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I’ve been on Airbnb for about 2 months and got 5 starts from 6 stays. One of those stays didn’t rate me and thank God they didn’t because many things went wrong.
Anyhow, considering I may still be enjoying the new host bonus, how many reviews should I be aiming for and is it worth it reducing my rates to get them?
(Please don’t say “as many you can”)
Although it might be worth trying to get more shorter bookings …
You don’t have much control over this other than setting min and max stays. If you are trying to get more reviews then allow shorter stays and cap the max/don’t offer discounts for longers stays. Price shouldn’t be relevant to number of reviews at your price point.
sometimes good to have shorter stays, as the guests may get fidgety, and start yearning for home. Once they’ve got to that stage, reviews may take a hit
Absolutely not! If people pay less for something, they value it less. Think of the Emperor’s New Clothes fairy story. Value can’t be quantified and can be, to some extent, an illusion. Keep up that illusion and earn great reviews 
Chances are that you’re no longer getting the new host boost. No-one here has ever been able to figure out the exact length of the new host boost (if indeed it really does have a specific duration) but it’s very likely that it doesn’t last more than six weeks at most.
When my ex-manager first started managing my airbnb, he accepted a 50 day booking. This caused a lot of problems further down the road:-
Shortly after, i fired the manager and started my own listing. Initially, i capped the maximum stay at 21 days. After getting a few bookings in the first 2 months, I upped the maximum stay to 45 days. My first booking is still 2 days away, but i have already have secured 10 (incl. 1 cancelled) bookings in the six weeks i’ve started even though I had zero reviews, and I have a 2-3 day minimum. I use a dynamic pricing software and lowered the price by 15-20%, just enough to cover the mortgage, but not enough to make losses.
See other topic =
I have a one word comment:
Ugh
Supply and demand. Nobody is going to book a place without any reviews, unless one is priced lower. Which is why I say STR long term prospects are bleak. Thankfully I’m only doing for a few months until I move in myself. Don’t see how Airbnb is sustainable for me
Airbnb thrives on an unsustainable race to the bottom model. That’s because there are millions of hosts who do not count the equity in their property and price way too low, with Airbnb goading them all the way with their price tips.
Is that why they have increased their fees up to 20% of the booking cost? They can up their cut while pushing prices down?
You’re in that new host period that my husband still calls “when we were whoring for reviews”… which ended, on both fronts, in October, coinciding with the end of high season down here. It felt like we had fallen off a cliff but we had some great reviews that have stood the test of time.
However, you are in a prime London spot, so DON’T lower your rates, other than perhaps a seasonal adjustment, to get more bookings; please! See what your competition is doing in Kensington. One thing I’m thinking of is that a lot of our guests who come for a rural/seaside break, particularly Americans and Australians, spend their last few days with a trip to London before flying home. So my question ties in with K9’s comments; what are your minimum nights for a stay?
Don’t worry, I just put them up. As I’m reaching out to agents now, I’m pricing airbnb at the same rate as them (which includes their commission). Now I understand the race to the bottom, I want nothing to do with it and would rather leave airbnb and go the classic long let route.
2 nights. Any thoughts?