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458. Hosting Hotline: Can I Still Use StayFi with Airbnb’s New Rules?
Introduction and Welcome
Sarah Karakaian: [00:00:00] [00:01:00] Hello, welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian
Annette Grant: I’m Annette grant, and together we are Thanks for Visiting, and this is the hosting hotline.
Sarah Karakaian: If you wanna get your hosting questions answered here on the hosting hotline every single Tuesday on the podcast, go hosting hotline.com, ask your question, and we’re gonna answer it the podcast. And just like today, we don’t have the best for you, we will go to our network and get the best answer for you. So hosting hotline.com, ear mark it, book mark it, ask your questions. It’s one of my favorite things to do is hear is swimming in your brains and seeing how we can help you.
Listener Question from Natasha
Sarah Karakaian: Today we have a question from Natasha.
Hosting Hotline Caller: Annette and Sarah. My name is Natasha and I have listened to every single episode of the Thanks for Visiting podcast Since episode one, I. [00:02:00] Also had the pleasure of joining the TFE Bootcamp several months ago. My question is in regard to the most recent Airbnb off platform and fee transparency policy.
One section in particular that had me concerned states that hosts are prohibited from quote, selling, sharing, or using guest contact information for communications or signing guests up for contact list. It very much sounds like Airbnb is going directly after stay fight, which I know is a partner product that you use and recommend.
Am I understanding the Airbnb rules correctly in that hosts are no longer allowed to collect guest emails and phone numbers when they arrive at their property and log into the wifi? You two have a much stronger relationship with Airbnb and I feel that you have a better grasp of what this means for other hosts.
Thank you.
Sarah Karakaian: Such a great question, Natasha, and [00:03:00] bless you for listening to every episode since episode
Annette Grant: I.
Sarah Karakaian: Annette’s that’s speechless. Natasha, that doesn’t happen often.
Annette Grant: I know. It just made me a day my, I’m probably tearing up to be honest.
Aw. ’cause very sweet. But not only did she say she listened to all of our podcast episodes, she joined our bootcamp in January. So Natasha, hopefully you’re getting ready to join our next bootcamp. Yeah, we will see you again.
Sarah Karakaian: We’re gonna plug it because you all need to be there. Unless you are a pricing and calendar management,
Annette Grant: you still need to be there.
Sarah Karakaian: You you’re need to be there. out. Gotta brush up the skills. It’s thanks for visiting.com/bootcamp. And January when Natasha joined us, it was the, uh. It was a listing audit bootcamp. This time it’s our priced profitable bootcamp. And what you get is five days over four trainings. You to put aside for you to on [00:04:00] your pricing skills and your calendar management skills, especially with going on today. You need to make sure that your asset, your short term rental, is making as much money as it possibly can, and you can only do that by optimizing your pricing and your calendar management. Through revenue management. So that’s what we’re gonna teach. So Natasha, we hope to see you there, but let’s answer your question. Here’s what I’m gonna tell you. I had my own opinions, and we will, we’ll dive into those a little bit. Uh, but first decided to go to the source.
Annette Grant: So the founder, the c, the founder, and o of state,
Sarah Karakaian: Yes. has recorded response for you, Natasha, and we’re gonna let him, we’re gonna play it right now.
Airbnb Policy Clarification by Stayfi CEO
Arthur with Stayfi: Hey natasha, this is Arthur Colker, the founder and CEO Offi, and thank you for your great question regarding Airbnb’s off platform and fee transparency policy. It is [00:05:00] important to note that underneath the language that you read, Airbnb then lays out a series of exceptions to those rules, and those exceptions include that after a booking, you can ask a guest to confirm the best way to stay in communication with them, and that guests are allowed to request an alternative means of communication.
So in our opinion, that includes letting the guest opt in on our splash pages and in other tools for email and text marketing, and that way we’re always having guests opt in and request this new method of communication, which both keeps us in compliance with Airbnb’s rules as well as email marketing rules in general, both in the United States, Canada, as well as other jurisdictions like the European Union and uk.
We’re always making sure that guests are opting into these communications to ensure that we’re in compliance with all relevant rules on different OTAs and in different jurisdictions. I hope that answers your [00:06:00] question. I’ll also just let you know that this policy is not part or one that changed. This is exactly the same policy that Airbnb had before they updated other sections of the policy, mainly around payments and security deposits. Thanks again for your question, and best of luck in your short-term rental journey.
Sarah Karakaian: Thank you, Arthur for. Helping clarify this for everyone. Annette and Meek everyone listening.
Hosts’ Perspective and Advice
Sarah Karakaian: Here’s what I can tell you, Natasha, Annette and I are about to open up a glamping site and you believe Stayfi is at the core of us building our email list and our marketing communications for that location, for that business of ours, and we’re gonna continue to use it in our short term rental uh, Metro Properties here in downtown Columbus, because, like arthur pointed out, Natasha, when guests show up, they can opt in and if they don’t wanna in, fine too. They don’t have to. And that’s the wonderful part [00:07:00] about stayfi and Arthur so diligent about making sure that we are compliant not only with the OTAs, but also with email sending in general, everyone. You send out an email to a guest, and this is why you really need an email service provider, like stay I to communicate with because there uh, guardrails that we respect when marketing anybody and stay. I helps us do that right within their platform.
Annette Grant: And I just want to let Natasha know and all of the hosts out there that with the upcoming changes, this is exactly what you should be doing is going through, um, your entire listing, what’s in compliance, what can be improved, what haven’t you looked at in a while.
So I think we should all take these upcoming changes as a time to just regroup, buckle back in and get focused. ’cause I know sometimes, [00:08:00] um, our listings, even our SOPs, the way we run our property kind of get on autopilot. So I think it’s just We can owe a little thank you of like, wait, we need to go back and make sure, like how we accepting all of the payments? How are we having people opt in to, um, any sort of communication with us? So I think it’s just a, a good, um, spring cleaning for everyone.
Sarah Karakaian: Good Natasha, for being on top of it and asking questions. I wanna commend you for pausing and. And making sure, because for lot of hosts, airbnb is a main revenue driver bringing us a majority of guests. And if that’s where you’re at, you need to make sure that you compliant with all of their policies. But the sa at the same time, it’s like how do we. Strengthen our direct booking. Uh, and stay? is such a great way. To do that, and you better believe that arthur is going to work hard to make sure that he is working alongside the [00:09:00] OTAs, keeping us compliant. But it is still very early on recording of this it’s still, uh, the end april, 2025. These go into may 10th and like a lot of Airbnb policies changes happen. So depending on when you’re listening this, make that everything has remained the same, nothing has changed. Do own due diligence. We’ll be here for you along the way.
Conclusion and Resources
Sarah Karakaian: Again, it’s hosting hotline.com if you have a hosting question. Also, if are Stayfi curious, we’ve been using them for years. We love company. Uh, we love, they help keep us compliant for all marketing efforts. Go to stayfi.com/tfv you want to find out more. Plus we have a great 50% offer for you there. ’cause we want you to able to test out, see if it, if it works for you, um, and you get 50% off your first three months.
With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.
Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant, and together we are Thanks for Visiting. [00:10:00]
