I’m from Hawaii and I did Airbnb there for a year and a half. Now I live in Italy. I’m here for school.
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Hi, we have this problem and therefore are thinking about quit airbnb. As it is low season now,we had to drop the prices. First problem was, that the guests who payed only half or one third of the original price treated our apartment badly - broken things, dirt everywhere, make up on towels (even I left make up remover in the bathroom). But now we are facing another problem - for lower price, they automatically expect lower quality. From guests who paid more, we always got 5 stars. Then there were two guys coming, paying 14 euro for both persons per one night - for the whole flat! And they left us 4 stars. So not only that they treat our apartment worse, but also leaving worse reviews. They may think they do not give a shit for 15 euro, but reviews are very important for us as we have just gained a superhost status. It is very complicated for us with guests, who pay less.
One of the key aspects of the AirBnB business model is, like many businesses, high turnover. I soon realised, however, that after getting many emails from AirBnB prompting us to lower our prices (as little as €28 per night for a three bedroom house), for AirBnB there is no investment in your property, nor do they bear any of the cost of higher utility bills or heavy wear and tear that seems to be incurred more by ‘budget’ guests.
After renting for less than a year we have already had two experiences of bad guests during low season who booked as soon as the price went down, and in hindsight it was not worth it. From now on I will leave the prices where I think they should be and if this means no bookings in the low season then so be it.
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Nope, but then again you knew that before you signed up, didn’t you?
JF
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There seems to be a lot of marketing advice online advising lowering prices for unbooked dates 60 days out… my guests have written in anger … why did you charge me X when I see now it’s only Y? Also Air Bnb advises literally a bag of potato chips 15 Euro for a private 2 bedroom house with large new pool Christmas week on a packed Caribbean island without housing… clueless apparently of the cost of a swimming pool and air conditioning… My own experience with lowering prices to have more bookings was that I worked harder, booked more nights for the year and made less money than the previous year in overall sales nevermind expenses for their air conditioning etc. … and dealt with the consequences in low caliber, whiny demanding guests with an enormous 5 bedroom 6 bath home and pool in the touristic center for 50 dollars… writing complaints that their newly covered billiard table wasn’t leveled properly… drop kick the discount , free night and air bnb tyrants by charging market rates… according to air bnb the median price is 20 dollars with an average 10 percent occupancy rate… don’t believe a word of it… homes are expensive, everything in them is expensive… the best people want the best and will pay you for it… if you charge the bag of potato chips you will go bankrupt or crazy or both.
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P.S. In the spirit of generosity and sharing with the 4 listings I have on air bnb , it cost me a lot of time, money and energy to learn that No good deed goes unpunished with respect to giving discounts, upgrades and free nights…people who pay full price are happy, those that get a discount will harangue you incessantly before, during and after their stay with literally unstellar reviews… despite consisant 5 star reviews from better quality guests paying full price.
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