What a joke! Many hosts, including myself, are barely making it. Guests want to do nothing upon checkout, guests want a super clean space but want to pay a lower cleaning fee, guests want early check in and late check out but do not want to pay for it, guests want a manager to respond 24/7 like a hotel, having no clue what after hours manager fees are. Guests want a discounted rate, but not a discounted low rate property.
We will not even mention the power of getting 4 stars instead of five stars on a review because a guest did not like the weather or wifi was not fast enough when they had 12 devices connected at a remote cabin in the mountians.
I pay more now for cleaning than ever in my 15 years as a host. I have been covering over half of the fee charged to me, taking it out of the nightly rate. What happened to airbnb's attitude that cleaners need to be paid a living wage? Gas is more, supplies are more, wages are more. It gets to the point that a host can hardley even cover their bills, after they pay the cleaning company, the manager, the utilities, the mortgage, taxes, insurance, supplies. Not to even mention all the little damages here and there caused by guests that airbnb cover never covers.
I am thinking about selling all my airbnbs and going back to dependable long term rentals. Never have to deal with a review ever again. Yahoo!