Combat Slow Bookings with No Cleaning Fees?

[Adhina1]

Hi everyone,

As I’ve seen a lot of hosts expressing their concern with the major decline in bookings, some hosts are recommending to take off the cleaning fee and raise the nightly price. 

I’ve so far had a very booked 2 unit duplex, but I am now experiencing a HUGE decline into the upcoming year. It looks like most listings in my area and maybe even across the Airbnb platform are also in the same boat. Whether it’s from Airbnb’s new Summer Release update, market saturation, inflation, a slow down after the post pandemic vacation surge or a little bit of everything, I’m interested in seeing how other hosts are compensating. 

I’m wondering if any hosts have gone this route and are experiencing an uptick in bookings. It would seem that a cleaning fee is annoying, considering Airbnb tacks on extra fees as well. The total price could be a shock for guests to see at checkout and turn interested travelers away. On the other hand though, raising the nightly price to adjust could potentially be an even bigger turn off. 

I’m set to list another property within the next month but I am majorly concerned with how slow things are right now. Any tips and tricks would be appreciated. 

Thanks! 

[Sudsrung0]

@Adhina1 

This is happening daily on the same subject here in the forum, you should go to FB groups, it's not looking good for you guys in America.

It's hard to say which is right and which is wrong you can only but try,

Other than that which other platforms are you on?

Here in Thailand airbnb is booming,

[Adhina1]

Hi,

Thanks for mentioning the FB groups, I’m not on any right now. It’s definitely extremely concerning and I wish Airbnb would give us insight to what’s going on, but everything I’ve seen from them seems to be pointing is a positive direction for their company. 

I’m wondering if things will shift back, since hosts might pull their listings but it’s anyone’s guess. 

[Teresa31]

haha… what’s going on? they have saturated the market with the promise of revenues galore. They really don’t need us, they are far more concerned with guests. 

[Fred13]

The new category ad campaign appears to be making visitors to their site aware of the incredibly wide range of interesting listings in Airbnb, that was its intention. That was the idea behind it. It appears to be working for them. For some individual hosts it is resulting in much lower bookings, maybe because is spreading the clientele now too widely.

Perhaps the old adage applies here also: 'Past performance is no guarantee of future earnings'. Strange times indeed.

[Sudsrung0]

@Adhina1 

Look through airbnb in your area to get some ideas and look at their calendars to see if they are getting bookings 

[Teresa31]

have you ever considered lowering your rates? Airbnb is so over priced right now it’s stupid. I’m a host . I do not stay in Airbnbs when traveling if i can help it just because of this. I have lowered my rates and stay booked.

[Basha0]

I think it is a mistake to lower rates, remove cleaning fees, offer discounts etc. There is a downturn that I am going to ride out and not lose money on the bookings I get by going that route. Very hard to recover and increase later on. Know your worth! 

[Lorna170]

@Adhina1   If your intended cleaning fee is nominal, you might be able to recoup all or a portion of it by rolling it into your nightly rate.  I am slowly raising my nightly price and reducing my cleaning fee.  Seasonal jumps will help, but I am rethinking my bottom line and adjusting my expected income.  

The summer release had an immediate effect on my listing.  My AirBnB bookings are now less than 30% of my bookings where it used to be 70%.  They will continue to decline as other OTAs are booking my property at an ever-increasing percentage and reducing my open dates.  I am not experiencing a massive reduction in guest interest, except from AirBnB.  

I will not lower my nightly rate -- that would only attract bottom feeders (i.e., bad guests) and IMO, my property has a value that is not lessened by a changing market or poor OTA advertising.