Post by High Priestess on Feb 25, 2016 2:13:22 GMT
Here's one of hte older posts from this group, Airbnb Products and Updates:
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-48285
Drew
Drew
Drew2 years ago
new amenities addition - more (inane) pandering to guests
So, who was the brain that proposed in the most recent marketing meeting..."hey everyone, we should add a field for listings about amenities like clean sheets, TP and soap being offered. Don't you all think this is desperately vague now and going to make the airbnb experience so much better?!"
Holy crap...airbnb spend all their time on the guest end, utterly ignoring the revenue side of the house...us hosts! What about adding some/any of the very valuable/strongly needed/begged for things for us hosts.
airbnb...listen to your hosts too!
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Rick
Rick2 years ago
While I can empathize with your frustration, & also think the sheets & TP thing is silly...The "revenue" side of the house for airbnb is the guests, NOT the hosts! Yes, they could not exist without us, yadda, yadda---but they earn twice the fees from the guests as they do from us....So, basically, that's where their bread is buttered....
Reply Like 3 replies•3 likes
Glenn
Glenn2 years ago
Hi Rick. With all due respect to your thoughts concerning Airbnb's revenue stream, I think you're missing the importance of the supply chain in the success of Airbnb's business model. Yes there is a significant revenue stream based on Guest transaction fees, but what I think you might be missing is the source for those transactions, the supply of what Airbnb offers -- property listings -- can't sustainably come from anywhere but Hosts. We are Airbnb's commodity and the reason why the company exists. In order to be successful Airbnb must have a supply of Guests and Hosts, consumers and providers. Guests are in the consumer role and will always be in abundance. Nothing qualifies a consumer other than having the means to obtain the good. Conversely Hosts are the providers of the good. Cultivation is necessary. We all know that property listings don't come out of thin air, producing them requires considerable effort and resources. In a sense Airbnb sells what we produce, but if there is no production or no incentive to do so, there is no market activity and therefore no Airbnb.
Rick
Rick2 years ago
Preaching to the choir, Glenn, preaching to the choir---You might want to fill Drew in on how airbnb will thusly address his concerns :-)
Glenn
Glenn2 years ago
Rick, I'm not preaching to anyone. I'm attempting to explain to you how a supply chain works in a two-sided market since it was clear from your original comment that you don't understand the economics of it. I also don't see why you're warming up to Drew. He didn't see the point of your comment either. If you feel your concerns are not being met by Airbnb, you can do two things: attempt to change it or find another provider. But sitting around bitching for no good reason is a waste of everyone's time. And it doesn't do your property listings any favors either.
Drew
Drew2 years ago
So, what's your point Rick? That we should all just conform to the all-powerful airbnb wizard and be thankful for our lot with them?
Well, I am happy to be the black sheep here and speak up about the short-sightedness of airbnb to *always* focus *only* on the guest side. It's asinine. Especially in *key* cities like San Francisco, New York and LA where the landlord "revolt" is taking listings off the market....for good!
If they want to keep generating the revenue they need to go public (and satisfy their hungry investors), airbnb would do better to take (even) a little more care of homeowners like me/you?/others It's a very simple business equation, Rick. If they continue to focus on only the one variable, the other variable regress to zero.
Reply Like 4 likes
Rick
Rick2 years ago
My only point is that they are a giant corporation....& as such, they will act in their own self interest...I worked in NYC for over 20 years for various multi-national behemoths---Airbnb is still in a rapid growth stage...they may go public at some point, but I'm not sure that would be positive for us....we might then have Hilton as an overlord rather than Brian.
What does airbnb do for me? Well, they provide me with an essentially free platform to advertise my listings & regularly credit my bank account with what I would have considered (several years ago) to be insane amounts of cash !! They pretty much leave me to my own devices & allow me to meet really wonderful people from all over the world & exchange ideas with other hosts worldwide....Am I happy with all of the recent developments? well, no, not exactly....but content, yes...I am reasonably content for the time being...
Reply Like 5 likes
Glenn
Glenn2 years ago
Hi Drew, Out of curiosity, do you not provide clean sheets, toilet paper and soap?
Reply Like 3 replies
Drew
Drew2 years ago
Of course I do, Glenn.* Hence the ironic tone. Maybe there's some areas where it is culturally not the norm to provide basic amenities (can think of hostels and backpackers in parts of Asia/Africa, which airbnb is not). My experience on airbnb (both, as a guest and host) is that common courtesy/sense items like clean sheets, TP and soap are ubiquitous within the airbnb culture. As such, the need to make amenities explicit is what I/others take umbrage to. Why waste the few precious UI updates on something utterly unneeded?! Better to use the development resources for truly needed things that have been requested by hosts time and time again (many of which are right here in this thread!). Out of curiosity, being that you're a "group organizer," does that mean you work for airbnb? whether paid or not...please explain your affiliation with airbnb.
