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The explosion in STR inventory as a result of the “gold rush” of investors moving into STRs when the pandemic forced everyone into them is old news, what’s not yet settled out is how many of investors/listings will survive the current downturn and how long newer investors that waited too long to get in will wait out the “riches” they were chasing.
What’s very clear is that hosts from here out will need ways to distinguish their listings in ways that either allow them to be highlighted by the “boutique” nature of listings that AirBnB has pivoted into, cross list on a many other booking sites, or simply build their direct booking business so they’re not competing on the platform department store shelf with every other run of the mill listing.
Competition has multiplied 3-4x in the past 3-4 years. That’s going to take more than what worked in a pandemic where anyone with a heartbeat could post a listing and be deluged business because demand far outstripped supply. We’re back to a more normal balance of STRs, hotels, air, and car travel that was, for a long time, entirely disrupted by lockdowns.
“A few favors to help prepare for the next guest” is guaranteed to piss guests off. Since when are guests expected to help the host prepare for the next guests? Since when do paying guests owe you favors? Wash your dishes, fine, but I don’t understand how hosts can think this is okay.
I’ve also experienced a major slowdown in bookings over the last few months. Another host told me that eliminating cleaning fees and tweaking prices (or anything you change on your listing) improves your position on the Airbnb platform. I’m wondering if anyone has experienced improved bookings by eliminating cleaning fees and/or changing things in their listings … obviously referring to things you can reasonably change.
I too am not sure I would tell potential guests that it is a TOTALLY CHORE FREE PLACE TO STAY. I have been hosting for 20 years, first on VRBO and then Airbnb. We have a Welcome Letter that is sent to every guest. At the bottom I state:
Check-Out/Departure – Please leave the property the way it was when you arrived. When you leave please load and run the dishwasher and take all garbage out to the Bear Box. Bed linens can remain on the beds and towels can be left in the bathroom and please turn off all lights.
I have never had anyone complain.
Also, my bookings are still very strong - I think it does depend on your location, amenities, etc. We have a Lake View Property in Incline Village, NV. I do have slower months Spring/Fall - but Winter has been booked and Summer 2023 is almost totally booked.https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/660778789372136846
Your check-out list seems completely reasonable. However, I think “leave it as you found it”, which many hosts say, is a weird and inaccurate phrase that I would never use.
Presumably the place was thoroughly cleaned before guests arrive, so if you don’t expect guests to vacuum, wash floors, scrub the place down, etc, then no one is actually leaving it the way it was when they arrived.
Understood Muddy - my guests are paying a cleaning fee so when I say ‘Leave it they way it was when you arrived’ it is from past history where people have moved things around, mattresses moved to the floor, recliners moved from the Great Room to a bedroom, one guest had a child that made a fort behind the futon in the loft - I was searching everywhere in the house for a lamp, pillows, a few faux plants, etc. and low and behold found the fort!
Very well put. While a guest might not see the crumbs they left in the kitchen, or they might not have restocked the refrigerator lol, they still are assumed to not have caused damage, moved furniture, etc.
When my now grown children were young, there were many summer days when all the dining chairs, and multiple sheets and towels ended up as part of the backyard “fort”.
Right? It was a verb at our house - ‘Forting’ My kids are now 33 and 30, but still remember those days so fondly and like it was yesterday… The Parents in this group may not have even realized that he/she was up there making his cozy fort! But yes, I was searching the house for at least an hour to try and figure out where the missing stuff had gone…
Doing your own dishes -if its more than just for breakfast - & you are producing your own meals etc & leaving the kitchen as you found it is basic - & ALL STRs in the UK I’ve stayed in have required it- & as a renter I’m fine with that… that’s not what I would expect a cleaner to do after we had vacated… (Obviously if you are charging for breakfast, its part of the deal guests don’t do their own dishes.! But a thorough clean involves dusting & polishing all surfaces, vacuuming & mopping floors, washing sinks & baths & toilets & sanitaryware, polishing screens, cleaning glass & mirrors, cleaning skirtingboards, getting rid of cobwebs, washing walls where needed, disinfecting everything, to mention only a few!! (There’s a whole lot more cleaning
& chores to be done other than dishes!!
Yes. I took the time to run a bunch of experiments last summer to see how my listing appeared on the Air website during a guest search.
What I found is, as I raised the room rate, once I passed a certain point my listing jumped to page 2. Nothing else is changed–not my star rating, not the amenities, only the room rate. When I lowered the room rate from that point, my listing returned to page 1.
To me it is essential to be on page 1. If my listing were not on page 1 I would lower my rate until it moves there.
