I’ve only been hosting since early May and my apartment is based within the centre of a large city in the UK. All was well from the beginning and I was fully booked for may and June and was getting about 1 or 2 bookings per day but unfortunately I’ve not received a booking for 2 weeks now after I received my first 4 star review. I’ve changed my title from “5* City centre flat w/parking” to “Super Spacious Central Flat with parking” because the first one might be misleading if someone does not think it’s worth 5* and penalises me for accuracy.
I understand that my initial booster is up but I’m still getting over 600 views per day. I had a booking rate of 5% and now it’s down to 1%. I’ve just tried to relaunch it by posting on my fb.
Any suggestions?
AirBNB is saying that your home has been viewed 332 times in the past week. Where did you come up with 600? That would be an unusually high number for a city like Glasgow [which I loved, by the way.]
Here is the reason I might not book your place:
Frank didn’t say a thing in the public review that warrants such a snide response. Obviously, you responded to something in his private feedback, and it makes you look kind of nasty.
Sorry I didn’t see your listing last month when my partner and I were booking our trip to Scotland for September! We fly in from Iceland, are spending a night in Glasgow then Dumphries house and on across to the East Coast
I see nothing wrong with your listing, and I doubt seriously that bookings have dried up because you got “only” a 4-star review. However there have been incidents “below the Border” that may be influencing travel throughout all of the UK.
@anon67190644 is right though. In the first place, it’s almost never a good idea to Reply to someone’s review, and never a good thing to reply in public to something said in private. You did rather come across as a “snarky git”!
Personally, I wouldn’t worry. Take the break to catch your breath, and maybe implement some of the suggestions that your first spate of guests have surely given you.
Hi smtucker, it’s the 30 day viewing count I’m basing it on.
With regards to the feedback response, would you just not provide a response at all to provide your own input? Or is it just my wording that I need to be wary of? It does make me sound like a cheeky git but I’m just trying to right a wrong.
The other day I had a guest give me a poor review because she thought my bed isn’t a king which it is…
Must be a British thing but you don’t sound snarky to me at all. Also why do you think you sound like a cheeky git? Cheeky is kind of playful I’m not sure I see that in your response? Were you feeling like you were being cheeky when you wrote the feedback?
Anyway… it’s a lovely flat. It’s not low season at the moment in the U.K. so I couldn’t say why you’re struggling with bookings… is £60 your actual price or does it change massively once I put dates in?
@Gary_Woohoo. I am not sure that I understood this sentence. I actually respond to all my reviews [against the advice of this group] but NEVER respond to anything that was said in the private feedback. To date, I have been lucky that there has been nothing particularly negative to respond to, though in private feedback there have been some suggestions. Mostly, your response to this review included information that was not part of the original review. And the tone was a bit snarky. During high season, these types of things won’t matter. During the low season, they might.
£60 is the minimum price I have set for 2 people. There is a £25 cleaning fee. £15 per additional guest after 2
Price is still very low considering its for 2 separate bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
Not if they only use one bedroom…
The extra capacity is meaningless if you can’t use it.
Hi @KenH
I don’t think you can assume recent terrorist events in Manchester and London are affecting bookings in other cities in the UK. At least not where I live and friends I know who have an Airbnb in York, Lake District and Cornwall.
I think the reason you aren’t getting bookings is to do with;
- Loss of new host boost
- You are full up for June July and most of August
- Your inappropriate response to two guest reviews which are quite sarcastic in tone and obviously relate to private comments guests made to you.
Gary, I can’t read the responses on my iPad, but can recommend one quick thing… can you smooth out the bed linens, they look like someone has sat on them with the wrinkles. It’s a little thing but makes an impression. Make sure those duvets are not showing any wrinkles.
I did it several times too: wrote public answer on private feedback not realizing I am doing it. Now I regret it. But it did not stop anyone from booking.
In my first month I got a 1* the only 1* I got so far out of more than 100 reviews. 88% of my reviews are 5*. I was terrified. I thought this is it, no one will ever book me again.
