After many months listing on Airbnb not 1 booking

[Ayuk39]

I would like Airbnb to look into the fact that after 5 months we didn't receive one single booking.
From Booking.com we received a total of 23 bookings
Something is wrong and I cannot figure out what the problem is.
Our villa is 4 minutes walking to Double Six beach in Bali and we only get high reviews (from Booking.com)
Could anybody please tell me what's wrong.

Listing's link: https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/823769422673873430

Kind regards, Jos

[Bob297]

@Ayuk39 
Goedemiddag Ayuk
When I do a search on airbnb and use seminyak, your villa does not show up. Which makes sense, because there are over 1000 listings!
Also on booking I could not find you, using seminyak.
I did find you on booking using villa double six.
I then entered the period: Feb 4-23
On booking it shows a price of Euro 2180
On booking I get a 10% genius discount. But a lot of people get that discount, plus more (eg mobile discount)
On Airbnb Euro 2905
That might be an explanation why you have no reservations on Airbnb

groetjes,

Bob

[Ayuk39]

Hi @Bob297 , dit is Jos de echtgenoot van Ayuk.
Ik kom uit Amstelveen en woon 20 jaar in Bali

Heel erg bedankt voor je super snelle antwoord.

Your response is very valuable for us

I never realized that in case of Airbnb the price for the guest will be marked up.

I will calculate a new rate for Airbnb and adjust this price in the application.

We indeed priced ourself out of the market in case of Airbnb.

What I still don't understand is why Airbnb offers only a max 15 pages result.
Why not give all listings a chance and offer whatever pages are neccessary.
Not problem if a guest has the patience to go from page 1 till 300

About not being able to find us on Booking.com:

Since the 1st of July 2023 we received 27 bookings however all guests are from Australia. We are happy with these bookings however I wonder why there are for example zero Europeans or other nationalities.

hartelijk bedankt en met vriendelijke groeten,
Jos

[Bob297]

@Ayuk39 
If you use the @ I get a notification that you have sent a message

In July 2024, a direct flight from Melbourne to Denpasar takes 6 hours and costs € 422 roundtrip

On average, the same flight from Amsterdam takes 18 or 19 hours and costs € 1.400

That’s a big difference for a family of four

It's not only the markup by Airbnb that makes the difference. 90% of the guests who make a reservation via booking.com get a discount of 10% or 20%.
You can verify that by looking at the breakdown of the amount on the booking.com website.

I understand that you don't mind that a guest has to scroll through 300 pages. Not many guests will do that 🙂
A better price will help you get higher in the rankings.

[Ayuk39]

Hi Bob, thank you for your detailed response.

My husband is Dutch and there are a lot of Dutch tourists present in Bali.
It's therefore strange that out of 27 Booking.com bookings there's not even 1 Dutch guest.

My original issue was that compared to 27 Booking.com bookings we don't even have 1 Airbnb booking.

However I will look into the pricing and adjust the Airbnb rate because we indeed were sitting too high. I never realized that Airbnb will mark up the price for the guest. 

Maybe you can help me with the following question: We would like to receive a minimum rate of Euro 115 per night (netto).
Does this mean that this is the amount I need to fill in in the "base price per night" in the Airbnb admin ?

Kindest regards, Ayuk

[Bob297]

@Ayuk39 

I see that you have already adjusted the price on Airbnb.

Comparing prices is not easy.

On Booking.com, all commissions are charged to the host. This will be about 18% when Booking.com also collects the rent.

You can see this in the payout specification.

On Airbnb, the commission is divided between the host and the guest.
You have one review, so you have had a guest through Airbnb once.

With that reservation, you can see exactly how much commission is charged to the host and how much to the guest.

Then there is the issue of discounts on Booking.com.

Most guests have some discount when they book on Booking.com. This also depends on your settings.

A "genius discount" is often around 10%. A "mobile discount" can also be around 10%.

Indeed, many Dutch people come to Bali. Given the flight duration and ticket prices, these will be much less often spontaneous, short-term bookings. You started in July 2023

This is different for guests from Australia: low flight prices and short flight time.

Kind regards,
Bob

[Ayuk39]

Hi Bob,

Thank you very much for your detailled information.

Your input is very much appriciated.

At Booking.com the discounts are indeed confusing and difficult to understand. With the Genius guests discounts are even more difficult to understand. I however more look at the incoming results and as long as these are satisfactory it's fine to me.

It's just that I also would like to see more (more then 1) bookings from Airbnb. I indeed lower the rate on Airbnb and furthermore there is not much I can add at this moment.

I need a minimum rate of Euro 195 per night to earn back our lease costs and for example electricity, laundry and housekeeping costs.

Unfortunately almost all guests have the habit to 24/7 run the aircons even if they spend all day at the beach. Guests prefer to come home in a cold villa with cold bedrooms.

Hartelijk dank en met vriendelijke groeten,

Jos

[Bob297]

@Ayuk39 

I own three villas on the tropical island of Curacao, where electricity and water costs are notably high.
Each villa is equipped with separate meters for these utilities.
To cover the expenses, I charge guests based on the meter readings and the actual cost of their water and electricity usage, documented through meter photographs.

In addition to the utility charges, I require a security deposit from guests.
I explicitly outline these policies in my house rules and reiterate them in the confirmation email sent after a reservation is made. In these communications, I explain that I refrain from incorporating a fixed average amount in the rent. This approach allows me to fairly assess charges and, importantly, encourages and rewards guests who are mindful of their energy consumption.

I provide information on the average daily utility cost and have consistently followed this practice for the past five years. The overwhelming majority of guests—99.9%—understand and accept these terms without issue. For the small fraction that may initially find it unclear, I take the time to explain the rationale, resulting in a high level of understanding and compliance.

