All my guests love my house, and me....but hate my neighborhood.

[Invisible0]

So...I have a house in downtown Atlanta. Close to all the main attractions.  Unfortunately, downtown Atlanta means "the hood".  I state in my ad, CLEARLY, that it's a rough area, and it's surrounded by abandonded buildings (housing crisis) and homelessness.  I only started in January as a host, and I'm booked every day through the end of May....but I have no shot of being a superhost...or even maintaining a 4.0.  My reviews are basically, "He's a nice guy and the house is in a great location....BUT...the neighborhood sucks." Then I'm rated a 4...or 3....and even a 2.  AirBNB, emails me telling me to get my rating higher, and even cut my listing 3 times.  Every time I call, they tell me I'm getting great reveiws....but still.....try harder.  WTF am I suppose to do to the 8 mile stretch of properties around me???  My last guest left telling me how much she loved the place and even wanted to extend the rental..... then she gave me a 3 on the ratings...which is kind of like complimenting me, then insulting me.  

So...long story short, is AirBNB just going to terminate me completely?  Because I'm close to publibly replying to these comments with "But...did you die?!?!"

[David126]

I tend to agree with everybody else,  discrimination can come in many forms and if you are discriminating against people who live in poor areas often it has a racial component.

I forget the term, but if location is being used as another term for minority as it often seems to be then it is still discrimination even if you call it something else.

[Invisible0]

Thanks again all of you!  Ok, I took off instant booking....and added more pictures of the neighborhood.  I highlighed that it's Martin Luther King's neighborhood....I highlighted an urban farm...put up a picture of the former president visiting a famous college near me...and even added the grafiti shot!  Oh....and an overhead map showing the neighborhood.    I don't know if we can post links or not... but http://www.corporatebrokers.com/ (This is the kind of companies that ask me to house their business people).  I did not know that wasn't allowed.  I figured.... that federal agents would feel the most safe.  

On another note...I tend to not contribue to community boards, because they always seem to just be people bickering...but you guys are incredibly helpful and I hope somone from the Airbnb staff sees this.  

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

You SEE???  @Invisible0, I'm gonna go check out your new digs in a minute.  I can't wait.  And I'll write again with an honest opinion.  🙂  PS - I sent you a private message.  Did you see it?

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

You hit it out of the park, @Invisible0.  Love, love, love the graffiti and the caption.  😉  The photo montage with the kids, crops, fabulous.  Mitchell's house, Dr. King's house, POTUS' photo... you are showing that HOTlanta (ha ha ha.... that got you five stars right there) is more than high foreclosures and short sales.  You should be very proud of yourself.

Change the title.  You gotta get the urban experience in there somehow, or at least incorporate it into your text.

Also, you have one section that starts off with "you'll be safe" or something to that effect.  Move that sentence to the end of the paragraph.  You want to sell the vision, not the fear.

I know you don't hang out in the forums but please promise you'll stay in touch and let me know how it's going.  It's been a pleasure to "meet" you.  Wishing you nothing but the very, very best!

Wendy from ChiTown

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

You can turn your Instant Booking back on now, if you'd like.  🙂

[Invisible0]

Just changed the name!!! Hope you like!

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

Perfect!  😉

[Jeanne7]

great !!!

[Heather168]

I just had two college kids stay with me and were shocked by my "suburban"* home (in a neighborhood of homes ranging from 550k - 850k) So EVEN THEY gave me a low rating due to the area.  REALLY!?

*Suburban = Their words

They made a bad choice on where to go for spring vay-cay and wound up in a place like momma's house where I had them turn down the music, TV , ask them to not block my driveway and then to stop smoking pot in the house. So I get dinged on location and value (which was because they couldn't afford the location either..ugh)

I wish there was a way to work with AirBNB on these issues that are out of host's control yet impact thier listings. 

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

@Heather168, did they look like this?

[Heather118]

I was having issues with people commenting about our location, I made sure that it was well reflected in our listing. After changing some of the fancy wording to something a bit more blunt, I achieved superhost status and am often booked with guests regularly.

[Paul154]

Wow Nicholas,

I just read your reviews, spacifically the most recent one from Lia.

OMG, you must be reelng! How passive aggresive is this:

"Host is sooo nice. I'll say this to his face and to the whole world. But because I didn't get what I wanted, I will deny him a valid occupation and earning by broadcasting the fact that I didn't READ his description and so must warn everyone".

So sorry for you Nicholas. I hope you can get past this awful feeling.

For commiseration try reading:

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/Passive-agressive-ways-of-long-term-guests-share-and-how-do-yo...

Your work is cut out for you. You must change things to get rewarded more than punished.

1. Raise your rates.  You need to discriminate against people who can't read and who don't care to read. You want people who take more care in booking your place. Although it is ironic and not intuitive, charging people more makes them take more care.

2. Streamline your description with "Close to ALL downtown attractions."

3. Put in your main description explanation of watchman and security.

4. Lightly describe your neighborhood "urban" in the main description.

BTW your selfie smile is so big and great!

[Michael427]

Dude, you're a SUPERHOST right now!!!

I'm a superhost in a nice area in Metro Detroit. I can tell you what I going thru is unreal. 

Please keep in mind: What you doing is what you want. You providing honest shelter to

strainghers and these people don't apreciate it in the same way. Keep on going, make your $$$

and don't worry about the Superhost status. It doesn't give you any good back.

You love what you doing. and that should be it. 

Call me any time if you need to two 4 8 seven 0 three 5 five neine 0.

Greetings from the D

You do a great job at a great place, man. Keep on going and enjoy your $$$ you make

hope to see you on one day,  Michael

[Tim-and-Holly0]

@Michael427: Have to totally disagree about Superhost doesn't give you any good back. We have received numerous bookings because we are Superhosts. It does improve your booking opportunities. ...And the occassional gift is not too bad either.

[Mindy15]

@Invisible0

My listing has the very same issue. My neighbor who owns the property to the east of me has a huge abandoned home sitting there to rot (something that I definitely have no control over). It hasn't hurt my reviews up until recently; I had one guest who wouldn't consider staying at my home because of the "creepy" house next door and said that it made her feel unsafe, then proceeded to leave 1 star reviews even though she didn't even enter my house. It seemed unfair that she would review my home based off of my neighbors, who are in reality very decent people that simply have poor taste in property management. SO I have a similar question to yours - How am I to help my guests feel welcome and comfortable when my neighbor has a weird house?