Dear Airbnb...what on Earth are you thinking?

Dear Airbnb...what on Earth are you thinking?

Dear Airbnb. My apartment is 9 rooms including three bedrooms. YOU  want me to pay $25/hour to clean a space that takes 4 hours to flip. My neighbor rents a small studio apartment for $79 but you send me this email to drop the price to that level on a space 5 times larger...(Hint..you already know what type of guest I would get at that price. And according to other hosts you don’t side with hosts or honor the guarantee on damages). 

 

so...drumroll...in advance if your IPO I respectfully decline this RIDICULOUS suggestion.

 

PS...I am almost fully booked for the next two months at my original price. What extra days in the next 30 days are you looking at to come up with $715?

 

 

.....

AirbnbFill up your calendar and make more next monthIn the last 6 months, 29% of the available nights on your calendar were booked.Smart Pricing already helps you get booked when demand is low, but you could make more money overall if you’re willing to host at a lower price only on those less popular days.Your current minimum price is $125. If you changed your minimum price to $88, you could make up to $715 more in the next 30 days.Update your minimum price
 

 

 

 

 

31 Replies 31
Kira32
Level 10
Canary Islands, Spain

I sometimes adjust the price because it's now low season and I did not adjust the price last year and had almost 0 bookings during summertime. But I noticed that it's so low that I don't know if it will atract the right kind of people. On top of that, now everyone is lowering the price lower and lower and lower...... now airbnb is asking me to price the rooms 9€ a day but that's too sad. I'm not sure if I will continue during summer 

Here’s the other ridiculous issue. If I were desperate enough to drop the price smart pricing would apply it to other days and I would have to manually override most of them.  Otherwise I would lose money everyday.

 

I once dropped to $99 on a single day to see what would happen and got inquiries from demanding guests wanting more concessions. Or wanting to pack more people then I allow.

 

There is another thread from a host claiming Airbnb is now calling hosts on behalf of guests whose bookings were cancelled asking if the new hosts would drop their prices (after the guest has booked their place). 

 

Airbnb isn't ready for an IPO. Not until they recognize their model is wholly dependent on hosts who seem to have less and less power to screen guests beforehand, get reimbursed for damages, etc.

 

But there’s the rub... just as Amazon is planning to replace workers with automation, And Uber wants to replace drivers with driverless cars,  Airbnb is now getting into the hotel and tiny home building business. After a while individual homeowners will be outnumbered.

 

So does Airbnb care about hosts or just incremental increases in hosted guest fees to assuage its investors at the expense of hosts?  I think it’s the latter.

I hear you @Christine0...

 

It's time for a new "home share" hosting platform that's actually interested in just that...and rather then "guerilla" marketing and mass start-ups that compromise local long term hosting opportunities, focuses on making friends with the neighbors, cities, and towns they cover with respect and a "won-won" approach rather than that of the current model.

 

"Home sharing" is not an event/party venue.  It's individual Hospitality that allows you to "live like a local" and enjoy something different than the usual touristy "Mc stay"... and almost anything other than a private home stay is just that.  Whether it's a super affordable 1 star or expensive 5-star hotel,  they are duplicating thier model rendering it no longer unique.

 

WE are unique by definition and design, and those who want that...need a venue which supports it now, and later.

@Christine615   I am wondering if they have got the coding muddled with their new "Donate" button because what they are now suggesting would mean they think I should be donating even more to guest's vacation than they suggested I do before.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

One of the problems with their algorithms is that some things simply can't be assessed using them. 

An algorithm cannot determine what is a "similar listing". Just because a place houses the same number of guests for a similar price and has the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms in the same town doesn't mean it is similar. One could be right on a noisy main street in a run-down neighborhood sporting polyester sheets, flat pillows, chipped crockery, and paltry decor with a non-attentive host, while another could be beautiful and artistically furnished, luxurious in the linen department, tucked away on a quiet dead end street with an awesome host. 

