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I heard from a host yesterday whose Air photographer came to shoot his place that in his area, they are getting 15-20 new listings PER DAY. This was the suburban DC area but you can bet it’s happening all over. Smaller pieces of the pie for all.
We don’t have that where I am in Hawaii. It’s rural and in my neighborhood the vacation rentals are mostly complete houses. If I do surf the Air competition, I see the same places I’ve seen for years. For some reason, Air isn’t all that well known out here.
Chances are that they will soon realise that Airbnb isn’t the pot at the end of the rainbow. They’ll discover that it’s hard work (unless they want rotten reviews) and remember that they have probably been fooled by the cosy isn’t-this-wonderful Airbnb advertising. They’ll find out that they are expected to provide more than just a clean room (reference the breakfast topic) and that their utility bills soar (reference the air conditioning topic). They’ll get pissed off with cleaning bathrooms, getting stains out of bedlinen, buying new towels or guests arriving at midnight because their travel plans have altered.
They’ll discover that guests can be awkward, complaining or just plain weird. I would love to know how many of these new and clueless hosts will still have their listings in place in six months from now.
Don’t forget the people who’ve never worked in the service industry before. They think “how hard can it be?” Unless you like people and hard work this is not for you.
I just looked at the listings in my town for private room and below $60. I only recognized 4 listings that were here when I started. But I’m guessing there are at least 100 more listings than when I started in May of 2014. And many of these new hosts have 10 or more 5 star reviews. I have a number of advantages (at least I see it that way) and so I’ll just have to ride it out and hope for the best.
there are a ton of private rooms in my area; way more than entire places.(and everyday new ones pop up;hence the drop to 26!) BUT only a handful have reviews.Maybe 8 have 5 or more. Most have zero. Its giving airbnb a bad name as so many of them are worse than Motel 6. The big problem with private rooms is a lot of people will want to stay more than 30 days since the room is so cheap;you arent checking credit;I bet many of those are people who got evicted and cant even qualify for their own apt! I just changed my listing again;maximum stay allowed was 2 weeks; now its down to 10 days!
This isn’t a zero sum game. Isn’t it possible that Airbnb (and similar sites) are taking business away from the hotel industry? And hotels are huge everywhere. Of course, actual data is hard to get.
I’m not suggesting there’s space for everyone who wants to rent a room. Of course there isn’t.
@KKC, I’m surprised you have so many people with so many 5 star reviews.
Karma is clearly at the top of her game and has secured an ideal niche market. Besides that She’s probably also a hostess with the Mostess AND she has a bunch of cute dogs.
I think you misread. I wasn’t talking about @KKC, who no doubt is a very fine hostess and has lots of 5 star reviews. I’m talking about her competitors. By “people” I meant neighboring hosts. I was saying that I was surprised there were so many new hosts with 10 or more 5 star reviews.
It is actually a full-time job–especially for someone like you with a large space to maintain. Many of us here have the time: retired or spouse/other half is the breadwinner, as they say. But some are trying to do ABB plus have an outside job. I can’t imagine how they do it.
I have 2 other jobs;I work at a hotel and Im also a real estate investor so I have to manage my rentals, im constantly juggling…somehow it all works out.Sometimes I recruit family to help out with the airbnb.
I agree. I think there’s a huge turnover. But we can all sorta pick out the obvious ones who aren’t in it for the long haul. The obvious ones, at least in my area (Los Angeles/Long Beach) I see pop up are people in apartment buildings trying to earn some extra $ to help pay outrageous rent but are usually in violation of their rental agreement.
