Yes we definitely need to include capital costs. In my UK city Airbnb is definitely becoming unsustainable because amateur hosts calculate everything as profit after deducting consumables! Never mind the fact the guest is occupying 25% of a property worth £600000, which means you need a return on £150000 worth of investment, not to mention your time. I may need to go back to taking a lodger if the rates are driven down further.
Not only that but the way the search works is that you will be moved down in search while your place isn’t available. Someone looking for 4 days in August or Sept won’t see you at all because your listing will be on page 18. I think but have to evidence to give, it will prioritize you for longer bookings. Once the long booking is over it may take weeks for you to move back up in search.
As long as you continue to use that manager and complain here, nothing will change. It seems like you are in a bind. You might want to get things together before the next worldwide recession hits, it’s a bit overdue already.
You can’t put all the blame onto the management company you employed @PETRELLI, you should have been clearer when you employed them if you wanted to restrict your bookings to say a week, to maximise reviews and even then, as you know not all guests leave reviews.
What sort of brief did you agree with your chosen management company about how they would operate the listing and meet any agreed objectives? Did you take up references with other hosts before employing them?
1 Like
I think you did. A professional management company should have worked hard to get short term rentals for the lull period. There are many ways of doing this but a company with contacts, active social media and active marketing systems shouldn’t find it hard to do. Presumably as an accommodation management service they also have a database of people who go regularly to your area for business reasons.
They should also know that in the first six weeks or so it’s perfectly possible to get plenty of good reviews by working hard and accepting single night stays, same day reservations, using IB and so on. Prices shouldn’t be reduced but value for money should be more important. Once a rental has got two dozen or so good reviews, they don’t matter as much as they are a goods basis for potential guests to use to judge your place.
Tying yourself to 45 days ‘out of pocket’ is not the way to go. Accept same day bookings and they’ll happen off season. Same day, one night bookings are pretty knackering if you’re doing everything yourself but very rewarding and you don’t have to do it for long - just until word gets out and you have the first load of reviews under your belt. Slap on a decent cleaning fee and one day bookings are even more attractive.
2 Likes
I specifically told the manager I am happy not to be out of pocket and that was the minimum requirement. He claims that 12 months is the better judge of the outcome which i agree. He seems to think I’m impatient and hoping to turn the listing into a gold mine, but what I’m unhappy with is really the lack of communication on what he plans to do for this property, and the lack of any basis for accepting such a long term booking at a out-of-pocket rate with no apparent benefit for me.
Yes Jacquo. You are spot on in terms of how I feel. I specifically engaged the company because I’m an inexperienced host, and I thought they would have the expertise to help me out. Even a noob like me can tell its unwise to accept a 45 day booking at out-of-pocket rates during a period when i’m trying to gain reviews - why did he not set a minimum stay? I suspect he’s trying to recoup the initial cost of investment of his time. From agency perspective, that is fair enough because he did help me out with setting up the property and deserves to be remunerated.
But I’ve started to look for co-hosts instead of these management companies with a one-size-fits-all approach to their listings. Recommendations are welcome, if any hosts here know anyone living in Inner Melbourne and would make a responsible co-host.
3 Likes
That’s what we are here for. 
I suspect that between the dozens of experienced hosts here we have hundreds of years experience. And we’re happy to help people who are new to the business.