Very, very low ranking, reservations dropped tremendously

[Stefanie53]

Hello all

We too seem to have the problem where our listing, 2yrs in March, which was doing very well has plummeted. We are so far down on the list even though super host, 5 stars and no cancellations. I don't see us on the map either. 

The o ly thing I haven't done is lower our price. We are already very cheap in comparison to other similar listings. Airbnb suggest a price 2 euros less than where we're at. Are they punishing us? 

Anyone find a solution to this?

Thanks

[Cormac0]

@Stefanie53

Go on multiple platforms so at least you are getting your occupancy levels up, don’t drop your price as it attracts bottom feeders and you just can’t keep them happy.

Remember no matter how much your lower your prices Airbnb will still make money on you and if you make them very little money, you’ll get terrible service.

[Stefanie53]

Thanks Cormac Can you tell me what you mean by other "platforms"? Do you mean other reservation sites like tripadvisor or booking?

How is that going to help with my listing on airbnb?

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Fully agree with @Cormac0 - other platforms incude (have to spell it out!) BookingdotCom as one example. There are many others, just do a search and then see what they list in your area. It works very well for us.

[Cormac0]

@Stefanie

Airbnb is just one of many companies to drive your revenue, list on at least three, VBRO, Booking.com and Airbnb.

Forget Airbnb propaganda and nonsense about community, one long standing contributor to these Blogs was booted off Airbnb for reason not explained to us at least and as far as I can gather neither to him (most long term contributor will know whom I’m referring to) and another Pollyanna type (host)  failed to have a vindictive review removed, despite her constant up beat appraisal of Airbnb. The lady in question has a beautiful home and I have no doubt the Guest that wrote the vindictive review was a nasty piece of work...

The community and all that stuff is for schmucks, 

[Justine106]

"Go on multiple platforms so at least you are getting your occupancy levels up, don’t drop your price as it attracts bottom feeders and you just can’t keep them happy."

Not sure what you mean, but fully concur that bottom feaders is what AirBnb seems to be catering to.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Justine106 I think what Cormac means is that AirBnB is trying to develop an upmarket offering (via Plus which is getting negative reviews) and all others, who are way down the list in terms of visiblity. I would lay a substantial bet that this policy will change as it's not a sustainable business model. They then target the 'others' with 'reduce your price and get bookings' to drive their revenue.

Other operators seem to be picking up the long standing AirBnB hosts - that is based on our, and friends experience, who now get most reservations from other more commercial platforms.

[Justine106]

I simply cannot keep track and have spent an innordiante amount of time today alone trying to update/upgrade my listing with recommendation to lower my price to compete. At some point,  it is simply not worth it. I am still grappling w/the unsavory news surrounding the "instant book" and lack of any photograph.....

[Sarah977]

@Justine106  The price tips are ridiculous and almost no hosts pay any attention to them. Ignore the price tips- figure out what price makes it worthwhile for you to host, and stick with that. The price tips have nothing to do with Airbnb caring about you getting bookings and everything to do with them making as much money as possible from guest fees. Believe it or not, they apparently charge higher percetage guest fees on lower priced listings.

[Stefanie53]

Well I just wanted to add what customer service advised me since it seems to have worked. 2 reservations since Wednesday!

They said one thing their algorithm is programmed to look for is updates in a location's description. I am update and change photos and add new items but to be honest, haven't changed the description much in the 2yrs we've been on the site. So I sent in and changed a few words around and now we are back on top of the list. They also changed our address so we are on the map again. 

It was a very quick response from them and an overall easy experience.

[Susan17]

@Stefanie53

It's great news that you've had a boost, but it will be temporary (CX boost your listing from their side, but tell you to fiddle about with a few things on your side, to convince you that's what did the trick. It's not). I've gone through this exact scenario many times and you do get an uptick in bookings, but only for a short while. Take @Cormac0 and @Gerry-And-Rashid0's advice above, because you will  find yourself in exactly the same position again. 

[Nhung1]

Hello Stefanie,

I am having the same problem here. 2 years going well and now they are stagnant...

How's your listings now? How often do you update your description these days and is it mostly on top? 

Thanks a lot!

[Stefanie53]

We have always been on other sites. I wanted advice about my Airbnb ad. But thanks Susan, I will keep an eye out to see when we get low on the list again. 

[Ann72 · Accepted solution]

@Stefanie53 Ouch.  But in case the fix IS temporary, I have a few suggestions that are not for the faint of heart.

* FIrst, raise your price.  Raise it by 15 or 20%.  

* Next, turn Smart Pricing on and use the new, higher price as your MINIMUM.  Use Airbnb’s price as your max.

Take a breath here and look at your calendar.  Don’t have a heart attack at how high your prices are.  Let them be.

* Now, check your calendar every day.  What’s this?  Send an offer of 15% off for an upcoming 10-day period?  Since I just raised my prices 15%, hey, why not?

* Your offer gets sent out to everyone searching those dates.

* Your listing gets a lot of notice and rises in the rankings.

* For my very seasonal listing, I only send the discount offers out in the off-season.  I don’t really expect bookings.  But I’ve found that my places have gone higher and higher in the rankings and are often the first and second places listed.

* Keep a close eye on your prices. Smart Pricing might start lowering them to get more bookings.  But your minimum is not lower than what you would like to get.

* I expect my prices to go down as the high season approaches and there are gaps in the calendar.  But I’ve already gotten half a dozen summer bookings at the higher price.  And as my minimum is set to what I would normally charge, I’m not stressed.

Now I’m going to duck as the barrage of “anti-Smart-Pricing” rotten tomatoes comes my way...

[Nicola456]

Thank youn Ann.

I am very curious about the

'Now, check your calendar every day.  What’s this?  Send an offer of 15% off for an upcoming 10-day period?  Since I just raised my prices 15%, hey, why not?'

I only saw it once after I did exactly that: raised my prices quite a bit.

How often does that option come on?

Can I have it come on through something else than raising prices?

Thanks so much, Nicola