Sudden decrease in bookings

[Sarah1958]

I’ve seen a sudden decrease in bookings recently, despite it being peak season and even with me lowering prices in places, which I’ve never had to do before in the Summer. Is Airbnb just getting a bit over subscribed? 

[Helen427]

Hello @Sarah1958 

Many of us have been in the same boat - look up related words in the searchbox here in CC re IT Glitches & Bookings down. Google outages have not helped either over the last couple of months - look up about those in news items online.

Even the BBC and other websites were unable to accessed.

Fingers crossed they sort it out.

[Melanie33]

Definitely a decrease.  I had put it down to the poor weather in the UK at the moment as we usually get a lot of last minute bookings.  However I do think that Airbnb is oversubscribed as well so the pressure is always on to reduce prices to get the guests.  

Mel

[Cormac0]

@Sarah1958 

Don't worry Sarah, Airbnb is making more money than ever, that just goes to show how in the long run the gig economy only suits the middlemen and its particularly galling since they're doing on the back of assets, they neither own nor maintain.

It would be my conjecture that a considerable number of hosts don’t realise they're not actually making any money on Airbnb and that terms like turnover, margin and profit are only words and not accounting concepts.

Hopefully, it will dawn on hosts when it comes to replacing prematurely worn out fixtures & fitting, hey we’re running only to stand still.

What is your booking percentage?

[Sarah1958]

Thanks, it’s 32% at the moment, but that seems rather high. I had some cancellations this month and I think Melanie34 is correct, the weather probably isn’t helping. I just thought it was strange as last year there were some months in the summer where I was only free about 1-2 nights. My prices haven’t really changed - if anything they are lower in the week. 

I have refused a few guests (I’m less keen on certain kinds of guests that I know will be more trouble than their worth now) and I think this might have pushed me down in the searches as I know Airbnb penalise you when you turn people down.