Are Traditional Hosts Still Valued By Airbnb?

[Rebecca181]

I am a United States (super) host and have been listing on Airbnb for about 9 months now. During this time I have noticed a large property management firm start to 'take over' many of the Airbnb listings in my neighborhood - To the point where I am one of only a handful of traditional (non-property managed) Airbnb hosts left, out of nearly 100 listings. These are the same listings I see on other booking sites; there is no home-sharing going on; no on-site host; no personal touches to acknowledge someone's birthday or an anniversary, etc - Just the same kind of anonymous listing you can find anywhere else these days, and there is nothing 'Airbnb'-like about it. 

This same large property management firm offers these listings at ridiculously low prices when they first come onto the market, e.g., in one case an ocean-front house that sleeps 12 was put on the market for $79.00. If I did not excel at marketing my place and catering to a 'custom clientele' (my strategy from the beginning - I have the advantage of being a former VP of Marketing), I would have no doubt been driven out of business nearly immediately - And I am guessing that other hosts may have indeed been driven out of business, or forced to list with this property management firm if they wanted their vacation rental business to survive. True 'home-sharers' may have had to close shop altogether, being unable to compete with such ludicrous prices.

It seems to me that Airbnb appears to be making itself over into a Booking.com or a VRBO or Expedia-type site as it prepares to go public in the not-so-far future. I began to wonder if us traditional hosts are seen as a liability by Airbnb these days as they move toward an IPO: Perhaps because we do things like speak up about flawed or failed policies; want to control our prices and not give in to these constant, nagging reminders to lower our rates to ridiculous levels; and have final say over who / what comes into our homes (whether human guests or animals). 

So, I'm curious, are other hosts noticing property management firms taking over the listings in their area? If so, how is this impacting / affecting you and your listing's success? And if you host in the traditional sense (home-sharing / sharing your primary residential property), do you feel valued as a host, and as a 'partner', by Airbnb? By the way, here's an article on the 16 Steps Airbnb has taken to entice Property Management firms with Vacation Rental listings to list with them. Notice that Property Managers are reportedly paid 30 - 60 days BEFORE the guest checks in. Must be nice! This is just one of the many policy adjustments Airbnb has reportedly made to appease Property Managers and get them to list. Seems like Airbnb is setting up Property Managers to succeed. Are they doing the same for us hosts?  https://www.vrmb.com/airbnb-16-steps/

[Linda108]

Thanks for sharing, @Rebecca181.  I found the article along with the comments very interesting.  I have seen discussion threads suggesting there be a split between the "traditional" Air BNB and the property managed listing.  I think it matters what the traveler is looking for.  Virtually all my guests are looking for a good place to rest that is clean and convenient and competitively priced.  They are not using my place to hang out and enjoy the amenities as they are focussed on activities in the area.   People looking for a resort style place look for entire homes, not shared homes.

Anyway in my city both the property managers and the single home hosts are often together in city sponsored workshops.  There is little competition because we support a different traveler market.

[David126]

I read the link and it seems from a few years ago.

I do not see how ABB can really attract the Corporate market without changing some policies that would impact them.

1. Extenuating Circumstances
2. Security Deposit
3. Assistance Animals

All come to mind.

They would need to set up a seperate system with Corporate friendly policies.

[Yvonne41]

It appears to me that they have switched to be corporate friendly over owner operater friendly already this last spring. I really hope they realize, not all home owners can pay someone 35% for a corporation to manage their home. We made the investment in our home specifically with generating income to put our kids through college. It is really making us struggle to do this with the additional overhead caused by our inability to recover damages from deposits, or late cancellations we cannot get re-booked.

[Fred13]

  Despite Chesky's personal dream for Airbnb, it is 'natural' for companies to shift toward volume over quality as they get more well-knowned, it is easier to do managerial-wise and more dependable, and the risk of doing business is spread out (especially in the U.S. in particular, now only ~18% of its market). Of course the 'neglected' niche is filled by a hungry new competitor, who is no thread at first because of its size.

  I have always felt, the present 'original' model of Airbnb is now way too complicated and fits Airbnb's future goal (IPO) less and less, because it is simply too high-maintenance, too-riddle with conflicts and exceptions and legal risks. In time, I see them let many present offerings 'die out' via a 'take it or leave it' attitude and only the low-maintenance ones and the unusual ones will remain, the latter regardless of complexity are perfect for advertising purposes.

   The strangest thing with humans is that while change is caused by the collective action of them, the last to adjust to those changes are the very same individuals who collectively caused the change.

P.S. Sending some warm sunshine to those way up North, since we have an excess of it this morning. 🙂

[Rebecca181]

@Linda108 @Fred13 @David126 My appreciation goes out to all of you; I really love hearing all points of view, and that's what I received  -Many thanks. And thanks for the sunshine, Fred - I don't have much of it right now on the Oregon Coast, but it is better than last year, when it rained for 6 months straight, without a break (and some snow, too!). Lucky I have that 3rd floor ocean loft to offer guests for storm watching (with binoculars). 

[Air-Plus-Concierge0]

very easy to rid these people........send me your email ,,,,i'll give you some tips!

