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Did you see that now airbnb is penalising hosts who don’t accept instant bookings?
When a person is doing a search for a location, there is a small box, ALREADY CHECKED,
that chooses instant book for them; ALL the instant booked listings come up first.
they would have to consciously “uncheck” the box, which is hard to even see, to see the non-instant -book listings.
(I come up after listings that are 100 kilometres out of town).
For a site that was based on the spirit of finding people that were a good match, I find this
terrible unfair, and greedy.
yea, as soon as I brought it to airbnb’s attention they changed it back; now they just “suggest” guests use instant book.
It only lasted 24 hours - probably I was not the only person who protested.
The squeaky wheel got results!!
I have noticed several times that I come up on a first line and without this post I wondered if it’s because I have IB.
Everyone in tropics in hospitality business and restaurants noticed a sudden drop in bookings and patrons. I have a few friends who work in hotels and restaurants in South Florida and they al say this year there is a significant drop in business for December. And the reason they say is unusually warm weather North.
My father lives upstate NY and he was wearing shorts few days ago, and very light jacket for his run.
I noticed a tremendous drop after busy November, even on weekends.
A possible factor is that the Canadian dollar is very weak at the moment. How much of your business derives from Canadians? There used to be a huge surge of cross-border shopping on Black Friday, but it didn’t happen as strongly this year. We actually had Americans crossing over here to shop (our border area shops have Black Friday sales to try to counteract the cross-border suction).
Wow, I listed my rooms with Flippkey 6 months ago and NOONE ever books through them, plus endless questions about what I don’t offer.
I didn’t do that badly in December but it goes worse than November, and I couldn’t imagine that. We have different rentals, mine is in my house. I don’t think it m cosidered as vacation accommodation, but just a layover. I have many people who are late for their flight:). I guess everyone is on time lately. Plus cruise port is close, so I get many who go on a. Cruise or come back from it.
I get a lot of emergencies guests.
Very rarely someone reserves so much ahead as few weeks. I had reservation for New Year through booking few weeks ago, but that’s one out of the rest of them.
Canadian friends of mine tell me many of your countrymen have eschewed Hawaii for the far cheaper destination of Mexico. I agree about the East Coast… I think mild, warm winters in the Northeast are possibly affecting the Florida and Hawaii bookings. I have bookings through February. I don’t care to be stacked up back-to-back with bookings, just maybe three per month can help alleviate the mortgage payment.
This is my first year, and I think I had very high hopes for the winter. When I started Airbnb in March, it was so unbelievable busy that I thought starting in December it will be like this until April. I did not expect it to go so dead after Thanksgiving. I am on 3 sites, and I don’t get anything from any of them. The difference is very noticeable. I even priced it the same as I did in summer, which helped me a bit during summer, but now even very low price does not work.
It gets boring. House feels so empty.
i’m in delray and there aren’t many of us here. i think that’s the diff. people come to delray all winter for festivals and conferences. the hotel prices are astronomical! there are ZERO reasonable hotels in delray.
Oh darn it Yana, I was really hoping things would pick up. It’s possible people are waiting for school to be out before making holiday plans. That happens the end of this week for most places. Hang tight.
Thank you for thinking of me:). That’s how I look at it: I am not doing anything wrong, 28 5* reviews, prices are reasonable. Then I just relax and wait, it should pick up. There are forces out there that beyond
my control
Stephanie, I am now at waterways, Aventura, having lunch … And I am the only person here … And that a huge restaurant. Talked to the owner , he said it’s been dead for the past 2 weeks like this. There are 5 waiters and 2 chefs just standing around waiting.
I had weekly rates but kept on getting offers for 30% lower. I already am giving discount. I decline couple guests who just offered me 300$ a week for 2 weeks including Christmas. 2 weeks it means they will be cooking and hanging out in a house much more. I like people to stay max 7 days. I took off weekly rates altogether, may be should put them back
And DC… it’s so WARM there, the cherry blossoms are coming out! DARN! We wanted cold, bitter cold, and snow for our trip in January. If I’m paying a kings ransom to fly halfway around the world from Hawaii I expect to find some cold weather darn it! Or at least a dusting of snow! I get warm weather and blossoms all year long here! Drat. I hope it chills down soon!
Could it be possible that the old-school snowbirds are dying out? I mean, we have the same thing here on the Resort coast of Kohala. The same people coming year after year to the same rental, booked a year in advance. The “Same Time Next Year” scenario (without the affairs of course. ) Funny how you have the activities of the guests fine-tuned to a science… and that tells you so much. Will hipsters have dinner at five? Will Millennials fish or golf all day? The times they are a changing!
My good friend is an old school property manager who has booked Kohala Coast vacation rentals for three decades here on the Big Island. Long before there was Air BnB or VRBO or FlopKey. I think even she is seeing a drop in bookings, but not because she’s lost business to the Internet platforms. A lot of her clients are super wealthy (the kind with oceanfront homes) and don’t want to bother with the day-to-day slave plantation work that you and I do. They do book on Air and want her to manage the rental and she gets a cut. She’s made the new model work for her and got rid of her bricks and mortar vacation rental office. In order to manage more than one property in Hawaii you need a real estate license. This gal has seen it all over the years. She sees the crap we are talking about here every day and three times on Sunday, and in my opinion, more than earns her commissions.
I cannot understand this… other than to think that the mild Northeast winter has people jogging in Central Park in shorts instead of thinking about escaping the cold in Florida.
Winter misery is a sincere driver of business to Hawaii. Consistently in the winter Hawaii hands down has some of the most perfect temperate weather on the planet this time of year.
It doesn’t hurt that it’s got gorgeous natural beauty too.
Sands of every color–black, white, mixed, gray and even GREEN… Gorgeous, healthy coral reefs laden with colorful reef fish, turtles everywhere, a rich, engaging cultural history, fresh fruit and locally caught fish, friendly aloha spirit, and an active volcano on the other side of the island. The world’s finest observatories atop one of the highest mountains in the world. Come visit Hawaii Island, the land of adventure!
) Funny how you have the activities of the guests fine-tuned to a science… and that tells you so much. Will hipsters have dinner at five? Will Millennials fish or golf all day? The times they are a changing!