Hi all,
I agree - I get messages telling me to turn on 1 night bookings, but since we don't live there, and a clean + laundry is £140, we lose money for one night (in off season, we can lose it on a 3 night stay even!), as we never charge that much for a night even in summer - and it is a 3 room, fully redone, award winning at the beach house.
I have said the same as you - the messages are frustrating, and confusing. Guests have lost the idea of 'living like a local' and freak when we ask them to put the bin out on the night before rubbish collection - they don't want to do that b/c they are on holiday.
They break things and don't tell us - but if you ring Airbnb, it seems they ALWAYS take the guests side, and they push everything onto the host, making it unenjoyable for us to host, and we have had nightmares (only with Airbnb guests, we don't get with HomeAway guests) - we almost sold our house 1.5 weeks ago b/c we couldn't put up with the calls from guests, the constant breakages or damage and not telling us, and all of the things you mentioned that have taken away why we bought the house originally, and decided to host. It is our true 2nd home, and was our total happy place. Within 48 hours we had several full price offers, but that wasn't the right solution - we have done so much to the house over the years, we wouldn't be able to buy a similar house in so close to the beach in a few years, so we kept it. The issue is guests and cost and effort.
However, it isn't that happy place anymore, we travel there with a horrible feeling in the pit of our stomachs, not sure what we'll find this time that is wrong when we walk in. Our cleaning team is great but they have loads of houses in summer in Cornwall, so while they take 2 hours to clean the house, they won't be counting the glasses, or looking in the buffet or the drawers to see what guests may have done and tried to hide.
We recently added onto to our cleaners an extra £5 to take rubbish away b/c it isn't pleasant for someone else to arrive to a full bin, and since about half of the guests don't put them out, it was only fair to the next guests, so that just adds to costs b/c guests think they are in a hotel. We look at what is coming in, and outgoings, and we hardly make anything.
We have discussed limiting the Airbnb window for hosting, since we aren't making much, or only allowing two people if via Airbnb, as they are less trouble - it is when you get two couples in the house when furniture is broken and things are broken. We are still assessing our options. We started hosting mostly b/c we knew how lucky we were to have such an amazing house in such a stunning location, and felt we should share it, but not if people are walking all over us, and it is just about covering costs. If we can't make money off of it from this year, as our full refurb of the property - from obvious things like new kitchen and bathrooms, to upgraded heating and insulation, and a million things - is done, we'll definitely consider not hosting on Airbnb.
I've had meetings and a closed FB group to discuss with other hosts booking, rates, etc, but the real issue is that Airbnb cares about money first and since that mostly comes via cities, cities are second, and for really knowing local markets, that is a total fail - Cornwall has worked a certain way for ages and people are putting a shed in their garden (not a nice pod, but a SHED) and renting that, and within 3 months they are a superhost? I don't get it. If you are a country location you fall further down Airbnb's list, and when they don't take the time to put someone on the ground, you'll never win.
Sonder, in return, is going great guns, and while we can't use them, they are already taking a fair chunk out of the city guests.
I think Airbnb forgot why they started originally and what their mission was....and having a mobile responsive site so it worked on phones would help - it is useless as it is now.
Right, I have things to do, but Al & Nok's post hit home.
Best, Kristine
