The end of Airbnb as we know it?

[Kath9]

Here's an interesting article i just came across: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/airbnb-coronavirus-losses

It states that 60% (!!!) of Airbnb hosts have MORE than TWO OTHER listings and argues that Airbnb has become nothing more than a hotel chain. Sadly, I have to agree. As many hosts in this forum know, I have long lamented the transition from the original spirit of Airbnb (staying with locals in their homes) to the rise of the professional host with multiple listings. I take issue with many aspects of this, primarily the housing shortage it has created worldwide, and have long been dismayed at Airbnb's unwillingness to regulate this. The hosts who are now in deep trouble and calling for legal action are mainly those who have multiple listings and have made Airbnb their primary source of income.

If Airbnb manages to survive this crisis, it is my sincere hope that it goes back to its core values and becomes a true home-sharing platform once again. 

[Helen350]

@Sarah977 In the UK there is a flat/homesharing  platform called 'Spare Room'. It exists mainly for longer term stays, for 'hosts' to find lodgers/flatmates, & for people looking for rooms to find owners offering them. The site owner/company takes NO commission when host meets guest; the platform simply puts hosts & guests in touch to make their own arrangements. Users CAN use the platform absolutely free, but the free service means no one can respond to your ad for the first 7 days - unless they pay.Both hosts & guests can choose to pay  to have rooms wanted/offered ads with instant access. So the site owner & genius behind it all makes money, a turnover of £8.5 million plus in 2018. 

So I think this story adds weight to your premise that a smaller Home Share company COULD be profitable, albeit on a smaller scale?

[Susan17]

@Sarah977 @Helen350

I'm not saying I don't think that a small-scale operation such as you describe couldn't be profitable,iin certain market conditions and with certain contributory factors- what I'm saying is that there's no possible way on earth that Airbnb could scale back now towards a slimmed-down homesharing/small host model, and stay in business for longer than 5 minutes.

I think there absolutely should be lots of companies like SpareRoom - the only problem is, once smaller companies like that start reaching any degree of success at all, they tend to either get snapped up or stomped out by bigger competitors, just as all the other smaller STR companies that were in operation a decade or less ago, got snapped up or stomped out by Airbnb. Hence the oppressive, monopolised environment we find ourselves in today. 

[Ute42]

.

@Sarah977 

• „but I guess I'm just naive“

Yes You are. „with no aspirations of getting rich“ You say. Sarah, when people get in touch with money, most of them just can't resist the smell of money anymore. They're not happy if they have $3 Billion, now they want $6 Billion? What difference does that make? I don't know, for some people it seems it does make a difference.

Airbnb wanted to be the biggest STR-company in the world, and they almost succeeded. 2020 should have been the year of their big IPO, but then came Corona. They were almost there, just 2 and a half inches away from the finishing line, and then everything fell apart. Noone could fortell the corona-crises, they just ran out of luck when there were just a couple of Zentimeters more to go.

They now got their retribution for treating their hosts so badly for years and they've deserved it.

Finally, there is justice.

[Sarah977]

@Ute42  Well, as you explain it, I'm not in fact naive- I fully recognize that when most people start to make money, they want to make more money, to the point that making more money has no purpose other than making more money. I mean, if you already have 2 billion dollars, having 4 billion doesn't actually change that person's life in any tangible way at all. You can only eat so much food, no matter how expensive it is, you can only manage to enjoy so many vacation homes, you can only sit in one airplane or helicopter at a time, etc, etc. 

So it isn't a matter of a home share platform being unprofitable, as in making someone a decent living, it's a matter of greed and the seemingly almost universal addiction to money, beyond the amount that one needs to live a comfortable, but not over-the-top extravagant lifestyle.

But I do agree that Airbnb will never backstep to anything like that- they're in way too far over their head and all the head honchos and investors are all about making as much money as they possibly can. To do a profitable small-time home-share platform, like the Spareroom site that @Helen350  mentions, it wouldn't be feasible to have "investors", as investors only care about their money. It has to be started and run by people who aren't necessarily looking to get rich.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Ute42 , No doubt there are many reasons and lots of varied goals to starting any business, hosting is no different.  Two very predominant types of hosts I see on Airbnb are those part timers who are looking to make extra Money using assets they have but aren't using or at all or regularly and those who make a full time business out of it using assets they likely would not have if they weren't doing this.

