Define: "Return Guest"

Richard531 · ‎25-08-2022

I have a belief (based on zero facts, 100% intuition) that the Return Guest metric is one of the strongest attributes tied to SEO.

My question: what exactly defines a Return Guest? Obviously, we know a Return Guest is a guest that comes back to your listing at a later date. What about guests that stay at one listing and then stay at another down the road weeks/months later? Is that still a "Return Guest?"

Anyone know for sure and/or can point me in the direction of documentation that illustrates what a Return Guest is?

Richard531 · ‎26-08-2022

@Richard531

What you say makes perfect sense to me, BUT , I host long term guests, so it is a bit different. That small fee they pay Airbnb is not so small after all. I only take very few direct bookings, because it honestly does not save me that much money, but there are some that I will take.

I'll give you an example. I had a guest come and stay with me in 2018 for 2.5 months while she was studying here. She now works for a company based in London and splits her time between her home country and the UK. She stays with me several times a year (think this is her 5th or maybe even 6th visit this year) for roughly 6-8 weeks each time. So, it is a really SUBSTANTIAL saving for her and regular income for me, which has become even more important since Airbnb royally shafted hosts like me with their Summer Update. If it wasn't for this particular guest, I would already be out of business.

So, in answer to your points:

@Richard531 wrote:

Let's not take "Big Brother" Airbnb for granted; if you do a direct booking and things get weird related to their behavior during their stay, you're 100% on your own - not relevant in this situation as I have hosted this guest numerous times and am 100% confident about her. She has never broken a single house rule.
The good 'ol slip-n-fall (or worse); again you're 100% on your own (frankly, you're kinda screwed) again, not worried about it for the reasons stated above. We also do not have the litigation culture here that you have in the USA.
Payment - doesn't this get dicey? I did a direct booking years ago and I was freaking out about getting my dang money! It all worked out, but the stress wasn't worth it Guest pays me in advance without me ever having to remind her. In fact, if I forget to tell her what the total is, she will chase me so she can make payment.
Cancelation/no shows - here's a fun one related to the above; if they don't pay up front and decide to cancel, they just, ya know, don't pay! Now what do you do? Yep, hat in hand hoping Airbnb gets you booked Again, never happened, but seeing as I am paid in advance, it's hardly a worry.
Payment up front? That's cool! However, now the guests get entitled. "You have my money already. Can we check in early? Check out late? Can we drop off our luggage? Can we park at the listing early and the go for a hike? We know the area so well. . . And we've already paid for it. . . You have our money. . . Will you put balloons in the house for my BF's birthday?" NEXT! Never happened. I make exceptions with early or late check/late check out for this guest because I'm happy to do so when I can accommodate it, but she's never demanded it ever.
TOT taxes? Ours are serviced directly from the guest and Airbnb remits on our behalf. Calculating these on the side would be a complete nightmare. Or worse, you "forget." Then you whiff on your audit that takes place years later. . . FAIL Everything is declared to my accountant and it all goes through my bank account so it makes no difference to him if the guest pays me direct or via Airbnb.
It's great to get that double review! "This is the 2nd time I've had the pleasure of staying with XYZ" those go a long way (especially if your velocity of bookings is low and it can sit there for weeks on your listing for others to enjoy/encourage them to book True
Having your calendar booked WITH AIRBNB RESERVATIONS makes you a little bit "more interesting" and pushes SEO also (blocked off days booked off platform obviously don't do this) I am not sure about this. Some say that the more bookings you get on Airbnb, the higher the listing shows in search results. Others say the opposite, i.e. that the less availability your calendar has, the lower you will show in searches.
When thier booking comes around, all of your automated stuff still goes out (door code, directions, etc.) When we did a direct booking, we fogot it was coming! Phone was ringing that afternoon; it was a minor inconvenience, but it still threw us off. . . Se we could save the customer a few bucks. . Really doesn't matter. This guest has stayed before, knows the score and follows the instructions/rules, otherwise you wouldn't accept them as a repeat guest.
What kind of money are we talking about here? Maybe $100 depending on length of reservation and/or $/night? I dunno, the only upside is more money for you/guest. I just don't see it being worth the headache(s) above Not necessarily saving the host much money, although it does become more substantial with long term bookings, but saves the guest a lot, meaning they have more incentive to book with you.
What's the "right" thing to do? It's to reward Airbnb for brokering your original meeting between you and this guest! Even if they book again. So let's pay Airbnb what they earned! Airbnb gets a nice big fat cut from the first booking (it's not like their commission is pittance), for not that much, frankly. The repeat guest, however, books with you again and not another Airbnb, due to your hard work and what you offer them. Airbnb has nothing to do with that whatsoever. You have already paid Airbnb to bring that guest to you for the first booking. They do not treat hosts well enough to deserve the kind of loyalty that means paying that commission over and over and over for the same one simple function that you already paid them for.

