¶ Introduction and Welcome
Hello, welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.
I'm Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for Visiting and this is the Hosting Hotline.
You wanna get your hosting questions answered here on the hosting hotline. All you have to do is go to hostinghotline.com, ask your question, and we'll answer it on a Tuesday podcast episode. These episodes are so much fun, and today we have a question that's probably on the top of a lot of your minds from Colby.
¶ Listener Question from Colby
Hi ladies. It's Colby from Humble Abode. We host properties in Standford and Tambourine in Brisbane, in uh, Australia. Uh, my question for you today is in relation to the Airbnb new policies. Um, we've always sent out a, our final message is to request a positive review and also to ask for future stays if they would book direct.
Um, I just wasn't sure if this was considered acceptable being it is post the guest staying with us or whether or not this is now against the Airbnb policy and would love to hear your thoughts on it. Thanks for all your help. Uh, enjoyed the last bootcamp. Look forward to the next one.
Love that you were a bootcamp attendee, Colby
And Colby, you showed up and you showed up on all the VIP calls, and I'm feeling like there's a 12 hour time difference. So you had some dedication. Uh, if you don't know what Colby is chatting about, we host camps throughout the year. We would love everyone to join. They always have an amazing topic. It's what we know host need to be diving into at that time. So be on the lookout, um, this year for our next bootcamp, Colby. Oh,
you can go to thanksforvisiting.com/bootcamp and get on the wait list.
Okay. There you go. I like it.
¶ Discussing Airbnb's New Policies
Colby, you there was one thing in here and we're just gonna speak to it. You said you message guests after their stay. Message was a little, uh, vague. Vague. We are going to as assume that the message is via the Airbnb app, via Airbnb messaging. If it is Airbnb messaging, we are going to tell you no, we would not put book direct with us next time because that is still their reservation. When I say their, Airbnb, that the guest booked on their platform.
Then you are asking them to book another one off platform. We would tell you if it is a Airbnb message, do not do that. I would actually remove that messaging asap.
Yeah. And
the review, yes, you can ask for the review,
but it has, it cannot be an off platform review on the Airbnb platform. So, Colby, to be crystal clear, if you use Airbnb's software, if you use their messaging system, you cannot talk about anything direct booking, anything review other than Airbnb review, which you really don't have to do. You can tell them that you'd like them to leave a five star review, but it, it would have to be via Airbnb's review, which they're gonna ask the guests to do that anyway.
So I think if you're gonna send that message, it should be curated around a five star review and if they have any feedback for you, that's constructive to send it to you directly via the airman messaging. But what I wanna tell you, Colby, is that's actually nothing new. You've really never been allowed to.
You've been towing a really tight line. Everyone, Colby,
Everyone has been, but Airbnb is tighten things up. Now it's,
they're making it crystal clear.
Yes.
No. None of that.
¶ Alternative Communication Methods
But here's where people get confused is that if you, once the guest books, and if you ask the guest if they would prefer a different way of communicating. Hi guests. Thanks so much for booking. If you'd like to communicate in a way other than the Airbnb messaging platform, IE text message, phone call, email, WhatsApp, just let us know. We're happy to communicate with you however you see fit. They might say the Airbnb messaging platform, which is great.
Then you have to abide by the rules of not talking about direct booking via Airbnb's provided software. But if they say to you that they would like you to text them or to call them WhatsApp or to email, email WhatsApp them. Via those
carrier pigeon
via those platforms. You cannot change that existing reservation to be a direct booking still. And you cannot change a future booking if it's already booked to a direct booking. But you could offer them
wait, change a future booking If it's on Airbnb,
yes.
Okay.
If it's already booked on Airbnb. But if the guest has not yet booked a stay and they're in your message, them off platform. They've opted into a different way of messaging. They, they've told, they've given you permission that you can do, that, you could share with them your direct booking information.
¶ Marketing Strategies for Hosts
So, and this is why when, you know, people have all these questions about StayFi, which is a way that people can collect guest information once they're in your property
with their approval,
with their app. That's the thing with consent,
with their consent.
So StayFi knows how to remain compliant. And they ask the guest, may we send you marketing materials? And if they say yes, then, then it's great.
And that's really the way we want to offer everyone to kind of foolproof. Because even in the messaging, whatever that messaging may be, the chances of the guest going back to that. I mean, they might've in the Airbnb, but we're not gonna do that anymore. Um, but in their email you can market to them. Over and over and over again instead of, you know, trying, trying to, I know some people try to do the like Merry Christmas or happy holidays through every guest that they've had.
It's like, just let's get a true marketing campaign and invite that guest back. And Colby, you can have that messaging in your property also.
Mm-hmm.
You know, so I think it's even not, I think, I know it's even a stronger marketing play to have that invitation in the home where they're seeing it throughout their stay.
Right.
Not just one message after they've left.
Right. Like maybe some sort of either physical or digital welcome book. Mm-hmm. Or you might have a little framed QR code that says book direct for 10% off, or, you know, whatever you want to, to say to the guest. You could do that in your property. Also, Airbnb says you cannot withhold anything that's a part of the stay in exchange for guest information. So you can't make them download an extra app. You can't make them give you information to give them the next part of their stay.
Everything has to be booked within the reservation on Airbnb. If they came to you through Airbnb and everything that you promise that will come with that reservation and rate feed any upsells that you've already made to them via the Airbnb platform, you can't withhold from them anything else to make their stay complete.
¶ Final Advice and Conclusion
And Colby, I just wanna share, if it seems gray, I would not do it. Yeah. You know, like if you're question, I'm glad you called in and asked because this is, this is a very like stake in the ground no, do not do that. But if you're thinking like, Ooh, this might be on the edge, I would not do it because, and I wanna offer this to everyone. You're probably like, oh, but who's checking the Airbnb messages? Well, AI is, mm-hmm. AI is checking and combing through each and every message.
So they're gonna start to see hosts that are doing, and that's probably why we got to this point anyways. But please, like, know, that you're not gonna outsmart them. So if it seems, if it seems a little gray, let's keep it black and white and Colby hard no on that um, book direct in the, in the Airbnb messages to your guest.
All right. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian. I'm Annette Grant,
and together we are. Thanks for Visiting.
Talk to you next time.