heathervescent

A Rant on AirBnB Ratings & Pricing

Cross-posted from medium... (you can recommend and comment over there...)

 

I’m an AirBnB host. A “Superhost.” I am also a social scientist that studies and is paid to speak on reputation and the Sharing Economy.

Recently, AirBnB increased the number of questions they ask in their reviews. Especially review of hosts. When you review a host, you go through 4 or 5 screens, asking you about your experience with them, the listing and the neighborhood.

This is a big change.

What is Value?

One of the questions they ask is about the value of the listing. Who decides on the value? Is it based on money? The experience? There is no black and white on value. What I value, someone else might not. Someone might value price, and not consider detailed personalized local information as valuable.

I’m a Superhost. This means I go above and beyond to make my guests feel comfortable and at home in my home — a really special geodesic dome in the Mojave Desert. Not all guests are a good fit for my house. And I am very selective, only accepting reservations from people I think will enjoy, respect and “vibe” with the location.

I’m not AirBnBing for the money. Well, sure, I like the money, because it enables me to make improvements — like plant trees, get better sheets and new pillows, etc. But the point of allowing people to stay in the dome is forthem to share the experience of my house.

So I’m absolutely livid, that AirBnB notifies me, as if it’s a problem, that my last 3 ratings for “Value” have been only 4 stars. Like 4 stars is a problem? Like what the fuck do they mean by “value?”

Apples to what?

I have a premium listing. You want a cheap place to stay? Stay at the Motel 6, or the Hampton Inn and spend $50–80 a night. You want to stay in a Geodesic Dome? Well, there are 4 within a 20 mile area. Sure, camp in one, that’s about $85, no running water. But the other two? They are more than my current summer rate of $150, and my regular rate is right in line with those.

My listing is priced equally or cheaper to all those for the number of people at those other locations, for the amenities, and the design. Additionally, I provide detailed personalized location guidance & recommendations.

Do not dare, compare my property to other listings. Isn’t that the point of AirBnB. Unique listings? Not cookie-cutter hotel rooms? How many of them give 5 pages of local listings, telling them which coffee sucks, and where the best food is?

Unless something is dramatically underpriced, ALL guests are going to ask to pay less and want more. I had BAD experiences with guests when I priced my place too low in the early days. It attracted people who did not take care of my place, and I had damage (that I did not report because you didn’t have damage reporting functionality at the time). I raised my prices in response to these ungrateful, inconsiderate “guests” and the damage the inflicted on my unique property.

Let’s talk about REGULATION

I worked for 15 months to change the local laws and enact regulation to allow AirBnBing LEGALLY in my community while many listings in the Joshua Tree area are ILLEGAL and unpermitted. Still they remain on AirBnB and AirBnB doesn’t check this. I went through the local permitting process to become LEGAL. And I pay local taxes as well.

AirBnB provided no support, no help, no nothing during this process.

Let me state that again.

AirBnB did NOTHING, to help me, and a few other hosts, convince my local City Council to ALLOW — by accepting a new city ordinance permitting short term vacation home rentals. Me and the other locals CHANGED OUR LOCAL LAW by OURSELVES.

AirBnB takes their fee, enabling a global platform, but what do they do to support the local community? How much of their platform is a commons?

Is it valuable that I am legal, that I pay my quarterly TOT tax, back into the community? Would it be more valuable if I had listed illegally with a lower price — what AirBnB might be considering a market price, if they didn’t take into consider the additional community costs like regulation and taxation and the emotional costs like being a good neighbor and showing the city that allowing AirBnB is not going to put the local hotels out of business or there will be an increase in underage drinking at parties hosted at AirBnBs? Or damage that the city has to pay for because some AirBnB guest does… oh, I have no idea what, but that the city would have to pay for, so more insurance to ensure the city won’t have to pay any costs for some possible thing that might go wrong by an AirBnB guest. You’re not paying that cost AirBnB — I am.

Back to value

Who decides what value is? Is it the dollar value? How is the emotional/human experience valued? The value to society? The value to the future? The value to planet earth?