Richard531 · ‎27-08-2022

@Richard531 this makes sense to me. we only host 1-2 night stays so you are correct, for that small difference in price (maybe an extra $20 to me) we aren't saving much because there's more work to do with remembering to do all the messaging manually. Although there are booking apps you can use to do all your messaging through, but those aren't free. I suspect newbie guests prefer the "safety" of going through ABB and that's fine with me.

I suspect for longer stays it might be worth it but we don't do them.

Good analysis, although we hosts come in every colour of the rainbow so i'm sure others will have differing experiences/opinions. 🙂

Richard531 · ‎27-08-2022

@Gillian166

Yes, I agree. The length of stay (as well as the frequency of how often the guest books) can make a big difference.

I've only ever had short term guests rebooking via the platform. If they asked to book off platform, I would be reluctant. I have also had long term guests rebooking on the platform. If they don't ask, then I don't suggest it. The saving for me is not so substantial and I think the benefits of the booking being on platform balance it out.

However, it can be so much money for the guest. I recently had a long term guest rebook with me for an especially long stay. She is paying Airbnb nearly £900 in guest fees and another £300 for the host fees!!!! Let's face it, it's the guest who is actually paying both sets of fees.

When I saw that, I felt really bad that I had not offered to let her book direct. It's not like Airbnb did anything to warrant earning £900 for that second booking. They already got close to that amount for her first booking and for what? It's no more work for them than a commission of £9. Now they are getting it again. For nothing.

In fact, my listings are close to invisible since the Summer release, so if I am only getting return bookings and no new bookings, what am I and the guest paying them for other than processing the payments?

Richard531 · ‎28-08-2022

@Huma0 @Debra300 @Gillian166 @Huma0 I'm aware that longer term guests kinda throw parts of my discussion out the window. I tried to say that at the end of my remarks: "If a guest comes to your place and says "I want to live here for a month" then maybe make a standalone lease, etc."

A little bit on my background for a hot second: my first "job" is in the restaurant business. I'm a little jaded in having been attacked by employees/customers, etc. over the years. I love having someone (Airbnb) having my back a little bit. Cause when you own restaurants, nobody is going to save you, but you. So take my conservative nature with a grain of salt. People have tried very hard to burn my restaurants. I always win, but getting in fights when you're all alone sucks really bad!

Also, be careful with Personal Injury in the UK (especially London). I don't live there, and have never lived there. However, it's my understanding from several Law courses I've taken that it's quite litigious in the UK and many homeowners/business owners aren't as aware as they maybe should be. You guys are the ones that taught all of us in USA how to do it, afterall! 🙂

LOVE the example about Amazon/Costco! Hard to argue with that! I think it's just a personal choice for me. I dunno. . . Maybe I'm too appreciative of Airbnb. But it's hard not to be. . . All they do is keep presenting us with 99% fine guests. Day in and day out. Over and over. I want Airbnb to succeed as they have helped me succeed.

