Article about Airbnb on BuzzFeed

[Sudsrung0]

An Airbnb Host Complained About Their Bookings Being Low, And People Responded With A List Of Reasons Why They Refuse To Use The Service

"I loved the concept of AirBnB when it was 'rent out your house when you're away' or 'rent out your summer home in off-season.' Not when it became a business for people and thousands of homes meant for inhabitants of that city were taken off of the rental market."

https://bzfd.it/3CJqaiY 

[Pippa24]

I saw this buzzfeed article too. It points to exploitive hosts over charging for cleaning and demanding countless chores from guests. Also, there's blowback about the way some ambitious hosts have cashed in with Airbnbs buying and renting out what were once inexpensive homes, depriving regular families of affordable housing. I'm sure this is going on and it ruins it for everyone. We should re-evaluate our Airbnbs but it's up to Airbnb, the company, to ensure best practices.

I'm about 50% down in bookings since last Fall even though searches are up and I still get excellent reviews.

[Mark116]

@Sudsrung0  Yeah I saw that as well.  I do think that hosts are nuts to ask guests to do laundry because they're not going to care about stains or setting or anything like that, so I would never do it.  But then I would never give guests access to a washer/dryer in the first place because my experience is that even if you cannot imagine how a guest can break it, they will find a way.

It also shows...those replies...that guests don't understand the huge taxes that are now applied to Airbnb, which yes, it does drive up the price by 20-30%, but that is not the host's fault.  

Sadly, it further shows that the FALSE idea that Airbnbs are squeezing the housing market has really taken hold.  This is simply not true.  Even in high density urban areas Airbnbs make up only about 3% of the total housing stock, which is not enough to make any difference in availability or affordability.

Lastly, its kind of a sad commentary on the culture, at least in the US, that people are literally offended by the idea they should clean up after themselves even minimally....like deal with their trash and wash the dishes they used.  I tidy up hotel rooms, make sure trash is collected in the bins, towels are hung up....but that's me.

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

I hear you. I have never asked guests to do laundry before check out. Hosting long term guests, however, means that they do have the option of doing their own sheets/towels while here or paying me a small fee to do so. I will probably rethink this strategy as many say they will do it and then never do. 

I would also not offer access to the washer/dryer if I still hosted short stays. When I did, I began charging a fee (not for them to use it but for me to do their laundry) for the same reasons you stated. They break stuff and it's not funny when that is the washer/dryer. People were really weird about this. The fee was so low (probably a third of what they would pay at a laundrette/laundry service), but some got super annoyed, even though it was stated in the listing.

Later, I change this to simply state that the washer/dryer was for the use of long term guests only. Again, people ignored this. Honestly, if I didn't host long term guests, I would just remove that amenity completely, but long term guests really do need to do laundry and it's a bit of a deal breaker.

Meanwhile, washing machine is broken. I have had two engineers over and am now being messed around. I have no proof that it's anything to do with guests, but the machine was being overused so much right before it broke, especially by a guest whose luggage went missing before she got here. The issue identified by the engineers does seem to be caused by excessive wear and tear. The machine is only a couple of years old and not cheap at all.

[Huma0]

@Sudsrung0 

I just skimmed through this as it was too annoying to read in detail, sorry. If I started analysing it in depth, we'd be here all day. Besides, any article that draws conclusions based on a few Tweets is really not serious journalism. Unfortunately, a lot of people read this sort of stuff and take it as gospel, because it's what they want to believe or maybe they have once experienced or emphasise with one or two of the points made. There seems to be very little hard data or research here and, if the writer actually had bothered to investigate both sides of the story, the Summer Release would have been highlighted LOUD AND CLEAR as the reason bookings had dropped off for so many hosts.

That's not to say that none of these issues exist, but do they represent the issues with the majority of listings? Of course people go on social media to rant about something they are not happy with. People rarely tweet about how fab their airbnb was. 

I know a PR who travels frequently. She told me she started a separate Twitter account and bought loads of followers (not something she did on her own, original account) specifically so that she could complain whenever she had issues with an airline. She said it works a treat. She always gets her refunds/compensation. Does she use this account to tweet about positive experiences? NOPE. And I know other people who do similar. 

Well, fair enough. I see why they do this and bad service should be held to account. However, any 'journalist' who believes that what we see in social media = the truth should go back to school. Most likely the writer doesn't actually believe this, but knows her audience will like it.

[Lorna170]

@Sudsrung0  What guests do not understand is that the uptick in costs that they are complaining about includes fees that are NOT paid to the hosts.  I cannot tell you how many guests have been shocked when I explain the difference in what I am paid versus what they were charged.

AirBnB guests were used to finding a room in a shared accommodation offered and cleaned by the host who also lived onsite. Maybe the host would be collecting taxes in addition to the rent.  The website was free, the rentals cheap and convenient.  Now guests have to pay a service fee to AirBnB to use the website.  AirBnB collects the taxes, takes the payment at booking, charges the host 3% for processing the booking and HOLDS the money [earning interest?] until the booking start date. A guest can also rent a whole house property from mega-owners and rental agencies with professional cleaning fees, amenity fees, extra person fees and multiple taxes as add-ons. 

Cudos to AirBnB to becoming the "Kleenex" of the rental market -- too bad that the customer/guest does not understand what and who they are now paying and blames the host for the cost. 

The mega-owners, realtors and arbitragers should have their own platform.