Really interesting that some folks are reporting less to no bookings, while some are reporting more bookings then they’ve ever had before. Some are saying they’ve had little to no international bookings, some are reporting more. It must be based on location.
Location and why guests come to your area, which are interwoven. This was my busiest year so far, in a touristy beach town in Mexico, and my bookings have always been primarily from international travelers.
Meaning “non-Mexican,” not “non-American.” Right?
Correct- as I said, my listing is in Mexico, so “international”, in my case, refers to non-Mexicans. I do get Mexican guests, but mostly American, Canadian, and some Europeans.
It IS interesting Corey. I have a 5 bed - 6 bath house in the North Georgia Mountains. Maybe I need to buy a beach house in Mexico like Muddy. I’ve never had international travelers. It’s ironic though that right after I posted this question I got my first booking for the year. Airbnb might be listening, do you think?
Well, I didn’t “buy a beach house” 
I live in Mexico, bought a lot 17 years ago and had a house built. With no intention of doing Airbnb. But my guest room sat empty most of the year unless friends or family came down, so I started listing it.
It’s on the outskirts of town, a 20 minute walk from the beach.
I know you were just being tongue-in-cheek, but you actually have to have Mexican residency status to rent out a place in Mexico, otherwise you get charged 20% tax on your income by the Mexican tax dept. In addition to whatever tax you have to pay as an American on your worldwide income.
1 Like
No, I don’t think anyone from Airbnb is reading posts here daily. Maybe occasionally? There are so many STR blogs and sites and message threads and the idea that a person or bot would monitor all of them and then figure out which host you are and direct a booking to you is silly.
So you’re saying you didn’t do anything, you didn’t change a price or update a picture after being told that has worked in the past?
In any case, I’m glad we were able to help get you a booking. You can send our commission after you get your pay out.
And for anyone new that is reading, this site is not run by Airbnb, it has private ownership.
First booking of the year??? It’s JULY!
I have 2 properties on Air and they operate in different seasons. Air routinely books my summer place but is a very poor platform for my winter rental. I would say they only send about 5-10% of the business I receive there. I use 2 other platforms which consistently send guests. I’m a Superhost too so I can’t explain it. I actually had a friend do a search to ensure I was listed!
In business it is wise to diversify.
Thank you so much for your reply. We ended up having 3 reservations last year. Woo hoo! We might not rent after this year. But you give good advice, diversify. I thought about Booking because I use it for hotels but I heard the quality of renter is not that great. That’s important to me so not sure, maybe VRBO?
It sounds like Vrbo would be a good choice for you. Booking dot com was started as a hotel platform, and it’s still fairly clunky for larger groups. I also hear nothing but complaints about Booking dot com on owner’s forums for whole house rentals.
1 Like
My one and only experience of guests through booking.com was dreadful - the only time I have ever needed to call on the security deposit for damages and excess extra cleaning, alongside having to go round at 3am to ask them to reduce the noise levels. My sense was that the guests using that platform wanted the anonymity of the platform and basically treated it like a hotel.
For all its faults, Airbnb does offer a more engaged booking process which usually translates into better guests. I think for whole house listings, VRBO is probably the best alternative platform to Airbnb.
4 Likes