Selling my Airbnb property

[Peter77]

Hi,

I have recently sold my holiday home to someone who has purchased as a going concern and will honour all future bookings through Airbnb, direct and through other booking agencies.

My question is, how can I best transfer my Airbnb account to the new owner? Can I change all my details to theirs? Can they create new account and listing and somehow transfer the reviews and bookings?

Any thoughts would be appreciated, I'm sure I can't be the first person to sold a property with bookings in place.

Pete 

[Alexandra316]

@Sleepybear0 So what happens if Airbnb finds out you've transferred your account to another person, which is against their terms of service, so the account is cancelled along with all the bookings? What would be your recourse in that situation?

Buying an Airbnb is not like buying a business. Your Airbnb account is yours personally.

[Sleepybear0]

If anyone needs help, contact me. I am a CPA and understand airbnb. happy to point you to someone or offer help to the community 

[Derrick23]

im looking some advice

[Helen3]

Help with what @Sleepybear0 ?

[Nadine447]

This is kind of related... I'm thinking about purchasing a property that is currently an Airbnb and is listed on other holiday letting sites. The property has been advertised by the estate agent as "offered for sale as a going concern with future bookings in the coming months". What I want to know is if you consider the contents of the property to be included in the sale price? When I clarified the meaning of buying a business as a "going concern", it stated that it should include everything required to continue operating the business - the furniture and contents of the property are clearly needed to continue operating the business.

[Helen3]

1. The estate agent is lying they cannot advertise a listing as a 'going concern' as the listing and all bookings that go with it cannot be transferred. You would need to start from scratch, set up your own listing and get your own bookings. @Nadine447 

2. Your property particulars will tell you exactly what is included in the sale. What does it say regarding the contents? Why aren't you asking the estate agent who is selling it.

[Monica618]

I want to sell my successful Airbnb and was wondering how you sold your property. Was it as a business or did you just get the value of the property selling on MLS. Monica

[Tagny0]

I  have sold my property and the new owner want to starts their own Airbnb account.    I currently have it unlisted but I think the new owner may not be able to start a new account with the same address even if mine is unlisted.  Must I deactivate it or can I keep it unlisted?  Does anyone know?   I am starting an Airbnb at another new property and I want to keep my past reviews and superhost status.  Thanks. 

[Jennifer2485]

Did you find out the answer to this question? In the process of purchasing a home that has an AirBnB listing, and am curious what the current owner needs to do in order for me to set up my own AirBnB site.

[Sarah977]

@Tagny0  Your reviews and status are attached to your profile, not the property, so those will stay with you. 

[Martin1188]

As others have said you can't sell an ABnB business because the reputation is based on the host not the property. However if you're selling a property with future bookings, this is the best workaround that I can see:

1. Add the new owner as a co-host so that they can manage future bookings (or you can if you prefer). 
2. Change the bank details to theirs so that they receive the payout
3. Block all unbooked dates in your listing

4. Have them create a new listing in their sole name and block the dates that are already booked in your listing to avoid double booking.

6. Optionally , maybe insist that you're a co-host in their listing until completion of all bookings in yours to ensure they don't double book and leave your guests out in the cold)

5. When all bookings are complete in your listing, delete it. 

Be aware that as a co-host they can manage blocking and unblociking dates so keep an eye on your calendar to ensure the new owner doesn't try to take bookings based on your listing and your reputation. 

Finally, as always, communicate with your guests! They may receive messages from someone they don't recognise. Tell them you're doing this because you don't want to cancel their booking, you will oversee the account and they should contact you if they have any concerns. They can also cancel their booking if they are uncomfortable with this situation and you will refund all the fees that you receive (based on your cancellation policy). You may wish to also refund the ABnB fees that they would lose in this scenario since you're making thousands from the sale and the few hundred that this will cost you will maintain your reputation if you intend to continue using the account. 

As far as I can see this doesn't contravene any ABnB policy, it maintains your reputation, doesn't cancel any guests and the new owner gets the benefit of the income which is a value you can include in the sale. 

[Rachel1028]

This is exactly what I'm doing except that I also contacted the guests with the new listing info and asked them if they would help by cancelling with me and rebooking with new owner. She has their dates blocked and will honor their price. we will go the co-host route only if the guests aren't responsive, to help avoid penalties on my end. 

[Betsy13]

FYI: I sold my property.  As soon as I went into contract, I stopped accepting future bookings.  But I already had three bookings beyond the closing date, so I asked Airbnb to transfer those three bookings to the new owner.  I didn't try to transfer the listing, just the three bookings.  All three guests confirmed they would like to transfer to the new host who has the same property.  Airbnb won't do it.  I told them I found several instances where hosts said they had done this with Airbnb.  They told me they don't do it anymore.  They said either cancel the bookings or co-host.  I told them I did set up the bookings to co-host and tried to designate that payouts go to the co-host but it won't let me do that either (the system says only future bookings can be paid out to the co-host).  They said figure out the bank transfer on my own or cancel.  Just another example of Airbnb's lackluster customer service to hosts.

[Robin1224]

hi I have a beautiful property that o want to sell as an Airbnb. How did you do it Pete

[Robin1224]

Also the propert is in australia