Thanks everyone for the replies, really appreciate it.
@JJD @Elli Please tell me what are “rule sets”? I have never heard of them before 
I’ve checked everything and IB is definitely on and I haven’t cancelled anyone, not even declined an inquiry.
… and this is why it is not a good idea to put all your bed nights in the Airbnb basket.
We had almost zip from airbnb during July and August, but fortunately directs and BDC came to the rescue. This month, mostly airbnb, but I know if it dries up I can drop BDC prices and fill our remaining nights.
JF
1 Like
I agree but we’re not doing any better anywhere else we are listed, either. It’s too hot for motorcycles, the kids went back to school, and the river is so low it’s been declared toxic. I don’t expect anything to improve until the weather does.
1 Like
True, if you list an entire property. But for us in-house hosts there are very few other options for short stay rentals.
1 Like
Ugh. My friends here have already told me to shut about my climate apocalypse gloom and doom. But the reality is that many hosts are already suffering and will continue to do so. That’s why I feel so fortunate to have the kind of Airbnb business I do that has such a large non discretionary component.
1 Like
Update: I switched off smart pricing and got a booking today.
Yay! No idea whether the two things are linked. Probably not.
The booking is only for two nights in October but at least it shows that I’m still visible somewhere.
2 Likes
Got a booking today for a long weekend a month away. Place has been vacant since the Labor Day Weekend guests checked out on September 2. Had only bogus inquiries since then until this morning. I am not surprised, our weather sucks in September.
Holy #$%@! When you look at view:book ratio, it doesn’t get more real.
This data is delayed a couple days and I did get a booking yesterday and another today, so this is actually the tail end of a 41-day booking slump (longest ever) for me.
None of this includes the time you were shut down? It always feels like it takes about the same amount of time to recover from a blockage as the block. Of course there are always seasonal variables and every year is different from the one before because competition increases. I feel lucky I’m still getting as many bookings as I am given the increased competition. Allowing pets and allowing late last minute bookings is keeping me in business.
2 Likes
No. This data is from today but my calendar opened up August 5 (51 days ago). I actually had three bookings during the 40 days the calendar was blocked off. Those bookings were for stays in August and September. Then I got a couple of bookings in early August after the calendar opened up, then nothing until yesterday.
1 Like
I can tell it’s slow not only from my own listing but listings similar to mine who are discounting and offering the 10% off for non refundable who never did before.
My Guest House has been empty since September 3rd with a few inquires and 1 canceled booking for October this is typical for this time of year. My Cottage booked on September 7th to October 6th and I hope she will extend which she usually does, knock on wood. She just extended my Villa from her August 26th to September 29th to November 3rd, so another $8,500+ to me for the alteration today. Yeah…
1 Like
I got a booking day before yesterday for late October, then they cancelled yesterday. I am not surprised and everyone else around us is slow, too. No reason to come to our area when it is 95 degrees, kids are back in school, and the good weather is still ahead of us.
Occupancy rate, July vs. September (50% occupancy is effectively “full” occupancy for this drive-to, weekend market):
Yesterday it seemed so slow. Last night and today 4 days in the the next two weeks booked on top of what I already have and suddenly I have one free day out of the next 10. We’ve commented on this before but it seems like tweaking your listing helps. I manipulated the price including lowering it for one night (tomorrow night), and changed from moderate to flexible cancellation. One booking is a guest from last week headed back across the state. Another is a also a return trip booking but they haven’t come through yet. One is a fellow added a fourth day to his three day stay. Still, it’s a flurry of activity after a very quiet week.
I adjust my rates every day. Even if it’s only +/- $1
2 Likes
It’s purely anecdotal evidence of course. Airbnb claims it has no effect on search ranking but every time it happens the ol’ confirmation bias kicks in.
My booking rate is currently only 1.8% not counting these last two days. Feb was my highest in the last year at 2.5%. But my reality is that I’m booked about 80% of the days I make available. It’s just not a useful metric for my listing. I have 700-1000 views each month. This is my Feb/Mar
Crazy, I just got another booking.
So 40 days blocked, followed by 2 bookings within 9 days, then 41 days of nothing, then 3 bookings within 2 days. It’s like they “caught me” blocking my days and they put me in time-out for the same number of days that I blocked. Still, my own experiments show that isn’t really the case, but if I was a conspiracy theorist…
I am feeling like my bookings have slowed to a trickle but when I looked at my stats I felt a little better…even though it’s not what I am hoping for at least it’s not zero.
Got nada from airbnb after this coming Sat, what we have is either direct or BDC.
Sad as it may sound, I spent an hour or so looking at similar properties in our area and October and November are looking pretty bleak for most them. A lot of them are also on BDC as well and their calendars are showing full availability from now until the end of the year.
Our booking window is pretty short so I’m not too worried, yet! I’m assuming it’s similar for many other hosts in this area, so here’s hoping things pick up a bit for everyone, apart from the multi property investment companies of course.
JF
3 Likes