Hello fellow hosts

[Ted307]

I know that I am a pretty new host compared to you guys!

We have been hosting our little Bunkhouse since July 2020. Not an especially great time to begin a new venture! But, we bought this place July 2019, with a decrepit "Man Cave"  -- the Bunkhouse. It took a year to get it habitable!

I think that our place did benefit from the CV-19 issues. We were booked all the time. We were not expecting that much interest!

We waited to post our place until it was done. Except, now we have added a porch and a nice flagstone patio and air conditioning.

We de-listed our bunkhouse when there were no bookings after the "Summer Update" so that we could install some window air conditioners, and take a break from having guests every weekend. We were very content with having only one listing service -- AirBnB -- and having guests every weekend. With the drought of visitors since 5-11, we have listed on VRBO. Now, we have our first guest from VRBO booked for the weekend of July 4th. A big weekend for us, that had gone un-booked an exceptionally long time!

Now, we want to turn on the listing for AirBnB again. How many of you experienced hosts here use both services? And, anyone here on Google Travel? How do you co-ordinate your calendars?

What is your advice to us? We were so comfortable with only listing on AirBnB and having plenty of bookings. I have come to understand that the last 2 years probably were an anomaly!

Chris

Chris

[Ruth413]

@Ted307   We have listed with both since we opened in 2018.  I will be totally honest here with the statistics and I am actually really happy we are still listed with both.  They both have their good points and bad.

2018  - Airbnb bookings 98%.  V - 2%

2019 -  Airbnb 80%.  V - 20%

2020 - Covid and Lockdowns.  Not much from both 

2021 - Still a few Lockdowns but Airbnb 70%.  V - 30%

2022 - So far we are at Airbnb 50%.  V - 50%

I really don't know what will happen after the summer updates.  My views have dropped dramatically.  And only a couple of bookings from Airbnb.  V have done a huge amount of advertising here in the U.K.  Not sure whether it is worldwide but they seem to be producing bookings. 

Downside with V is they charge a higher percentage and I find their website a little more trickier to get the hang of. Upside, if there are any problems, their customer service has been great and you receive payment normally a day after it has been released. 

Downside for Airbnb - Summer release has for us really messed things up.  Customer service is pretty horrific, but they do try to be helpful.  The payment comes in much later. Upside - I find their website easy to use and it is obviously very well known and well used.   

Re calendars, you can sync calendars either through Airbnb or V and they update each other.  Note you might have to refresh the page, otherwise you don't see it straight away.

Hope this helps.

[Lorna170]

@Ted307  Congratulations on updating during the slow time.

We list on multiple platforms and always have.  Coordinating calendars between "V" and AirBnB is IMO easy.  I set it up to go from Air to V, tested it and then did the V to Air.  I do review my calendars daily, and with each reservation I accept from V,  I manually add the 24 hours cleaning day as V does not have the same settings for a layover/cleaning day as Air offers.

I do not use Google travel, but I do have my own website and have to ensure that guests who book from there or by calling me direct are added to the V calendar as I find the ability to block dates there with a note as to what guest is coming easier.  Note the use of "block" as neither calendar will allow you to enter guest information (except on a note) if the guest is not booking through V or Air.  

A caveat with Air and V is that while Air always blocks the 24 day before and after, V will sometimes try to book the afternoon of the cleaning day, so I may still end up with a quick turnaround.  

AirBnB and V do attract different customers.  If you find that one or the other are not performing, it is no big deal to delist on one and concentrate on the other.  You also have to determine if it is too onerous to keep on top of two or more listings.  With the Summer Update drying up my Air bookings, having V has kept my calendar full.

[Gillian166]

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AirBnB and V do attract different customers.  If you find that one or the other are not performing, it is no big deal to delist on one and concentrate on the other.  You also have to determine if it is too onerous to keep on top of two or more listings.  With the Summer Update drying up my Air bookings, having V has kept my calendar full.

