I wanted to raise a concern about Airbnb’s new review remova...
I wanted to raise a concern about Airbnb’s new review removal process, which I feel has made things more difficult and less f...
Hi @Kamil303
Firstly welcome to Airbnb and the Airbnb Community Centre, and I hope your time with us will be as rewarding as it has been for many of us here.
Secondly congratulations on your listing, you live in one of the loveliest parts of the country, if not the world. My eldest daughter lives about 20 minutes away from you in Warrawong, just south of Port Kembla. We get over there 3 + times a year and I do know your area well.
What you will find with this Community Centre Kamil, none of us knows everything, but collectively there is not a lot about short term renting that we can’t provide an answer to. And because we all live in different parts of the world we encounter different problems when it comes to cultural and individual expectations which leads to us having a much broader general STR knowledge than simply belonging to a local group!
What can you expect from Airbnb hosting:
Airbnb hosting can be both mentally rewarding and profitable but, because the STR regulatory goalposts are shifting all the time, mainly due to changes in government policy, a heavy financial commitment to STR is not advisable. Treat it as an assistance to your income, not make it the primary part of it. Don’t take out a property mortgage to do it.
Don’t expect too much from Airbnb. Treat them as a booking site and make sure you have your own proper insurance protection in place just in case things might go off the rails. Don’t look for hosting problems, but allow for them.
Living on the property gives me a distinct advantage and guests who wish to break house rules are discouraged from booking because they realise the opportunity for anything clandestine is severely limited. Even so, I set $7.00 per hosting night aside and that money goes into a damage fund which sits at around $2,000. I find maybe one guest in 42 might damage something, bed linens, crockery, lamps and fittings, carpet rugs. So when that happens I don’t hassle the guest or Airbnb, I just pull the money out of the damage fund, put things right and get on with the business of hosting. In over a decade and almost 1,000 Airbnb guest stays I have only ever contacted Airbnb with a guest problem once, and on that occasion I had 2 separate confirmed Airbnb guests arrive at my property for the same evening! Not entirely Airbnb’s fault…..but that’s another story!
Use a proper spreadsheet to work out your expenses and set your listing price accordingly. Don’t be guided by what others in your area charge. Some I have shown this spreadsheet to are appalled to discover after using it they are actually losing money not making it! This one of mine from 2018 appears as though I undersell myself considerably but, what it doesn’t reveal, my property is freehold, I live on the property and do almost all service work myself. I don’t have to rely on expensive help and I am not depended on the income……..
I do it as much for the experience as what monetary value I might get out of it! But over the last decade it has helped us live a considerably more comfortable lifestyle than we would have otherwise had.
Provided you keep to the basics you will find Airbnb host payouts to be reliable. I don’t use ‘Smart Pricing’ or get involved with discounting. I find it pointless to raise prices at some times of the year to simply give it back through discounting at other times! Why set yourself to needless work? Guests also prefer to book where there is some degree of continuity. They don't want to be faced with fluctuating prices from one night to the next.
I do not offer up-front discounts. Guests have learned they can book and pay for a property at a 14 night discount price, 5 nights into the stay cancel and get all but one of the remaining nights refunded at the discount rate they paid. The host gets stiffed into providing a 6 night stay for a 14 night discount with a minimal chance of reletting the remaining nights that sudden become calendar available! If a discount is appropriate I will offer it in the form of a refund I can offer at the end of the stay when I can accurately work out and negotiate what discount might be appropriate!
The added benefit of discounting this way, guests do not remember they got a discount when they booked, but they sure do remember you gave them some money back at the conclusion of their stay and they will reward you for it in the review process. And speaking of the review process, don’t stress out about it. It is a crazy system where there is only 1 default star rating and 4 penalty star ratings. You aren’t going to change it so, work with it and realise once you have built up a review base the odd less than perfect review actually works in your favour. Here are my last 12 reviews….
If the next guest gave me a 3 star who do you think the casual reader would believe?.....that 1 x 3 or the other 12 x 5 stars either side of it. It actually makes the guest look like a possibly difficult guest to please and maybe one to be avoided.
What you will get from Airbnb hosting:
You don’t realize how many beautiful people there are out there in the world until you host. I have had many amazing experiences from lifelong friendships that have been formed to guests getting married in our garden…..
If there is one golden rule to hosting success I can suggest Kamil......Give the guest something they are not expecting, and finish each hosting with a handshake or a hug. Not always possible for remote hosts but, for me, it works!
Deciding to host with Airbnb is one of my lifes better decisions and I wish you the success that I have had. And remember we are here on the CC to help in time of need, just as I got so much great advice and help here when I started out.
All the best.
Cheers………Rob.
