The Future - Beyond Damage Control and Into Solutions, Hope, Real Help - Marketing Now

[Sharon1014]

@Airbnb  Has anyone thought that it would be helpful for Airbnb to begin the marketing campaign for business post C-19 right now given many guests will already be in the grip of cabin fever and looking for something to pin their hopes on for a life returning to normal?  Plan your next vacation now, 3-4 months away or 5-6 months away, and what better time to do it while many potential guests are in lockdown or busy with social distancing.  Feed the masses what they want, escape to the future, normality.

And for something with serious creative, proactive teeth, let hosts immediately be paid and keep 50% of any booked Airbnb, instead of the company holding all the funds themselves until after check-in.  Airbnb retain 50%, hosts get paid their 50% early.  Literally share the joy and the load.  This would help hosts (and Airbnb) to manage cash flow right now and solve a multitude of problems for both.  One time special "Book anytime in the next 8 weeks" for this special 10% off deal.   Get in early before the rush. etc etc.  Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

@Sharon1014   Airbnb uses buzzwords in its marketing that appeal to urban millennials, but I don't see how in practice they've ever been any more of a "partner" than eBay, Craigslist, or Amazon are to their sellers.

No matter which listing service you use, if any, at the end of the day you're still the owner of the property; these websites are best regarded as tools at your disposal. One doesn't form an emotional partnership with a hammer or a chainsaw (unless one is in a low-budget horror movie) so why do so with Airbnb? You seem to have a pretty independent mindset yourself, so I'm sure you'll be fine. But I'm saddened by the number of people here who have convinced themselves that listing their properties on a website gives a profit-oriented company some kind of imperative to take care of them when the market collapses. How is it that so many adults with their own businesses have only just discovered that capitalism is cruel?

[Sharon1014]

@Anonymous  Agree.  But the problem is that eBay et al don't tell you that you are their partner, a community, and "in this together".  I think many hosts feel so let down because the full refund issue happened at lightning speed with zero consultation.  They retained full control, regardless of host cancellation policies - that was a big shock to many.  It was quite a patronizing thing for the company to do.  No time (or mechanism) for hosts to prepare or seek to off-set the fall-out, just the guillotine, whack.  It was pretty cruel.  And also quite reflective of Airbnb's corporate mindset.

I'd like to think they can mature.  Airbnb corporate and the Holy Trinity founders absolutely knew exactly what they were doing, had calculated / discussed the host fall-out before implementing Plan A and dismissed it.    Just can't believe any business owner wouldn't have factored in the damage before acting.  And then they did it anyway.

We will be fine, yes, but more because we in the southern hemisphere were scaling down for our quieter winter months and expecting it (although we did lost some of March and all of April, tail end of peak season and beginning of autumn).  It's our northern hemisphere compatriots I feel so sorry for, just coming into spring/summer peak season and many reliant on that business.

The hatchet job pulled here can however be smoothed over with an aggressive marketing campaign  - a limited time offer for bookings July-Dec 2020 and 50/50 payment split as soon as our places are booked.  That would be real "currency" for hosts in rebuilding trust and boost @Airbnb 's cash flow and host cash flow.

If the millennials really want to build a new world, then they are going to have to stop paying lip service and create a new reality.

[Mark116]

I'd have to wonder if VRBO/Homeaway isn't going to see a large influx of new hosts after this crisis passes.  We had just been gearing up finally to list on VRBO, we were going to get some professional photos since the ones we take are simply not as good....and then list.  Obviously, no reason to list now, but once things begin to get back to normal we will hope to move the bulk of reservations to VRBO, which seems to be a much much more 'honest broker' than airbnb.

[Sharon1014]

@Mark116  Yes, I think other platforms generally will receive more host inventory exclusive to them and Airbnb lose it.  We only listed last November, and only on Airbnb, peak season summer calendar filled up in the first week.  We have good reviews thus far (4.9's) and since we don't multiple list on other sites, we get top billing in the Airbnb search engine even when guests are looking at neighboring areas.  So we have a little more to lose just getting started.  But that isn't stopping us from seriously considering bailing out prior to our next spring/summer peak season.  It's the lack of proper partnership and the potential future unknowns that concern us.  We'd like to feel in control of our own business and not be patronized.

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  They may see an influx of new hosts, but they may see a reduction in the number of guests using their platform. There is a lot of online conversation going on with guests who are outraged that they didn't get a full refund from VRBO while guests with Airbnb booking did. 

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  Yeah, probably, doing the right thing always costs these days, so it would make sense then that VRBO sticking to its policy that both sides agreed to, would get screwed, and airbnb who screwed the hosts, lied, backtracked, sidetracked, ignored its own policies, and so on would come out the winner.  

Airbnb sent a note that we should consider a more flexible cancellation policy, which would be the cancel at any time for free since we are already at moderate....which means all the cancellations except 1 were already w/in the parameters of the policy.......I felt really as if I were a valued business partner.