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@KKC That was always something I couldn’t understand. The kid’s old enough to get drafted if there was another war, and get killed, but he’s not old enough to buy liquor?
Having raised three kids, I know that “I’m just a kid! I shouldn’t have to do so many chores/ I know Mom, you don’t have to tell me- I’m not a little kid anymore”, quite well. My line when they wanted to do something that was not allowed was “If you want to be allowed the privileges of an adult, you have to take on the responsibilities of an adult.”
The thing is, teenagers really are both. They can behave very maturely and responsibly, but then still need Mom to comfort them or come to their rescue when things go wrong.
Short version: after being on Houfy for a couple years with no booking inquiries, it became one more thing to maintain so I discontinued my listing. I’ve noticed an explosion of new Houfy listings in my area & buzz on a local book direct from owner Facebook group. I contacted a local host with a listing similar to mine to find out if she was getting bookings.
I like the way she is leveraging Houfy.
She has her listing available for a traditional booking on Houfy & Airbnb.
She leaves business cards in the listing. The usual of her name & phone number with her HOUFY listing & a note of No booking fees.
Her repeat bookings tend to use Houfy.
I like this.
Airbnb protections may be slight but at least it’s something for that first booking.
This way the guest & host have a proven history and the guest doesn’t pay fees for repeat bookings. Plus she can accept credit cards via the Houfy website.
I like this.
If she happens to get a new guest from Houfy, it’s a bonus.
I don’t ask or encourage. I only educate. I tell them it’s their choice, but to comparison shop between my website, ABB and Vrbo and pick the best combination of price and policies for them.
But I’m serious, I don’t know why but it’s like a surge in Houfy activity. I’ve already dropped out of it and moved on. I’m getting sucked back into it.
Houfy seems to following the adage someone posted about when a rental gets busy, it tends to get busier.
As best I can tell it is being used as a replacement for building your own stand alone.
I agree. I will not encourage or ask a guest to do this for their first booking either. I will merely educate them when the time comes. It’s definitely not against the TOS as you have explained correctly.
I always thought it had a weird vibe about it. The concept seems fine but the idea that it would just build it’s brand from individuals being brand evangelists gives it that cultish vibe. It’s doesn’t help that their biggest cheerleader on this forum turned out to be an unrepentant bigot.
It’s fine if people want to use Houfy but this forum isn’t going to be used to sell it.
I’d be out of business if I paid attention to that. I can’t remember where most of my repeat guests come from anyway!
Exact;ly what I do. Then it’s up to the guest. I am not going to dictate to them - “you must book via Airbnb” or “you must book direct”. We’re talking about adults here.
I agree with this. I am planning to do this in the off season where I don’t have as many guests to attend to. Do you know any books or resources that are good to learn about other platforms and direct booking websites? I think aspects such as cancellation policies, contracts, review system, how to deal with scammers, etc. need to be addressed. I feel like it’s too daunting of a task right now.
I have only been hosting for over a year now so I think it’s too early to tell about repeat visitors, but I think I don’t want to rely on repeat visitors. I have done two direct bookings with previous guests, in both cases it turned out to be a lot of work in communication and getting payment. The dates they wanted were not available, so there was a lot of back and forth discussion on what dates are available. I have increased rates since I have more reviews since I started, so they wanted to pay the same rate as before, so the negotiation was time consuming too. It would just have been easier for me if they instant booked by checking availability and prices on my listing on Airbnb.
Before I started hosting, I did a couple of direct bookings as a guest. I found a place I wanted to book on Airbnb and the host had a unique listing name that I googled and then I booked direct on the website they maintained. I paid cash in one case so that the host would not have to pay CC fees and the host was very happy.
The host did not ask or encourage me to book off platform. I did that on my own. But I found them on Airbnb. It doesn’t seem like the host did anything against the TOS. That seems like a great way to stay out of trouble from Airbnb for off platform bookings.
If Airbnb wants to keep more bookings on Airbnb, they need ways to provide ongoing value to guests and hosts. IMO, for newbie hosts like me, they provide enough value. For seasoned hosts, they don’t. More and more of their revenue is coming from professional hosts who have multiple listings. My guess is Airbnb will try harder to make sure hosts don’t violate the off platform policy. Pro hosts have the incentives and resources to take people off platform unlike newbie or part time hosts.
Anybody who types in the name of my place “Jam Jerrup Sunset”, if they see it on Air, will find direct contact options and pay 20% less. I have one this weekend. I figure they are canny folk who are comfortable relying on their own judgement. For the others there’s Airbnb or VRBO. It’s good to have options, doesn’t mean one is better than the other.
Do you use any other Australian websites apart from Airbnb and Stayz/VRBO (I stopped using BDC due to too many late cancellations)?
I use the Tourism Victoria website “Dogs On Holiday”. I only pay $90 a year for it, no ongoing fees, and get about a booking a month. It links to my Airbnb calendar and list my phone number or they can email me which sends me a standard email with their booking request. They also rewrote my listing to make it a one pass read that is really quite good.
I have done the same thing a few times. Why should guests or hosts care that Airbnb has gone through the expense of building this platform?
Guests only care about themselves and their wallet. I do the same. Airbnb does the same: they make that quite clear with their actions rather than the mumbo jumbo in their mission statements. I don’t care how much Airbnb has spent to build their platform. It is their job to monetize their platform, not something for the hosts or the guests to worry about.
Still on B.con, but have the strictest of cancellation policies- can cancel up to 30 days before and full payment on booking. Full payment inside 30 days.
That stopped the cancellation on the day of arrival crap
The biggest issue is the fake credit cards, you can put in any 16 digit number and they accept it as valid…… I photograph and check the card.
