Ah, yes, I see your point! Sorry I forget not everyone fills up 80+% of their calendar with blocked/booked days.
Not everyone can afford to stay 50% empty…but regarding prices especially when many hosts put absolute ridiculous low price I agree.
My price is on a low side always. I know what I am selling .But I don’t reduce it to match those who make no sense to me .
How one earth these hosts make any money?
They list 4/2 house for 110$ a day . It hosts 10 guests. The good part is they are snatched right away …
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Can you do longer stays like minimum one week?
Also do you have minimum age limit. My minimum age is 30.
As you probably know, this violates Airbnb policy in most cases. So if a host is going to do this they need to be aware.
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I agree with all the useful comments. And would add in terms of burnout have a break in between bookings.
I always allow at least two weekends a month and about seven days a month (I appreciate not everyone can afford to do this).
What sort of verifications do you have for your listing and what sort of pre-screening do you carry out @candycanehost ?
there are about 3 corporate outfits running abot 70% of our market. they have lots of listings and LOTS of availability. i have the latter, too but bookings have been steady. we are usually booking not far out on Air which is expected with our strict cancellation policy, and we are booking the big holiday weekends pretty well in advance in spite of pricing it at even higher rates those weekends, and i raise the rates for the upcoming week if it’s not booked yet, unless there is a lot of vacancy all over.
we are planning on adding a few nice design touches to the place over winter and raising the base rates even higher for next season.
I’ve been able to use the same strategy. I’m sure the cheaper places get booked first but when they are gone, they’re gone. Last minute even late same day bookings work great for me. And when there aren’t a bunch of listings at half the price of mine to peek at I don’t get dinged on value either. 
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That’s right …I forgot which site…VRBO actually prompts you to put age minimum for primary renter.
OP is right, Airbnb does have lots of scenarios that other platforms don’t thankfully. Why don’t we just let a bunch of 18 years olds unsupervised into our houses to do what they want . And we all know what they are going to do.
@KKC @LoneStar this is a good strategy! Because 95% of our bookings are only a week in advance. Our city is not really a vacation spot… more of like “I’m in town for a doctor’s appointment or a business meeting” so we rarely get keeners who book more than a week in advance.
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Not all of us, I certainly don’t. I suspect It depends on the listing. Yes they are going to rent your pool house for a party. No, they aren’t going to rent my ensuite for anything. I even had some kids (I don’t know their age but my guess was around 18ish) rented the room for a night and best I can tell they just watched TV.
@Helsi The maximum airbnb will allow… gov’t ID, profile photo and all that jazz! Guests also need to answer questions about their stay, if they’ve ever shared a home with someone before etc…
I feel like I am pretty strict in the requirements and I think I’m doing all the pre-screening necessary. These two bad groups passed all the pre-screening & gave tons of info… not sure if any of it was true though
We are on the high side for the same reason. I know who I am trying to draw in, who I am trying to price out, and what unique valuable offering/features make me one of a kind in the whole area, which people gladly pay for because they can’t find it anywhere else within 50 miles.
Lots of ways. I often mention social media and people say ‘but I don’t use it’ or ‘I don’t have followers’ but there are still plenty of ways by using the influencers who you think can help you.
There’s also the option of having websites write about you - or you can write articles yourself for relevant sites or blogs.
Away from the computer there are lots of ways you can get in touch with people who are potential guests. If you have conferences and exhibitions going on locally, or any special events, their organisers are often looking for accommodation for exhibitors/attendees. Businesses and hospitals often have people coming to work in the area for just a week or a few days. Colleges, schools and universities have guest speakers, lecturers and so on.
Local theatres often have shows that come into town for a couple of weeks and all the staff - stage managers, the lighting people, promotions people and so on are all needing reasonably priced but good clean accommodation. Musical venues have bands, groups, orchestras and solo performers coming into town.
Your area might have festivals and fairs or sporting events that bring people into town. Churches and other places of worship have guest preachers etc. visiting. Large companies have personnel coming into town for meetings and don’t overlook locals who have family and friends visiting who need somewhere to stay.
In an Airbnb context, it’s a good idea too to get to know people in your area who are offering experiences.
At all these organisations (and many that I haven’t mentioned) there is usually one person who is given the task of finding accommodation for people who are visiting. Once they know that you provide good value accommodation, they’ll keep sending people to you.
But back to the internet, there are lots of hosts here who advertise on many other platforms. These aren’t necessarily OTAs but also sites like Craigslist etc.
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So here is what I do. I actually use price tips to help guide this process (but not the price). I keep a close eye on the upcoming 3 weekends. As availability for similar listings diminishes, you will likely notice price tips telling you to increase too.
Price tips picks up interest, i.e it takes searches into account. just by scoping your competitors you only can see whats available but the price tip change give a clue to searching has increased.
With this intel, change your prices accordingly, i.e push your price up if the tip went up… even if the tip is way below what you want to get. Ignore the number, just pay attention to the trend.
Does that make sense?
@KKC That will be our be next step if this crap keeps happening. However, I’m trying put it off…simply to have a balance when spending money on our suite. If it’s truely the 1% who ruin it for everyone else, then is it worth spending more money to circumvent the 1%?
For example out of 40 guests if 1 complains about a pillow… do I run out and buy new pillows? I would be tempted because I want to provide a great stay but it’s always the case that 1 person doesn’t like this or that… then I’d be replacing a bunch of stuff just for the one off complainer.
Yes that does. I always ignore the price tip if it’s lower if it’s higher then I’ll raise the price higher than the tip. For the month of August, we have already made our financial target so I’ve jacked the price for the remaining nights.
It doesn’t bother me that my prices are higher. We have proved ourselves with our amazing reviews/superhost status. Our target market is families (who are willing to pay more for the amenities and the location)…
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Key word " unsupervised*
With you behind the wall it’s sort of supervised.
Alll of us who have kids know what 18 years olds do and I am.not sure why we need to discuss the obvious and deny the fact that age does matters
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I’ve had over 600 guests. I have over 500 reviews averaging 98+ % 5 star. My answer is yes.
Even if no one complains there is probably someone who wasn’t really comfortable with the one or two choices you gave. I have a queen bed suite. I have 6 pillows in the room and two on the shelf and they are 5 different types. Now if I get a complaint that they couldn’t find a comfy pillow out of those 5, then no.
I had one guest who said a bench in the shower would be nice. So I got one. I only know of one other guest that used it for sure but I think little touches like that add to perceived value.
I agree 100% and the skin is slowly getting tougher! The tax advantages of running a net loss is pretty great… not gonna lie.
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