Massive decline in bookings Fall 2022

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Marie7084
Level 4
United States

Massive decline in bookings Fall 2022

Anybody else in the USA see a drop in business this Fall?   

 

Been doing this for several years and normally make 12-18k in September/October on my two cabins.  This year it was like rentals just came to an almost dead stop.   

 

Slashed my nightly rate,  updated listing, still only about 10% of what I usually make this time of year. 

1 Best Answer
Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Fred13 

 

Yes, it's been six years for me and I've never experienced such slow bookings, with the exception of when UK homeshares were not allowed to take bookings at all due to COVID. From the middle of 2021, bookings had returned to normal, i.e. I had to turn people away.

 

My listings are now slowly getting booked, but it's a combination of new bookings, repeat guests and direct bookings. Also, before, if I got a cancellation, the dates would get rebooked easily but now I am not confident about that. 

 

I hope we will get some sort of update from Airbnb soon. I don't think I've seen any update on the summer release other than listing titles being restored and hosts being able to request being added/removed from categories. Perhaps I missed something though?

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44 Replies 44
Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

@Huma0 

 

According to the local newspapers, the number of Americans visiting here has increased dramatically, since Mallorca has become somehow "hip" over there. Lots of Hollywood and sports celebs buying homes here, television programmes and movies being shot here, and lots of travel shows running focus programmes in America. 

 

However, we're still getting the vast majority of our bookings from Germany and around continental Europe. The autumn is well booked, we're already getting a surprising number of bookings into 2023. 

 

I suspect that in addition to short, cheap flights from central Europe (and no customs controls), it's also a cultural thing. Europeans tend to favour private villas over beach resorts, which mostly close down in the winter, when tourists come to golf, cycle, sightsee or hike, or just to get away from the cold in the North. Minimalised resorts aren't the ideal solution for that, and tend to be further away from the things winter tourists are most interested in. So perhaps that helps explain off-season buoyancy. 

 

I suspect Americans are less likely to take that long trip for those winter experiences (we get very few bookings from Americans). It seems Britons too. Brits seem to favour beach resorts over the countryside, no matter what time of year. We get a few Brits, but it's pretty rare (and never in winter) and they aren't always delighted with their choice, usually citing the lack of English bars & restaurants within walking distance. That may explain why resorts (particularly the British ones) are favoured. 

 

Still, we have plenty of Germans and Scandinavians, who, due to their famous cleanliness and orderly character, generally do make jolly good guests. Generally very nice people too. 

 

Anyway, we seem to have gotten lucky to be in a diverse tourist hotspot. We meet people from all over the world, and overall, for me it's a big plus, and what keeps us doing it. I hope others like you also have that fortune. 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Elaine701 

 

Glad to hear your bookings are going well.  My views are still very low, but I've had a trickle of interest in the last few days - one enquiry and two bookings, but one was then cancelled - not much across three listings I know, but it's better than the weeks and weeks of no activity at all!

 

The article I read was a bit more general, i.e. about increased travel in Europe as a whole, but it mentioned a very dramatic increase in Americans travelling abroad. It's not surprising really after two years of travel restrictions. It also listed the five most popular overseas destinations for Americans and I think London was no.3.

 

I always had a lot of American guests when I hosted short stays. London has always been a popular destination for visitors from the USA. However, since I switch to long stays, it was very rare. I think I only hosted 3-4 over a long period of time pre-COVID. However, in the past nine months or so, around 50% of my guests/bookings have been Americans, so that is a drastic increase. For sure, in my case I think it's to do with the rise of the digital nomad. I've had the occasional digital nomad from another country, but most have been American.

Clara116
Level 10
Pensacola, FL

@Huma0 I'm with you the M-11 rollout was a huge thing...that impacted us here in Florida greatly. In most all the groups  hosts are screaming never before so little or no business. Many of us have gone to update pics, listing infoand even IB without any success...zero. lots are in leaving the platform and many going to using other platforms to try and make some money. Yes, other factors have occurred since the rollout but I think the main factor was indeed categories and shifting by ow guests see or don't see properties. No titles to try and present a  unified look I guess...now they have put titles under their grouping names. What's happening here is hosts are dropping prices so much it's a joke...I will stay empty because I know when people pay little they respect little. I refuse to support people that can't afford to travel...they tend to have little understanding of what a good guests is. So I too am confused and saddened by the huge shift of little to zero guests. Peace, Clara 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Clara116 

 

Exactly. I'm not commenting based only on my own experience, but there are hundreds if not thousands  of posts on the CC from other hosts experiencing the same and who knows how many others that don't use the CC. 

 

I have also not dropped my prices. With costs soaring, it's not worth me hosting if I have to charge pittance. It would be better to get long term lodgers who contribute to the utility bills and would therefore maybe be less wasteful.

 

I am with you also that low prices often attract less desirable guests - not always, but often. At least the constant requests for discounts that I experienced after the pandemic started seem to have stopped. The last guest who asked for a discount left me 3* for value and overall, her reason being "It was over my original budget." SMH.

@Huma0 @It's thousands...if not hundreds of thousands I'm part of community leaders groups all over the world and many other groups and it's wide spread ... everyone seems in great distress except those with high dollar category placement, lucky ones or new hosts that got a few weeks boost. I am saddened by the outcome.....to go from steady to zero it very challenging. 

