Doesn’t it hurt your response rate if you don’t reply to the window-shoppers?
Since this seems to be a sorta open thread, would anyone here care to take a look at my latest update to this thread - http://www.airhostsforum.com/t/minor-pricing-issue-guests-appear-to-have-booked-below-my-going-rate/5731/23?
She raised her rates by $25/night immediately after I booked. When I got my cancelation notification I went to look at her calendar - my night plus one more was booked. I didn’t go through FK - I insisted on Airbnb because I had a coupon.
Hi Xena. I offered to lend my extra phone to him. Sometimes if weather isn’t good I offer to lend my car as well.
I am in Taiwan. I found people with better amenities and space than me are priced even lower, even though they have more reviews. It is crazy. The price of housing here is much more expensive than the States but because everyone rents so cheaply you can’t get much higher. I might even go lower than that sometimes.
It is very good for hosts in other countries with houses that would cost 500k us dollars renting so high.
We have other properties in other countries (not USA) and we have a vacation small apartment in Taiwan as well (that one we don’t want to do Airbnb because it is our haven), the other properties we have abroad are all rented long term.
The apartment we live in in the city, although inside is comfy and we did renovations, is in an old ugly building, nothing luxury, no elevator, only one ensuite, four bedroom, it is one of the properties my husband inheritted and it is evaluated at around 960k us dollars and I am renting a room for 40$…The state price is high because of the location, the neiborhood is very upper class. However for foreigners, as long as they see some listing is close to a subway station they think it is very convenient. So we have here listings there are out of the city but close to a subway station that are charging very little and foreigners go there with the convenience mindset. Meanwhile I am in an amazing neighborhood, close to all the high class stuff but I need to compete with the people far, because I guess foreigners don’t bother to see the map. As long as those hosts say they are close to a subway station they get booking.
In my neiborhood the cheapest hotel is 300dollars a night. There is no cheaper than that and this is for a room where you can’t even walk inside. It is the bed and that’s it. It is a minimalist hotel. All others are higher than that. I could easily price around 60-100 fir a room depending on the season only because of the location I am at. And that would still be cheap. There are not many hosting in my area, so I have to compete with the ones outside the area. (The ones here started decreasing the price too because all foreigners are going to the far neighborhood). I think the people hosting in my area must have inherited the property from parents too as it is very expensive for young people go afford. Apartments with only 2 bedrooms here but in a new building is even double the price of mine.
The country is small so real estate here is ridiculously expensive, just like Hong Kong, Singapore and similars.
40 dollars…yeah…forty. And that’s for 2 people.
We will move out of the apartment depending if our kid changes schools, so we want to have it fully rented to Airbnb guests then.
Renting long term here is very difficult, as the apartment is very large and it would be too expensive for a single family to pay. It would take very long to find a suitable renter.
Sorry, just venting.
I wonder if she got the higher rate booking through FK or another site. Because if you had booked for one night, then she wouldn’t be able to unblock the dates on Air until she cancelled you. Is it possible for her to raise her rates on the dates that are already booked? Did you notice if she has one of those “owner cancelled so many days before arrival” in her review section? I hope she does.
How much do you think that affects the guests?
We are currently in search for Airbnb renntal for a weekend in July in another city and, as a guest, I don’t feel much bothered when I see that in the reviews if all the other reviews are good. I imagine must have been some kind of emergency.
I wouldn’t want that in my listinf as a host, but as a guest I thought I would concern about it more , but I haven’t.
That is very generous. Do you charge them for borrowing your car? Have them sign a legal agreement? There is a lot that could go wrong.
What I was proposing, up thread, was using a saved message rather than answering their question.
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I hate to deal with guests who turn off roaming and don’t respond to my texts so I just give them mine without any $. It comes with unlimited call, text and 5G data plan so never had over usage charges yet. No $ and no documentation to use my car but they need to fill up the gasoline used. I only offer my car if guests are my types. (No attitude, Good impression)
I “rented” my truck to a couple for $25 a day for 2 days on Labor Day 2014. They paid me via Paypal but if anything like an accident had happened I’d probably be out of luck. Now I have it on Turo and would rent through there. Lending a car for free and without insurance is a mind blowingly huge risk.