It’s no secret the AirBnB wants to get into the reputation management business. AirBnB collected lots of data about us — user generated reviews.

How will they use their review data?

Will they monetize this data? Selling an AirBnB FICO like reputation score? Who will decide what these FICO like AirBnB ratings mean or how they are puzzled together? Will it be a transparent process? Will there be oversight and regulation?

Both the users and hosts pay a fee to use their service already? How greedy will AirBnB get?

I’m concerned that these additional questions, and this pressure on hosts (like me) to drop my price because of … 3, 4 star value ratings... will have a negative impact on my AirBnB host experience? And ruin or at least minimally dilute my ability to provide the best, most unique experience I can — at the cost of their homogeneity.

How do they come up with their “recommended price?” Are they comparing my listing to other comparable listings — like other unique Geodesic domes with star projectors in the loft, great stereo systems, two fire pits and 5 pages of personalized local directions, restaurant and hike recommendations? I doubt so. I have worked hard to create my listing incomparable. The dollar value is but one small aspect of the entire experience.

—

Finally, I will say, I have hesitated to bring up these criticisms. Who is to say, AirBnB won’t bury my listing, or hasn’t already? I mean, that’s kind of Silicon Valley’s reputation these days. And my trust with AirBnB is eroding.

pps. I would also like to rate AirBnB’s features, and their “releases,” which are frankly too frequent. Can I also rate the product manager who came up with the shitty pricing idea? What about the engineer who introduced a bug that caused me to have a communication error with my host in Melbourne? Where are these ratings AirBnB?

It’s a slippery slope isn’t it?

Expanding Emotional Capacity

I began studying emotions in earnest after my mom died in October of 2012. Up to that point, I thought emotions were messy, illogical and got in the way. I pushed mine down as much as I could. I remember explicitly shutting them off one night when I was 16. I couldn't continue with the intense emotional pain in my life. I could not let myself be hurt anymore. Since I couldn't change much in my life then, I changed myself, eliminating my emotions.

It didn't work. My emotions would come back up anyway - usually in a volcano of expression. Most of the time I managed this privately, but not always.

I have always been criticized for being "too emotional." I hated that criticism. I hated being emotional. I hated myself. Having these problematic emotions. I learned - especially in business - emotions were bad. Except for positive emotions - like passion for the product - that was desired. But don't you dare show a negative emotion.

But, Emotion is Human.

Bruce Schneier said, at his 2015 SxSW talk, "When we interact with machines, data is created." I'd go so far as to say, when anything interacts with a machine, including other machines, data is created. But what happens when you interact with humans?

"When you interact with humans, emotions are created." -moi

It in the year after my mom's death, decades of fermented emotions uncorked. Like a slow hiss of escaping carbonated liquid, they foamed to the top and coagulated in the air of 2013 and 2014. Facing these decades of rawness, I, dove deep into the fetid effervescence. 

It's hard to believe it's 2015 sometimes. Those months from October 2012 till March 2013 burn darkly - fresher than reality.

Earlier this year I interviewed Brenda Laurel. At the end of our two hour conversation she said something I can't stop thinking about. I'll paraphrase. You can listen to her words directly in a few weeks on our upcoming podcast.

"People think technology is the other. But technology is people!" -Brenda Laurel

She goes on to explain that technology is not separate from ourselves, but another aspect. To distinguish it as "the other" is to deny it is part of us.

I was reminded of this the other day, when I was on the phone to change my phone plan. Being frustrated by the robotic voice phone chain. I took a deep breath. This was not a robot. This was a human aspect - the technology so limited, it required me to modify myself.

How much more pleasant it was to interact with the human man through the technology. If I pulled back perspective, I was talking to myself, helping myself - with technology and other humans. It was kind of amazing!

Technology today lacks emotional touch points. That will change. It is already changing. It's this change that drives my interest in wearable technology - some of the most intimate technology we have available to us today. And it's why I did an interview series on the Future of Wearables. 

As technology becomes better at emotional interactions, we humans will expand our emotional capacity. We've already augmented our logical intelligence. Emotions are next.