Warmest greetings to you, Clara 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Clara116  Yes, it's certainly challenging and very sad. I can see from your reviews that you had a steady stream of guests this year but your calendar going forward is looking pretty empty 😞

 

Mine is not so bad, but bear in mind that I host long term guests and therefore need less bookings. I would also be totally screwed if it was not for a couple of repeat guests, but think I got lucky with those, and I can't rely on repeat bookings alone. People finish their studies, or change jobs or whatever...

 

Are you listing on other platforms?

@Huma0  no haven't listed elsewhere and not hoping to but ....I did something I thought I'd never do...IB and that hasn't even helped....I have nothing....zero Bookings....and I just booked a short trip for an Airbnb summit for leaders and it was totally frustrating to do the booking.... constant reminders and I was waiting on the host to respond and figure out for us using the voucher so they could get maximum $ and we could use the voucher and not pay out of pocket. On it is no wonder people are not booking it's no longer easy....I have done several trips as a guests in the USA and abroad and this was difficult. Go figure. I don't know what the future holds but I'm holding out hope....for how long? That I'm not sure. 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Clara116 

 

Yes, same. It was a nightmare trying to use up my last Superhost voucher. The booking system was so frustrating and I definitely would have given up and booked elsewhere if I didn't have credit to use up.

 

Like you, I had booked trips before the Summer Release with no issues. This time it was a mission. 

Can you turn yours into a LTR? My locations do not work for conversion to LTR.   I guess this is why we need to have six months PITI holding at all times.  Wish I would not have overspent on my reno project on my newest listing.    But, in this business we have to spend $ to make $.   Best of luck!

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Marie7084 

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I host private rooms in my own home and, before using Airbnb, I used to rent these out to long term lodgers. In the UK, people who rent rooms in your own primary residence do not get tenants' rights.

 

So yes, I could go back to doing that but the whole reason I started hosting was to get away from that! However, now that utility bills and other expenses are so high and bookings on airbnb slow, financially, it might just make more sense. 

 

I have in the past week or so had some activity here though. I mean not loads, but the most I've had since the summer release.

 

Why are your locations no good for LTR?

@Huma0   Two of my cabins are by Yellowstone.  It is a remote area with only tourism work during busy season of summer and Christmas holidays only 400 year round residents.   Most of my employees live about an hour away.    My other cabin listing in Utah is near a ski resort and same issue,  locals can not afford anything there as an LTR.

 

My newest listing, Osgood Estate, I am thinking of pushing more as an wedding venue that allows a few guests to stay overnight as part of venue fee.    To try and move away from only it as an STR. 

 

My place in Cabo San Lucas, MX I did switch it to an LTR after multiple issues with management/cleaning which resulted in two bad reviews which killed the STR business.   

 

 Love my job.  But, as a single Mom, with two children, my two big dogs who are my furry kids 🙂  and my RE investments being my only source of income,   the STR income needs to be reliable.   Anybody in this business knows, all our expenses for STR's do not go away because rentals have declined.

 

Anybody here have luck with social media?  I started profiles on Instagram/Facebook for each listing a few months ago.  Lots of views and likes on my content, but not converting to many followers or monetization/bookings.  

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Marie7084 

 

You certainly sound like you have a lot on your plate and you are right, the expenses don't vanish just because there are no guests. It makes sense to diversify if you can. 

 

I'll let others respond RE social media as I really haven't tried to market there yet.

 

I am suddenly getting interest in one of my listings again and got one booking for another one (the third one was already booked long term by a repeat guest). It might be short lived, but let's see. Maybe Airbnb have been doing something behind the scenes to improve the interface/search. I don't know...

Debra300
Level 10
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

@Marie7084@Huma0,

 

We've received only five bookings across our six listings since the Spring Update, and all of them came from very seasoned Airbnb users.  This leads me to believe that infrequent and new users do not find the search filters and search result intuitive, and are missing out on finding a larger selection of listings that may fit their criteria, because they will not fine tune their search or zoom into a specific area to find listings that aren't easily visible on the results map.

@Debra300  I do believe you are correct that many users are bewildered by the new interface, and simply don’t want to bother with it and end up booking on another platform.  Just to test this theory, I registered 1 of my listings on a competing platform, and got 5 bookings there over the next 2 weeks.

 

According to Brian Chesky, the traveler mindset is changing from “I want to go here on these dates, what’s available?”, to a more fantasy-minded, day-dreaming approach of “I have flexible dates, where should I go, and where are the cool and unusual places to stay?”.  Maybe there are some vacationers like this, and maybe Airbnb will even be able to change the vacationer mindset over time.  But there will still be a significant number of vacationers, workers, convention attendees, and wedding participants who know the area where they want to go and when, and those vacationers may gravitate to other platforms to book their stays.

 

And this may be the Airbnb strategy all along.

I am listed on VRBO too.  Alot less bookings there as well.  Airbnb has always brought a lower SES guest than VRBO.  Been doing for this for 15 years, way before Airbnb.  I remember those sweet days before reviews.     When a guest could not ruin your buisness when it was not deserved.    STRs have changed alot , guests are more demanding then ever, but do not want to pay for the amenities or location they want.   Cleaning and maintenance are more expensive.  I believe in a living wage for contractors I work with, but it is hard when you raise your cleaning fee, bookings dissapear, so I lower the fee and then take the difference out of my already small profit margin. 

 

 LTR's are better from that perspective.  People do not have to go on holiday,  but they have to have a place to live.