I'm the first one (Part timer, existing homestead, 3 listings with <400 reviews), I have to agree with you, in Some ways, I'm no different than Career Hosts, Melodie and I are driven to make a profit and we do try to make more every year, (we were well on our way to that before Covid).  But as @Sarah977 has pointed out, if I don't make more and more likely make much less, I will still be here next year (God Willing), the lack of that that one particular income won't mean me and my wife wont eat well or have heat in the winter, we likely will be fine, many Career hosts on the other hand will not be able to survive this.

Airbnb however is poised to survive it and those of us that are still viable and sustainable big and little will probably be better off staying with a company that took better care of the customer than their hosts during the crisis like it or not.  It is after all the customer that pays for everyone's bookings  and a happy customer will return, one that got nothing back for a stay they could not have possibly made is theft, they would find someone else next time.  I thinks its that simple in these complicated times, I wish it wasn't but it is, just like other tragic mother nature, wars and plagues, those that survive these things will likely do better after than before.  I pray were all here to raise our cup to that this time next year, stay well, JR

[J-Renato0]

@Sarah977    @Ute42    @Susan17

Small companies do not manage to appears in the search results in search engines, unless they have money to promote the website. They have to pay huge sum of money to promote themselves.

I am a private owner, I only have my properties to let. I am not a broker.
I had a private website, and till about 10 years ago, 100% of my bookings would come from my website. I did not have to pay any commission.

Times has changed. When the big companies saw that there was huge money involved in the STR bookings market,  it became impossible to appear in the search results anymore.
Now, I am obliged to use STR booking platforms. No way out.

Moreover... small STR platforms does not attract bookings.
It is the sharks who have been controling the STR market.

However everything has its bright and bad side.

The advantages of using STR platforms is that, I do not have to spend time managing payments of the ones who books.

The bad side is that prices has fallen. I think that, not only private owner but also hotels (from 1 star to 4 star rated) are having hard time regarding prices. It is the STR sites that are forming the prices, not the private owners or hotels companies.

Worst of all is the deflation of my country's currency against the euro and the dollar.

[Fred13]

Considering becoming 'profitable' is a function of revenue minus expenses (aka overhead) I would think Airbnb has had a lot of opportunities to become more than just 'profitable', but highly profitable over the last few years. IPO or no IPO, which oftentimes is nothing but a end-game pyramid scheme. It appears greed, lack of discipline and lack of patience (and usually a run-away ego to boot) oftentimes makes companies really even having a coveted product ultimately fail.

Every time I hear of a multi-million or billion company with a popular product run into financial problems I get the impression they been running the company as a Ponzi scheme. Outside of the crap shoot that 'social liabilities' can cause in certain litigious countries where anything is possible (aka the U.S. - the Corning breast-transplant case comes instantly to mind), there is no other explanation.

[Melodie-And-John0]

I have to say, I don't believe I've ever been treated as "too small" by the company and my guests definitely don't confuse us with the purse-strings of Marriott, its been a great balance struck without having to pay franchise fees or sign long term contracts.  My wife and I have only been hosts for the last 3 years, we have 3 listings (2 suites and a Glamper) and they are part of our homestead so we would be considered small scale by most people and our host service. 

Using Airbnb as my booking. bookkeeping and transaction provider has been 95% positive and a lucrative experience with very few regrets.   If I had to pay a credit card company to process my guests payments, I would have to pay more than the <3% of my gross for the services they provide me.  I actually wouldn't expect a bank to pay me for hours I didn't work or a bounced check.  The fact they refunded money to guests that couldn't actually go to the places they paid to stay for no fault of their own seemed to be the right thing to do, it made good business sense though it did hurt us as hosts the most.

I don't love the way things have gone since Covid came to town, Airbnb was just as unprepared for "the unimaginable" as our governments and other job employers (if we have one).  Were not immune as hosts to our share of the blame or pain for not being prepared for this and possibly the virus to boot which officially puts us all in the same whopper of a ship of fools together. 

What that means is its time to put away our Blame-throwers, fix the problems not the blame, at every level any way we can cause catastrophic failure is no good for any of us at any level.  Like it or not, the term host only works when there are parasites available to live off us (Guests and Airbnb).  I hate to think of it in its basic science parts but that's what its all about.  Airbnb does it all cheaper and better than the three other companies we would have to hire to begin to replace them (travel agents, bank, bookkeeper). There is not much gained by throwing the baby out with the bathwater, this is a big hiccup not a catastrophic failure for most of us though I pray all of us will survive it and thrive in spite if it.

