Zero bookings on any properties after Jan 1 2020?

[Amy850]

I have no bookings for the 2020 year and see almost none within miles of us.

Does anybody who's listing in 2020 showing minimal blocked dates really have a booking?

[Sudsrung0]

I think there is a world wide problem with STR's the bookings from Airbnb this year are well down and for us now is Peak season we are almost 100% occupancy as we should be but I didnt rely on airbnb I could already see the low season was not good really slow and normally we do ok in low season,

I have listed with other OTA's to pick up the slack 

I am a preferred partner on BDC and we got some really good bookings from Agoda

If you guys need any advise message me

[Sarah-and-Shaun0]

@Sudsrung0 I'd love to know where else you have listed and your plan of attack.  I think we need to start looking at other options too.  We are only on airbnb at this stage but that's been more than enough for the last 4years.. we really haven't needed any other services to keep our calendar full until now.

[Sudsrung0]

Sorry for the delay I didnt see the message,

Currently we are running 100% Airbnb is still the main one but Im not relying on them to fill my properties we are picking up many bookings from other sites, 

On BDC their commissions are higher just crank up your rates to cover and Agoda we have been getting some good bookings surprisingly enough,

Just hope we can keep it going through low season 

I can send you a link for BDC it will give you your first 5 bookings commission Free give it a try

[Sarah-and-Shaun0]

We're in Melbourne, Australia and Nov-April is usually peak season.  This is the slowest start to the year we've ever had in 4+ years.. I'm really concerned and not sure what to do to be honest.  On average we usually sit above 80% occupancy, and at peak times (like now!) usually higher.  This month we are at only 22% thus far.. any ideas welcome! We are a plus listing and superhost so should be up there in the rankings.  It definitely slowed down after november when we literally had 1 vacant night.

[Mark116]

We are always slow in Jan and Feb, but by this time, every previous year we had already booked several guests for the spring and summer.  This year, we have 2 bookings.  So things are way, way, way off.

[Helen427]

hello @Amy850 @Mark116 @Sarah-and-Shaun0 @Alon1 @Sudsrung0

@Helen3 @Emilia42 and others

Have you been recieving any "Text alerts" for any queries you have made to Customer Services?

I've had an ongoing issue with not recieving notifications, again, thought it was sorted prior to Christmas but seems to be happening again that I'm only recieving email alerts.

My tick notification box is the top one advising to recieve both for bookings and for such incidents through Customer services.

[Sarah-and-Shaun0]

@Helen427 I haven't made any recently and tend to use just email and app alerts so my phone doesn't go off like a firecracker! 

[Susan17 · Accepted solution]

@Amy850 @Helen427 @Mark116 @Sarah-and-Shaun0 @Alon1 and all... 

Despite all the hype, the truth is, Airbnb has long since reached it's peak in major markets (US, Europe etc), with growth plateauing as far back as 2017, and Morgan Stanley downgrading projections for subsequent years. MS revised its forecast for user adoption down from 31 percent to 28 percent for 2018, from 37 percent to 30 percent for 2019 and from 43 percent to 31 percent for 2020. Since then, slower than expected growth in emerging markets appears to have failed to make up the shortfall

The percentage of travelers who used Airbnb during the 12 months leading up to October 2018  increased by only 2%, compared with 3% the year before and 8% in 2016. 

Not only that, but by 2017, user frequency has already started to fall by 10 percent, or three times per year, after being flat for the previous three years.

The 2018 Morgan Stanley report  attributed the tempered growth, in part,  to a plateau in awareness of Airbnb. It found that the slowing growth applied to both leisure and business travelers. The firm had expected business travel adoption to increase from 18 percent in 2016 to 23 percent in 2017. Instead it grew to only 20 

At the same time, serious concerns about Airbnb guests' safety and security were already on the rise; the number of people concerned about such issues rose from 10 percent in 2016 to 25 percent in 2017. Additionally, the percent of non-Airbnb users who cited concerns about privacy grew to 36 percent, up 700 basis points, and non-users worried about security grew to 13 percent, up 400 basis points. "This is surprising and potentially troubling for Airbnb's growth," the report stated. "Typically, consumers become more comfortable with emerging technologies as awareness/testing/adoption grow. This doesn't appear to be happening for Airbnb."

Additionally, the rise in booking alternative accommodation through online travel agencies also contributed to the findings as Morgan Stanley Research predicted this method of booking would grow 1.3 times faster than Airbnb bookings, with 59 percent of respondents reporting the use of such agencies. 

Causes for the lull in activity included privacy and safety fears. By early 2019, over 50 percent of those surveyed for a subsequent report,  cited concerns about safety as a reason not to book with Airbnb, with fears residing in possible scams or untrustworthy hosts (and bear in mind, this was long before the seriously damaging publicity surrounding the Orinda tragedies, and the Vice scamming article had gone viral. The 2019 MS report hasn't yet been released, but is widely expected to make interesting - if depressing - reading, when it does surface. 

