Bookings have dried up completely - NEED HELP!

[Amelia10]

My first time posting here, out of desperation. (I hadn't even been aware of this forum until now). Airbnb has become a bit too complicated for me. It seems you have to be always on top of the latest changes, starting from Instant Booking, then Superhost, then AirBnB plus, collections, what next??

I guess I have become a bit too complacent and now I have completely fallen by the wayside. When I joined AirBnB over 5 years ago I was always completely booked, up until last year, when I had a quiet spell during the low season. But this year has been completely out of the ordinary.

My apartment is a studio in the centre of Cape Town, really conveniently located in so many ways. I rent it out for longer stays only for several reasons, one being I don't want to annoy my neighbours with constant new check-ins, another that I live 45 kms away and don't want to be driving in and out every couple of days, and prefer to do the management by myself. I really prefer the quality of guest (usually travelling lecturers or researchers, or location independent entrepreneurs) coupled with low management responsibilities.

Because of receiving guests who mostly stay for one or two months at a time, I can't make Superhost status because I have too few bookings per year,  despite being fully booked all year long (well, used to be).

I don't qualify for the work collection because self check-in is just not possible in my building (this is true for majority of buildings in Cape Town) because there is a security gate that you need to get through before getting to the lobby, for which you also need a key. Possibly I wouldn't qualify also for turning down a few requests - because of two bad apples I've hosted in the past I now vet my guests more carefully. 

AirBnB Plus also doesn't seem like a good fit as, although my studio is really nice and clean, it is still budget accommodation. I also had to cancel a booking for the first time in my life because the guy was going psycho on me before even checking in. I just didn't feel comfortable with him at all! So I don't qualify for another year, I guess.

I can hardly find my apartment in the search results now. I've booked a photographer for next week to come and take some professional pics. I'm worried this expense will not do much good. I have always thought my mediocre pics to be a positive, as guests are always very pleasantly surprised to find something much better than they expected, which leads to great reviews. 

I have also dropped my prices to AirBnB's (ridiculous) suggestions, but still have not received a single enquiry. Instead AirBnB sent me a tip to drop my prices again. 

Oh, and I have changed my heading from "The Green Room Gardens Apartment" to "The VIEW!! ★ Perfect for Longer Stays". I had wanted to make it "The VIEW!! ★ Perfect for Longer Stays ★ Steps from Shopping and Public Transport" but that was exceeding the character limit by a mile. 

Is the only way to get my bookings back to do a complete renovation and upgrade my apartment to a luxury apartment, along with giving it to some agency to manage so that I can accept short-term bookings and instant booking?? Or is there something left that I can do that will actually make a difference? I have an average 5 star reviews in all categories. I'm feeling so sad and broke right now, while the bills keep piling up. 

[Nino42]

Hi Amelia, the same situation is with me, I don't know what other ways are there to be booked. if some one knows the key to it, please share 🙂 

[Amelia10]

@Nino42 I hope you manage to figure it out too and start getting bookings again. By the way, I stayed in Tbilisi for 4 months in 2013. Just loved it!

[Nino42]

Thanks Amelia,  you should definitely visit Tbilisi once again 🙂 

[Jeff158]

Unfortunately @Amelia10 you cancelled a guests booking, this is the kiss of death for any listing.

"The host canceled this reservation 4 days before arrival. This is an automated posting."

[Kemar0]

I would recommend reaching out to Airbnb customer care to and get off the automated cancelation notice to get removed from your account and that might actually help your listing. otherwise not really sure @Amelia10

[Lucas266]

Is it possible to remove the cancelation notice if reaching airbnb staff?

didn't know that.

Would deleting the listing and create a new one helps or no way?

[Helen-And-Mario0]

Very hard, almost impossible, no matter how legit your reason is, based on my own experiences (host more than 1000+ guests in 5 years)

[Fred13]

@Amelia10. First, you express yourself very well. in manner & thinking, so got that going for you.

