How many bookings when you first started?

[Pete69]

How well did you do when you first started? Was it a pretty good indicator of things to come? Or did bookings increase by 25% or 50% or more within a few months or a year?

Also how many of you use this "instant book" thing?

[Willow3]

I’ve used instant book from day one. It works for me and my local. 

I began hosting in the dead of winter and so my start was slow. LA may not have as strong of an “off season”. 

[Louise231]

Hi @Pete69

Yeah i use instant book (apart from same day reservations, that is not a good idea).

I found i was booked quicker in the beginning (and also had more views) but i was cheaper back then.

I've noticed that the new hosts who join and have too high a price right at the beginning never seam to do as well later on. They have the increased visibilty of a new listing at the begining but people don't book them as the price compares to other estabilished hosts, but they don't have reviews like an estabilished host. Because they don't get bookings early on they drop heavily in the search when the 'new listing' wears off and they never really make it up later.

So yeah, i'd say offer a discount at the beginning for a while, but be really forceful with your rules because a low price does attract the randomers.

If airbnb offers the free/ small payment for proper photo's in your area, take it up. The £60 cost is very much worth it. You can see a big difference between listings that have done this. But yeah tidy up first! Also I think the airbnb algorithums give you a search boost if you have 'verified photo's.

% for occupancy is heavily dependant on location, at the beginning i was booked up generally 3 months in advance, nowadays it usually about a month booked solid in advance. But that does change depending on time of year as @Willow3 said.

Good luck

[Bruna-and-Siana0]

AirBnB gives you a boost at the beginning. We were surprised by the number of reservations we got, we were almost fully booked for the first two months. We also started with a low price to get reviews.

Once you have a few reviews, gradually raise your price. We had more problems when our room was cheaper, low price attract the randomers as someone said. 

It took us a few months to activate IB. We were hesitant at the beggining as we wanted to control who was staying with us. But since we activated it, we never had any problem. Only people with at least 1 review can book and they need all positive reviews (which it is not hard for the guest). We never had any problem but in our area we get a lot of low manteinance business travelers. Depends on your area and the type of listing, IB might be more problematic. 

[Sarah977]

Have had about the same booking rate (which is not full, but adequately- I actually prefer not to be steadily booked) since I started. Very seasonal, though, as I'm in a tourist beach town. Same price since I started. I have economical rate, but don't get bad guests, get consistently great ones. Won't use instant book, want more control over who I accept, as it is a guest suite in my home with shared kitchen.

So much depends on where your listing is, what you offer, how you host, who you're marketing to, so many factors, it's hard to generalize what is best for a specific host.

If I used Instant Book, I'm sure I'd get way more views, and more bookings, and sure I would have to decline way more requests, because I know that those looking for budget friendly listings in my area fall into 2 distinct camps- I know which camp I want and which I don't.

[Tam16]

I've only been a host in airbnb since April 1st, one month exactly. The first week I got three bookings (1 day, 1 day, and 2 days), second week I got 1 booking of only 1 day, third week one booking for 2 days, fourth week one booking for 2 days. So it was better the first week, and I guess it had to do with the fact that airbnb promoted my listing as "NEW", and offered discounted prices for two of the weeks.
So far for May I have 1 reservation for the first week for 2 days, 1 reservation for the second week for 1 day,  nothing for the third week, and one reservation for 2 days for the fourth week. My listing is for a private whole house in Mexico and I find that the place can get booked a few days before the arrival date, so I'm hoping I'll get at least one reservation for the third week, which will mean it will still be a few nights less than the first month, but that's okay.
I already lowered my price to the lowest I'll go for Sunday through Thursday, as I'm not getting guests for those days and Airbnb suggests I lower my price further to compete with single bedroom listings, but I don't think I will.

[Robin4]

Hi Tam I am sorry I can't seem to 'tag' you in this conversation, something which seem to find happening more and more. I just hope you come across this reply.

Tam, I don't know that reducing your prices will benefit you in the long run. You have a lovely neat and very clean looking listing and I am sure you will do well with it. 

Starting off is always hard and although Airbnb will keep your listing prominent on search pages while you are totally new sooner or later you are going to have to 'swim in the big pool' and your listing may slip down the order ranking on search pages.

The algorithm that drives search placement responds to....activity! The more activity you can generate on your listing the higher your search placement will be.

It pays every few days to refresh your listing. Change a houserul a bit, add a photo, take the price up a dollar and next day take it down that dollar again. Activity does not automatically mean bookings, it just means that something is happening on your site. Get a few friends to put in some dates and hit the contact host tab and ask a question. You can pre-approve and if nothing else happens over the next 24 hours the enquiry just drops off the system. Nobody is committed to anything but it counts as activity.

