This season has been suppppper slow for us… To the point where we actually have to pay rent 
Looks like it will be picking up in March again but two and a half months where no one is booked sucks!
It’s depend where is your place plus lot more competition in general
NYC but our prices are lower and we have more to offer.
Strangely, I have felt that January is slow but gosh, I have made more money this month than I did in July when I had my “introductory” prices. Two last minute reservations this month, and I have sold every night of the month. This last minute thing is new to me. I have most of February blocked, dreaming of a trip, but I just discovered that my back-up shovel plan has hurt his back, so I suspect we can’t consider any trips. I will see if I can find another backup snow plan, and if not, I will open up those days.
we have people booking spring and summer all out which i love! but no one seems to be traveling in Feb. or at the end of Jan. We had a few last min peeps too but with our prices lowered i expect them to go fast.
I’m booked now but have nothing after March 8.slowdowns are seasonal depending on your location
I’m thinking it’s a combination of high competition and the push with smart pricing. I tried it (smart pricing) for a month but it just got stupid and borderline insulting. I’m not renting out my nice big room for £19 ($23) a night, to hell with that. Hostels charge more than that in my city. Some newbies in my area are charging ridiculously low prices but I’m going to resist reducing my price. Things are picking up a bit for me now since I switched to instant book for anyone. I know. It’s not for everyone but after almost 600 guests I’ve learned that it’s always a gamble. My worst guests have been those that I thought I’d “screened” very well. Having said that, I’m a live-in host so I can keep on top of things all the time. It would be different for off-site hosts, you guys need to screen a lot more thoroughly particularly with big places.
I believe it was the wise K9KarmaCasa who made a thread a while back about the dangers of relying on Airbnb for paying your rent. Very true! You always need to have a back-up plan.
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Yah luckily we both have jobs
This is why one should be careful about thinking you can make a living at Airbnb. That is true for very few. There are a few great threads about that here.
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It has been so slow for me that I am considering going off Airbnb. I had a returning guest tell me that she could not find my listing, even though she was zoomed in on the map, knew the listing name and remembered the picture. Fortunately, she remembered she could still message me through the system.
I only had 2 guests in the entire 4th quarter last year, and the returning guest came two weeks ago. Nothing, nothing at all, no inquiries, barely any views… I don’t know what to do. I’ve changed the title of the listings, switched out the main pictures, edited the text. Other listings in my area are getting bookings. Actually, there are a lot of new listings that seem quite busy. They aren’t as nice as my listing, and they aren’t always cheaper either. There are listings with much better rankings on search that have no reviews from people who have actually stayed - but they have 2 or even 3 auto reviews stating “the host cancelled this booking the day before arrival”. I’m a super host with all 5 star reviews, and it makes me sad that Airbnb does not seem to care that I am doing a good job for them.
My husband works at a large company and we have advertised on the their intranet for longer-term bookings. We might have a summer intern for three months in the white room, which would be awesome. All I want is enough bookings to pay for the investment we made.
It doesn’t help that right now the Houston market is inundated with new listings because of the Super Bowl. There are hundreds of new listings, mostly people who would never do this long term but who are hoping to cash in on the one event. All those listings are showing up at the top of the search.
I’m so glad you posted this because we were wondering if it was us!
We’re on the NJ side of Manhattan and it has been absolutely dead! Normally we’re booked 90% every month. This month we were 48% in one room and 90% in the other. But we were charging less than half for both rooms - so in reality we were booked 24% in one room and 45% in the other!
And still not a single booking for February or March. We have one in April and another in May. And that’s it!
The pricing service I use (usewheelhouse.com), says our competition is booked 44% this month. Which is way, way below normal. Even last January was much better than this.