For the last year we have been consistently renting out 3 rooms in a unique warehouse space in downtown LA. We started to notice a decrease in bookings. When I searched for our listings I saw that it’s not so easy to find anymore. We have over 200 fantastic reviews are a suoerhost and have fair prices but we have had to drop them more to get noticed. I’m pretty certain the plus program has affected the space. Basically being a superhost doesn’t really matter anymore it looks like it’s been trumped by the paid advertising of the Plus program. Our entire listing was invited to join early on but I declined, since we prefer to rent out the rooms. The individual units have not been invited. Has anyone else noticed this???
I think in marketing terms, it is difficult to isolate one factor and put your troubles at the door of it.
There may be more competitors in your market.
If you are in the U.S. you will almost certainly being experiencing a drop in overseas visitors due to what is commonly called 'the Trump affect.
Again in marketing terms you should never rely on one marketing channel. Think about what you can do to market your listing directly - develop a marketing plan. And get yourself your own website and social media channels so you can accept direct bookings
Are you listed with all the listing companies that are relevant for your market, if not research them and add those that work for you.
I am in the travel industry.
I am a liberal fyi.
There was NO “trump affect” afterall.
The international visitor statistics were released this past week at the industry’s national convention in AZ , and surprisingly our international visitors to the USA has increased and not decreased in the past year.
Yes- a surprise to me and many others…but the facts and numbers are there.
Just providing insight to a confusing issue and one that is misquoted. Not trying to cause any confrontation or political discussion. Just travel stats.
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Yes while as Helsi says you can’t pinpoint one thing, I feel the exact same way. The Plus Listings come up first and I’m quite sure they’re affecting us. We are similar to you wth over 200 reviews, superhost, all our star ratings appear a solid 5, but we are definitely slow!!
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My listing went Plus sometime in October of this year. I still think it’s too early to assess the impact of ABNB+, but I have been surprised by my December bookings, especially since it’s the coldest month of the year.
I don’t know if the increase is based on being ABNB+ , Holiday traffic, more hosting experience, &/or other factors:
But when I look at the stats: November '17 was almost exactly the same was November '18, but there is more than a 3x projected revenue increase from December 2017 to December 2018.
Worth noting. 12/2017 had one booking, and I had blocked out 12/26-12/31. 12/2018 has 6 projected bookings, with no days blocked out, and also at higher rates than December 2017
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Did you change your pricing when you went Plus?
Looks like a combination of factors. Your September bookings look they are up from 2017 too - before you became a Plus host.
I am sure they boost Plus hosts higher up in the rankings, but I also found my year on year bookings increase (and I increase my prices year on year) and you haven’t blocked off the peak holidays in December this year, so this will also have an impact as you are generating bookings at peak times, which quite a few hosts block out of their calendars so there is less capacity.
Good luck with this do let us know how it goes. I would be particularly interested in how it impacts on guest reviews/expectations.
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I had kinda noticed a drop off in bookings though mostly picked up by bookings on other dog friendly sites. So I did a check on my area and was surprised my place came up first. Not a lot of Plus hosts (if any) here in the country. I’m neither the cheapest nor the most number of reviews (208). I wonder if they remember your computer and put you first so it looks like you are top of the search listing?
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I did an incognito search for you and you are indeed coming up first in search.
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I did increase the pricing (about 10%) to test the waters. I probably would have lowered my pricing for what I assumed would be a slow December, but as bookings came in, I just let it roll.
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Thanks. Perhaps they rank them North to South? I know i should be chuffed but I’ve only had one AirBnB booking in the last month so it doesn’t even let me off the hook by complaining I am being buried in the searches. Dayum.
Bumping this because I’m curious if anyone else has experienced this decline in business?
In our two separate cities where we have two full home rentals, in addition to slowly adding Plus into both areas, Airbnb has purchased the rental company called Luxury Retreats which operates with a little tag called LUXE (displays the same as PLUS) under listings that are available through Luxury Retreats.
Sometimes, when I do a general search, non date specific, I will be EXCLUSIVELY pushed Luxury Retreats managed homes. I can imagine a similar interaction being pushed with Plus listings. So not only are we competing with Plus, but also Luxe. Hmm…
Ugh the Plus thing is taking a really bad turn. Why I liked about Airbnb in the beginning is turning into something flavorless.
I also noticed a decline, and have found it harder to find our 3 listings since plus.
Hoping someone will start another site specifically for people looking for a unique and special experience rather than just a hotel.
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Ugh!! Haven’t seen that in our area yet but the Plus listings are really pushed. If you didn’t know anything about Airbnb I could see not ever viewing any other listings as it’s hard to even see the others. We are still getting bookings, but I feel like they are at a slightly lower rate. We are about to enter new regulations here so I’m interested to see if the number of units decrease as a lot of people will no longer be legal.