Glenn
Glenn2 years ago
Hey Drew, I didn't initially read an ironic tone into your post, but I do understand what you said now that I reread it. As for my affiliation with Airbnb, Group Organizers are not paid. We are Hosts just like you and every other Group Member. Group Organizers do not "work for" Airbnb in a financial or philosophical sense. In other words, I'm not a pro-Airbnb shill. I have posted at length about Airbnb's imperfections as well as things I think Airbnb does well. But my views are my own, not Airbnb's.
Drew
Drew2 years ago
Thanks for outlining your affiliation, Glenn. I respect that that you maintain your own views, despite the close tie. One more question about being a group organizer...do you have the ear of anyone at airbnb or do the groups run entirely autonomously? Based on the lack of engagement in this gem-laden thread, my gut tells me it's the latter. And, just to be clear...I obviously support airbnb or else I wouldn't use the site to let out my home. But, the heavily skewed development energy towards guests is rather very frustrating (and, really...serving the guest experience equates to nearly 100% of the development). There isn't even any sort of feedback loop for hosts to provide feature enhancement requests...an anomaly in the software development space. Your eloquent words explaining to our sycophant friend above details just how this one-sidedness could/will be the proverbial hand that bites. At some point, there will be a (true) competitor that comes along who gives weight to the supply side of the equation and acts responsively. At that point, the momentum of the flock moving over may be too late for airbnb to recover. The solution is very easy...just one marketing director/exec team member need mine through this thread and they will discover a dozen-plus *free* gems that will make the ENTIRE experience so much better. Sigh...../rant
Jacqueline & Dirk
Jacqueline & Dirk2 years ago
Hi Drew
Landlords in Belgium who rent their apartments as is (without services) are not allowed to offer consumable products to their guests, and as such dont need to have a TVA- or business number.
On the other hand, if they want to offer services to their guests (providing consumable products etc.) they become a B&B/Hotel which brings them in a total other tax-situation (real business).
In place of offering soap to to me as a guest, a would rather opt for a small electronic safe in my room so that I can at least feel myself safe in a foreign house...
Reply Like
Ahman
Ahman2 years ago
Funny you should mention feeling safe in a foreign country. HouseTrip is now no longer offering private rooms.
Jacqueline & Dirk
Jacqueline & Dirk2 years ago
Please explain me what you really want to tell me. Tx.
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-48285
Drew
DrewDrew2 years ago
new amenities addition - more (inane) pandering to guests
So, who was the brain that proposed in the most recent marketing meeting..."hey everyone, we should add a field for listings about amenities like clean sheets, TP and soap being offered. Don't you all think this is desperately vague now and going to make the airbnb experience so much better?!"
Holy crap...airbnb spend all their time on the guest end, utterly ignoring the revenue side of the house...us hosts! What about adding some/any of the very valuable/strongly needed/begged for things for us hosts.
airbnb...listen to your hosts too!
7 comments•8 likes
Follow
Like
Jacqueline & Dirk
Alastair
Lester
Louise
Gerda & Finn
+3
more
Rick
Rick2 years ago
While I can empathize with your frustration, & also think the sheets & TP thing is silly...The "revenue" side of the house for airbnb is the guests, NOT the hosts! Yes, they could not exist without us, yadda, yadda---but they earn twice the fees from the guests as they do from us....So, basically, that's where their bread is buttered....
Reply Like 3 replies•3 likes
Glenn
Glenn2 years ago
Hi Rick. With all due respect to your thoughts concerning Airbnb's revenue stream, I think you're missing the importance of the supply chain in the success of Airbnb's business model. Yes there is a significant revenue stream based on Guest transaction fees, but what I think you might be missing is the source for those transactions, the supply of what Airbnb offers -- property listings -- can't sustainably come from anywhere but Hosts. We are Airbnb's commodity and the reason why the company exists. In order to be successful Airbnb must have a supply of Guests and Hosts, consumers and providers. Guests are in the consumer role and will always be in abundance. Nothing qualifies a consumer other than having the means to obtain the good. Conversely Hosts are the providers of the good. Cultivation is necessary. We all know that property listings don't come out of thin air, producing them requires considerable effort and resources. In a sense Airbnb sells what we produce, but if there is no production or no incentive to do so, there is no market activity and therefore no Airbnb.
Rick
Rick2 years ago
Preaching to the choir, Glenn, preaching to the choir---You might want to fill Drew in on how airbnb will thusly address his concerns :-)
Glenn
Glenn2 years ago
Rick, I'm not preaching to anyone. I'm attempting to explain to you how a supply chain works in a two-sided market since it was clear from your original comment that you don't understand the economics of it. I also don't see why you're warming up to Drew. He didn't see the point of your comment either. If you feel your concerns are not being met by Airbnb, you can do two things: attempt to change it or find another provider. But sitting around bitching for no good reason is a waste of everyone's time. And it doesn't do your property listings any favors either.
