Complete silence on my listing

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Sagit0
Level 1
London, GB

Complete silence on my listing

Hello everybody,

I trust you are enjoying your weekend!

I am hosting in London, in the area of Tower Bridge road,  and usually I have an average of 65-70% occupancy, some month very booked, and calm months such as January and August.

In November I went away for a while and gave the flat to manage to Hostmaker. They asked me to deactivate my listing, which I did. On January 20 I reactivated my account and since then I received 2 enquiries: A gentleman with no profile whatsoever who invited me to call him if I wanted to "know more" on him, and the second, a RUssian account promising me full occupancy if I collaborated with them. Otherwise, not even one enquiry. 

And I am Airbnb PLus and Superhost...

Searching and searching, I eventually tested my link anonyously (logged out) and discovered that my map location was completely inaccurate. I contacted Airbnb and indeed they found a technical problem and it is in the process of being repaired.

Nevertheless, I wanted to ask if otther hosts in central London had the same calm, if maybe the Airbnb PLus is hurting rather than helping.

Somebody wrote on Facebook that guests have to write specificall Airbnb Plus for an Airbnb PLus property to come up! Is that correct?

Thanks,

Sagit

1 Best Answer
Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hello @Sagit0 

 

You have a lovely place. I don't understand why you would have had to deactivate your listing for it to be managed by someone else. Why didn't you just add them on as co-hosts?

 

Anyway, there have been a number of hosts from London reporting lower than usual booking rates. It's to do with a number of factors including a completely oversaturated market, low season, and the Brexit affect.

 

Do have a search at previous threads on this subject for ideas on what to do. If you aren't doing so already do use other listing channels, look at setting up your own marketing channels ie FB and website and see which third parties you can approach such as universities and businesses about accommodating their students/staff.

 

 

 

 

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27 Replies 27
Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hello @Sagit0 

 

You have a lovely place. I don't understand why you would have had to deactivate your listing for it to be managed by someone else. Why didn't you just add them on as co-hosts?

 

Anyway, there have been a number of hosts from London reporting lower than usual booking rates. It's to do with a number of factors including a completely oversaturated market, low season, and the Brexit affect.

 

Do have a search at previous threads on this subject for ideas on what to do. If you aren't doing so already do use other listing channels, look at setting up your own marketing channels ie FB and website and see which third parties you can approach such as universities and businesses about accommodating their students/staff.

 

 

 

 

Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

You have a beautiful place, @Sagit0, in a great area. But with many guests so price sensitive, I think you're simply too expensive (certainly for the time of year).

As an example, your price for the weekend (Fri-Mon) of 14 Feb is £410, yet for £399 you can stay at City Apex, CitizenM £315 and DoubleTree Hilton £389. All pretty solid hotels in similar areas to yours. 

I think as well, people have such high expectations of Plus, you're on to a loser from the get-go.

Paul1255
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Sagit0 I hope you are well!

 

I have been experiencing similar issues, and to get my listings booked I have had to make significant reductions to my usual pricing.

 

If you search as a guest for comparable Airbnb listings in your area and check their pricing and calendars you'll find the reason you're not getting booked. (outside of your location issue)

 

There are property management companies operating in central London, offering their listings for prices far lower than anyone else- and guests are booking these 🙂

 

I will send you a private message to chat further.

 

@Helen3 

Hostmaker/property management companies can't operate a listing on behalf of a host as a co-host as Airbnb are no longer supporting the co-host function.

 

As advised by Airbnb, channel management platforms are telling their customers to list properties directly under their own accounts, or connect the listing admin account to be able to use their platforms.

 

Co-hosts are having regular break-downs/glitches on the platform which have been going on for months, and we are having to look into alternative options as it would appear co-hosting on Airbnb may come to an end at some point.

 

Paul.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Thanks for this @Paul1255 . Sorry can I just clarify are you saying Airbnb is telling management companies that hosts have to list under the management company profile rather than their own profile for their listing? Sorry I wasn't sure what you meant by 'or connect the listing admin account to be able to use their platforms' could you clarify.

 

It seems so strange for airbnb to stop the co-host function. Do you know what the thinking is on this.

 

It would seem to favour the larger scale management company and not help the small co-host who may only do this for one or two places.

Paul1255
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

You're welcome @Helen3 !

 

No, Airbnb has told channel management platforms (third party sites that property management companies use, also used by everyday hosts who want to list on multiple platforms, and co-hosts who manage multiple listings) that co-hosted listings won't be supported on their platforms.

