Challenges with Hosting these days

[Maureen348]

Hi everyone,

I haven't hosted any guess this month so far. I won't be surprised if I don't considering everything. I reduced my priced further but as you may agree, there's no point going so low that one doesn't even make minimum wage after expenses. Finding that sweet spot can be challenging sometimes. What do you think and how's January treating everyone so far? 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Maureen348 We have rented for 5 nights over 3 properties. The only people legally allowed to book are workers and we will not reduce prices as it just attracts people who don't look after the place.

I am sure things will pick up come the end of lockdown.

[Ann72]

I don’t usually have anyone at all in January @Maureen348 so I’m happy to have had more than half the nights of the month booked at the one property I have open.  I just opened the other for the month of February and immediately had two requests from guests who told me what they wanted to pay.  Like @Mike-And-Jane0, I won’t go down in price so I just wished them the best in finding places that suited their budget.  Experience has shown me that they’re not going to be the best guests and that when given a steep discount, they’ll complain about the price by leaving a 4 for value.  I’d rather have the place stand empty.  It’s cheaper to run with no one in it 😌

[Lawrene0]

I bet things will pick up for you, @Maureen348 . January/February is flatlined here in Ontario, as we're in full lockdown, but I'm swamped in bookings for March to July. People are desperate to get out of the city. You, being close to Banff, will surely be swamped soon, too. 

I haven't lowered my prices at all; in fact, I have raised them a bit. Not to the point of gouging those fresh-air-starved urbanites, but cleaning takes longer and I've set a longer buffer between bookings. 

What do your 30-day views look like? If they are high, people are dreaming of getting to the mountains, and staying with you!

[Maureen348]

@Lawrene0I just realized I had Mach and beyond blocked oops!

So I just unblocked few more months and will see what things look like in few weeks or so. Thanks for the encouragement and feedback!

[M199]

@Maureen348   @Lawrene0 

Just to add some more positivity to the conversation.  I'm only open from April to October, 179 days.  So far, I'm about 30% booked.  I'm about 200 kilometers northwest of Toronto.  If 2020 is and indicator, I expect to be 98% booked.

Good luck all, let's stay safe and healthy!

[Maureen348]

@M199. fingers crossed 😊.

[Anonymous]

@Maureen348  In pre-Corona Berlin, January was always the slowest month. December gets in holiday crowds and New Years Eve parties, while February has the Berlinale film festival and other big events, but January just has what most consider bad weather, unlike the enchanting snowscapes in the countryside and old villages. I tended to take most of the month off to travel overseas or catch up on home repairs.

In urban centers, these trends must only be exacerbated by the pandemic, but in an outlying location you might be able to catch some weekenders from the city here and there. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Anonymous Very sensible to leave Berlin in January. When we lived there I swear my eyeballs froze one day when out at an antiques market.

[John5097]

I've been booked though January. Had half of the reservations canceled on short notice from covid concerns so had more troublesome guest booking last minute, hoping host will drop their price, wanting to deal direct, use rating system and customer support to try and negotiate some kind of discount. I also haven't lowered my price and can manage these challenges. More stress, but I'm good at adjusting and managing listing and try to formulate ways to attract better guest, which is more challenging in first and second wave of covid cancelations. I have flexible cancelation and encourage guest to cancel if they have any concerns. Our county has also been successful at limiting cases by wearing mask, social distancing and more outdoor options. 

[Emilia42]

@John5097 You should try switching to the moderate cancelation policy. Most people will know more than 5 days in advance if covid is a concern/cause for cancelation and this will give you more time to rebook. With a flexible 24-hour policy they will always push it to the last minute. 

[Maureen348]

That's my take on that @Emilia42.

Losing an opportunity to book a potential guest because of last minute cancellation due to flexible cancellation. But I guess it may work for some host.

[John5097]

Thanks @Emilia42 .. @Maureen348  I started off the moderate cancelation policy back in February of 2020 that at the time was two weeks notice for full refund. Then switched to flexible. This is the first sign of guest that aren't worth the trouble and canceling with shorter notice so may be a trend now that its more flexible for guest and more strict for host. Been planning to change it back to moderate after this Spring. Also the option of increasing price for flexible bookings and letting non flexible booking stay the same price, but think that might lead to more trouble than its worth and would be more than willing to give anyone a full refund on my end for any reason at all within a few hours of checkin, but agree would want to discourage short notice cancelations. So far I've been able to rebook all but two nights that got canceled. I usually rebook within hours but recent flood of cancelations that were longer stays created a lot of openings. Thanks again! 🙂 

[Anonymous]

@John5097  I've heard a lot of chatter lately from people who are optimistically planning holidays for later this year. Not knowing how soon we'll get vaccinated, and how many more lockdowns and border closures will happen, these folks are definitely looking for Flexible cancellation policies. But a frequent suggestion I hear is: "book places with flexible cancellation in a bunch of different destinations at once, and just choose which one to go to at the last possible minute and cancel the rest."

I get their logic here, but I also feel like it's needlessly cruel to the hosts, who have put time and effort into those bookings under false pretenses. Knowing that a lot of people are thinking this way, I can't recommend the Flexible policy.

[John5097]

@Anonymous appreciate the information. I hope guest don't start booking multiple locations, although what you are hearing suggest that may be the trend.  Airbnb could continue to improve  communicating with guest during booking process to let them understand how things are for host.  I've had over 70 cancelations in first 11 months, so a lot are already making reservations hoping for the vaccine and also canceling closer to check in. One recent one was from someone with Superhost as her last name, I'll call her Angie Supperhost, and had her own listing, and sent me a message asking me when the last possible day for her to cancel to get a full refund, and went on and on about how she didn't want to travel if her life was at risk. I suggested she cancel as soon as possible, that everyone knew there was a pandemic that is very unpredictable, ete etc. And that guest were welcome to cancel and I would appreciate as much lead time as possible to rebook the room. She canceled, no follow up message, nothing. That was recent. Now I'm even more inclined to change mine back to moderate in the Spring.