By lowering your price Tam what you are going to do is attract 'bargain hunters', hagglers....those sort of guests who want and expect something for nothing! Rather than lowering your price, offer a nice little addition in the form of maybe an item of Mexican food....possibly a 'Corona' or two in the fridge.

You have a nice listing make it stand out give it something that a guest will say...."That's great, lets book this one"!

Cheers......Rob

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Pete69

I think it really depends on the type of guests you get - I started hosting Feb 2017 so it's been a little over 1 year. My first year I acheived an 80% occupancy rate for my private room listing, and hope to keep it at this level for the time being. One thing to note is I get a lot of exchange student guests (long term) which really helps to boost my occupancy rate. I've had a guest book 1 week in advance for a 4 month stay and another guest book 7 months in advance for a 4 month stay - I think individual personality also played a huge role here (some people just prefer to plan everything well in advance while others always tend to wait until the last minute).

[Ellen33]

We have had the same bookings since started june 2016. But this year april was low. 

We are more expensive now but i guess in the beginning we were to cheap. Our strengt is that we can sleep 4 in comparison to others who only sleep 2.

We practically only get last minutes or one or 1.5 week in advance. I wish summer would be booked allready. But that never happens. 

[Barry-and-Lera0]

@Pete69: It did not take us long to get rolling as we hit the 10 bookings in our first quarter hosting. We do not use instant book (and most liley will not) and we still have no issue filling our calendar. I'm not sure of the actual percentage increase every year but we generally hover at around 200-230 nights booked in a calendar year. We have plenty of family and friends that come and stay with us so we probably block 8 weeks out of a year for "free vacations" and block another 4-6 weeks for random things like photo shoots, traveling (we do not accept bookings when we are not around), parties and just wanting to have the full house and property to ourselves. 

We price our place about $30-$40 more a night compared to most around us. Besides a heated salt water pool we offer a lot of amentities (coffee, muffins, snacks, beer/wine etc) and stock the guesthouse with everything a couple would need for a stay. We found that most people that book with us are older adults / first time users just getting thier feet wet with Airbnb. Our reviews are what sell our place and its what gives those first timers a sense of secuirty. We do our best to set the bar very high.

[Robin4]

@Pete69.....it was a steady progression for me Pete, it took me 6 months to host my first five Airbnb guests.

Now I should say I am not in a tourist mecca so I was never going to be inundated with booking requests the instant my listing went public. I was always going to have to grease a palm or two to get things going!

Sure I had some other hosting committments in there as well but, when I look back on some of my early screenshots I was getting 2-3 views per day and many days with no views at all.

I was getting one booking per month! Six months into my hosting I was forced to adopt Instant Book if I wished to remain anywhere near prominent in search pages. I had resisted IB but Pete, it was the best thing I ever did! In a matter of a couple of months my average monthly bookings went from 1 to 5 and all of a sudden it looked like hosting may actually be a profitable exercise for me.

In my first year of hosting Pete (Jan 2015-Dec 2015) I hosted 14 trips.

This current assessment period (July2017-June 2018) I, to this point, have 84 reviewed trips and I will go close to hosting 103 guests who choose to stay with me in this current one year period. This is all I can handle Pete, an average of two guests a week means I am virtually fully booked because at least half of those will be multiple night bookings.

Pete, if you do your hosting to the guests satisfaction and your reviews are ok the bookings will come to the point where you physically can't handle any more...it becomes a self fullfilling prophecy....the reviews bring the guests who give the reviews to bring the guests.......

You have a great looking listing Pete, just concentrate on getting those good reviews....guests will be sceptical at first Pete, because you are a 'cleanskin' ....you don't have a history that guests can access! You may have to buy a review or two to start with to get the ball rolling. Offer substantial discounts....go out of your way to provide a nice stay for your guests. Confidence builds confidence and once you have four or five good reviews the bookings will come Pete....believe me .

Good luck mate!

CVheers.....Rob

[Pete69]

Well I'm only looking to do this during the warm months of the year, so I will have about 5 months of recovery time if my rental season is hectic.

So far I've gotten 2 bookings in the first 6 days of listing my place. Hopefully this is a benchmark of things to come.

[Sarah977]

@Robin4  Did you really say that? "You may have to buy a review or two"? Experienced hosts know what you mean, but a newbie could interperet that the wrong way.

[Pete69]

buy = earn

[Sarah977]

You're sharp @Pete69.  I've read on these forums of guests questioning whether it was okay that the host offered them a partial refund if they, the guest, wrote a good review. There are some unscrupulous hosts out there, as well as guests.