Drew
Drew2 years ago
So, what's your point Rick? That we should all just conform to the all-powerful airbnb wizard and be thankful for our lot with them?
Well, I am happy to be the black sheep here and speak up about the short-sightedness of airbnb to *always* focus *only* on the guest side. It's asinine. Especially in *key* cities like San Francisco, New York and LA where the landlord "revolt" is taking listings off the market....for good!
If they want to keep generating the revenue they need to go public (and satisfy their hungry investors), airbnb would do better to take (even) a little more care of homeowners like me/you?/others It's a very simple business equation, Rick. If they continue to focus on only the one variable, the other variable regress to zero.
Reply Like 4 likes
Rick
Rick2 years ago
My only point is that they are a giant corporation....& as such, they will act in their own self interest...I worked in NYC for over 20 years for various multi-national behemoths---Airbnb is still in a rapid growth stage...they may go public at some point, but I'm not sure that would be positive for us....we might then have Hilton as an overlord rather than Brian.
What does airbnb do for me? Well, they provide me with an essentially free platform to advertise my listings & regularly credit my bank account with what I would have considered (several years ago) to be insane amounts of cash !! They pretty much leave me to my own devices & allow me to meet really wonderful people from all over the world & exchange ideas with other hosts worldwide....Am I happy with all of the recent developments? well, no, not exactly....but content, yes...I am reasonably content for the time being...
Reply Like 5 likes
Glenn
Glenn2 years ago
Hi Drew, Out of curiosity, do you not provide clean sheets, toilet paper and soap?
Reply Like 3 replies
Drew
Drew2 years ago
Of course I do, Glenn.* Hence the ironic tone. Maybe there's some areas where it is culturally not the norm to provide basic amenities (can think of hostels and backpackers in parts of Asia/Africa, which airbnb is not). My experience on airbnb (both, as a guest and host) is that common courtesy/sense items like clean sheets, TP and soap are ubiquitous within the airbnb culture. As such, the need to make amenities explicit is what I/others take umbrage to. Why waste the few precious UI updates on something utterly unneeded?! Better to use the development resources for truly needed things that have been requested by hosts time and time again (many of which are right here in this thread!). Out of curiosity, being that you're a "group organizer," does that mean you work for airbnb? whether paid or not...please explain your affiliation with airbnb.
Glenn
Glenn2 years ago
Hey Drew, I didn't initially read an ironic tone into your post, but I do understand what you said now that I reread it. As for my affiliation with Airbnb, Group Organizers are not paid. We are Hosts just like you and every other Group Member. Group Organizers do not "work for" Airbnb in a financial or philosophical sense. In other words, I'm not a pro-Airbnb shill. I have posted at length about Airbnb's imperfections as well as things I think Airbnb does well. But my views are my own, not Airbnb's.
Drew
Drew2 years ago
Thanks for outlining your affiliation, Glenn. I respect that that you maintain your own views, despite the close tie. One more question about being a group organizer...do you have the ear of anyone at airbnb or do the groups run entirely autonomously? Based on the lack of engagement in this gem-laden thread, my gut tells me it's the latter. And, just to be clear...I obviously support airbnb or else I wouldn't use the site to let out my home. But, the heavily skewed development energy towards guests is rather very frustrating (and, really...serving the guest experience equates to nearly 100% of the development). There isn't even any sort of feedback loop for hosts to provide feature enhancement requests...an anomaly in the software development space. Your eloquent words explaining to our sycophant friend above details just how this one-sidedness could/will be the proverbial hand that bites. At some point, there will be a (true) competitor that comes along who gives weight to the supply side of the equation and acts responsively. At that point, the momentum of the flock moving over may be too late for airbnb to recover. The solution is very easy...just one marketing director/exec team member need mine through this thread and they will discover a dozen-plus *free* gems that will make the ENTIRE experience so much better. Sigh...../rant
Jacqueline & Dirk
Jacqueline & Dirk2 years ago
Hi Drew
Landlords in Belgium who rent their apartments as is (without services) are not allowed to offer consumable products to their guests, and as such dont need to have a TVA- or business number.
On the other hand, if they want to offer services to their guests (providing consumable products etc.) they become a B&B/Hotel which brings them in a total other tax-situation (real business).
In place of offering soap to to me as a guest, a would rather opt for a small electronic safe in my room so that I can at least feel myself safe in a foreign house...
Reply Like
Ahman
Ahman2 years ago
Funny you should mention feeling safe in a foreign country. HouseTrip is now no longer offering private rooms.
Jacqueline & Dirk
Jacqueline & Dirk2 years ago
Please explain me what you really want to tell me. Tx.