[Mary-And-Kelly0]

This is exactly what has happened in Leavenworth, WA. The hotels, lodges and property management companies are all listing their properties and pushing the traditional hosts to the end of search results. We have one here that has about 12 cabins all listed individually which basically takes up an entire page. When the comnercial properties came on it forced us the little guy to the back if the pack. When I look at listings in my area it also seems like they are going by price in the search results rankings. I see all of the lower priced units on the front pages while units like mine where I provide a little more so charge a little higher price get pushed to the end. I have been in the exact same position for over six months! I so believe this is why my bookings are down, who scrolls all the way through. By the time they would get to my listing they have already found something. I am listed (not completely sure but it's close) number 154 out of 212 properties. Have tried everything they suggest to get moved up in search all to no avail I am extremely frustrated about this. I believe if they want to list professional properrties that's fine but then it should be split into two separate sites one for the professionals and one for the little guys so we stop getting buried. It would also make it easier for guests to find what they want. Right now they have to look through all the listings to find what they want. If they just created two different categories of rentals then people could choose between a corporate listing search or a private homes search this would help immensely and stop some of the confusion as to what they are getting a cold impersonal property or a personal home. This has upset me since it started I have talked to Airbnb about it but just get the run around. I believe Airbnb created this site for the "small guy" and now they are pushing all of us out in favor of corporate listings. I do realize that companies grow and change but I believe Airbnb is heading in the wrong direction. WE PROVIDE A MUCH MORE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE FOR GUESTS WE SHOULD NOT BE LUMPED IN WITH COLD IMPERSONAL CORPORATE LISTINGS! They need to do something about this before they lose all of their private hosts that Airbnb was set up for in the first place.

[Rebecca181]

@Mary-And-Kelly0 @Matthew285 Yes, this is what I have been noticing as well, and I also got the run-around from a very nice Customer Support staff at Airbnb when I called them to share this concern - This was before I knew that Airbnb was specifically catering to these big Vacation Rental management firms and giving them many special privileges to list with them - Silly me!

In addition to pushing the traditional Airbnb host down in the rankings, I am also concerned by the fact that the entire 'community' feel that I so appreciate and value is becoming lost amid this transition Airbnb appears to be making whereby we are to become another Booking.com or Expedia. I'm not only concerned - I am genuinely saddened by it. Airbnb stood out from all of the other booking sites because of it's emphasis on community (for better or for worse); it seems they still pay lip-service to our being a community and to caring about the experience of the hosts, but as someone else here stated, Airbnb is now 'guest-centric', not 'host-centric'; this became painfully obvious to me when I reviewed their policy on 'assistance animals', which I posted in Host Voice about 2 weeks ago so I won't belabor it here. The hosts that they DO seem to care about these days are the anonymous, big-time property managed Vacation Rentals - not the hard-working, traditional Airbnb host that puts their whole heart into creating a wonderful, special, and personalized environment for guests.

I am considering making a post in 'Host Voice' suggesting exactly what you yourself are recommending: That property managed listings be divided from traditional host listings. I realize this is likely futile and nothing will come of it; even so, I would like to bring this to the attention of the Community and put it out there as an idea. If I do this, may I quote you from your comment, above? And if you are okay with this, should I mention you or leave you anonymous? Thank you!

[Mary-And-Kelly0]

 @Rebecca181 Hi Rebecca,  Absolutely you can quote me and I have no problem with you using my name. We need to get this changed or it's going to put all us "little guys" out of business! So please do post it in host voice and let's see where this goes. Thank you, Mary M

[Sandra126]

I put that suggestion on Host Voice a year or two ago, I find it is important for a traveller to choose if they want a company or a single host. Since the host photos were removed from our thumbnails it is hard to tell at a glance who is  a company and who is not. For instance, hosts will have a personal picture, companies often have a logo.

I don't think the listings need be divided, they just need a box you can tick. Like search for IB, non IB. Or search for ALL if you don't care.

[Rebecca181]

@Sandra0The big property management company in my neck of the woods is very clever. For their Airbnb profile photo they have a picture of a very, attractive nice looking caucasian man in his 30s holding a baby, a really cute baby. Seems a little manipulative to me, as if they are deliberately pandering to their imagined ideal customer. And especially annoying to me in light of the fact that there is no true hosting going on at the many, many vacation rentals they list with Airbnb.

[Tom-and-Carina0]

Is the photo of  the agent? Here there is an agent with many listing. He is the listing agent, not owner but host. 

[Rebecca160]

@Rebecca181 This is all fascinating to read in April, after the Global talk by Airbnb. Looks like they are buying corporate and vacation properties to rent out, and pushing the little home hosts to the bottom. And with the new changes coming in the way we attain or maintain Superhost status, it really begins to look like we are not really welcome on Airbnb. It all makes sense now why the CFO of Airbnb quit! 

I have been a Super Host for a year and would like to stay on here, but it may not be here, but it may not be realistic. 

I will read the upcoming changes in detail and hope to comment on your upcoming Host Voice post.

[Matthew285]

@Rebecca181, @Mary-And-Kelly0 I agree; AirBnB should split the listings between the corporate / hotel listings and traditional homeshare listings as you suggest.

The guest could have the option to filter so they see only homeshare, only corporate, or both. They do it for other factors.

I imagine there are guests who would prefer home shares (I know I do. If I wanted to stay in a hotel, I would just book a hotel.) And there are probably guests who do not have a preference. This would satisfy both types of guest, and make it easier for home share hosts to be found.