 

Therefore to continue using a channel manager without glitches/interruption to service, the listing admin/owner account must be linked to the channel manager.

 

So for example, I would have to link my clients airbnb listings directly from their account to a channel manager for it to function correctly, I won't be able to link the co-hosted listings on my profile to one, as it won't function as intended anymore.

 

Attached a thread here about the co-hosting outage, and what channel management platforms are saying about it.

 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/CRITICAL-BUG-with-co-hosting-lack-of-access-WHEN-WILL-TH...

 

You ask what the thinking is on stopping the co-hosting function, and then go on to answer it in your last sentence- unfortunately it does appear to be to favour the large scale management companies at the cost of the small-time co-host.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Wow @Paul1255  thanks so much that is really helpful. 

 

I don't use the co-host function so haven't been following discussions in any details.

Paul1255
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Helen3  I know you don't so it wouldn't have been on your radar.

 

But I do know you're an advocate of hosts maintaining control of their listings and accounts by adding a local, experienced co-host for support, rather than letting a company/ someone else to list it for them- as I've seen you give that very sensible advice to posters on the CC before.

 

I worry that may not be an option for hosts/co-hosts at some point in the future.

Susan17
Level 10
Dublin, Ireland

@Sagit0 @Paul1255 @Helen3 @Gordon0 I've been booking Airbnb's in London since 2010, and I've also been studying the London market for several years now, and it's actually quite shocking (and sad) to see how far the prices have plummeted, and how much the hosting landscape has changed, paricularly in the past couple of years. 

 

It's been quite a few months since I've had a really close look at the London searches though, but this thread prompted me do just that tonight, and I was pretty stunned at what I found (excellent news for travellers - not so much for hosts) I was literally paying double the price a decade ago, for what comparable properties can be rented for on the platform now. Below are the results of my searches... 

 

London. Fri Feb 21 - Sun Feb 23. Entire Home. Price Limit €110 (around £100)

 

Of the Top 50 listings returned in the search 

 

Composition:

 - 29 (58%) Pro/commercial operators

 - 16 (32%)  New hosts, with 0 reviews.

 -  9 (18%)   Superhosts 

     (Overlap - Pros with new listings)

 

Reviews

  - 16 (32%) with 0 reviews 

  - 22 (44%) with 1 - 25 reviews

  - 9   (18%) with 26 - 60 reviews

  - 0   (0%) with 61 - 99 reviews

  - 1    (2%) with 100 reviews (Plus Host)

  - 1    (2%) w/ 172 reviews (Pro,92 listings)

   -1   (2%) w/ 327 reviews (Pro,301 lstings)

 

Findings

- No regular hosts with more than 50 reviews in Top 50

- No superhost in Top 50 with more than 39 reviews

  - No long-term (over 2/3 years) regular hosts in the Top 50 at all.

 - The two commercial operators with 172 and 327 reviews had ratings of 4.31 and 4.23 respectively. Both featured in the Top 10 listings. 

  - Only 18 (36%) of the Top 50 were a 4.5 rating or above.

  - According to Airbnb's own stats, just 23% of London listings already booked for my dates. 

 

 

- The lowest price was €58 (about £50) for up to 5 guests

https://abnb.me/cRqqnKckX3

 

 - The lowest rating was 2.92, for basically a closet with damp, mould and no hot water (as per reviews)

https://abnb.me/XKJBvrykX3

 

- The one Plus listing had a 4.93 rating, 100 reviews and was charging €80 p.n.

https://abnb.me/zZnSfK0kX3

 

 - Even though it was outwith my price parameters, this studio in King's Cross was shown in the Top 50 - 4.5, 4 reviews from December, 2 of them cancellations, and €0 Airbnb service fee.

https://abnb.me/VjXOEdw3W3

 

  - No. 3 of the Top 50 had 4 reviews, and just 2 days booked on the calendar, yet had the "Rare find - Kay's place is usually booked" banner on it

https://abnb.me/uFd6HT6lX3

 

- No. 2 in my search results had a 4.2 rating, and apart from one recent review, appears not to have been booked since last July. Excellent location (just off Kensington High St) though

https://abnb.me/F5eguRXnX3

 

  - And this gorgeous 2-storey loft was all the way down at No. 50, at just €83 per night

https://abnb.me/tkUkxBRoX3

 

I realise my research methods aren't exactly cutting-edge scientific - a pen, a notepad and a ton of patience - but if that's what I'm seeing, that's what searching guests are seeing too.. the "professionalisation" of Airbnb in high definition. 

