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Post by Maria Lurdes (Milu) on Mar 14, 2016 15:15:03 GMT
I also changed my settings to de-select Family Friendly, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to disable Instant Book yet....
I'll have to keep an eye on what's happening and adjust the game plan as things move along.
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Post by Maria Lurdes (Milu) on Mar 14, 2016 16:27:03 GMT
Thanks Andrew, good reminder about my three get-out-jail cards to hold for emergencies. I haven't been on Facebook for years as I didn't want to have my "work" persona to mix with my personal one, but I guess that's something I'll have to deal with. I will probably sign up for a new facebook account and get my comments noted there. Whatever action that should be taken, I'm in!
I've also updated my Instant Book message to indicate that my places are not suitable for anyone under 3 as there is no childproofing of any kind, and that I require all guests, regardless of age, to be noted. I know that's the heart of the problem - that the numbers aren't flowing through, but hopefully I'll at least be able to give any potential family guests a heads up. Thankfully I don't have that many people using Instant Book without at least some messaging back and forth, so hopefully I'll be able to sniff things out.
I'm also going to be very careful in my guest correspondence generally and try and anticipate any potential family guests. Oy.
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Post by helgaparis on Mar 14, 2016 20:41:13 GMT
I deselected IB from the one listing that had it - just when I start to appreciate the feature. None of my places was declared family friendly anyway but no I will donate the foldable baby bed in Sète and like to have a Toddler-hostile button.
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Post by helgaparis on Mar 22, 2016 0:09:13 GMT
That sounds somewhat helpless to me. Make your listing as offputting for kids as you can and hope that normal people will still book. Don't say that you don't wish kids as your listing became public housing over night and you can't discriminate against kids. If someone books and arrives with a toddler - they will ad nobody reads - you can cancel, have an empty space and we have a furious guest on the street. A loose loose situation. If you take them in, you can tell them that you would have asked for a higher price per special offer had you known. As they did tell but the system gobbled it up, they will not be pleased. - can we dtill offer a booking change for more expensive or would that contradict the No Extorsion rule?
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Post by High Priestess on Mar 22, 2016 3:42:53 GMT
Thanks so much Andrew for working in this with your ticket to CX.
the response you received makes me angry as it seems disingenuous of Airbnb to simultaneously state that hosts who don't want infants should state this as clearly as possible in their listing, yet at the same time acknowledge that the law in many places including, as far as I'm aware , the entire United States , does not allow you to make such statements in your advertising for housing !!
The result seems it could force hosts to accept infants.
Hence hosts who want to actually retain control over who stays at their home will need to get creative.,
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Post by High Priestess on Mar 22, 2016 4:13:25 GMT
I suggest hosts state in their listing description that guests must tell them if they plan to bring infants.
State not only that guests must disclose this but that if they do not disclose this they will be turned away at the door and the reservation will not be honored .
Then once guests disclose this hosts can decide whether (1) they want to accept the infant at no charge or (2) whether they will charge for the infant ---and by the way I say you can charge for the infant even if Airbnb says you cannot I don't think that they can legally require you to not charge for somebody who is Going to be staying at your home. Or (3) they want nothing to do with these guests, particularly if guests are quoting Airbnb and demanding to bring infants at no charge. The whole preschool full of them.
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Post by lambada on Mar 22, 2016 14:20:52 GMT
Thank you Andrew and Deborah. I have modified my house rules. It sounds really silly to me that Airbnb would hide this important info to the hosts while making it available to guests. I wonder if this is a just yet another bug in their system but they were too clueless to admit it.
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Post by CathyH on Mar 23, 2016 14:44:31 GMT
Thankyou Andrew - and to all others on this thread. I have some reservation about writing in my listing that 'all babies, infants and children must be disclosed' as it suggests that I accept them - which I don't. Guests are getting very mixed messages already (I discovered this myself when travelling as a guest - as I completed the final screen when booking myself and husband into a place with max 2, not family friendly, said no pets, was invited to enter the number of children, infants, pets etc, with the reassurance that the pets and <3s didn't 'count'!) ...This change in policy sort of explained why a recent enquirer for my place asked whether I could borrow/hire a cot and high chair on their behalf for their 18 month old, who hadn't featured in their booking request in any case, and let me know that they'd need a stair gate .....I couldn't understand why they thought they could bring their infant when my listing so clearly says they can't.....I declined politely but firmly, and was glad we'd entered into some chatty email exchange before they pitched up with their child tucked under their arm. So, not only are hosts enraged about all this, but airbnb is really pissing off their customers by suggesting more than the true offer. I've attached a shot from a Facebook post from earlier today - seems like the powersthatairbnb aren't getting the message. This really has gone in long enough and needs sorting, but I don't know what more we can do or say - I've emailed, posted, tweeted etc and yes, my 'feedback is valued and will be passed on'. Yeah......? Not quickly enough it seems ?
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Post by Maria Lurdes (Milu) on Mar 24, 2016 21:13:20 GMT
Hey Cathy, I also don't exactly want to have that phrase well suggested by Andrew, but I've used it. I also don't want to have to sacrifice Instant Book in order to prevent this, so right now I'm playing it a bit by ear. Even though I have IB, most of my guests actually have some engagement prior to booking, so hopefully I can continue to ask questions and do a bit more screening.
I really, really cannot fathom how/why this was done. One thing to say that kids under three are free- that's already a big issue. But to not even include them in the guest count seems very odd, and poorly considered.
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Post by High Priestess on Mar 28, 2016 7:10:05 GMT
In order to address the issue that Andrew mentions here: There are still some problems, though. Guests would reasonably assume that the drop-down menu enumerating the infants counts as disclosure (hence the "in writing"); they can't possibly know that this is not transmitted to the hosts. That can be especially problematic with Instant Book guests, who might not exchange any written correspondence with hosts prior to arrival. I think that it would help, when you mention in your house rules that ALL guests must be disclosed in advance --- including children and infants -- and I suggest asking for full names and ages of all guests to be stated -- to indicate VERY CLEARLY in your statement, that even though guests may have already filled out a form with Airbnb about number of guests, Airbnb does NOT pass this info on to the host. This will help educate guests about the problem that hosts are having with Airbnb in this regard.
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Post by Olivier François on Mar 28, 2016 21:44:30 GMT
Hi everybody, since the last android app update on saturday, free baby fees policy have been removed and doesn't appear anymore while booking through the app. They also removed the distinction between adults, childs and baby.
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Post by High Priestess on Mar 28, 2016 21:48:59 GMT
Thanks for the update, Olivier! That sounds promising -- is it possible Airbnb saw the folly in shoving tots on hosts, and trying to sneak them into hosts' homes, at no charge? What, I no come free any more???
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Post by CathyH on Mar 30, 2016 9:37:23 GMT
Hey folks - look what appeared on my screen today when updating my listing......
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Post by patricia on Mar 30, 2016 20:43:01 GMT
That's excellent news. It seems this feature hasn't been rolled out to all countries. I tried three different browsers on two computers and I still only have the Try Instant Book option. Hopefully this will be rolled out soon for everybody.
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