[Ayuk39]

Hi Bob, thank you again for your nice response.

Great to hear that you own villas in Curacao.
I was there once and it's a beautiful island.

Here in Bali we mostly do long term villa rentals.

We rent out villas for a minimum period of 1 year with full payment in advance. All monthly costs are for the renter.
We get clients through our website: balilongtermvillarentals

The villa in Legian is our first experiment in regards to short term renting. So far this goes very well.

Your idea of using an electricity meter is great and if your experience is that the overwhelming majority of your guests—99.9%—understand and accept these terms without issue then I will also start this feature.

Electricity here is provided based on prepaid meters from PLN the electricity company. I only have to figure out how to implement this feature. When people check in there must be at least a saldo to start on and then there is the issue when they check out and there is an overbalance. 

However I can always calculate the overbalance and give the guest the overpaid balance back in cash. because everything is pre-paid I don't have to worry if the guest "forgets" to pay me back when they check out.

As a result I will be able to reduce the daily rate because electricity is no longer included in the rental price. 

Thank you very much and have a great day Bob

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ayuk39 I believe the Airbnb search algorithm is heavily skewed to booking success. As such your lack of bookings will drop you down the search results which will cause a further drop in bookings.

One thing to check - Have you accounted for the guest fees of 14.2%+tax when setting your prices on Airbnb? Booking.com doesn't charge a guest fee so if the price is set equal on bath sites then you are asking Airbnb guests to pay a lot more.

[Ayuk39]

Hi @Mike-And-Jane0 , thank you for your response.
Our viilla is listen on Airbnb since the 1st of July 2023
Since then we didn't have any bookings.
With other words I was already dropped by Airbnb before we even begon.
I just now did some search result which was surprising to me.
I selected, Bali, 2-bedrooms, entire home, property type House.
The filter was set on 2 bedrooms.
The surprise is as follows:
1. search price range 2 million - 3 million: NO RESULT
2. search price range 2,3 million - 2,8 million: NO RESULT
3. search price range 2,5 million - 2,6 million: YES RESULT
So it all depends of what price range a guest will select to have you be shown in the search results.
Also the max result is always 15 pages.
To me this sounds as pure gambling if you want to be found in the Airbnb search.
As I see it all on Airbnb listed villas should have a chance to appear in the search results even if they appear on page 100
It's up to the guest how far they want to go in their search.
I actually also missed in the search filters the feature to select preferred areas to stay.
Our villa is located in Legian - Seminyak
Do you have any idea how I can communicate this matter to Airbnb ?
Kindest regards, Ayuk

[Debra300]

@Ayuk39,

We have experienced cycles similar to yours where almost all reservations came from Booking, but just a sprinkle were from Airbnb, and the following year it was flipped.  Where in the pre-pandemic days they each represented about an equal share of reservations.  My summation was the key reason depended upon where the guest lived and the lifting of their respective country's COVID travel restrictions.  In mid-2021, we had mostly regional travelers and overseas nationals from the US who came to visit family or conduct business (mostly direct bookings, one or two via a platform).  By the end of that year, the UK and EU had opened their borders, and they usually are Booking users, so that's where most of our reservations came from.  Last year, the US ended its COVID testing requirement for international flights, and Canada opened it's gates.  Guests from these countries tend to use Airbnb and Expedia, and since last winter the majority of our bookings came from these OTAs.

Our island has cyclical high and low seasons, and we are just entering high season.  I am curious to see how the reservations span across all channels.

[Gwen386]

@Ayuk39 For me personally, your place doesn’t provide enough privacy. The no walls also give me concerns about noise. That may be one reason. 

Another reason could be that the 23 bookings you got on bookings.com may have been the approximate days that were blocked on airbnb. 

Of course both my reasons are just speculation. 

[Ayuk39]

Hi @Gwen386 , the villa is fully private and surrounded by walls.
Also the villa is at a dead end alley without any noise at all. 
Walking distance to Legian beach is 4 minutes. La Plancha 6 minutes.
I add to these facts that for example Australians who book the villa actually never have an idea how quiet a villa is. The calendars of Airbnb and Booking.com are synced.
Withother words we started with a blanc calendar which slowly is being occupied by Booking.com bookings. Booking the empty dates is open to both Booking.com and Airbnb. Interesting to know is that all 27 bookings from Booking.com are Australians.
When I look independenty at Airbnb and try to find a 2 bedroom villa in Legian our villa will not appear in the search results. Our settings however are correct.
I will again start searches from other users and see why our villa cannot be found.

[Paula]

Hello @Ayuk39,  I have added your listing's link in your post, making it easier for Hosts to share their feedback, I hope this is ok with you.

👉Here are some articles that share some ideas on how to get more bookings. 

I am also reaching out to some of our lovely Hosts to ask for their feedback on your listing: @Bettye6 @Gwen386 @Dawn241 @Debra300 @Eileen462 

All the best,

[Ayuk39]

Hi Paula, 
Thank you for adding our listing's link in the post

I already found out that I made a mistake in pricing.
For Booking.com and Airbnb I used the same rate not realizing that the Airbnb rate will be marked up. We priced ourselves out of the market at Airbnb.
Kindest regards, Ayuk

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ayuk39 If you go to your account and switch on 'simplified pricing' then the rate you set in your calendar is the rate the guest pays. You will receive 15%+tax less than this amount.

[Ayuk39]

Hi @Mike-And-Jane0 ,

Thank you very much for this great advice.

This will give me a better overview in regards to listing prices on both booking sites. (Airbnb and Booking.com)

Kindest regards,

Ayuk

[Eileen462]

@Paula   thank you Paula!