Women in STEAM

I love thinking about unintended consequences. One side-effects of thinking radically different, is my ability to see through exponential growth predictions and around the corners of typical future visions. I've had women, science and relationships on my mind.

Increasing Women in STEAM. How will this change the world?

The typical thinking is that we need more women in these areas for equality and job growth. But it's not just about job growth or equality. There will be results we have not considered, that will ripple through the sciences and society.

Women think and work in a fundamentally different way.

I had a fascinating conversation with Epiphany Jordan a few weeks ago. She has some interesting perspectives on money and relationships. I'll post our interview soon. What struck me was this comment on relationships.

"Women used to need men for financial support. Now that women are financially independent, they want male relationships that give emotional support. Women want a partner. Men want a girlfriend or wife. But many men do not have the emotional capacity to give that emotional support."

What does this have to do with women in STEAM? 

As women increase in population in STEAM careers, I believe we'll see an increase in collaboration and cooperation. We haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg on this.

Additionally, we'll see an increasing demand for male emotional maturity and emotional availability - and women in STEAM will build technology to facilitate this.

How could this play out? Read this scenario from the UME project. (snippet below).

In 2050…
Emily is now 48 years old and CEO of Empathech, a technology company that creates implants for the male gender. Created as a start-up at the beginning of the last decade, Empathech is the leading supplier of the empathy device that is commonly implanted in boys when they reach puberty. It has become a right of passage—a ceremonial practice—that all families of stature recognize. At 9 years old, Emily’s son will soon have the privilege of getting his empathy device. There will be celebration in the community as is customary. It’s an important stage in his life that will ensure he finds a good wife to provide for him in the future.

It's simplistic to say gender roles are reversing. They aren't. 

Inside ourselves are male and female characteristics. Women have come a long way in the recent past - gaining "equality" - which I interpret as understanding, owning and being recogonized for traditionally male characteristics. Basically, women are mostly able to express both female and male characteristics in society.

Men, however, can not. Part of this challenge is that society generally judges male characteristics as strong and female characteristics as weak. This creates friction for men, being judged as weak for emotional strength and maturity - what you could define as emotional strength. To be competitive, men must appear strong. Society makes it hard for men to be sensitive and masculine. Quite a catch-22.

A consequence of women in STEAM?

• Increased ccollaboration and cooperation.

And an unintended consequence of women in STEAM?

• An increased demand for/technical ability for male emotional maturity, which translates to more equality for both genders. 

Relationships with Strangers

My friend, over at Karuna Sessions, sent me a great article from the NY Times about interactions with strangers, called Hello Stranger.

Even fleeting glances can make a difference. Many of us have had the experience of what the Germans call “wie Luft behandeln” (“to be looked at as though air”). The social norm of avoiding eye contact seems harmless, but it might not be. In an experiment conducted at a large Midwestern university, a college-age woman walked by people on campus and either made eye contact, smiled at them while making eye contact, or directed her gaze “beyond the ear of the passer-by,” deliberately avoiding eye contact. She was trailed by another researcher, who surveyed people in her wake. Those who were looked at as though they weren’t there reported feeling more disconnected from others.

Simply acknowledging strangers on the street may alleviate their existential angst; and being acknowledged by others might do the same for us. 

It reminded me of a practice I started several years ago when I walked my dog. My neighborhood is populated with many retired Russian/Ukrainian ex-pats who came to LA in the 80s. I often seen couples, or groups of women taking a morning or evening stroll. I noticed that many appeared afraid of my dog. I started out by smiling at them when we passed each other on the sidewalk, and now I often say hello to them when I pass. Today, sometimes I see grandmothers pushing strollers or sitting and waiting for a ride, I will stop and say hello. Sometimes they say hello and pet Mr Dog. And I have even noticed a few now have little dogs of their own on the evening walk.

This makes me so happy. 

When I go out and say hello to these constant neighborhood strangers, I always feel better. I might walk out the door feeling sad or frustrated - and this evaporates with these interactions. It's nice to see some science behind it. 

How Tech Will Change your Love Life

George Dvorsky at io9 has a great interview with me on How Tech Will Actually Change your Love Life. Check it out!