Richard531 · ‎28-08-2022

@Richard531

I don't know, maybe it's more litigious here than I think (businesses and professional often have public liability insurance, after all), but I've never met anyone here who has every been involved in a personal injury case. Certainly, no one has ever mentioned it to me, nor has it come up in conversation. My parents ran a chain of shops for decades and they never had to deal with a case of it, even though they had hundreds of people coming in and out of their stores seven days a week. That's not to say it couldn't happen, but I am not at all confident that Airbnb will 'have my back' if it does!

The thing is to only take repeat bookings direct if you are confident about the guest and, for me, this confidence only comes with long term guests. As I mentioned, I've never taken a direct booking for a short stay and, in most cases, even the long term ones rebook with me via Airbnb. I am just willing to make exceptions for some long term guests and those are the ones I fully trust. If it's someone I don't trust, I wouldn't be letting them rebook for a long term stay in the first place!

Maybe I wouldn't take any direct bookings if Airbnb didn't charge the guests so much. It's a bit off topic, but I think that the % of the commission for longer stays should be less. A large part of the service is connecting the guest with the host/listing, but with a long term stay, they are kind of charging for that service over and over again.

For short term stays, you are probably right. The saving is probably not worth the risk but, what if, for example, you have a guest who comes to stay with you for a few days every month? Do you think it's fair for them to pay Airbnb that commission 12 times a year?

Richard531 · ‎28-08-2022

@Huma0 I can honestly say from how I understand you operating your business, I would probably do 99% the same as you do. You clearly know your people, what you're doing, and how to do it right.

And I have to agree - once you're booking the same person multiple times, it starts to make a heck of a lot less sense to go through the platform. I can't reasonably even fathom such a scenario for our listings which is why it's hard for me to get in that headspace.

I still say we should appreciate Airbnb a little bit more than we do! But I'm the type of person that's super appreciative about, well, everything. So, again, grain of salt with what I say!

Richard531 · ‎29-08-2022

@Richard531

You also clearly know what you are doing and it is working well for you. You already have a lot of experience and have hosted loads of happy guests so you have a winning formula and I applaud you for that.

I used to appreciate Airbnb far more in my first years of hosting (even started a thread here in praise of CS) but, to be honest, I've seen too much anti-host behaviour and policies from them in recent years to continue to have such an idealistic view of the company.

On top of that, customer services has really gone to rack and ruin. I've had some truly horrendous interactions with CS in the past couple of years but that is nothing compared to many of the stories I hear from hosts on the CC day after day.

It sounds like the Summer Release has not affected you, but it has severely affected many hosts, and I've yet to read anything that convinces me that my always fully booked listings being stopped in their tracks since early May is some sort of coincidence. I simply don't believe that hosts who are not doing well anymore must be doing something wrong.

How does one explain how a listing can be fully booked for years right up to the exact date that Airbnb launches the Summer Release and then, from that date onwards, views dive to less than 10% of what they were the previous month and bookings stop. I mean really stop. I am not doing anything different, so how to explain why what I was doing the week before the Summer Release worked and then the week after it didn't?

Right now, Airbnb is doing next to nothing for me as pretty much my only bookings are from repeat guests. Sure, they handle the payments, but they are getting paid a somewhat ridiculous commission for that. If they were still FINDING me guests, I might be a bit more complimentary towards them.

Richard531 · ‎28-08-2022

@Richard531 . returning guests are just one metric that Airbnb uses in terms of listings rankings. Fortunately I'm in a popular city and get all the bookings I need. I don't want/need to chase bookings as I'm a home share host and this isn't my main income. I like to reward returning guests by giving them a 20% discount as direct guests.

I can't agree with you about taking direct bookings. I've been hosting for six years plus. Have had about 40 guests who book directly with me. It's simple I send them T&Cs, they pay up front, I know they are great guests or I wouldn't accept direct bookings.

I don't pay local taxes. I send them automated information regarding check in. The guests I have returning are not entitled. If they were I would obviously not consider them for direct bookings.

I'm sorry you forgot about your direct guests, that must have been difficult for you both. My direct bookings are marked on the Airbnb calendar and my phone calendar.