How have you changed the way you host during COVID?

[Nick]

Hi everyone,

If you are a fan of Instagram, then you might be interested to hear that Airbnb is asking hosts to share your top tips to help each other weather the COVID storm. If you would like to take part, post your top COVID hosting tips on Instagram with the hashtag #HowToHost tagging @Airbnb. Some of the best tips will be featured in the Airbnb Resource Center. 

If you are not a big Instagrammer, don't worry, we thought we could join the conversation from here in the CC, as I think we all have our own stories and top tips. COVID has impacted all of our lives this year and continues to in all manner of ways. It would be great to hear your tips on how you have tried to adapt.

How have you changed the way you host during COVID? 

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

Thanks,

Nick 

[Nick]

Absolutely @Beth44 and thank you for the comment, I couldn't agree more 

[Mark116]

If this the new normal, then I'm not sure we are going to be able to continue on any platform.

Since Airbnb hides our listing at the end of search results we were already not getting the same number or quality of guests and now that is even more true, it is always the last minute travelers.  That,  combined with the 'staycation' phenomenon, with people staying in the unit, cooking 3 meals a day, all day, has tripled the cleaning requirement, not even counting Airbnb regulations.  Instead of every 6 or 7 sets guests requiring a deep cleaning and taking 45 minutes to get the stove clean, now, it is every single guest.  Instead of things very rarely getting broken or damaged, now it is every single guest and not one mentions it.  Instead of almost never having guests who actively break the rules, probably 40% have blatantly ignored the rules on visitors and check out procedure.  Instead of the basic supplies like oil, plastic wrap, plastic bags, foil that have typically lasted for months and months....now, we have to restock every few guests.  

So, in summary, it is costing a lot more to host, and the pressure is worse than ever from Airbnb to charge pennies, Airbnb thinks we should be charging $55 a night.  My god, that would barely cover the cost of all these cleaning supplies and pantry items at this point, not to mention the damaged and stolen items.  Very sad.  We have really loved hosting, we loved the income, and we really enjoyed meeting people from all over the world and being of help as they visited NYC and the area.  

I can see now why the staycation hosts always have professional cleaners, but if we did that, then our cleaning fee needs to go from $25 to $100, which will push the listing further down in search results.  

[Emilia42]

@Mark116 Have you talked with other hosts in your area? Are they reporting similar long lulls with no bookings or have they had to drop their price considerably? I know you have been having trouble with the Airbnb search placement for a while now. I wonder what would happen if you deleted your listing and started over from scratch?