I understand that Airbnb won’t allow you to sell listing, ratings and reservations however, was wondering if anyone has a work around. For example if I contact all future guests and let them know that there will be a new co-host (who will be doing all the work) and then having the new owners bank information and tax ID in the listing until the future reservations are complete and then make a clean break afterwards. Thanks.
There is no really good way to manage this without risks. Just make a clean break, once you are close to closing cancel future reservations under extenuating circumstances and preserve your Air account and reviews.
RR
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It’s too risky. In a way, it’s false advertising. Your reviews and star ratings are for you as a host. Yes, to some extent they are for the property (location, for instance) but the new property owners might increase the price (so the ‘value for money’ will be different), the new co-host might have a completely different way of doing things (arrival snacks for example) and standards may differ (cleaning for instance) especially if the new owners isn’t accustomed to Airbnb.
As RR says, keep your Airbnb account unsullied.
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I would think potential home-buyers would be satisfied to know that a successful AirBnB was run on the property for many years. Then they may start their own listing. I’d wager more home-buyers like the idea of an AirBnB potential than would actually succeed at running one. I’ve had many friends and neighbors over the years ask me about starting their own AirBnB, but none have actually done it.
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If you have a closing date for the property sale, have the new owner create a listing and tell all of your guests beyond the closing date that their reservations will be cancelled due to the sale of the property, but they can re-book them with the new owner for the same price (or less for the guest’s inconvenience) via a reservation request. Make sure the new owner doesn’t have instant-book enabled until all of the old reservations get transferred.
Have you talked to Airbnb about it? With 7 million listings, I wouldn’t think this is the first time this has happened and since the new owner wants to continue with Airbnb, it’s to their benefit. Maybe they have some guidance… or maybe they’ll just shrug their shoulders.
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They are no help. I have been through this with my sellers before (RE broker in a tourist area)
RR
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IMO Just sell and cancel your account. Let the new owners earn their own ratings. Why should five star ratings be handed over on a silver platter to a new host? Let him work hard like you did to get those ratings. Unless you were planning on making a profit from it, but it will come back and bite you.
I come across this often, sellers want to market a business opportunity but the thing is its only as good as the host, there is nothing to sell but the property. Keep it simple
RR
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Thanks Brian. This is along the lines of what I was thinking. I didn’t think to turn off instant booking,thanks for that suggestion. The potential buyer is my next door neighbor and we both have 4.9 star Airbnb businesses so he definitely knows we he’s doing. BTW I did call Airbnb and they will only talk with you when the sale is imminent and there is a specific escalation path for this instance. To the other poster - I am intending to include future reservations as part of the overall packaged deal. Thanks everyone, I’ll let you know how it turns out.
You’re going to put the new owner’s banking information and tax ID in the listing??? That’s probably illegal and certainly unethical in my book!!
If I were in the process of buying the place from you and saw my information published in the listing, I would break our contract in a heartbeat; and my lawyers would be contacting you.
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You can’t do that- it’s totally unethical as far as the guests are concerned. You can’t just turn them over to the new owner as if they were a piece of furniture.
What you need to do is message all booked guests, explain the situation, let them know the new owner is your neighbor, an experienced host with a 4.9 rating, direct them to his profile and reviews, and give them the option of cancelling, with full refund if they so choose.
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No. I meant if it were an option to transfer my listing (which it’s not) so that he would get paid to his bank directly, not to be published.
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@Karenmtr: Hello and welcome to the forum! I was a buyer in a situation like this in early 2018.
I didn’t want the prior hosts’ stars/reviews, but we also didn’t want to disrupt someone’s vacation plans. Realtors on both sides contacted ABB and were told that an account could be transferred but they got conflicting information so we didn’t try it.
What we did do was (1) Set up our ABB account (2) Seller messaged their guests to advise of the pending sale, and cancelled those reservations (3) Most travelers rebooked with us.
From the Seller’s side, her account was clean. From our side, we got a handful of reservations. All’s well that ends well 
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That’s pretty much exactly what I was thinking. The only thing I would worry about is Airbnb seeing that a host put up a listing that is near identical (address, photos, etc.) to an existing listing, and this might catch their eye more easily with the new listing verifications they want to impose. That’s where calling Airbnb might help.
AirBnB must have a solution for this. It is a common practice in the professional (tourism) industry.
You always sell your business including reservations and ratings. The new owner pays for the “goodwill”.
I would keep the account running and then hand it over to the new owner. He can do with as he pleases (not your problem anymore).
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You cannot sell your ratings and reviews on Airbnb. The ratings and reviews stay with the profile they were posted to. As it should be. You can have the most stellar property in the world but if the host is inattentive or clueless or rude, the listing will get bad reviews and vice versa.
Not the current hosts problem. Hand over the account to the next host and done.
It has been done for years in all industries. Why should some amateurs on AirBnB do it differently.
Aside for the wisdom or ethics in this particular case, the reality is that this happens all the time on Airbnb and they don’t care. All the property management companies with their rotating crews and guests thanking Doha, Evan, Stephan, Chrissy, etc for their hospitality. The “host” picture is a corporate logo. I would have no idea if the property changed hands.
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The property I purchased had many bookings but was run poorly.
The host cancelled all their bookings on AirBnb and booking.com, Stayz etc. She was angry at me for not handing over my bank details, she would not assist in following the legal processes.
I was happy to set up my own AirBnb which I’ve done and have her redirect bookings should they want to rebook. She refused to take down any listings and advertised a property she she didn’t own. Caused so many issues. Trying to sabotage me. All I did was buy her property but she was a bitter lady from a messy divorce. The only way I can stop her is with a lawyer and civil litigation case.
I told AirBnb, emailed them about her fraudulent activity, provided proof that I own the property and AirBnb still did nothing!
I have one review now and ten more bookings this month so I’m not too worried.
Just be careful when buying property and put a clause in your contact as I failed to do this. Get the person to cancel and start again. My prices are higher and I have refurnished and offer a superior experience than what was provided previously. I also have to do everything remotely until I move closer.
Hope this information helps. It’s not always simple and verbal discussions are not enough, have it in writing about any decisions.
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This is one of those scenarios where, legalities aside, it does matter whether the space being sold is a stand-alone house or apartment, where you may or may not meet the host or co-host, or a room which is part of a dwelling in which the host/s lives.