We should all big or small want and need our federal, state and local governments, our employers and Airbnb to come through this pandemic in good shape regardless of which talking head is in charge or how we got to this place we are at today.     Hopefully whatever constructive changes we can make will allow us to never say again, "I didn't see this coming".   Please stay well all, JR

[Robin4]

@Melodie-And-John0 

John, where the hell are you? I needed your presence on the weekly chat this morning! @Quincy and I were there like a pair of shags on a rock surrounded by an ocean of female presence.....we didn't stand a chance!! And I have a bone to pick with Gordon too!!

Cheers......Rob

[Melodie-And-John0]

I'm truly sorry @Robin4 , Robin, that wasn't very nice of me, I was FTR, (Failure to report), my daughter needed some carpenter dad help and the rest is history.  Indeed, an ocean of women is right and as a happily home-bound married dad of 2 daughters (married but live within ten minutes drive), you know the truth is, "Women are exceptional Housekeepers" (no disrespect to Women), What I mean to say is if you piss them off by inattentiveness, They will most certainly "keep the house and the car" and put us out to the curb with the garbage and our bicycle!  I will do my best to attend the next one Rob but when the ladies in our lives are in need, duty calls and its best to answer it promptly!   Ha ha, stay well sir, JR

[Robin4]

@Melodie-And-John0 

I never stood a chance John........ a wife, who through no fault of her own requires constant attention. A house to be run.......and be constantly told how to run it. Two daughters that are self appointed vigilantes....they drive their own agenda and cut you into small pieces every time you try to offer a male point of view! And to top it off Betts, that star of the canine kingdom is a female. And just to completely rub salt into the wound, two of the immediate neighbours are lone females who at any hour of the day or night will require the advice or help of that loathsome element of the species.....a male!

It's not worth having a point of view around here John, it will fall on deaf ears, so, I have learned my place in the fabric of life.....

And that is why I have a sh*t hot man-cave!!

Cheers.....Rob

[Helen350]

@Melodie-And-John0 Reminds me of 'Divorce Barbie' - Comes complete with Ken's house, Ken's car, & Ken's boat! 🙂

[Fred13]

Very bright post @Melodie-And-John0 

I would like to add that ~never~, let me repeat ~never~ has world capitalists economies reacted  to a virus (one of many in the last few decades), or for that matter any other human event (excluding war), so radically in the past. To totally shut down all capitalists societies and practically put everyone on a form of 'house arrest' and all forms of transportation, social pursuits and personal freedoms (the essence of capitalists economic government systems) on hold overnight, to combat an unknown adversary. has been a unique event. If it has never happened before, no wonder few will know how to best tackle it or be really too 'prepared' to handle it with any type of experience and wisdom. Needless to say, many mistakes will become quite obvious soon, with 20/20 hindsight.

So despite the fact Mr. Chesky has personally cause me a living financial fortune by his knee-jerk decision to refund 100% to all,  I am trying to keep in mind that these are indeed extraordinary times and he is fighting an unusual event like everyone else. 

[Sheila22]

Chesky sees the Airbnb future as centering around the long-term rental, rather than the 'travel' sector.  So for all of you pining over the 'shared-room Airbnb' of days-of-yore,  your guy isn't entirely with you on that, unless you want a roommate for a month or two (maybe you don't mind that).  My guess is he's sick of defending home-rentals against the hotel industry the politicians in their pockets, and this is a good way to shift away from that.  Having invested in hotels, Chesky is now part of the hotel industry (which you all probably already knew), so if you can't beat 'em join 'em.
Chesky Skift interview:

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1OdKrqvDBZPxX?fbclid=IwAR37JKkCvgJt1YWKqzuMizQJx28wYOs9_rdLJaiSlyostkrmWSbhguR...

[Alon1]

@Sheila22 

Chesky may see the future re. long-term rentals.

  But why would anyone want to use Airbnb for long term considering the hefty wack of service-fees, when there are established websites that charge little or nothing for establishing contact, and with no restrictions on contact details (emails, phones), nor on visiting for a viewing. 

So if he seriously wants to enter this market, he better change his whole attitude and expect far less in commission.