Help. I’m new to hosting, and started this July, I love it! But it seems to have come to a sudden halt. I have zero bookings after the first week of Sept. I changed pricing around for this tomwhat Airbandb. Suggested. Made sure my instant booking is on and made sure everything about my site is clear and interesting. What is happening? I understand algorithms and such, I show up about 3rd on my towns page. Not sure why the sudden halt in business.
Don’t set your prices to the Airbnb smart price! It’s really dumb, set way too low, not even enough to maintain a listing. Instead switch to travelling, search for a place like yours and check your price is competitive. Anyway it’s not all about pleasing the bargain hunters.
Maybe tweak your wording or photos. I have had a lot of last minute bookings lately but have been fully booked with mostly really good guests.
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double check and make sure your listing is still showing in case of a tech issue
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All new hosts receive a “new host boost” to get you in the swing of things. This does drop off, although we’re not sure of when exactly. I joke that Airbnb loves to get us salivating like Pavlov’s dogs when we hear that magic ding on our phones. We then become like an addict chasing our first high to figure out what we can do to get that feeling back again. 
If you show up third on the first page of your town’s listings, you are doing just fine for placement. Are there a lot of listings in your area? If you’d like to share your listing, other hosts can offer their suggestions. Sometimes it’s hard to look at our own work with a critical eye.
Also, I find that reservations are cyclical, and most of our guests don’t book until we are a week or two out. That seems to be quite common for Airbnb. For example, I only have ten days booked so far in September, but I almost always end up having about five days un-booked per month. So much of that depends on where you are located, how busy other hosts are, etc… @Jess1 has some great advice for you to search other Airbnb listings in your area. A bit of sleuthing is absolutely necessary in this business. Check local hotel prices, too.
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It might be seasonal. I’m at the Jersey Shore and my last booking is for Labor Day weekend. That’s the last weekend for the summer season. It might be similar for your area.
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No t knowing where in the world you are, the drop might be seasonal; but there’s a good chance it’s also the “new host boost” running out.
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So, what is this ‘New host manipulatuon’ And what do people looking at my site see when the boost is gone.?
So how is Air B and B manipulating my page after im no longer a new host
It’s not manipulating your site
They just move your listing up in search.
It’s all a mystery, although we do love to speculate. Regardless of whether you have the new host boost or not, Airbnb is definitely manipulating your search placement. They don’t make any changes to your listing, however. Airbnb’s goal is to turn lookers into bookers, so they show guests properties that they believe are more likely to result in a booking. This is based on a number of this like the search criteria the guest has entered, the guest’s prior search behavior, and a myriad of other things.
Airbnb’s search algorithm is the topic of much discussion, and how to positively affect search placement takes up an inordinate amount of space in the head of many a host. If you search the forum, you will find a ton of topics about this and ways we believe we can improve our rankings.
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This is quite an intriguing mystery, about how I was given 1k a month, then see it disappear into cyberspace😕
It is not a mystery and they did not give you any money.
As a newbie, your property got featured to seekers; without being featured, and having no reviews you might never have gotten a first booking.
Now that you have had guests, and should have reviews, they are no longer featuring you, but rather you are competing with the other rentals on an equal basis.
Your preferential treatment has ended.
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Well yes, I could have worded that differently, I realize I was not actually ‘given’ anything. I worked for it by being a good communicator of what my space has to offer.
I’m sure things will pick up in the future.
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To help you get more bookings, you should find ways to promote your property outside of Airbnb too. Here are some creative ideas that you can try out:
- Try to attract the attention of a lifestyle blogger by offering to allow them to stay at your property at zero cost so that they can post about it and review it. You can try to contact them directly to explain your offer.
- Join vacation rental forums
- Ensure that your Airbnb property is listed with the tourism websites in your area
Best of luck!
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Great idea for our tourism page, thanks!
AirGMS’ advice will help IF you are in a tourism location, and IF your bookings are not seasonal. There’s a lot of IFs because it all depends on your particulars. With my kind of listing, none of @iGMS advice would apply.
If you’d like to provide us your listing link and some search criteria, we could search and see if you’re visible, and let you know what we see. This methodology has helped hosts in the past with your same issue.
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All is well now, booked solid till mid oct, there is a pattern I see, your help is appreciated
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Help me understand—did you say you had no bookings after September 7 and now a few days later you are wonderfully suddenly fully booked to the end of October?
If yes, that sounds like something quirky on the Airbnb technical side so maybe your listing wasn’t showing. (Like @georgygirlofairbnb said)
Do you periodically log out of Airbnb and do a search in your area to determine if your listing displays and where on the listings priority?
(Always good to do)
Could you tell us so we can see it too?
It must have been a glitch? Everthing seems back to normal, only slightly slower which being a business owner in the past, this is a normal cycle. I’m getting request now for a month in advance and more. You folks are very helpful!
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