Airbnb Plus Results - Do Participants Experience Increased Revenue?

Colin-And-Christie0
Level 2
Los Angeles, CA

Airbnb Plus Results - Do Participants Experience Increased Revenue?

I wondered if anyone has seen an increase in revenue as a result of being part of the Airbnb Plus program.

Have your bookings increased?

Have you been able to increase your average nightly rate while maintaining historical occupancy levels?

We have been part of the Plus program in Los Angeles since it launched in February. For us, listing views are tracking at roughly double pre-Plus program levels but this has not translated into increased revenue - either through increased bookings or being able to command even a slight rate premium.

Appreciate any first hand experience from other Plus participants.

61 Replies 61
Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

@Colin-And-Christie0 'Plus' is not in my rural beach area and may never be - But I have been wondering this myself and am very glad you asked the question. One question for you (if you don't mind my asking - I do not mean to side-track the thread): Do you feel a sense of added pressure / concerns about that all-critical 'Overall Experience' review since becoming 'Plus' hosts and/or do you experience extra pressure / stress in general due to the 'Plus' program requirements / expectations?

We have not felt any additional pressure as a Plus program participants. We have always worked hard to achieve high performance metrics and Plus guests don't, at least at this early stage, do not appear to arrive with higher expectations. 

I can't see why I would want to give up control over the written content and the photographs. My current listing is pretty good in both respects: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/26453179/?guests=1&adults=1.

 

Plus looks a classic  corporate screw up - almost totally centralized control with with lots of silly requirements (bottled water - most of which comes from the tap) and zero attempt to understand why invited hosts are rejecting it.

Rebecca181
Level 10
Florence, OR

@Colin-And-Christie0 I was also thinking that it may take time for 'Plus' to bring about increased revenue for ABB and for the 'Plus' Hosts, in that ABB seems to be wanting to cultivate a new type of traveler / potential guest - One that may not yet have used ABB before, but would sign up to be able to book / stay in a 'Plus' property. And cultivating large numbers of these 'new' users / target market group would take a bit of time. Is my thinking correct here, or would you disagree?

@Rebecca181

I would agree that the Plus program has the potential to attract new guest types to the community. However, I also believe it will take a new and potentially more proactive strategy on the part of Airbnb to market and promote this new program to new guest segments. Besides PR efforts around the launch, I have not seen anything of this nature by Airbnb that will grow the guest universe.

Pete28
Level 10
Seattle, WA

Interesting - you'd hope to get more bookings via plus, isn't that the point ?

 

On the other hand, Airbnb customers seem to be incredibly price sensitive.

 

Perhaps Airdna will have some wider scale data - would be nice if Airbnb provide stats on the business.

Pete28
Level 10
Seattle, WA

Also if you had a sofa bed I'd come and visit 🙂  

 

Upping the guest count to 4 might down wonders for bookings assuming you want that. I added a roll away to cater to larger groups and it paid for itself with a month 🙂

J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

@Colin-And-Christie0

I do not have an Airbnb plus listing so far, and I do know if I will have one someday.

Anyway, I would like to know if you notice that, the type of guests that are booking now has a different profile from the guests that used to book your listing before Plus? Are they more demanding? Any comments about the guests? 

@J-Renato0 

We have not noticed a difference in the guest type we are getting so far as being part of the Plus program. They have all been past Airbnb users. I suspect this may change and ideally help grow the overall Airbnb user base by attracting new Airbnb users, but we have not witnessed that at this point.

Cor3
Level 10
Langerak, South Holland, Netherlands

Hi @Colin-And-Christie0,

 

The funny thing is that the number of Plus accommodations is actually slightly going down at the moment!

According to Airbnb there should be over 2,000 globally, but it is now actually less than 1,650!

2 weeks ago in San Francisco: 50, and now 47!

 

What’s happening?

as soon as a plus listing gets a rating that drops them below the threshold they would be dropped out of the program. Of course, people could also sell, snooze, quit, change, etc as well

Cor3
Level 10
Langerak, South Holland, Netherlands

Hi @Kelly149,

 

Indeed!

The drop-out part of the program has however not yet been described by Airbnb (as fas as I know).

And I would expect to see a rise in the numbers (It's Airbnb's aim to have 75,000 accommodations on the program - by the end of this year).

Saw in another thread that when a plus listing drops below the ratings threshold they are allowed to complete existing bookings but dropped from the program. I clicked the qualify for plus button on my listing — it has gone into a  holding limbo. I think they’ll take awhile for onboarding new properties. 

(Don’t think I actually intend to pay them for plus status - doesn’t seem like a good deal - but curious to see how the process works)

@Cor3

I commend them for trying something new, but wasn't that supposed to be the point of superhost? Airbnb "plus" for $149 is ridiculous if you have good reviews, superhost status and the guest reviews confirm that your listing photos accurately show the true nature of the apartment.

Airbnb is already making 12% on every booking on the guest side (our 3% fee is credit card processing).

Does it really need this category? I can see if it were to show "luxury" listings (A castle, a penthouse) but honestly - most guests aren't looking for that.