Anyone else's reservation list completely empty?

[Stephanie365]

While I expect this in the cold months, I have never experienced this in peak travel season in July.

A completely empty calendar.

[Ted307]

Looks like our today page for the last 2 weeks. We finally got a returning guest who booked 2 trips, which seemed to trigger something in the search, and we got our first new Air booking since the "Update" this last weekend.

[Kelly149]

Yep. Closed my calendar mid-June. Too many odd travelers. Looking at a long-term booking from a friend who needs to do some house work. Abb/travel in general is a chancy lot at the moment. 

[Ted307]

Rent is so expensive now, if you can get a friend who you trust for a long term rental you are lucky 🍀 👍

[Mark116]

@Stephanie365  We have bookings, but all of them came before the super, new awesome Summer Release.  Our views are down to almost nothing, and that means no expectation of bookings going forward, and that means the end of the Airbnb experiment one way or the other.  

[Suzanne302]

@Stephanie365 

Not empty, but close to it. I don't care how anyone tries to spin it, it is 100% due to the Summer Release.

[Basha0]

Except for one booking for a week this month (booked prior to the Summer Release) there are hardly any Airbnb bookings. Same for August. I added VRBO when I saw biz and viewings disappear. Best decision ever.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Basha0 

Home share hosts don't have the option of listing with other platforms, so we are pretty much stuck. This after 2 years of covid caution around hosting in our homes.  I keep reading that others here are diversifying into other platforms. It is a lot of extra work for guests to navigate all the eye candy,  and diversions into regions far away from where they intend to go. It makes trip planning tedious, but we all know that already. There's little we can do other than ride this out, and personally enjoy the qualities of our location. 

[Stephanie365]

Very true. I had my homeshare (guest suite) on VRBO for a year and not one single nibble.

[Basha0]

You are right! I didn’t think about home sharing which is exactly how Airbnb started 

[Kate867]

@Stephanie365 @Mark116   Fortunately, prior to the summer release we were pretty well booked up until the end of August.  We have one guest mid Sept but blocked other dates that month for painting inside and out etc.  Since the update, we have had one booking for mid October and our 30 day viewings have absolutely tanked.  I have always resisted the idea of using alternative platforms as although never fully booked via Airbnb it has provided a nice steady income which has allowed us to keep our old family home by covering running costs etc.  I now feel that unless Airbnb make some changes and improve things dramatically then I will have no choice but to either sell our home or look at alternative platforms.  Sadly, it would seem that there are many other hosts in this position.  I do accept that there are many other factors affecting bookings such as the current economic climate and more listing etc. but still feel that this ‘drop off the cliff’ is not solely due to this.

Also interestingly, I have noticed both in this group and on social media, that guests who have had their bookings cancelled for various reasons are finding the  proposed options provided to them by Airbnb have been a lot more expensive.  Perhaps Airbnb are nudging guests towards the higher end of the market or maybe I am just being cynical?

[Huma0]

@Stephanie365 

As I host long term stays, my rooms tend to get booked at least a couple of months in advance but often earlier than that. So, I already had bookings for the summer months.

Since the Summer Release, I have only had one booking but that is from a returning guest. I've only received one booking request, which was withdrawn. Just after the Summer Release, I had a trickle of enquiries, but even those have stopped. In the past month, I've received ONE enquiry, and that was for dates that are already booked. Bear in mind I have three listings. So that's one enquiry across all three. 

I have no doubt that it's due to the Summer Release, not the economic climate. If you look at the rest of the travel industry, it's booming right now. People are travelling. Directly before the release, my bookings were as per normal, which for me meant actually having to turn people away. Now nothing. Nada.

In the month preceding the release, my most popular room had 2,282 views. In the month directly after, it only had 222, i.e. 1/10th of the previous month. Currently, the monthly views are showing as 52.

I was contacted by a CS rep who told me that the engineering team are investigating bugs related to the Summer Release. He said he could see my views had dropped, but his suggestion was to reduce my price, reduce my minimum stay and unblock dates, so basically to take short term guests for a lower rate than I currently charge for long term ones. Erm, no. Why is the responsibility being put on hosts to clean up the mess that Airbnb has created?

There are so many hosts already here on the CC reporting that their views have plummeted and their bookings have stopped and we are probably the tip of the iceberg. When is Airbnb going to admit that this is a direct result of the Summer Release and do something significant (i.e. not just bringing back custom listing titles) to fix this? 

[Stephanie365]

While the bulk of my guests are typically weekenders, during summer months I usually get 3 to 4 week long stays. My weekends were booked through this past weekend, but all of those were booked before the "improvements". 

Since the "improvements", I've had one inquiry which became a booking from a fellow host, but it was cancelled within the hour of booking.

Since then, crickets.  My views are down 50% over last month. Last month's views were down almost 60% over the previous month. 

[Huma0]

@Stephanie365 

Exactly. We can see quite clearly that it's Airbnb's "improvements" that have caused this. How can it be a coincidence that so many hosts are reporting a dramatic drop in views/guest contact since the Summer Release? 

I've been told by Airbnb that a dip was expected due to the economy, but that simply does not tie in with travel trends right now (in Europe anyway). You only have to do a quick google search to find numerous articles reporting on the rise in hotel bookings and, therefore, prices. Meanwhile, hosts who are also listing elsewhere, e.g. booking dot com or VRBO, are reporting that they are getting bookings there but not on Airbnb.

The only solution I am being offered is to cut my prices and reduce my minimum stay. No. I host long term for a reason and have been told by Airbnb that stays of one month or longer now make up 25% of Airbnb's bookings and are still on the rise. So, I should be getting more interest, not less.

I'm fed up with the lame excuses. One doesn't need to be a genius to figure out that it's the Summer Release. Guests didn't suddenly decide in early May to stop travelling.

[Stephanie1933]

Our bookings have slowed down as well - what can be done about it?!