    I suggest this; study your market on how it is today - if you haven't changed, nor your place and nor the visitor numbers to Cape Town, then what has changed? I would look at how many Airbnb competitor have risen for starters. IF so then I would go to discover what niche in the price spectrum is not presently being filled least and that could be one of your directions. Good luck.

P.S. In your description no need to say what your place is not (not a catered place without a concierge), that is implied by the price. You are so accomodating by nature, let that shine through while the guests are there. Btw, I believe one can response to an automatic cancellation notice; if so, make that response very light.

[Amelia10]

@Fred13 Thank you, that certainly makes sense. I have to admit I have been rather complacent as the bookings just kept coming. I believed that all would be well if I just kept up the good ratings by offering a sparkling place to stay and excellent communication with my guests. And that I somehow had an advantage for being on AirBnB before the majority of other listings in my city - but clearly this is not the case! Competition has risen dramatically while tourist numbers have gone down slightly. I sure wish I had been more alert - never imagined things would change so suddenly. 

[Fred13]

Where I live there were *2* Airbnbs listings 4 years ago, now there are 400. It is a common phenomenom that humans, by their collective actions cause dramatic changes that will influence all of them, but are the last to grasp individually those changes. That is why they must always 'imagine' the future. 😉

[Lisa723]

@Amelia10, I think professional photos will help. I don't think lowering your price drastically will necessarily help. I suggest researching your competition and pricing just slightly lower than average. Pricing too low actually puts some people off, because they assume there must be something wrong with the place. (FWIW I use Wheelhouse for automatic pricing and find it extremely helpful, well worth the commission.) The other thing that jumps out at me is that you don't accommodate weekend check-ins-- this will drop you out of many search results. Could you do that temporarily, especially since you are looking for long-term bookings? If it's difficult for you it might be worthwhile to find a local co-host who can do it. Finally (when you get your professional photos) you could cross-list on other platforms, e.g. Booking.com, TripAdvisor, VRBO, Innclusive. Calendars can be synchronized automatically to prevent double-booking.

[Amelia10]

Hi Lisa, thank you so much for your input. All good points. I didn't have the week-end check-ins blacked out until a couple of days ago, so it's definitely not what was causing the problem. I've been playing around with the settings a bit - I need to change that one back! 

I did ask for co-hosts and got two replies. One lady wanted me to change all of my decor and furnishings to suit her style. The other guy seemed keen and had very good reviews, but boasted on his profile of being a heavy drinker. I found that an incredibly odd thing to put on one's hosting profile! Seems his guests weren't deterred, though. Maybe they share his passion for drinks. 

I did sign up on Tripadvisor, but haven't had any inquiries from that. I've starting adding a listing on Homeaway but am just waiting for my professional photos before making it public. 

[Sheila248]

Hi Amelia :))

sorry to hear you’re having issues, but I had to let you know that HomeAway didn’t work for me, because they don’t do security checks on guests properly.  I had guest for 5 days, that booked my home through HomeAway, whom we later found out had used a stolen credit card, even though HomeAway vetted the guests they expected me to pay for their mistake, and ( HomeAway ) went back into my bank account ( after making me wait 6 weeks to be paid for this 5 day stay ) and took money out of my Acct. for this stay, so I deleted my account with them, and decided to go with Airbnb. 

So please be careful when dealing with HomeAway.

[Letti0]

@Sheila248  You are aware that AirBnB will also back charge for the same issue. If AirBnB gets a chargeback from a credit card company for whatever reason fraud or guest complaint, they will do exactly as YapStone HA/VRBO's payment processor did. Some poor host is going to get zapped on a chargeback from my husbands credit card being used to purchase an AirBnB. The pending authorization showed up yesterday, yet it was not a booking we did. They cancelled his debit card and disputed the payment. It was for $378.78 USD so probably a one or two days stay that will long be over before the host gets notified and payment is taken back from the AirBnB host. It can take 2 weeks or more to actually be processed by AirBnB.