Good-bye Airbnb

[Alison0]

Well, it's been a great 7 years hosting a room then a whole house in Hawaii. No problems with our guests, they have been great - but 32 views in 1 month and absolutley no bookings over the last few weeks mean I have to go back to long-term rentals - at the usually high season of Nov/Dec.  Not sure why things are going the way they are and why other lisitings that do not offer the service that we have over thast 7 years are ahead of me in the search, but so be it!!

Much Aloha AIRBNB, it's been a great run, but I can't afford to have empty house and no views on my listing any more.

Xoxo

Alison

[Lizzie]

Hello @Alison0,

Lovely to meet you. 

It is really sad to hear you are leaving after being an Airbnb host for 7 years, that is incredible amount of time. I understand your reason for this and I imagine you have tried this already, but sometimes updating a few things on your listing and refreshing photos/description can all help to attract and boost bookings. 

I would like to congratulate you on all your hard work over the years and for all the guests you have hosted. You are clearly a great host and I want you to know you are more than welcome to stay and participate here in the Community Center. 🙂

If anyone has any further tips for Alison, it would be great to hear from you. 

Thanks,
Lizzie

[Alison0]

Thanks Lizzy,

[Alison0]

Aloha Lizzy,

Tireless reasearch and staying on top of all suggestions to try to generate views has been my life for the last several years. This  Includes doing instant book when I really didn't want to, getting the airbnb photographer and constantly tweaking the listing with prices/weekly discounts/changing cleaning fees etc. I do not use their pricing suggenstions are as they are low enough to be laughable.

I need to make a final decision by Dec 1st - so I will try for a few more weeks and see if there is any further interest, but I'm kind of at my wits end.

Mahalo for the support!

Alison

[Carol13]

Allison, here in  New England my bookings were down this past year during the winter months. Only wish I could book a place in Honolulu this winter! 

[Kenneth-And-Lilia0]

I have to agree here.  My bookings have dropped dramatically for November and December to the point where I barely have enough income in December to cover the costs.  This is after generating $2K/month all year so far.  I have talked to some people about why they chose our place over others and the comments I keep hearing are: ABBs fees are so high, we were looking at hotels because they were cheaper but we picked you because we needed a kitchen.  I think ABB is gouging guests too much as even their graphs show views and bookings down 50-60% from last year

[Alison0]

Aloha Kenneth and Lilia,

Part of my frustration is that I am so far down the listings that I'm not even getting any views; people are not even looking at my space - is this happening to you as well?

I keep re-visiting my pricing to see if I should lower, but am not willing to give away 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms for any cheaper than my lowest price point. It does get tempting to lower and lower the rates, but then the quality of the guests suffer! The average hotel rate in Honolulu is about $250-$300/night, so a whole house for $170-180 with 15% taxes included is a pretty aweome deal!

I agree that Airbnb fees are quite steep and I have stayed in hotels in NYC and San Francsico as they were cheaper than airbnb's. Otherwise I always use Airbnb for my stays.

BTW, Which graphs are you referring to? Is that the views on your own listing or is there another graph I could look at?

Mahalo for your time,

Alison

[Tim602]

Hi Alison

I'm Tim from Australia. I just started a local experience with AirBNB and am just cruising around the website to understand it more. I came across your exit post.

If I may throw in a humble comment. As a professional photographer of real estate for many years may I respectfully suggest that your pics just lack that essential bling. The age of digital photography has given many people access to a better standard of photography. Thats great for snap shots but for complex lighting situations and preparation of sceen it may well be the turning point if you explored a little further the offerings from your local professional photographers.

Ring a real estate agent who displays fabulous shots in their web listings. Find out who their preferred photographer is. It may be a less expensive experience than you think. 

Hope that helps and good luck.

Tim

[Alison0]

Aloha Tim,

The pictures were taken by the professional Airbnb photographer. There are a few of my own pictures of local attractions.

I feel that the pictures are an accurate depiction of the space, which is very important and something I get high star ratings on. 

Maybe new pictures would help, but I'm not convinced that it would make a difference. Maybe if I ge re-energized.....

Mahalo for your thoughts

Alison

[Linda108]

Hi @Alison0  You have 3 listings.  Are you having the same experience with all the listings?

[Alison0]

Aloha Linda,

Currently it is only the whole house rental that is available 

"Kaimuki Plantation Style 2 bed 2 bath Home"

I have closed the calendar on the other 2 lisitings as I only run those when we are living in the space.  

[Alison0]

S

[Donna240]

@Alison0 have you considered listing with other sites also to suppliment what you earn from Airbnb? Airbnb was a backup for me, but has been more consistant than a site I had used for 3 years. They don't expect an exclusive with you or they wouldn't have bothered to set up the feature that allows calendar links with other sites. Sometimes, with more exposure a guest takes a 2nd look at your property. 

[Mary1211]

I'm curious what other sites you have found most effective. I'm interested in.. I think its HomeAway? The one that insists the host needs to be at the place the guest is staying, so private rooms only. 

[Donna240]

I'm thinking it is not a good idea to mention another site here, and a bit disrespectful to Airbnb. But I do not use HomeAway and as I explained I have had more consistant guests from Airbnb recently. Although I have no idea why, since I never actually find my listing when I look for it here. If you search vacation rental sites you'll see that there are many more than you would imagine. I use a major travel site and a little known one out of Germany. The major site will not forward my taxes to me and never pays my city STR taxes, but the German site allows me to collect them at the door. I like that I can rely on Airbnb to actually pay the taxes they collect from my guests. With all their faults, they get that right. If I were to look for another site, I'd stick with a major name in hospitality and go for a travel site that showed hotels, restaurants, activities and provided reviews (just like Airbnb) because I believe they attract more customers.