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!
The economy, the oversaturation in some markets, opening up of travel after the strict covid travel rules all mixed with the frustrating change to airbnb.
There is something else that I am finding unsettling. It seems there is an overabundance of social media posts (mostly Twitter &TikTok) that are showing negative things regarding AB&B. If it’s not how it’s awful its about the “long list of chores” “too many fees” “keeping houses from the housing market”. It honestly feels like a smear campaign. It’s ramped up in the past few months. These things all make other hosts look bad & honestly feel that people are following them.
Not a smear campaign as some complaints are an honest reflection of host behaviour.
And STRs have had a massive impact in over saturated markets on the availability of long term rents pricing locals out of the local housing market and leading to employment gaps as key workers and low paid workers can’t afford to live in an area. @RedHuntress
I’m saying that it feels like it. My feeling after seeing all this is probably what other people are seeing & it is effecting the rental market atm,which is what all this has been about. People see the videos & posts & people perceive all of airbnb hosts are certain ways. There are crap hosts & there are good ones. Some are just trying to keep a family home afloat while others are corporations owning so many properties (this one needs to be addressed the most).
Airbnb really does need to work out how the guest can maneuver the fees, possibly should change cleaning to reset or turnover and make that default when a person searches.
Guests complain about there being a cleaning fee and becoming more & more angry over how high (cleaners need a livable wage too) and that they are asked to do a few things. Some hosts have extensive lists that has incited this, which is understandable. They disassociate common courtesy with cleaning because of the cleaning fee.
Changing the service title “cleaning fee” to “turnover fee” or “reset fee” seperates it a bit and is more accurate. Not only are the cleaners deep cleaning/scrubbing/ laundry/etc, they are resetting the entire place to square one to welcome the guests properly.
We have eliminated the cleaning fee on our Airbnb listings thanks to input from Hosts here. We did that by assuming a three day average stay and adding that into the daily rate.
I do think that’s a good approach for us. It eliminates yet ‘another fee,’ and, as some Hosts have pointed out, eliminates the attitude of some guests of ‘Why should I do any cleaning?? I’m paying for the cleaning!’ Some hosts have said that they believe that some guests will take better care of the property knowing that they’re not paying [explicitly] a cleaning fee. That seems intuitively right to me.
I contemplated this myself until coming across a few hosts trying to collect for extra(nasty/destruction that cleaners would charge extra for ) cleaning. These hosts were told by airbnb that because they didn’t charge a cleaning fee they were told they wouldn’t be able to collect for compensation. That has me a bit worried
Call me naïve, but this makes me scared to look at my stats for the past cpl of months. I know what my bookings have been, though, & they tell me the rollout is just a show! If I were to peek at my stats, it would just piss me off.
I do check my listing in a search weekly, & am fortunate to still come up on the first page. I’m just patiently waiting for either: A) Air to get it together, or B) For them to crash & burn due to the incompetent way they’ve been running things. I so wish there were another platform that fit my listing… Sigh
One of my favorite new hosts was frustrated his listing didn’t show up as a cabin.
Airbnb added some new home classifications but they are buried & are drop down options. The drop down is not easy to find using Chrome. Using Safari was very clear.
I typed that I’d like the weekend of Aug something. For hubs and I. The price came up to $512 a night for two people and then $275 for cleaning and then another over $100 for service fee. No thanks.
That’s why I made multiple listings. But since we don’t have a problem booking larger groups for most of the year, my discounted couples-only listing is only available in the off-season.
Hi H,
Thanks for checking out our listing. It’s a small house that my father left to me when he passed away, and we have turned it into a vacation home that my husband and I enjoy staying in when it’s not rented. Mostly our rentals are Thur-Sun or Fri/Sat, for Napa wine country folks.
I blocked out July 4th weekend and 3rd weekend in July for family, so it looks busy, but I have received no reservations or inquiries in the last 5 weeks, ever since the Airbnb changeover. We had a strong start in reservations at the beginning of the season, so I know it is the changeover that is the main difference, since we have done well for one year.
Thank you again for your kind comments about our place. It’s a high compliment when you say you’re in awe of our listing
Let’s hope things get ironed out with Airbnb soon! This is PEAK SEASON for our area.
This is our peak season, and I use Wheelhouse to price the rooms, though my listing is on the lower, conservative end. There are similar listings up for $600-$700. That’s California prices for you!
I have a 20% off promotion running so the listing is showing up more. Now to just get some inquiries…
@Annet,
Thanks for checking out my listing! It helps to know that it is being found. I called Airbnb customer support several times to see if anything could be done about the categories, and the rep was able to help me somewhat.
I just set up a 20% off promotion, which is helping with visibility.
show! If I were to peek at my stats, it would just piss me off. 
