We are doing upgrades while our listing is unbooked

[Ted307]

Since we have no bookings on our calendar we are using this time to add an AC and do some painting. Normally this time of year we are booked so we can not do these summer chores. We have had 2 years of very good income due in some part to Covid restricting travel. Our little place has never had air conditioning in the last 100 years, but "Global Warming" and the modern world is catching up with us! We are waiting for the UPS delivery of an AC unit for the living room, and have installed a smaller one for the bedroom already. In our own house on the property, we have not used the air conditioning yet this year. Prescott is really a very mild climate!

I would like to ask you, if you host, what are you doing now? I have seen some post that they are selling, which is disturbing to me. I do not want to sell our place! Fortunately, we do not depend on the AirBnB money to pay for our living expenses -- YET!

Please tell me, how are you coping with the booking drought?

[Gwen386]

Hi @Ted307   Kudos to you for having time to do upgrades. I’m not booked but the pace is perfect for me. Like you, I don’t need the income —knock on wood—but I’m semi-retired and decided to look into AirBnB for some passive income once I do retire full-time. So far, I’m pleasantly surprised and enjoying it. The only thing I see myself doing in the short-term is purchasing a washer and dryer. I’ll be 70, so lugging laundry up and down 3 flights of stairs is taxing, to say the least. Enjoy your downtime. 

[Debra300]

@Ted307,

We aren't selling.  Spring time is low season in St. Lucia so we normally have 1 to 3 bookings between April and June.  So, we normally close the guesthouse to any new bookings and go back to Atlanta where we will do maintenance on that home.  We also try to take a holiday abroad during this period, but this year we brought our new puppy with us, and he's not ready yet to be left at the sitter for a couple of weeks.

If you are installing mini-splits in your place, I recommend that you also get a smart thermostat that will enable you to remotely monitor and manage the settings.  We chose Cielo Breez, and it's been very helpful to turn on the unit right before a guests arrival, and to ensure that it's been turned off after they checkout.

[Ted307]

@Debra300 Just window AC with a remote that doubles as a thermostat. We will remove it in the fall.

[Huma0]

@Ted307 

My listings were already booked for the summer before Airbnb made the radical changes in early May but, apart from bookings from repeat guests, I have had no new bookings since then. If Airbnb doesn't fix this new search function mess (I am no longer getting views), I anticipate that I'll also experience a bookings drought from autumn onwards.

There is always plenty to do in my big old house. I regret not using the periods during the pandemic where I had no guests and very little work (I'm self-employed and lost a lot of work due to COVID) to make home improvements, but I seemed to lose all motivation back then. Next time round, if I have no or very few bookings, I certainly plan to use the time more wisely.

I completely renovated my house when I bought it (a massive project), but that was 2009. There have been various further improvements since then, but there are definitely areas that are due for a refresh and the garden/outdoor areas seem to need more maintenance than I can normally keep up with.

Having to again face a big loss of income, but this time through something that is 100% Airbnb's fault, is truly frustrating, but I will try to see it also as an opportunity to make improvements that I can do myself without huge expense, such as painting and wallpapering walls, up cycling furniture etc.

[Ted307]

@Huma0 

We renovated our bunkhouse for a solid year before it was habitable enough to list on AirBnB. Since it was listed we have added a patio and porch roof. I have de-listed it from Air with the message that "web site is too difficult", which was a selection that was offered when de-listing it. I wanted to send a message, and also not to get a last minute booking while we are working. It seems that the people who run this site are aware that the difficulty could be a reason to de-list. Since we have ZERO bookings on our calendar, it seemed like we have nothing to loose!

We had an inquiry fro VRBO about our having an air conditioner, even though we had not listed this as an amenity that we offer. The guests here come from Phoenix, and can not even imagine booking a place that does not have A/C!

[Huma0]

@Ted307 

That's interesting to know. I have never tried to delist so I am not sure if that reason was there as an option before the Summer Release, but I strongly suspect it wasn't!

Let us know how you get on with VRBO. Unfortunately, I can't list there or on similar platforms because they are not for shared homes like mine. Also, I host long term guests, so am targeting a very specific customer and Airbnb was previously more than sufficient to get me all the bookings I needed.

Now I will seriously have to do some work to get bookings elsewhere, or switch to traditional long term renting, which I don't really want to do as the whole reason I started doing Airbnb here was to get away from the latter.

