Severe drop bookings due to terrorism?

[Ilana1]

Just wanted to check with you hosts in (north-western) Europe if you are also experiencing a serious drop in the number of bookings. This is our 4th year of renting a room in our appartment, so we can comparis and pretty much know the differences in number of bookings thoughout the seasons.

After the Paris attacks in November the number of bookings dropped (we live in Rotterdam, the Netherlands). Then there were attacks in Brussels in March. Now is supposed to be high season and we have quite an extreme drop in guests visiting us, also in the upcoming two months (July and August). The suggested prices on Airbnb are also extremely low, way beyond the point we would actually do all the work for :-0 They are supposedly based on supply and demand, which makes me wonder...

I just wanted to touch base with others in this region and see if you are experiencing the same. Or is it just Airbnb and their weird algoritms and what not.....?

[Cor3]

Hi @Ilana1,

Don't trust the smartpricing tools by Airbnb. But obviously there is some truth in them 😞

When a particular region or city makes bad headline news in the newspapers. Tourists will stay away (for a while) - or even cancel. So this is obviously the case after a recent terrorist attack.

That's why terrorists prefer to attack touristic places, in the first place.

Just lower your prices for a while, until you start to attract bookings again.

Tip: Even after a major incident, people will start to come back after a couple of months. Especially when the price is low 🙂

Never rent below regular costprice, unless you want to get at least some compensation for your fixed costs.

And obviously NEVER rent below your variable costprice, unless you have an extremely good reason for it!

Succes.

Best regards,
Cor.