 

And on another note- I admit to being totally ignorant when it comes to economics, IPOs, the stock market, etc. Maybe someone who understands such things could tell me- wouldn't shareholders care if the company they're investing in has really bad press and disgruntled users?

@Sarah977   "wouldn't shareholders care if the company they're investing in has really bad press and disgruntled users?" 

 

Not if they are making money off it.

@Ange2 Thanks for your answer. I do realize it's all about the money, but wouldn't they be wary that the company might go under if so many users are disgusted with company policies and customer support and there are negative articles in the press about them?

@Sarah977    Given all the companies that are doing extremely well and traffic in worse and darker things and have terrible press, I doubt anyone would see it as a risk.  Even if it went viral and did damage Airbnb has already diversified,  looks like it is planning to be the google of travel and hospitality with their own Backyard, sans hosts.  And all the data they have been collecting  is worth an immense fortune, billions, even trillions, far more than just the hosting angle.  Look at FB and they don't even demand driving licenses, passports, bank info and social security numbers.

They won’t go under. Because if they were going too, all the negative articles and the Netflix documentary about how they don’t protect hosts after theft and damage would have killed their model. 😞

I hear you @Christine0 AND...the Netflix docu only reaches a certain demographic, most of which won't watch it

 

AND

 

It's just data that can go "poof" in an instant if security is compromised. (example: the recent rash of real hacks and airbnb account hijackings no one in management is talking bout). 

 

Data us also useless without hosts to carry the weight of the investment, upkeep, and services.

 

Maybe I'm an eternal optimist, but HERE'S WHAT I'M HOPING FOR:

The IPO results in new management OR airbnb being displayed on someone's mantlepiece like Lycos and Myspace and:

1- "Classic airbnb's" are honored for the special thing they are

OR

2- A new platform (which echoes my post below) specifically for home stays that operates cooperatively with local areas for a "win-win" (rather than a "takeover" mentality with no regard for the resulting displacement of local people who actually need places to live and wooing politicians with "donations.")

 

IT IS possible, and I can see it happening because continual "profit/growth no matter what" model isn't sustainable when it reaches a certain "tipping point" that involves stressing the local economies and over saturation of the market.

@Christine615 

That's just the thing with Airbnb suggestions and algorithms........ they don't THINK, and there is no logic or sense to it. It might as well be complete jibberish. 

 

There is a saying that I think is very suited to hosting on Airbnb..... the higher the expectations the bigger the disappointment. I've decided a long time ago not to expect much from Airbnb other than a platform where potential guests can find me, then use a credit card to pay. Based on bookings as long as the correct amount of payout shows up in my account, I'm happy. Everything else related to hosting is all my responsibility and it's easier if I don't expect any help or advice from Airbnb. 

 

I just wish Airbnb would at least maintain some level of consistency in terms of platform layout, functions and policies for users. They change things so often it's hard to keep track. 

@Jessica-and-Henry0  Good point! My complaint was half sarcasm. My apartment is doing well and I’ve come to learn their suggestions are designed by 12 year olds. 

 

I love the platform when it works. But the rush to prove they can be a good IPO has them making rookie mistakes that will comeback and bite them. 😞

.

@Jessica-and-Henry0 

 

You wrote:

 

"Everything else related to hosting is all my responsibility and it's easier if I don't expect any help or advice from Airbnb."

 

I didn't call customer service once in 2018 and I didn't call them in 2019. And I don't plan to call them ever. If there should ever be a problem, I'll handle it on site - I'm old enogh.

 

 

 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Ute42  Pretty much the same here. I've never called them, except once when I first started hosting, and that was a total waste of 40 minutes of my life. I've had to message them 3 times regarding guests who weren't responding to messages, and they did contact the guests for me, and about 3 times re tech glitches on my account. But never anything about issues with guests, damages, house rules, etc.

Jim40
Level 3
Mashpee, MA

As our good Superhost friend Ben from NZ put it so well, “Smart pricing is stupid pricing, meant to keep us overbooked and underpaid.”