other to promote this business, and if Airbnb gets the reputation of being hard to deal with by guests, then we will all lose out eventually. I would not want to stay with her and I suspect most other people would not either, not because of her age, but because of her resistance to change and progress. My 78 year old cousin is as sharp as a knife and was one of the people who helped me when I got stuck with problems on my laptop and there are plenty more out there like her who have embraced technology. Better that she stays deactivated if you ask me.
Reply 9:
her motivation is that she doesn't like to be alone in her house!. So she wants company. She's tried long term roommates and had serious problems with bad ones. She has a hard time adequately screening renters. Fortunately, though she has mostly accepted every single Airbnb guest, things have gone well with them. She's very friendly to guests, in a light way, and she's actually out a lot so they have a lot of time alone at her house. Her housekeeper keeps the place very clean. I agree she could embrace more technology. The irony is, she is a multiunit landlord, and rents out She rents out 70 apartments, all by hardly doing any email. She's been renting apartments for over 40 years and has been low tech that whole time. Well her business stays afloat, so I give her that much, so it goes to show that in this high tech world one can actually get along well with pretty low tech.
Reply 10:
Airbnb deactivated the listing? Really? My bet is she accidentally deactivated it herself or her assistant did it as a mercy killing or because the assistant decided her passive-aggressive manipulative boss needed to be taught a lesson. Seriously, too old to learn how to use email? Unless she's suffering some form of dementia, this is utter bollocks.
There are thousands of 'dead' listings on Airbnb which linger like rotting corpses on a battlefield. I can't imagine what a host could do that would be sufficiently heinous to make Airbnb step in and deactivate a listing - Install a secret webcam in their bedroom and sell access by the minute? Greet guests in a leather apron while holding a claw hammer, lock all the exits and gush about how their favourite film of all time is Hostel? Recruit them to Amway? The mind boggles ......
Reply 11:
Cancelling too many bookings definitely gets the listing suspended. Presumably if the response rate dips below a certain number that will do it too...
REply 12:
I think cancelling would, but not sure about whether the response rate is such a significant metric. I hear regular horror stories from my guests and friends about low response rates, eg based on my admittedly small sample, one can expect a response in <50% of enquiries to NYC. I think as long as you're generating income for Airbnb they'll let your listing stay and even if your listing is dead, as long as you've blocked out all dates as unavailable, they'll leave it in. What's odd to me is that sometimes these zombie listings will figure quite prominently (i.e page 6 out of 70) in search rankings. This really, really bothers me. It's like seeing dead flowers in a vase.
Reply 13:
Agree wholeheartedly. It is unfathomable to me how Airbnb allows the huge number of inadequate hosts and listings to stay operative. Apart from the obvious boast in numbers to shareholders, of course. Why? Just why would you let your product be denigrated this way? I have the same experience as you from friends, family and guests about the appalling response rate, declines for no good reason etc etc. I just don't get it.
Reply 14:
Airbnb also deactivated a friend's listing because she wasn't accepting bookings, inquiries. The site gets saturated with hosts whom aren't responding.
Reply 15:
Because the vast majority of people don't search without dates - so as long as dead listings have calendars that are blocked, they aren't showing up in users' search results. Hosts run searches without dates to see what is available in their area but I don't think prospective guests do this -- it's a waste of time since popular listings are rented out months in advance.
Reply 16
So I went to my friend's house tonight and I think I succeeded in instilling the fear of God in her, or as it were, the fear of Airbnb. I told her that if she didn't stop failing to respond to inquiries, and reservation requests, Airbnb would drop her and she wouldnt' be able to be a host anymore. So she was motivated to learn more about how to use the Airbnb website!
So I did a tutorial for her.
I found an inquiry in her inbox from many months ago that she had never responded to ! And one from 18 days ago. And another that she didn't respond to for 2 weeks, and then a reservation request that she failed to respond to at all. I emphasized that she can't keep flaking on these inquiries. But she likes being a host so I think she is motivated.
Reply 17:
So when she does manage to get a guest - possibly accidently - what sort of host is she? I can imagine her forgetting that people are arriving or forgetting to make sure the place is clean.
Reply 18:
Totally agree with their posts above. Far too many dead listings are appearing in my part of London and are high up in the search pages. I update my calendar every day, respond to enquiries as fast as I can (usually within an hour) and yet because I am fairly well booked for the next few weeks I am down on page 7 or 8 at the moment. I've not yet booked as a guest but I would be very upset and cross if I did not receive a response to an enquiry or reservation request that I had made.