@Susan17 Wow, that's pretty shocking stuff. A 2.92 moldy closet-sized listing with no hot water makes it into the top 50? Is their algorithm on meth or what? How can that be advantageous in any way to Airbnb? Are bribes being passed out?

Bribes??  How very dare you, @Sarah977! Surely you mean, "incentives"?  🙂

@Susan17  That's pretty scary stuff. My bookings are so much fewer than this time last year, and overall lower quality, with more complaints. 

 

I'm inspired to do your research in my area, too, at some point (but afraid of what I'll find).

 

While I don't rely on Airbnb for income,  I did some big renovations, and I'm using it to pay for that. It's also part of my retirement plan, so if it's going to die, I have to make some tough decisions. 

 

I was just watching CNBC (financial news) and they were talking about Airbnb losing over $300million Q1 last year,  which might make a few investors a bit nervous of the IPO. We'll see. 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/airbnbs-quarterly-loss-reportedly-doubled-in-q1.html

@Michelle53 

After a disastrous year for tech IPOs in 2019, (Uber, -38%, Lyft, -39%, Smile Direct Club, -65% from IPO price to end Dec) investors have already become extremely wary of cash-burning unicorns with no clear or sustainable route to profitability.

 

The WeWork debacle, in particular, left egg on a lot of faces, and was a clear indication of how unenamoured the market has become with the tech giants. Investors are demanding evidence of definitive, sustainable strategies from IPO prospects now, rather than simply falling for the "fake it, till you make it" hype, and the market is a pretty harsh and unforgiving place right now. WeWork's value plummeted from $47 billion to near-bankruptcy, over the course of just 6 weeks, showing just how quickly and easily a once-exalted company can fall from grace. 

 

One of the biggest issues investors had with WeWork's business model is that it was based on rental arbitrage - basically, bulk-leasing space to re-rent at a higher price - which they saw as dangerously susceptible to economic downturn. Yet the vast majority of Airbnb's income these days comes from arbitrager "mega-hosts" - Sonder, Stay Alfred, Duomo, Lyric etc, along with a gzillion clueless and feckless wideboys and chancers who have also jumped on the arbitrage bandwagon, are causing havoc, and getting us all shut down. Doesn't bode well for the future. 

 

The cumulative effects of the drip-drip-drip of negative media reports for the company shouldn't be under-estimated either - not on investor confidence, nor on consumer confidence. Hosts don't seem to grasp just how much serious damage all this bad publicity is doing to the company's reputation - and to ours, as hosts on the platform - with both investors, and service users - but the evidence is all around us. When you have major business publications printing stuff like this, in the run-up to an IPO/DPO, it's really not good..

 

"Even Airbnb, which has flirted with profitability as it eyes a 2020 IPO, has been the subject of investigative reports delving into how the massive scale of its business combined with a lack of oversight has allowed fraud and scams to run rife on the platform"

 

Additionally, Airbnb has been haemorrhaging cash on a series of projects that are an intrinsic part of their IPO pitch, aren't exactly working out as planned (Experiences, China, Luxe, even their foray into the hotel business has been knocked out of whack with OYOs recent scandals).

 

So all in all, there's a lot for investors to be nervous of, and Airbnb will need to do some serious work - in a very short space of time - if they want to try and restore both investor and consumer trust and confidence in time for their long-awaited (and long-overdue) public launch. So far though, their efforts in that respect, seem to be falling well short of the mark. 

Thanks for the links @Michelle53! i had read the Vox article, but I can't access the Techcrunch one, just the first couple of paragraphs - says its not available in my country. Would it be possible for you to post the text of the article please? This was as far as I could read, and I find it particularly interesting as it fits in with what I've been seeing myself, over the past number of months - the tone of the coverage in many publications that were previously staunchly pro-Airbnb, has definitely become more sceptical and critical in recent times. 

 

"Each is accompanied by its original source, and I encourage you to read the pieces to get a feel for how Airbnb has been discussed through time. The tone of Airbnb coverage largely tracks its performance; when Airbnb was at the steepest part of its growth curve, the media was enthused. Lately, however, the writing is a bit different"

 

On the other hand though, there's been a frightening amount of lazy journalism going on in regards to Airbnb for a long time now, with some - though not all - of the best-respected media sources simply regurgitating stuff that they were clearly being spoon-fed, and very little actual investigative work or fact-checking going on - which served only to perpetuate a lot of myths about the company.