This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
I will continue to study our market on the platform, but that question has been asked and answered. I just joined the other side. 
PSA: Your state’s hotel and lodging lobby (“the other side”) might offer free legal services with your membership dues. Ours does, even though that is not the benefit I signed up for.
Keep in mind, “fewer listings” is not the same as “lack of listings.” Every article I’m reading is saying “travel” is down 30 to 80% depending on nation, area and metric. So if there are 30% fewer listings in an area but bookings are also down 30% it’s a wash. I’m reading of booming areas for both rentals and sales of real estate but I’m also reading of a predictions of white collar job losses.
These are the kinds of job losses that will affect VR rental owners more than it will affect me but I’m keeping a wary eye as that will greatly aggravate the recession. IMHO this surge of pent up demand will be overtaken by the uncertainty surrounding the economy as covid continues apace. And folks don’t want to talk about Trump but the lack of leadership doesn’t help stabilize the economy.
Another try today! 
Only now with a promise to leave a good review. 
I don’t trust anyone that promises to leave a good review, before they’ve even arrived. 
Very professional and eloquent, as always. Thank you for providing such a rich amount of content that is applicable for our use.
Too bad the block option isn’t available. Also too bad no one else has booked it.
I honestly don’t expect anyone to book in July. But times are so strange now, nothing surprises me but I do scratch my head, because of all the places one could choose to go, WHY Scottsdale / Phoenix in the summer? Yesterday someone booked for mid August; this one was easy and had (22) 5-star reviews. But still, after he booked I sent him my standard post booking message but added this PS:
ME: I hope you realize how hot it gets here in August. I jokingly say that you don’t need to tell someone to “go to hell”, you just take them to Phoenix in the summer. I’m not trying to dissuade you, but hit me back if you want to discuss that further.
GUEST laughed and responded that he and his GF like the heat, and she agreed as long as there was a pool.
ME: I told him not to worry, and that the pool has a chiller to ensure the water doesn’t get too hot.
GUEST: “Things you don’t hear in Portland: “pool has a chiller” 
”
Sounds like you got a good guest. However, why someone wants to leave Portland in August when the weather is actually nice to go to hell, I don’t know.
I can appreciate when enough is enough! Last summer guest wanted to book for one then referred to “we”. After I inquired about the number of guests, she responded husband, 2 children & self. I thanked her for her interest but this rental was not a good fit with a maximum occupancy of 2.
She continued by telling me there was plenty of room for 4 and she was going to rent my condo and all stay there.
A few days after I declined her reservation request, she sent a message I ruined Her children’s’ summer and they weren’t going to come to the beach at all. FYI- there are over 3,000 rentals on Airbnb in my small township and we are just a few miles of a long shoreline.
Brace yourself, they will keep messaging you.
It’s amazing that people would insist on staying somewhere they are obviously not welcome.
I hate these folks. They register as 4 then want to know if you have a toddler bed, and can their teen sleep on the couch or the blow up mattress they will bring. More often than not it is 2 families – with 4 adults and 6 kids. The kids they do not add in the guest count.
I just tell them honestly that in my town you have to be permitted and code enforcement says my maximum guests number is 8, as posted in my page.
I just say my place is not a good fit for your needs.
I think they meant definitely. Its kind of obvious.
Our 2 units here in Mts near Yosemite definitely booking!
Just a numbers update because I noticed an interesting (if not entirely unexpected after the surprise change to the EC policy this spring) trend today.
Originally when I listed 01/01/19 our local set on Air was about 320 properties (like 327 iirc). It was few enough that it always displayed the actual number.
VRBO pulled in a slightly different local set, with a lot of overlap. On there it was around 360 or so units.
Last time I looked and posted here, the number on Air (always slecting only town name with no other filters) was down to about 245 units. Today I looked over the local sets and there are 219 units on Air and 419 on VRBO (as displayed under Ranking Metrics>Your Market.
So what I infer from this is that in our market some portion of whole home hosts are leaving Air. A handful that I am familiar enough with that their absence is obvious are very comparable (thus why I can immediately spot their absence on one platform) and I know are old timers in the VR/B&B market since before the Internet existed.
Just an anecdote.
