In my area of southern California I am noticing more and more places coming on the market. Most of the places for rent are “private room.” Prices seem to be trending downward. Rooms used to be 50 or a little less, now I am seeing 25! And no cleaning fee! WTF. Not even worth it! There arent as many entire spaces for rent but I am noticing more and more coming on the market so Im expecting a price drop although I wont drop mine Im cheap enough for 79 for entire guesthome.At 25 a night you might as well just get a roomate for 700 a mo;works out to be the same and you dont have to clean their room.I dont get why someone would do that…unless they are lonely?
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All I can figure is that they are trying to snag the business but don’t have any idea what the cost is to doing business. I can only hope that, once the idea of taxes, insurance, constantly washing towels and sheets, and other problems become reality to them they 1) drop out or 2) increase price.
There’s a gal opening rooms all over the place near me. She must talk people into letting her do it in their home. She’s super cheap and initially got good reviews - now the stars are dropping and some reviews are scathing. I reported one of her listings because there are no windows in the room (basement) and the door obviously is a curtain, not a door).
Hopefully, professionalism will win the day… ???
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Even though Airbnb has been around for a while, I think that it has only started to edge into the public conscious in the last year or so. The minute I heard about it I knew it was a great option for me, so I bet a lot of other people are having the same reaction.
There are over 300 listings in my general area. At least half of them have terrible pictures, incomplete descriptions and low prices. They also have no reviews. A closer inspection of this listings shows that only about 50 have more than 5 reviews. That’s the real competition.
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Well Airbnb is trying to get people to lower the price on rooms to unrealistically low levels - I have not lowered my prices and would rather have fewer guests than a high volume of low priced budget guests. I don’t want the tourist looking for the cheapest place they can find.
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I have almost 100 5 star reviews;Im not dropping my already reasonable 79 price.In fact, in my listing first thing I mention is"I do NOT give discounts". I dont want cheapskates. That stops those types of emails dead in their tracks. I also dont let anyone stay longer than 2 weeks, the room gets too dirty;I would rather host more people, get more reviews and make more money on the cleaning fees.
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yes there are hundreds in my area too, but only a handful with a lot of reviews; most listings have no reviews or maybe 1. The only way to dominate the market is to get massive amounts of 5 star detailed, descriptive reviews. Meeting the guest and doing a friendly walk through(chatting them up for a few minutes) almost guarantees an awesome review vs just leaving a key and never meeting.
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I am in agreement in terms of length of stay and the room getting too dirty. I just had a couple check out after staying only 7 days. The carpet in the guest room is FILTHY and I don’t have time to steam clean it since I’ve got another guest coming in 4 hours. Though doing changeovers every day or every 2 or 3 days gets old, at least I get the cleaning fee, and usually the carpet can be spot cleaned.
I agree with the original topic of this thread. I am astonished at how low some people are willing to rent out not only private rooms, but even whole apartments/condos! But especially, a private room for a mere $25 bucks or less, and no cleaning fee? I just don’t see why people are willing to do this and hope that @dcmooney is right.
On the other hand, I wonder if/worry that some people are so desperate for cash they are willing to nearly give away a room in their home. When I say worry, I mean I worry for them, not for the competition they may present. If that is the case, I feel awful for those in that sort of situation and extremely grateful for the situation I’m in. Though I can only rent my room for about 10 weeks a year due to the seasonality of my location, I can command a whopping (comparatively speaking) $75 to $90 a night.
We do actually need this income to help with the bills. But if I had to drop my price so low, I always have the option of, and might be better off just getting a part time minimum wage job. I’m thinking that many of those listing for so low may not have such options.
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Im lucky in that this is not my only income stream, I have a job and also my husband has income and we have other income property. I would not want to stay in a room for 25! I would wonder if they cut corners and maybe dont even wash the sheets!SOME places do that;I read a bad review for another host where the guest was complaining about the sheets smelling and there was hair all over the sheets…you get what you pay for!
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Private rooms long term 3 month+ terms go for about £13 per day (about £400 per month and include all bills).
I charge £23 per night on Airbnb. I’ve been increasing it by £1 every few weeks. I started at £20. Most places near me are between £20 and £25 for what I’m offering. I wouldn’t let low prices force you in to lowering not unless you never get booked anymore.
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We are about to make our ‘private room’ into an ‘entire home’ so I was checking prices. Unbelievable some people renting out nice homes for $100 or so - but I guess, if you get a good deal on the mortgage, and stay fully booked, you can net about $2500 or so with which to pay the mortgage? I don’t know!
That’s an important aspect that I try to remember when agonizing over prices. When searching for a basic room in a chain hotel I expect to pay $125-$145. If a place comes up that says '$75" I almost always ignore it - must be a dump, right?
What i would like - someone should be able to come up with it, is a calculation sheet. For instance - private room in the center of town? $XX. 10 miles out? subract $X. Offer Breakfast? Add $X. More than one room? Add $X. Kitchen? Add $X and so on. Super host? 5 Star reviews? IB? It doesn’t seem hard - I just don’t have the knowledge to do it.
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Were you a guest at this property that you reported? I don’t understand what the problem was. What’s wrong with having no window or having a curtain put up? If those conditions are clearly stated and pictured in the listing I don’t see what the problem is.
I based my pricing on others in my area, but new listings are definitely going lower… I live in an UGLY neighborhood, very ‘urban’ with houses packed in together, and my house is the only single-family one around, only one with a fenced yard (the whole house is within the fence). I’m at $50 a night right now, nearby listings in ‘better’ parts of the city with lots of land, parking, etc. are going for less!
Why? It’s called money :)))) At $25 a night that still works out to be $750 a month IF it’s rented every night, which probably wouldn’t happen but could if the hosts only accepts longer term stays.
I made significant improvements to my guest room spending $15000 to add a private entrance and bathroom but can’t raise my prices (typically $29-46, $10 for 2nd person) and am not getting significantly more bookings. But I feel like it keeps me in the game. I agree with dcmooney that a lot of people will drop out when they see what’s really involved and they lose bookings due to low ratings and bad reviews.
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It’s dangerous and a violation of every code worldwide. In order to be a bedroom it has to have a window.
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I’m sure your house is very charming and many people don’t give a hoot about what the neighborhood looks like as long as your price is good for them and they feel safe. It’s all about supply and demand–market driven as they say.
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What about all those basements I see in those home remodeling shows?
There are a lot of variables. Look what you can get in my town for that price
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/10294604
I’m sure these folks and many others have cost me bookings, just like I cost the hosts established before me bookings.
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I see your point. You are right. Legally, though, it’s not a bedroom. There needs to be egress in the event of a fire. We had a big issue here with people cramming families into basements with no egress, and the entire family dies in a fire.
Sure, people can see there are no windows, but they may not notice that. Until they need to get out of the room and the way to the stairs is blocked.
I should have, in retrospect, left it alone. Thanks
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