Air conditioning is not an issue for me, but heating in the winter months is. Although I totally updated the heating system, it's a big, old draughty house and was really expensive to heat even before the soaring energy prices. Of the home improvements I am currently working on/planning to do, making the house less draughty is a big priority. Unfortunately, a lot of that involves tradespeople and it's really hard to get good ones here. I mean I know and have used some but they are never available.

Is there no way you can install a different kind of air conditioner? Sorry if that seems naive. Living in London I have no experience of air conditioning at home!

[Ted307]

@Huma0 

The problem is that our place is so old. The mini-split mentioned by @Debra300  would be the best, but I would need a building permit and a professional installer, and more electric service, which we are waiting for our local utility to come and assess adding. (Been waiting for since we bought this place for the gas utility, only 3 months for the electric so far)!

This portable AC we can do ourselves and needs less power. It is a hassle to remove the window glass and store -- but not as big a hassle as the better option!

Have you looked into Furnished Finders? I found that site looking for other options. They do rooms like you offer, not as beautiful, though!

Chris

[Debra300]

@Ted307,

I am going to buy a Midea U-channel window AC unit for my home office in St. Lucia: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0866Y33PL/ref=twister_B086VZGZDM?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1.  They are currently available at my local Costco for $339 USD.  I think that they offer a great alternative to a traditional window unit and a mini-split.

[Ted307]

@Debra300 

That is very similar to what we got on Amazon. But, we are returning it -- the control panel does not work. 😞

Our window is old, not the Up/Down style. It tilts inward, like a barn window, so we removed it. I really would rather have a window than the ugly box. It is just not that hot here. But, vacationers.

Our local Best Western is almost sold out for the 4th of July weekend @ $200 + per night and we are not booked for the best weekend of the year for us. 😞

Chris

[Huma0]

---

@Ted307 wrote:

Our local Best Western is almost sold out for the 4th of July weekend @ $200 + per night and we are not booked for the best weekend of the year for us. 😞

Chris

---

This is happening to so many hosts. Surely Airbnb cannot ignore it. I don't believe that all these lost bookings can be going to other hosts. None of the guests I tested the new search methods on liked them or could easily find what they were looking for. People are going to look elsewhere.

[Huma0]

@Ted307 

Yes, I have previously looked at Furnished Finders, but it seems to be a US only site. When I enter London into the search, it only shows me options for towns called London in the US, e.g. in Ohio, Texas, Vermont.

Travelling nurses and similar professionals are exactly the market that I am aiming at, but I've yet to find a site like that which caters to the UK. I am thinking about directly approaching hospitals, universities etc. I have no idea which ones have someone who handles housing, but it's worth a try I guess. Apart from that, I could ask previous guests if they could put me in touch with someone or put the word out amongst their colleagues/fellow students.

[Ted307]

@Huma0 

When we lived in Seattle, I was involved with the Foreign language Dept. at our local Community College. They had host families for the high school students to stay with for the 10 week summer English program. Host families were paid by the college. I was an hourly-paid teaching assistant. If I were you I would print an advert and hand it out to the nearest college! We had students who need a year to upgrade their English to be admitted to University of Washington.

[Huma0]

@Ted307 

I am not keen on hosting under 18s, but I did contact an organisation that helps foreign language students find homestays. The problem is that the rates weare very low (this was before energy prices and inflation soared) in comparison to what I charge on Airbnb, which I have often been told is not enough! As you mentioned, my rooms are a bit fancier than your average student accommodation.

In addition, you had to cook dinner for the students every evening and the expectation is that they eat with you/your family to help improve their English. While I love to cook, and I don't mind the social aspect, that is just not a commitment I am able to make with my working hours which are not regular, especially as I've resumed travelling for work so am sometimes away for a few days.

I think your idea of finding students directly via their schools and universities. I am located within easy access of many of them.

[Huma0]

@Ted307 

I found a site called student.com which is an international listing service for student accommodation (seems you can also accept bookings from non-students). It looks pretty legit, but I got stuck during the listing process as it requires a business name/number or won't let you proceed. I guess it's not for small scale hosts like me who are just offering rooms in their own homes, but that seems odd as they have a category for home shares with host, which is what I selected. If I am a homeshare host, why would I also do that as a registered company??

Anyway, I will keep searching to see if there is a listing site that works for me. Otherwise, I'll try to approach universities, hospitals etc. directly.