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This is to the Admins. Over the past couple of months when I get to the home page it no longer shows me any new posts since the last time I visited.
I probably visit the forum about 2-3 a month so there should be posts. Also, I am logging in and if someone replied to one of my comments/posts, it does show that info.
Is anyone else experiencing this?
I donāt have that problem but I was wondering if the forum was down for a few days only for me giving me a āBad Gatewayā error?
Couldnāt find any news on the X account of airhostsforum so I thought itās just for me.
No, it wasnāt just you, the site was down. Seems to happen at least once a year. I think it has to do with update of software.
I rarely come here anymore as it seems to have lost a lot of followers and there are very few interesting, new posts. When I get the reminder email about ānew posts since your last visitā it usually only shows 2-3 new topics.
Same here. I used to visit nearly every day but now itās like 1 or 2 times a month.
Didnāt you have the same issue before, of not being able to see new posts? Or has it been an ongoing issue?
I did, but then it started to work again. And this issue has been going on a lot longer than just the site being down for a little while.
Itās a shame so many people arenāt visiting here regularly. Between us, we must have hundreds of years of experience in the STR business.
We can offer so much advice to newcomers (even if we rarely agree 
), and at the same time, new members can show the old dogs new tricks.
Also because Airbnb, and the business in general, changes so much itās invaluable to get the latest information and discuss it.
Does anyone have any ideas about how we can improve???
Perhaps many people are still visiting, but are correctly searching the forum for the answers?
I think a lot of it may just come down to hosts not being aware that this forum exists. I didnāt know about it until the friend who used to host and encouraged me to start hosting turned me on to it. She hasnāt been a host since Covid, but I think she was a pretty active member here before.
Hosts know about the Airbnb Community forum because it appears in the Airbnb drop down menu on our accounts, or at least it used to. But even then, many new posters there are confused about what it is, thinking they are talking to Airbnb customer service, or that the forum mods can somehow solve their issue.
Also I suspect the majority of hosts out there donāt really have any interest in engaging with other hosts unless they have some specific issue they are seeking advice about. They may be purely in for the money, never meeting any of their guests, rather than enjoying the whole hospitality aspect, creating nice spaces, or meeting people from all over. They have no sense of community with other hosts, and may be the kind of hosts who donāt leave honest reviews of bad guests to warn other hosts.
Iāve also noticed that this forum tends to attract more hosts who are either homeshare hosts or at least hands-on hosts who live on the property or close by, as opposed to hosts with listings who use co-hosts or property managers.
So I guess I donāt really have any suggestions for more engagement, just observations.
Good points, @muddy and @Rolf .
It does seem to me that hosting is becoming an increasingly impersonal thing. Which is a shame, I think, because meeting people is so rewarding for both hosts and guests.
Although all (most?) of us started out in this business to make money, the good aspects of hosting soon became evident.
Iāve mentioned earlier that Iāve just returned from a road trip and Iāve figured out that in 2024 Iāve stayed at rentals booked through Airbnb seventeen times. Only three of those times did I meet the host.
And only one of those times included a house tour.
Airbnb started out stressing the āhome from homeā aspect of STR and to me, itās a shame that itās going away from that now.
Itās too bad Airbnb doesnāt have a category filter for hands-on hosting, for guests who prefer that kind of experience (and some definitely do, especially solo travelers in a foreign land). Guests whoāve had problems before with listings run by faceless property managers, non-responsive hosts, etc, might also prefer that.
The category could include homeshares, hosts who live in a separate dwelling on the property, or very close by. They wouldnāt necessarily have to have in-person check-in, but the host would have to be actively engaged in the maintenance and management and guest communication and always be available in person should something need addressing.
That would be an excellent idea. Iām in the āseparate dwelling on the propertyā category and Iāve often had guests tell me that itās truly convenient to have someone on-the-spot who can deal with any issues straight away.
Not just issues either - I show guests where my apartment is and tell them to just knock on my door if they need anything. I often say āfor instance, youāre only staying for three days so if you need a sloosh of mayo donāt go buying a bottle, ask me for someā.
Itās a daft example, I know, but there are plenty of guests who like to know that thereās someone on hand.
Over the years guests have asked me for many small items (quarters for the laundromat, extra pillowcases, directions to the bike hire place, where they can rent paddleboards, a cheeseboard, some red thread, a vase, ā¦ so much). And I donāt mind in the least providing that extra momentās service.
For me, it was pretty much both from the start. I just had a little-used guest room that my host friend kept encouraging me to list. Since itās just a room suitable for one, and I live in a beach tourist destination town that has a definite high and low season, I never saw it as something that would make me a lot of money or become a major source of income, more like a little extra to pay for a vacation once a year sort of thing.
And as I was used to my big house in Canada, where I raised 3 kids and the house was a central place where lots of friends dropped by and was a very active place and moving to Mexico was my first time living alone, having homeshare guests seemed like it would be nice.
Itās actually been more fulfilling than I anticipated, all my guests have been good, interesting people, and a few ended up feeling like old friends. I also didnāt anticipate all the far flung places guests would come from, and learned a lot from the guests about places I knew nothing about.
My oldest daughter and her family bought into a new development in Quebec that is an intentional community. It just looks like a bunch of new suburban homes, but the main tenet of their HOA is wanting to live in a place where you know your neighbors and everyone looks out for each other.
Thereās all demographics there from childless couples to young families, middle-aged people with teenagers, retired folks, but what they all have in common is this sense of community. They have summer block parties and pot lucks, bicycling groups, will water each others gardens and house plants and collect the mail when someone goes on vacation.
And while there is no rule about fencing your property, no one has- the whole block is one long back yard and front yard.
They have a neighborhood app and my daughter said she can go on it and say āAck- Iām in the middle of making a spaghetti dinner and just realized Iām out of oreganoā and within a few minutes sheāll have several responses saying theyāll be right over with some.
Muddy, that sounds wonderful. I lived in a similar waterfront community when I was fairly new to the US. There were about ten apartments in a small complex, plus half a dozen liveaboard boats.
Everyone used to help each other out - I think thatās common in boating communities.
We used to get together on Sunday afternoons by the pool. Everyone would bring something - a salad, a quiche, a cake or in the case on one notable resident a blender, margherita mix and a bottle of tequila.
We were a mix of American, English, German, Dutch, Irish, Finnish and more. No young kids - teenagers though and the oldest were in their eighties.
I often think back to those times as pretty magical. Iāve never experienced that since.
I will probably get bashed for this but here goes. Iāve been a long time member of this forum and have gotten very helpful information from it over the years. I barely visit now because there is so much political posturing that it makes me uncomfortable. There is no hosting forum in which people who are seeking advice for STRs need to be verbally insulted for their political standing regardless of which side or middle we lean towards. Reading some of the hateful comments by long term members and mods has definitely affected how often I visit here.
Thank you for posting that @DozerPug . Itās very helpful to understand why you visit less frequently these days. Hopefully it will help us to improve.
I admit that I keep out of political matters. (Iāve been out of the country of my birth for too long so I canāt vote there and I canāt here either as Iām not a citizen) but Iāve certainly taken your comments on board.
I have to agree with @DozerPug . Iām a right-leaning moderate but I feel like I canāt say anything thatās even moderately right of center without getting bashed.
But thatās OK to me - this isnāt a political forum so I just stay out of those conversations. This particular forum taught me to pick and choose my battles and have a thick skin.
Thank you @PitonView - itās good to have your opinion.