I started to read an article today about travel that was comparing how much different kinds of travel were expected to be down for the year. I was seeing the 40% figure bandied about on the graphs. I got distracted and didn’t finish the article. Now I can’t find it. Anyway, strange that the number of listing in your area is down about that same number.
In El Paso there were always 17 pages of listings, now there are 15. I’m only noticing one long time host who has a room in his home with shared spaces who I don’t see listed. Most my other competition is still here plus dozens of new listings who are racking up the reviews while I’m closed.
I’m blocked, but an undated anonymous browse for our urban area shows all 3 of my listings well placed on the first page.
What I do notice in this market that is usually 96% booked at this time of the year is that newly remodeled loft apartments in the heart of downtown that were listed at $250-$300/night a year ago are now $95, and a 1 br condo 2 blocks away from me that had been $160/night a year ago is now $77.
There 94 listings available for downtown Juneau, compared to 160 a year ago. I know some have reverted to LTRs.
Areawide, we have 203 listings compared to 275 a year ago. Rates for rural and beachside suites and houses are down about 50%. Hotel rates have also dropped.
The 2 really high end gourmet/wedding B&Bs here are no longer listed on Air. They have rooms heading up to $400/night. A high priced rural lakeside B&B that’s a honeymooner favorite used to be $200-250/night, now on Air for $110.
the number of listings is down only on Air, though. It’s up about 15% on VRBO. I don’t know of that increase which are brand new vs. were previously listed on Air but not VRBO and recently made the jump, but there are three very near me that have left Airbnb within the past few weeks but are still on VRBO.
About 12 to 16 of the units now missing from Airbnb were all on one property and those were not on VRBO. They had been for sale forever and afaik are closed permanently or until another sucker is born. I believe the bank might own it now.
Only anecdotal but I think it confirms a trend described above. Other than ourselves, I know of two people who are Air hosts. One of them pulled their listing in May and went into LTR. The other is in the process of switching to LTR for a portion (if not all) their listings.
I agree with the overall sentiment on this thread that the next phase of the current situation will essentially flush out a lot of Air listings. Those who are over-leveraged or who have specialised on house shares (rather then Entire Flat listings) are quite vulnerable at this stage. Ironically for those who are not over-leveraged or who have Entire Flat listings, this might be not so bad news in the long run as listings become fewer and fewer in this category.
On a final point, cleanliness is now probably the defining issue for a lot of guests due to COVID. Listings that have good or excellent cleanliness ratings, might also experience an uptick in future traffic. Those listings that have a mediocre or poor cleanliness rating will eventually fall to the wayside. So what we are experiencing now is a giant “flushing out” of listings that weren’t quite cutting it on Air. Previous to the pandemic they were able to cope but now that cleanliness is so important, it’s going to be really hard for these hosts. And having a good cleaner, or being able to clean to a hospitality standard is really not as easy as everyone thinks it is. After cleaning our place for the last two years ourselves (and making a few mistakes that my wife has pointed out), I’ve come to realise that being a cleaner is a skilled job that requires experience.
Yet in our area, the number of listings on Airbnb has increased, my best guesstimate is by around 12%, and there is masses of availability.
Conversely, while the number of listings on BDC has also increased, in real terms the availability of listings in our STR category has decreased, quite significantly.
All of our advance bookings are from BDC, bar one Airbnb booking for next week.
Make of that what you will!
Fixed that for you.
Agree 100% and I think it also requires commitment; by that I mean to the property you are cleaning. I often see “agency” properties where they have excellent reviews, but the cleaning scores are lower than other categories.
JF
Except for a lot of guests, it’s really not the defining issue. Take the poster on another thread with pets who stayed in a filthy place for a week. Even though they are a former host, and a member of this forum, they stayed there. They also claim the place has good ratings. And all the people who think it’s an overblown hoax, or that all they need do is wash their hands frequently, probably don’t care. The same people who pack the bars are also looking for the cheap Airbnb’s regardless of cleanliness.
Here we are about a month later. I’ll be opening in about 10 days. It’s crazy to think about since things are much worse than when I closed down. Things aren’t better and aren’t going to be better this year, yet people aren’t going to stay home and me being closed won’t help stop the spread. It’s surrealistic.
