I think there is a real problem with airbnb. I have been a super host with 2 properties for 2 years and I have seen the following:
- Continual pressure to lower prices to a level that is completely unprofitable
- lots of pressure to do instant book (you dont appear in searches etc if you dont do instant book)
- Airbnb has set expectations with airbnb guests that they can exepect 5 star treatment regardless of how little they pay.
We had a great year with appreciative, well behaved guests in the first year, but this has gone rapidly down hill. We now regulatly see people who are highly critical, high maintenance (expecting the equivalent of room service) and who leave the place messy or damaged.
I am now looking at other portals and at doing permanent lets as I am getting increasingly disillusioned with airbnb. I have come to the conclusion that aibnb have chased revenue by getting a high numbwr of transations, by forcing hosts to drop their prices and by forcing them to accept anyone as a guest. Information about guests is shieled away from hosts (even when you do instant book), but highly critical and often totally unreasonable remarks from guests are published on line.
Airbnb have eroded the marhin for hosts and once you take all the work and overheads into account it is debatable whether it is still more profitable than doing a permanent residential let.