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Not sure. I guess it depends if Air puts that notice up even if it is an emergency. They say that if it is something like the pipes breaking…then host does not have to pay a cancellation penalty. But if host has to cancel due to forgetting to block his calendar for an important date…then host has to pay the penalty. Does anyone know if the cancellation message is for all cancellations? Let’s say there was a hurricane in host’s area, and a mandatory evacuation…then host of course has to cancel the reservation. I don’t think it would be fair to have them have a message on their reviews. Especially if other hosts in the same area wouldn’t have the message because they just happened not to be booked during the hurricane.
From reading other posts, I would be weary of renting a shared space with host cancellation messages in reviews. Or a host who moves out of their home whenever they rent it. Those hosts seem more likely to cancel versus someone who has a separate vacation rental that is rented out full time to guests. I am only basing my opinion on hosts who have posted about canceling. Many of them don’t have serious reasons - they forgot to close off New Year’s Day and received a one night booking - they need to cancel now as they haven’t made their own plans yet for New Year’s. Or…their son needs to move back home…so now they need to cancel all future guests. Or…oops, my landlord found I do Airbnb and now I am getting evicted…
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I feel the same way about boats, even without a motor. I live in cottage country thats famous for people to visit. Some hosts let guests drive their boats to their cottage, and let guest use kayaks and canoes. I think this is crazy, and visualize (worst case scenario of course, but you kinda have to do this after hosting for a while) people getting loaded and, god forbid, having an accident.
I now have a waiver and charge for kayak rental. I almost wish air bnb had options for add ons. $25-breakfast, $50 pick up, $30 boat rental etc.
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My only add on is that pets are allowed. ABB still doesn’t have a pet charge. However, I’m not too excited about them getting a percentage of the extras.
Oh I think I see what you’re saying. The two day booking must have been made be through FK because wouldn’t Airbnb keep my date blocked as a penalty? Perhaps she blocked those two dates off her calendar herself. Who knows what the rate would have been - I didn’t look at her FK listing. All’s well that ends well - I found a great spot close to the start/finish line just by shear luck. I’m happy again 
I rented my kayaks my first season on ABB, used those profits to buy one sit on top kayak for myself, then sold the other two and took a mini-vacation I’m not right on water, so I used to end up having to transport the kayak for guests, and even though it’s only 2 minutes by car, it was too much work for me. I only let them use the kayaks on the lake that prohibits motorized boats. And obviously, never let them go out if they were under the influence. But I didn’t like the transport and the worry. So now, if they want to rent kayaks, there is a nearby campground I direct guests to.
I have to agree with you, although there are the exceptions. I have a very cheap listing for solo travelers so I get the younger crowd who tend to be a little more careless. But I still get some older folks who want a deal and who really appreciate not having to pay $91/night for a creepy room at Motel 6, which is the cheapest motel in this area.
I also agree with Yana about making a 2 night minimum, although I haven’t done that yet. I don’t have that many one nighters but when I do the bed changing and all that is a bit much. However, sometimes I’m glad some of the guests stay only one night
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You can also add a small cleaning fee (if you don’t have one already) so that you can get the booking but be paid for the bit of extra work.
I actually do add a $5 cleaning fee, which is very small but it covers the cost of soap and whatever. Without that the one nighters aren’t worth it.
I like your “oops” comment about the landlord finding out you’re subletting your apartment on Airbnb. I look at many of the listings in my area here in Long Beach, CA and I see quite a few that obviously look like someone is renting out a room or a couch in an apartment building–which is subletting and not allowed under the tenant/landlord agreement. As a landlord and an Airbnb host I totally understand a tenant trying to make some cash to cover their high rent; but I couldn’t allow it if one of my tenants were doing it.
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