But then I was hoooed the same day and days that followed . Some times it’s just like that , no bookings and we can’t explain why.
But I don’t know why you worried. You are booked very nicely for month ahead .
It has nothing to do with the review.
It is the “newbie boost”, new listings are boosted by AirBnB and put on top of the search, to get new hosts hooked.
After 6 weeks it is gone and you have to make yourself stand out amongst the competition, preferably by dropping prices to zero and bending over backwards as advised by AirBnB.
Do not fall for it. Keep track of your competition, and make your listing stand out by using good pictures and a good title. Your current pictures are not good enough to make it stand out.
Thanks Chris,
Yes I agree the photos needs to be better. Booked a professional photographer for next week so fingers crossed this will make a difference.
High season is June-August but Glasgow is a major city so I’m expecting to be busy all year round. What I was concerned was I was getting 1 or 2 bookings per day from the beginning, however I’ve only received 2 bookings in the last 3 weeks.
Is the title ok? I’ve noticed that when you open air bnb with your mobile app it only displays like the first 30 characters.
A couple thoughts from to me as I have recently booked half a dozen Airbnb listings and have been on the searching side of the fence.
*New host boost is real–think Pavlov when you hear that lovely ding from your phone. You get so used to it, so quickly. It means money, and excitement, and money, and magic, and money… Then, darkness descends…and as soon as it came, it is gone. You then spin your wheels trying desperately to figure out how to make the magic return. Airbnb has this part of the game down cold. It’s perfectly normal, and we’ve all been there. The dings will return. Keep updating your calendar, your listing, pricing, pics, etc…
*Airbnb appears to punish hosts in search who have chosen Strict cancellation policy.
*Your cleanliness score looks like it could be improved a touch, although I don’t believe I read any reviews that specifically mentioned any issues.
*Your comments are detracting from guest reviews (for me). If you feel the need to comment, make sure to keep the spin positive, humble, and don’t reply to private feedback publicly. Otherwise, you are opening yourself up to being judged and interpreted by guests in small snippets based on encounters you had with other guests.
*Your pics are a bit dark, but your listing is lovely. I skimmed your listing as a traveler, and I felt you gave a lot of very helpful info.
Hi Crowntown,
Yes I agree with the new host boost. It’s certainly a very powerful tool and got me very addicted to airbnb from the beginning when I hear my phone go off every few hours…
Yeah definitely aim to improve the cleanliness scores, however I have cleaners doing that so it is beyond my control if they have missed something. One guest actually scored me down because the outside of the building (which is communal and shared) was not clean.
Well some encouraging news today as I’ve received 2 more 5* reviews so hopefully we can continue this trend. Also received an extra 4 bookings today, which are my first bookings for nearly 3 weeks!!!
Photographer has been booked for Tuesday so hopefully we can work some magic…
Actually the standards the cleaners clean to is in your control. Have you provided them with a checklist? Do you carry out spot checks/ask someone local to do this?
Have you take references from previous hosts/households?
Do you provide them with quality cleaning products/hoovers etc?
Do you allow them enough time to do a good job?
Do you have a feedback mechanism for them in case of an issues?
Hi Helsi,
Yes to all your questions raised.
My bookings have dropped to nothing in the last six weeks. I had raised the price, and still got excellent bookings, but then nada. Air kept sending me messages that I was $37. more than other bookings close by. They were comparing my home with apartments, and even basement apartments.
In frustration I lowered the price $238. a week for a couple, $25. extra for each guest over two… Nothing for a few days and then I got a booking from another host… that said practically nothing about herself except to ask if the yard was fenced for her pet (s). I went into her site, which was weird and she mentioned she’s fine with
420… which means apparently pot smokers. Her description of herself and her husband sounded like they were into swapping. She mentioned her THREE pups, but not what kind they were.
I immediately cancelled her pre-approval.
I’m thinking of raising my prices again.