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@Lorna170  may i ask what differences you see between V and abb guests?

I listed on bdc in May, and quickly got 6 bookings, thought that was great! but the guests were NOT great, and the reviews are ridiculous, and had a thief, so i've shut it down already, didn't even last 1 whole month. 

[Lorna170]

@Gillian166   The primary difference is the age and attitude of the guests.  AirBnB guests renting my property tend to be younger, have not read thoroughly so they have expectations of amenities that are not offered (no coffee or personal hygiene products) and are less likely to be tidy and respectful of my property (i.e., the woman who washed diapers with excrement in the washer and dryer and the frightful state of the bathroom).  They are also critical of the property -- a 1930s cabin that has been modernized, but not to the extent that it no longer has rusticity.  

Persons who have rented through Vxxx have been generally older, read the ad and ask pertinent questions, are interested in learning about the area (what to see, where to eat) and are unfailingly respectful of the property.  They are also quite complimentary about the value of what they have received, how much they enjoyed their experience and express an interest in returning or letting their friends know about my property.

These are my perceptions -- I am not saying that either OTA attracts a better guest than the other.  Each has outliers that were super guests or better suited to a hotel.

P.S.  I have never received a client through the agency you mentioned that has failed to disappoint, so I limit my use of OTAs to AirBnB and Vxxx along with direct booking.  

[Kia272]

@Ted307  I listed exclusively with ABB when I started, and was quite busy, so never really branched out until last year in the fall. I then listed with Vxxx. I linked my calendar from ABB, and just to be safe, I left Vxxx as request only. I didn't want the pressure of having instant booking on both platforms. Even so, I'm always a bit anxious that I'll goof something up, although it hasn't happened yet. 

When I get a request on Vxxx and I confirm it, I manually block the ABB calendar at that time, just to be safe. I don't know how often the calendar syncs, so I do it just to be cautious. 

With the one platform on request only, that takes a lot of pressure off. 

Vxxx started out slow, but I'm now getting more bookings. 

When I started in 2019, some friends who already had a STR, told me that ABB was used by the younger crowd, and Vxxx was used by older folks. Overall, I haven't found that to be true, but I do like Vxxx's policies on security deposit and damage better. I'm now a Premier Host on Vxxx, so I'm sure that helps with bookings. I'll take bookings from either at this point, but if ABB doesn't get its sh&t together and stop making these really crappy "updates", I'll eventually migrate towards using Vxxx as a primary source of bookings, and venture towards using other platforms. Kia

[Z-2]

@Ted307 I mostly agree with @Lorna170 . VRBO guests are more respect your property. I did receive few lower score from VRBO guests because generally, they are middle age to older ages, so their standard to property is higher (in my case) then Airbnb guests. They also willing to pay higher rent. So to me, even though their score might little lower, I understand what's they mean and try to improve myself.  Airbnb guests have all sort of guests. My "not to rent again" guests are from Airbnb so far. They gave your lower score just because they expect your place like what they think, not read the listing, or even read it, but think you should do better. I will get nervous about Airbnb guests if there is no communication at all, but ok with VRBO guests.

[Z-2]

@Ted307 Also we only use Airbnb and VRBO because we don't want to deal with local tax issue. So we only need deal with income tax.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Z-2 

We pay the 11% tax collected quarterly to the county. City people pay the city the same. Plus the annual license fee. This accounting sets the basis for the income tax. 

[Z-2]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 In both FL and NC (which my houses located) don't need us to apply local tax number to pay Occupancy Taxes (which both VRBO and Airbnb collect and submit them now). In FL, we need apply permit (license) and pay fee, but not tax ID. In outer banks, we don't even need license. At the beginning of our rental ourselves (end of 2019), VRBO didn't submit Occupancy Taxes for us, we had to apply a tax ID to pay Occupancy Taxes (to NC state and local county and paid every month), but now, we don't need do anything if we only rent through VRBO and Airbnb. 

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Z-2 Nice, and easy!