BTW currently my received and future gross revenues from bookings are well ahead of last year’s. That was my first year, and the listing was underpriced during the first quarter especially. To date my expected gross revenues are almost 50% of my total for all of last year, and it’s only February.
I’m glad you found something that works for you, but in areas with lots of competition, obviously everyone can’t keep lowering their price until their listing appears on page 1.
True, not all the listings can fit on page 1, at least in my market. (I’ve stayed places where there were only 5 listings to be had).
But most hosts don’t care that much and don’t know that much.
Consider that 75% of those who do a Google search do not go past page 1 of search results. Are the data the same for Air? Only Air knows, I don’t know if they have reported that data or not–I doubt it.
I actually think for guests on Air, it’s more like 90% do not go past page 1 or 2, because it’s so damn much work to book to begin with. I know I don’t go beyond page 1 because I know Air puts its “best” properties on page 1.
A host who is hurting for bookings, whose business has “fallen off a cliff” to use one poster’s phrase, a host who needs that money and it is not coming in-----that host needs to do whatever it takes to get onto page 1. Among other things, perhaps, but surely this.
BTW this is one thing I have thought is unfair about how Air manages its website.
In my market there are 4-5 pages of listings that come up when you search for 2 people + pet friendly. I think Air should rotate listings on all those pages.
But instead Air DOES favor properties by putting them on page 1 and leaving them there. My listing has been on page 1 since the day I listed, often in the first spot on the page.
I can attest to the fact that there is an oversaturation of STRs. Entire streets in my city have no long-term tenants because they’ve all jumped on this supposed gravy train, with the majority being out-of-town investors starting the rentals.
My bookings have dropped significantly and the past six months of earnings have reverted to the same level of about seven years ago, while costs have of course, increased.
We also have had a disproportionate increase in the number of problematic guests. They seem to be getting more degenerate whilst simultaneously more demanding. Anyone else having a similar experience with “bad actor” guests?
No they don’t. They put the properties that make them the most money on page one. And the ones that allow IB. I’ve seen listings in heavily saturated areas with 3.5 ratings on page 1 and it’s obviously not because they are “best” in any way that guests would agree with.
But I do agree with you that Airbnb should give everyone a fair shot and rotate listing ranking. Everyone should get a chance to be on page one at least once in awhile. Otherwise it’s a vicious circle- if your listing is buried on page 5 or 10, you don’t get many bookings, therefore you never have a chance of moving up in search.
Yesterday, I searched for a multi-bedroom property in a certain area of Ohio. I was really frustrated because I could not control what AirBnB shows me at all, except for the filters. On Vrbo, you can sort by number of reviews or the average of the reviews. AirBnB kept showing me new listings on top that sounded too good to be true (nope, no thanks, I was burned by a fake “too good to be true” listing a few years ago), and properties that weren’t near where I wanted to stay, and places with 4.3 averages.
So “page 1” didn’t mean anything to me. I kept zooming in on the map until I found the area I wanted, then looked at the main picture and the price and the number of reviews and average until I found something that seems to be OK.
I would say that Airbnb algorithm has most definitely changed, though I don’t know how. My listing was always on the first page and can now intermittenly be a few pages in…yet our ratings are still consistent high and we remain one of the listings with the most reviews in our area.
However now when I do map searches (logged out of my account), my listing may or may not even show up at all on the map and I have to literally zoom ALL THE WAY down to even see anything at all. Never the case before! This started around the end of last summer.
This change has been like a kick in the stomach…and am feeling very close to just walking away from this type of income altogether. Such a huge investment to make every detail 5 star perfect, and my search results show far inferior listings (amenties, price, you name it) at the top and mine can now be buried.
Example: I have a fully serviced guest house with art and quality everything. One listing that repeatedly keeps showing up (not the “new” bump) is a guy with two dumpy bedrooms and terrible reviews…but with the same cleaning cost and rate as our full unit. On the top of the first page almost every time I have chacked. ??? Sorry, but that is some straight up BS.
I don’t generally peruse the views, etc. information long enough to retain its data, but can say most definitely that their algorithm is different, and feels like they are “spreading around” the bookings to accommodate (and keep) all these new listings, even if some of them are below standard, and to the extreme detriment to seasoned hosts. That should be better controlled by the Airbnb.
It’s not just “feels like”- they outright stated that was one of the things their summer release was intended to do.
Because he probably does all the things Airbnb wants him to do- Instant Book, Flexible cancellation, accepts last minute bookings, accepts long term bookings, accepts pets, and so on. Everything that Airbnb wants us to do so bookings roll in fast and furiously so they can collect their service fees.
