Too old for this STR

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Whoever said the guests now are worse than before Covid -  is right.

After a year-long pause, I am back to hosting. Yey. I had 5 groups of guests last month.

1. group - 4 young guys. Left a mess behind.
2. group  - booked a month in advance, then rescheduled their stay, then canceled
3. group  - they pulled  2 window blinds too hard and blocked them. Two of us, muscles and the ladder were needed to fix it
4. group - they were OK, thanks God!
5.  group - didn't read the listing description and now I am guilty and they are stressed. A bad review is expected.

Ok, the last group's problem is Airbnb's fault as well as theirs. It is hard to find all the info even on the desktop. Everything is hidden and has to be expanded into some stupid popup windows to be visible so no wonder important information is overlooked. Writing the listing is also more complicated than ever. I tried to edit my 3 listings a few weeks ago and after an hour I was completely exhausted and gave up. I really miss the layout from 2017. Airbnb should rehire those programmers again.

I think I'll give up on hosting. It's too much risk, too much stress, too few bookings, constant bad changes of Airbnb platform... I'm too old for this s*** 😄 

[Susan990]

Airbnb has provided the solution to your question. They input to your calendar the gap part between the minimum stay reservations as first blocked due to minmum stay settings, then show the Host when you put your cursor on that segment that host can Unblock those dates and make available for nightly rental rates.. Just click and go. I have monthly minimum and most always fill the gaps with this calendar click modification tool.

  Also forgot to add there is always a 2 day quarantine/cleaning separation between reservations-automatically input to the calendar platform.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@J-Renato0  yes, I know about rule sets, I just wondered if you have some system in place to PREVENT these 6-8-10... nights gap to occur between bookings?  I know we can set a shorter min stay to fill these gaps if we want.

Recently I've set 1 night preparation time before/after each booking. In the past, we always had same-day turnovers but that's too stressful for off-site hosts with more than 1 unit and short stays. It's OK for on-site hosts with just 1 room to rent.

@Susan990 

[Katrina79]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 @I discovered one thing about hosting during Covid. People are booking last minute, even for immigration and 14 day quarantine. Because there has been so very few bookings in advance my place has longer availability and I’ve been getting much longer stays. I don’t offer discounts for longer stays so the money is the same and turnovers have been significantly reduced. I’m now marching forward with a 3 day minimum stay, less hassle, better guests and less turnover. I’m starting to get lazy myself 😉 

[Sarah977]

@Katrina79  It's interesting- I've read quite a few host posts lately, here and on another forum I follow, where hosts are saying that the changes in booking patterns and the Covid cleaning has led them to setting longer minimum stays and leaving a day between bookings and they are liking it and deciding to keep it that way. 

I think the general tendency when someone starts hosting is to try to get as many bookings as possible, doing 1 nighters and frantic turnovers, and they didn't really realize how stressful that was on them until they were no longer getting back-to-back really short bookings. 

I know there are hosts whose bread and butter is 1 nighters, as they are close to an airport, or in a location where road trippers would stop to spend the night, or a lot of one night events take place, so they'd likely have to stick to their original settings to be successful, but for a lot of hosts, I think their hosting going forward is going to be somewhat different even when we are no longer in pandemic times.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977 

yes, some hosts will probably keep 1 day prep time, but I think most hosts will continue with frantic turnovers bc otherwise, it is just not profitable enough. Short season, short stays, low prices are deadly combinations, it is not profitable to stay empty 30-50% of the time.

It is not just those close to an airport, or in a location where road trippers would stop to spend the night, or a lot of one-night events take place.... but short stays become a norm in general. For example, our guests often had a plan to visit Zagreb, NP Plitvice, Split, and Dubrovnik all in 1 week....or to visit Czechoslovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia all in 2 weeks.... or to travel across entire Europe in a month....

Times had changed... it is not like it used to be some 30 - 40-50 years ago when people would spend the entire month, the whole vacation on one, coastal or mountain destination and just rest.

It may be just an EU thing, maybe it is different in other parts of the world...

