Constant long term rental requests received and translated from Chinese language

Checking in to compare notes on this subject as I have received 17 inquiries about my house being available for 2-3 months bookings. At the same time I haven’t had much luck with instant bookings and in comparison to last year I see my property not getting booked at all. I checked, and had others check my listing, and it shows up in a search ( I’m a supper host), although by location seems a bit questionable…since Airbnb seems to always push new listings first. In any case: I lowered my price, revised my pictures… no bookings for Christmas seems strange… Any tips, observations, etc. you wish to share?

Other than revising your listing daily, & exploring alternate resources, no tips I can add. It’s the same here. When I get a ping on my phone I don’t even get hopeful anymore, just get ready to reply to another useless inquiry. On AirDNA, my area used to get a score of A-, now it’s a solid B and there are more new listings being added daily.

I’d consider sacrificing the neighbor’s pets, but my mortgage company doesn’t accept raw chicken. I’m exploring other sources, putting all my eggs in the AirBnB basket doesn’t work in this economy.

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Thanks! I suppose we have entered an unknown… and must be patient/ ready to reinvent ourselves.

Have you done any market research on demand and supply in your area? @Aniab

Is there falling demand ? Do you operate in an over saturated market place?

Do you have a clear understanding on who you see as your target guests - and designed your listing to appeal to these target markets?

Have you done market research on the best channels to invest in to reach your target markets

Once you have this information you can adapt your listing and invest in wider marketing channels and activity, to reach your target markets.

this should be your starting point - not lowering prices .

Thank you, sounds good. Do you have recommendations for tools and education in this area?
Thank you in advance.

Where are you located?

This forum has tons of knowledge and info - use the ‘search’ function.

  1. You can use Airdna for demand and see if your local tourist board has market research reports you can buy

  2. You can look at listing providers to look at supply

  3. You will have an idea of the type of guests you want to target - you can then do market research on the sort of social media and other channels you can use

Lots of YouTube videos on marketing your listings but so many so called STR experts use videos to sell their service - so take this into account in terms of their content

My house is located in Clinton, CT- close to beach, 25 minutes north of New Haven.

OMG, I’ve had the identical situation happening to my Hamptons property. Not a single legit request, but in the past 2 weeks I’ve had 4 requests (3 translated from Chinese). All were for 2-3 months starting mid-December. All said identity verified, but all were new to AirBNB with no previous trips. We don’t do long term rentals but it is tempting considering how we have NEVER had a dry spell like this in the past 6 years. We are also Super Hosts.

We’re in the same boat.

If you have time time and inclination you can play along. Usually they explain that their company is paying, and with a check that will arrive just before the reservation starting date. Their company apparently doesn’t use credit cards. Or they want to meet with you, probably to make their pitch for an offline payment, meanwhile saying that money is not an issue at all.

Apparently the scam is that they give you a check for too much, want a check back from you for the difference. They cash your check before you find that their check has bounced. Or they stay in the property rent free and play the eviction game as a long-term renter.

I posted here about a recent one who ultimately said he got hit by an SUV, had just woken up from a coma that lasted like four hours (!) and now was promptly texting ME, showing me pictures purporting to be him with IV tubes, ‘casts’ on both legs [really compression fittings] sending me crying emojis (with rivers coming out of the eyes), saying he was scared he was going to lose both his legs and would I text him all night to comfort him. I think he was trying to build trust and develop a relationship. Then he shows what appears to be a brokerage statement showing over $5,000,000 and assuring me he had more.

I was saddened to say to him that was just not enough, not for a two-month rental for a three bedroom home in Worcester MA. [Maybe it’d be enough in the Hamptons; don’t know.] :rofl:

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We got a request for our longest stay, 10 days. Much translation etc. Before 24 hours was up, Air had flagged it and removed guest from platform. It did look/ smell pretty fishy.

Perhaps all those Airbnb ads on tv with the word “Hosts” prominently displayed are subliminally having the effect of encouraging more people to become Hosts.