However, it doesn't take a bunch of business geniuses to work out that skyrocketing inventory (fuelled by Airbnb's current hyper-aggressive global recruitment drive, with its eye-wateringly costly referral bonuses to reel in armies of brand new hosts), coupled with a sharp decline in user adoption and plummeting consumer confidence/satisfaction ratings, is not a sustainable survival strategy for any business. 

And the latest news... 

Airbnb's New Years Eve 2019 Guest Volume Shows Its Falling Growth Rate.

 https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/01/airbnbs-new-years-eve-guest-volume-shows-its-falling-growth-rate/

[Jennifer1421]

I'm sure many of you more tenured hosts have seen this, but for the first time I have a "sidebar" showing in my calendar suggesting I use price tips to get perks. This lower price ($25 lower than my price) would show as a "sale" price (i.e. with a strike out through my original price), and would also "feature in emails that Airbnb sends" (whatever those might be).

I knew bookings were off drastically, and that everyone in my city was suffering the same problem, but I've not seen this suggestion before! It really smacks of desperation. I'm a bit freaked out, tbh.

[Alon1]

@Jennifer1421 

Yes, as one of those seasoned hosts, I can confirm the sidebar has been present for a number of years.

Indeed, many others on CC have commented on 'price tips'.

Since it is a uniform application, and since you have been hosting for 2 years, I doubt it suddenly appeared now in your calendar. It's more likely you haven't noticed it till now.

You can 'search' in CC for the numerous threads on the topic of 'price tips'. You will find that very few take it seriously for various reasons. Consequently, it's not really 'desperation' but a quite long ongoing marketing strategy by Airbnb. 

[Jennifer1421]

Thanks you for your reply, @Alon1 

Yes, I have been aware of how price tips appear in the calendar sidebar, since I began listing. The below (a screenshot for March of this year) is how it has always appeared (though the "trends in your area" has only recently become a drop down menu):

The new "tip" that appeared this morning goes further than suggesting a lower price:

The "Perks" suggestion as indicated by the arrow is what has me worried. I've also noticed (just since this morning), that 4 or 5 listings in my area (out of a total of around 55 "entire apartment"s) have accepted using this, and are now appearing on the map with a "Sale" tag. This is the first time this has appeared here since I began hosting. I can assure you that I look at both my calendar and perform an anonymous search daily, so am able to say definitively that this is new to the area.

This "Perks" text appears for each day of January, with the exception of the 31st, and is not showing for any other future dates...yet. I posit that since occupancy for my area appears to be in the 11% range (per the performance tab, though I'm not confident that the data contained therein is completely accurate), which is much lower than any point previously since I began hosting, that the platform itself is struggling to attract bookings/guests locally.

Through my reading on these forums, I believe I understand that hosts in large centres, where an oversaturation of the market has already taken place, are very familiar with this particular sidebar. It worries me that oversaturation is beginning to rear its ugly head in secondary centres such as mine.

[Alon1]

@Jennifer1421 

Thanks for clarification and screen-shot.

I've seen it before on my calendar, but checked now and it's not currently present.

Though what I recall seeing is 'Trends in your area'. I must confess I don't recall the 'Perks'.

Consequently, I take it that you are correct that it's newly introduced.

[Susan17]

@Jennifer1421 @Alon1 

Airbnb has been pilot testing a few different versions of the "strikethrough" function since early 2019, but appear to have rolled it out sitewide in recent months. 

To call it a "perk" though, is risible - but typical Airbnb delusion. 

Also, thanks so much for the link and the message you sent me, @Alon1. I've been trying to respond for the past several days, but it appears the private messaging function of the CC is banjaxed again (as it is for me, at least 80% of the time). I'll post the link shortly. I'm sure many hosts will find it of interest.

[Sarah-and-Shaun0]

@Jennifer1421 thanks for sharing, I just checked and we don't have the 'perks' offer at the moment (unfortunately!) I'd welcome anything like that at the moment as I have been dropping prices to attract guests but nothing seems to be working!  Still concerning about the whole saturation issue

[Helen427]

Thanks @Jennifer1421  for this, I checked my calendar today and all of February I  notice had a diagonal strike through so I checked to see if I had accidentally 'blocked' it off, Nope, so checked to see if I was recieving the same msg as you however as I'd changed a dates pricing when I refreshed the page the strike had disappeared.

It sounds to me to be a similar promotion as the previous % discount  email outs they do- perhaps they are trialing it because Guests don't always know the Maths to work out % discounts and all the legal obligations imposed on ABB (& other STR Companies) to compile with Transparency of Pricing Legislation that has come into force??