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@alexmev I really doubt that Airbnb is the problem for a low occupancy rate, especially with the stats you said you have. Airbnb is likely to be the best bet to get more guests for a host who doesn’t have any other issues (e.g. a vindictive review or something). They are well-known and trusted and easy to access and I would guess the best way for a lot of hosts to increase occupancy.
It seems like you’re trying to reinvent something but I can’t help but think that there’s something else for you to do to increase your occupancy - whether it’s changes to your listing or marketing or something like that.
@JJD, it fully depends on a location (demand and offering balance). As I see in my market it’s not balanced at all. It can happen on any market with a growing number of bnb hosts, so the issue can raise.
I don’t try to reinvent, but take advantage of it ) There is every time a room to improve something.
ABB will not be able to offer a loyalty program, as every host will join it and it will not have any sense.
Airbnb has stated that they are working on a Superguest program. If it’s analog to SH it makes sense to think there would be a certain number of stays or days per year requirement.
The thing is that superguest will give an advantage to ABB, not for hosts. Bnb is interested in the best prices for the guest and don’t really carry about hosts income. I’ve seen booking giving “Genious” status to users who just created account, so they just take advantage on the hosts to reduce prices for the end users even more. But again, it all happens on a high-competative market.
I have BDC as a source for guests and have been asked to join their Genius program. I refused as it totals a 28% discount on my income. BDC also demand that their “price” needs to be the cheapest when guests compare the rates across all platforms.
No thanks!
Interesting! I’ve heard about it but thought it was a rumour or something. I think it would be kind of cool but I wonder if we will get more freedom declining guests who aren’t SG?
I am 30 years in software engineering and less than 1 year ABB host. I wouldn’t even consider signing up for this. I’m not seeing how you would earn money to maintain the platform. No matter what you think, you can’t do it for free and by yourself, and without a viable business model and legal accountability I would not trust the platform. Even if you manage to get off to a good start, it just can’t last.
And it makes me feel better about host/guest that I’m dealing with right now. She thinks I’m going to let her check-in 3 hours early. I’m waiting for her to threaten to cancel because I cannot accommodate it and am going to give her my blessing to cancel. “Don’t let the cancellation gate hit you in you ass on the way out”
She was unhappy before she booked and booked anyways. I don’t like to perpetuate the “host as bad guest” idea because that hasn’t been my experience but she mentions in every communication that she is a superhost, so there’s that.
My cow host gave me 3 stars on everything. I was 4.9 before her stay and I could not get my head around the attitude. She KNEW what effort goes into being a good host. Her words were nice but OMG the sting of those stars because she was cheap!
@Debthecat That sucks. It’s beyond me how anyone could do that, it’s so wrong.
This woman that is coming seems outright competitive or something, it’s weirding me out. She pretty much only has reasons to not-stay with me but booked anyways and is now pushing boundaries before ever arriving. I have quite the streak of ratings going and I fear she’s coming just to knock it down . I don’t usually think this way but even my husband has been freaked out by some of the stuff she says. She’s playing some kind of game. Maybe it’s just not a vacation if she’s not hassling someone, I don’t know. We will see.
Alex, that’s terrible. What are you advertising when you do your own promotion? Your Airbnb listing, your BDC listing or your own website?
I get a lot of repeat guests. I want them to come to me not to someone else in a network. I aim to have as many guests as possible return to me and I do this by offering an excellent service to them. I don’t want my work to benefit anyone else.
If you have only a 50% booking rate from Airbnb, I’d suggest that you step up your own promotion on your own place rather than messing about with a loyalty scheme that other hosts aren’t interested in.
it will work if you’re targeting the recurring audience. How i see it works is that you can collect a commission (like any platform), and fund the one free night out of that pool of commission. But in saying that you’re going up against the most popular platform in the world. It’s going to be a tough sell unless your platform is robust and you have strong banking and escrow processes - i would’n’t trust you to escrow the cash the guest paid obviously.
On the topic of excellent service, my husband and I aim to compete only once.
Once they’ve stayed with us, we want them to come back to us any time they’re in our city. And our “repeat offender” record is very high. We have dozens of guests who have stayed with us again and again.
We certainly aren’t the cheapest Airbnb in our area. But we don’t want to be.
It’s the level of service and hospitality extended that ensures repeats.
