Massive decline in bookings Fall 2022

[Marie7084]

Anybody else in the USA see a drop in business this Fall?   

Been doing this for several years and normally make 12-18k in September/October on my two cabins.  This year it was like rentals just came to an almost dead stop.   

Slashed my nightly rate,  updated listing, still only about 10% of what I usually make this time of year. 

[Pat271]

Interesting…I just went to the Airbnb home page, selected some of those fun, quirky listings, and looked at the availability. The ones I saw were sparsely booked as well!

[Huma0]

@Pat271 

---

@Pat271 wrote:

And this may be the Airbnb strategy all along.

---

True. I can buy that. But, after the losses caused by the pandemic, it seems like a very risky strategy to alienate core markets. I am not sure what game Airbnb is playing, but but I feel like there is definitely a game plan behind these changes because a multi-billion dollar company surely wouldn't make such random mistakes, would they? 

Maybe in certain territories., they think there is a lot of competition already and, therefore, they need to reinvent the wheel to stay on top off that competition, i.e. appear to be offering something the others aren't and distancing themselves from the original concept that others have copied.

It's a gamble, to be sure. but it would be crazy if the folks at Airbnb had not already thought this through. I am assuming they are more than ready to let a lot of hosts fail as a consequence because they have their eyes on a different goal.

[Pat271]

@Huma0  I agree with you on all counts.

I have noticed, though, that recently Airbnb has been missing expectations and their stock is down by a large percentage for the year. Maybe sometime soon they will be forced to reexamine their strategy. One can always hope…

[Huma0]

@Pat271 

That's really interesting, but I can't say I'm that surprised. The Summer Release seemed like a really big gamble to me...

[S31]

The problem is still ongoing. There are hardly any bookings on a listings that is always full. I have called airbnb a zillion times and they say it's visible. But my repeat guest says it's not even visible. In 2023 and each of chely updates have killed the bookings. 

[Judy900]

My business opened in July. I did alright for just starting out. Somehow, when earned super host status, (October) I lost a ton of business. I have not even one booking a month now. I lowered my price for a single room by $25 per night (as did everyone else around me), but still, no bookings. Then, on top of that, I have a 12 day customer leave 7 days early. Consequently, Airbnb has now kept my earnings from my last 3 reservations claiming they refunded the cancelled guest. I never got any notice for a refund. It was a corporate booking and I got a 5 star review. This is now a horrible experience for me and after my last guest booking. I'm done. No point in sacrificing my time and upcoming summer schedule for crumbs.

[Robin1130]

From a Airbnb user standpoint, it has become equal if not cheaper to go to a hotel. People are experiencing sticker shock at the checkout. All the fees tacked onto the listed price is sometimes double. It turned me off. I posted my listing without excess cleaning fees and no pet fees. So far I am doing okay thru the first week of October.

[Ana2038]

@Robin1130 , I agree. I had a week long stay in December (booked by an Airbnb host) over the holidays cancel due to finding hotel accommodations that were cheaper. And I don’t blame them. Im planning a trip to Lisbon Portugal next year and I’m looking at various accommodations besides Airbnb due to pricing. In the past, our first choice would have been Airbnb but I have to admit some of the hotels/apartments pricing are really attractive.

[Huma0]

@Ana2038 @Robin1130 

I recently stayed at an Airbnb because I had a Superhost travel credit to use. The host and airbnb were lovely but, I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd been able to find a decent hotel for the same price or even less, even though there were no cleaning or other additional fees.

As a host though, I was able to appreciate that the standard of accommodation and space we got for that price was probably better value than a hotel in the same price range. People expect Airbnb to be cheaper than a hotel, naturally, but they don't always compare like for like, e.g. renting a one bedroom apartment with a living room is not the same as renting a room in a hotel. It's actually the equivalent of a suite. 

[Fred13]

@Marie7084, @Debra300 , @Huma0 , @Pat271  At the end of this summer we should be hearing 'something' of how the Grand Experiment worked out. To emphasized a 'week' long stay over anything else made no sense from the beginning and the surprising thing is that it hasn't been quietly dropped thus far. Something has to give, sooner or later.

P.S. We booked (with only 4 slots/16 days left to fill) one year ahead this time as usual, but really sluggishly;  more Directs than Airbnbs. Very strange/spooky pattern, totally unlike the last 7 years.

[Huma0 · Accepted solution]

@Fred13 

Yes, it's been six years for me and I've never experienced such slow bookings, with the exception of when UK homeshares were not allowed to take bookings at all due to COVID. From the middle of 2021, bookings had returned to normal, i.e. I had to turn people away.

My listings are now slowly getting booked, but it's a combination of new bookings, repeat guests and direct bookings. Also, before, if I got a cancellation, the dates would get rebooked easily but now I am not confident about that. 

I hope we will get some sort of update from Airbnb soon. I don't think I've seen any update on the summer release other than listing titles being restored and hosts being able to request being added/removed from categories. Perhaps I missed something though?

[Chris17361]

Yes, I have not had a booking in 2 months and I don't have any in the future so far. I'm thinking about quitting the Airbnb thing and maybe trying a different company

[Heather1328]

I've been hosting for years and last fall we had zero reservations coming in. I converted half of our STR to LTR and so glad I did. Business is not picking up. I'm cutting my losses and converting more to LTR. No support from Airbnb. I feel like they've made too many changes to the algorithms which is impacting potential reservations. I've had dozens of guests reach out saying they're trying to book my place but the site won't allow them. Holidays like 4th of July and Christmas used to be what helped carry us through the slow seasons...my houses are shockingly vacant most holidays now. 

[Judy900]

@Heather1328 I temporarily showed my place as fully booked until Junauary 2024. Airbnd advised me to charge $43 a night. It's not even worth it. Why give up my free time to host a stranger for so little. I'm probably going to leave Airbnb. It's a lot of personal risk, for no gain.

[Marie7084]

@Judy900 @Heather1328 I get that.   Two of my properties are in locations were there is no demand for LTRs, only STRs.  Guests/tenants do not understand the expenses of a host/landlord.  In the last three years I have spent 17k on two ac units,  38k on two roofs and 80k on a remodel.  When Covid hit I lost 60k that summer season, no help from any SBA loan or government hand out. Not to mention paying all of my employees more now as they have families to support too.  Thinking of selling my properties and finding a new way to make a living.   Tired of hearing in the media landlords are evil.  No, I am just a single Mom with two little kids trying to create a decent life for them.