How to sell a property without affecting my host rating?

[Melissa-And-Jon0]

Hello, 

We have two STR properties and are considering selling one with future bookings. Is it possible to sell a home without it affecting our host ratings, considering future bookings may be affected.

Thank you,

Jon

[Rebecca]

Hello @Melissa-And-Jon0 👋

We get this question asked quite frequently. A recent thread - Selling my Airbnb - had some great advice from some of our experienced hosts @Helen3, @Lorina14 who may be able to pop by and offer some support here too. 

Have you thought about how you’ll handle the guest communication during the sale?

[Lorna170]

@Melissa-And-Jon0   Snooze the listing for the property that you intend to sell.  In your contract with your listing agent, the contract date for the purchaser may have to be specified as a date AFTER your last booking.

If you choose to sell before the last guest, and you cancel that guest (or the new owner refuses to honor the rental) yes, you will probably be penalized by AirBnB and other OTAs.  

You can try to have future guests cancel of their own accord, but this can also affect your status.  

[Helen3]

Hi @Melissa-And-Jon0  i agree with @Lorna170 

When I was selling one of my properties I only opened up my calendar three months ahead so I wouldn't accept bookings I might not be able to honour .

so absolutely if you take this approach you can sell your home without your ratings being affected .

if not it's likely you will pay a cancellation fee for each booking you cancel and will lose your SH if you have this .

[Lorina14]

@Melissa-And-Jon0

I would block off the months you know when you have to renovate and put the listing on the market. And open your calendar only a few months at a time to help you out with this. Make sure that the contract will honor the guests reservation or make sure closing is after the last guest leaves.

Keeping any guests in the loop is good as well if for some reason people may see a for sale sign at front and wonder if random people may walk around the home (they do, some even peer into windows thinking no one is there or they are just nosey), we had a situation where we had to put our home up for sale when hosting (we have an ADU) and I was upfront with guests saying that no one will enter your space at any time and that if there was visit scheduled where they walked in the main house but not the ADU, I just let them know at x time someone may be walking around the home and apologized for the inconvenience. Every guest was understanding and no one marked us down for this as we were transparent and had good communication. Happy to discuss more if you would like, just direct message me.