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Yes, I'm sure it varies depending on location and competition. There's another host forum I follow and many of the hosts on there have raised their prices since Covid to account for leaving one day between bookings and the extra diligent cleaning and say they are still getting well booked.

And it also depends on whether hosts are trying to survive off their strs or making a couple hundred dollars more a month isn't worth the stress of frantic turnovers.

[Ann72]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Ugh, so frustrating.  But don't go!  I would take off the larger combined apartment and stick to couples with the small one and make the other one a maximum of three guests.  Who wants more people?  Just more mess and damage.  Couples traveling without children usually spend more, too, so higher prices might be in order.  Your places are so appealing and stylish!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

thank you @Ann72 🙂 The supply of STRs here is huge so all STRs and even hostels are very appealing and stylish.... and cheap, unfortunately. Mine is average, nothing extra really, comparing to others.

I did lower the max number of guests from 6+2 to 4+2 and it is easier now. But the problem is the length of stay which here are just 1-2 nights. Many hosts accept 1-night bookings but it just can't be profitable with these prices and fewer bookings.

And I become lazy.. it's another Covid era symptom 😄

[Lawrene0]

No fun, @Branka-and-Silvia0 . I can't host until May 21 (and that's only if the lockdown ends), but I'm not encouraged by the messages from the guests who are booked after that. New users telling me what's what. I've (politely) told them what's what back, so maybe it will be okay? 

But maybe I'll be too old, too. We'll see. Hope things start looking up for you.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Lawrene0  why you can't host until May 21st?  I thought the restrictions are just for inhouse hosts, but your treehouse is secluded, much safer than any hotel

[Lawrene0]

No one can host in Ontario, @Branka-and-Silvia0 , unless it is of someone who needs housing, and no one can argue that a no-electricity-no-wifi treehouse is anything but a holiday. It's not housing. Some would argue it is not a holiday either, but I digress. 😉

No one is allowed a holiday under stay-at-home orders, so no hosting. 

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 @Susan990 @J-Renato0 @Lawrene0 @Sarah977 I feel your pain!

I had a messaging conversation with someone who wanted to tell me whats what - 0 reviews but said she'd been using air for years. I was wrong to require government backed ID. She'd been on to air and they suggested she book elsewhere. So did I!

[Christine615]

So sorry you are going through this. Some of us made the point to Airbnb that they needed to do more education with guests. That the rush to get more people on the platform results in a lot of people who shouldn't be on the platform and that's not something hosts should have to straighten out themselves.

We are not a cheap alternative to a hotel. Airbnb is supposed to be about home sharing, not bad guests assuming we are investors with deep pockets.

I just put in a new couch last summer. In the last two months since pandemic opened I have ink pen marks in the upholstery and some weir black marks on the arm. I equipped the house for my family to use when visiting. But there are people who should really just book a motel six with generic furniture.

So we asked for a "super guest" rating the same way hosts are rated. And new guests on the platform need to prove they understand the rules.

[Robin925]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 So what I have found in hosting on Airbnb through the pandemic is that every single guest has had some need beyond the scope of what a listing offers or beyond what the host might normally provide in the professional world of hosting. So when I look back, I recall that every time, and in some way,  they reveal their exceptional need in the request to stay. It will be like you don't accept kids, well they have a special need for their kids who they have dual custody of just one night a week, you don't take dogs and it will be a beloved service dog that leaves hair all over the place and complaints about the 'neighborhood' when you gave them access to a fully private backyard... you don't have time, but the lady who comes from out of town to sit by while a parent is dying will talk your ear off hoping to have support of a friend...the single traveling men (oh well watch out) because some of them are lonely and think the first few letters in ho..st means they might just be able to solicit some other service or hit on you too... Its a trap to be hosting right now. Not only are the guests bad, but Airbnbs review policy lets them just walk all over hosts. I think what is important is for hosts to watch for the special requests and be aware when the potential guest reveals their special pain or circumstance. Never give into it. It is truly not our job to be everything for them right now.

[UGeen-and-Lana0]

I agree. And then Airbnb,  because of such negative reviews, blocks your account. And later they say "there's nothing we can do, sorry". What a shame!!