Our technologies are rapidly evolving, and with it, the very nature of our personal lives. Here's how the era of tech-enabled intimacy will forever change the way we go about forming and maintaining relationships.

One person who's given this topic considerable thought is Heather Schlegel. She's an award winning futurist and social scientist who investigates changes in technology, culture,transactions and money, relationships, and intimacy. I contacted Schlegel to get her take on the future of human intimacy and the role that technology will play.

 

Future of Enhanced Intimacy

Think technology is tearing us apart? WRONG.

[W]hat I discovered in the course of my reporting was something quite different. As traditional family structures are falling apart for working-class men, many of them are forging new kinds of relationships: two old high-school friends who chat so many times a day that they need to buy themselves walkie-talkies; a father who texts his almost-grown sons as he goes to bed at night and as he wakes up in the morning.

Christians often talk about a “God-shaped hole,” a need inside us that can be filled only by faith. But perhaps we share a “family-shaped hole.” When the old structures recede for men, they find ways to replace them with alternative attachments, bonds with one or two people that offer the warmth and intimacy typically provided by a wife or significant other. If anything, these improvised families can prove more intense because they are formed under duress and, lacking a conventional domestic routine or a recognized status, they must be constantly tended and reinforced.

 From this Atlantic article: Murder by Craigslist

What's interesting about this, is the technology that facilitates these intimate familiar relationships. Based on my recent research on the Future of Intimacy, this is going to happen more and more. I think this is a GREAT thing, so my team and I have submitted a panel to SXSW to share our findings.

The New Age of Technology Enhanced Intimacy

As the technology becomes a natural augmentation of our physical relationships, virtual interactions are becoming less of a substitute for physical proximity and rather a mechanism to extend and augment intimacy (play/engagement/closeness) between humans and machines. 

Humans are drawn to create and sustain intimate connections with each other. This goes beyond a partner sex bond and includes close friends, family and work colleagues. Technology will increasingly facilitate and strengthen these deep human emotional bonds. 

These deep intimate connections are not limited to human to human subjects. Technology will also facilitate deep connection with machines, computers, devices and sensors embedded in our world.

We'll answer these questions

1. How is technology is increasing human intimacy and connection?
2. What is the technology facilitating human to human and human to machine intimacy today?
3. What technology can we expect to facilitate human to human and human to machine intimacy in the near future?
4. What are the implications of increased intimacy through technology use? For couples/individuals? For groups/communities? For machines? For our world?
5. Why is an increased literacy of technology facilitated intimacy important to solve today's wicked problems and save the world?

Our all-star team includes

• Heather Schlegel The Purple Tornado
• Carl Hastrich Biomimicry Institute
• Zahra Ebrahim archiTEXT
• Karen Oikonen Kerr Smith Design

If you're interested in this topic, please vote to support the topic. 

The Future of Intimacy

This summer I kicked off a new domain of research with 3 colleagues in Toronto: The Future of Intimacy.

As the virtual becomes a natural augmentation of our physical relationships, how will virtual interactions become less of a substitute for physical proximity and rather a mechanism to extend and augment intimacy (play/engagement/closeness) in 2050?

To show a vision of this future, we created a company: UME; which was founded in 2025.

UME is the leading company in emotion extension technology. At UME, we connect how you feel with your loved ones.

UME offers two products that facilitate deep connection with loved ones. EMP-CONNECT and INLINE.

While we envisioned positive ways to use this technology, including an increase in emotional literacy; we explored the dark side of complete mind-melding. 

And other scenarios share more possibilities, like a general overview of this world, an empathic high school and a feminist perspective. 

These scenarios show a vision of what the future could be. How could this world become a reality? We created a Backcast to show plausible events happening in the next 37 years that could lead to this reality. 

While we can't say for certain that this vision will happen, the technology and trends of today lead us to this vision. The value of this work is in how it makes you think about this topic. Is this a future you want to live in? What things about this future are exciting and pull you toward it? Which items about this future concern you?

Without a vision of the future to step into and experience, we can't explore these questions. The answers to these questions changes the way we interact in the present, and this, in turn, changes the future.