November 19 | Occupancy levels

[Yadira22]

Hello All,

hope you are well. 
i know it’s not even mid way through November but I am usually booked up now and already planning my December. 

In the last couple of days I have not seen my viewing numbers better, they stay around the 1.8k mark over 30 days (think this is probably a tech bug) and usually have about 2 reservations a day- now one every 2 days. I am a bit worried as these months are so expensive for us and just want to know if it’s me being neurotic, the recent bad press Airbnb have had or just an increase in local competition within my stated market.

Is it just me or are others having not so great Novembers- so odd as London brings in a lot of tourists in preparation for the Christmas time. 

Please let me know.

Thanks,

Yadira 🙂

[Andrea-and-Francis0]

We are definitely experiencing a change in pace for bookings as well but I also live in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada & we just got hit with tons of snow yesterday & are just coming into our coldest season, fun, fun 🙂

[Yadira22]

 I saw the snow in Canada via a friends Instagram feed, so cold - we don’t really get that in London except for a week or two in January/February. It’s mainly cold due to the wind vs the actual temperature here.  

Stay warm and thank you for responding 🙂

[Miriam436]

Yes! We've been fully booked since last February until this month. We're in Texas, so November should be a pretty busy season. I've noticed that there are a lot of listings lately from Wander Jaunt, which apparently is a start-up trying to imitate a hotel (consistently decorated rooms, etc) using AirBNB instead of it's own infrastructure. That may be part of it. I wish there was a filter for guests to look for independently-run places, or hosts with less than, say, three listings.

[Yadira22]

It’s soo odd @Miriam436, I hope business picks up for you soon! 🙂

regarding the filter per host type- this is a great idea. As some people do not want to live in a way with the host and others won’t do Airbnb unless this were the case! 

[Susan17]

@Yadira22 @Miriam436 

Scroll down the page below to see the questions on the subject of Airbnb separating and clearly deliniating  individual hosts from commercial operators on the platform, that I put to Head of Homes Hosts, Laura Chambers last July. 

As you can see from the response I received when Laura finally got around to replying in September, this is an issue that Airbnb simply will not give a straight answer to. They flatly refuse to clarify why the company continues to force small independent hosts to battle for survival in the very same searches as huge "professional" and commercial operators, who are massively and unfairly advantaged by a raft of preferential and beneficial policies and practices, that are denied to small hosts

Believe me, I've tried every which way possible to get Airbnb to answer these questions. But they won't. 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Laura-s-Letter-What-I-learned-staying-with-privat...

[Juan63]

Great job on being fully booked but why so low number of ratings on your space? This month has been slow stating for us but luckily we’ve been getting many same day bookings.

[Inna22]

My December is wide open for all of my properties, something I have never seen before. Even the holiday week. I am starting to worry

[Yadira22]

@Inna22 I am so sorry this is happening- I thought maybe there was a bug or something attached to my account and my listing was not being displayed. I searched as well and updated listings and settings etc and no change. 

I hope this is just a fluke but I am not sure anymore... 

either way- good luck to you! 

[Inna22]

Thank you, @Yadira22. I hope this is temporary and good luck to you as well! One of my properties is newer so I can see it is being pushed by airbnb and I have lowered the prices to ridiculous level for that one and still NOTHING

[Danielle476]

I've been wondering the same!  My bookings have slowed WAY down this month, whereas I usually have an occupancy rate of 100%.  I attributed it to the weather (because Canada) but last year's numbers weren't this sparse.  Bizarre.  Best of luck to you all!

[Yadira22]

Hi @Danielle476 

i saw the weather in Canada it is already so cold but the thing is that people still visit regardless, maybe not the same extend during the less colder months etc but I have not seen such a poor occupancy level. Even when I blocked it off for a few weeks due to travels... so odd! 
Good luck and please if you can tag me in some snow pics I will be forever grateful (I love the snow and sea and unfortunately we don’t really get much of either in London) 🙂

[Fougere0]

Hi,

I think I know why this is happening! Please read on. My husband and I have been super hosts every quarter since we first became eligible, about 5 years ago. We have over 150 5 star reviews. Check us out - North Park Beauty, in San Diego. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. It is a really nice house filled with amenities - toothbrushes and toothpaste in the bathrooms, wine, butter and milk in the refrigerator,  ! Fantastic value at $300, although we have never gone above $279. We have been very happy with how filled up our calendar has been, until this year, and I'm pretty sure why we (and all of you) have unfilled calendars, even with our continuing to lower our rates!

It is because of supply and demand, plain and simple! There are now too many hosts and Airbnb Corporate keeps marketing for more and more hosts! Just yesterday, at the local mall, I saw two huge Posters, like 3 stories high, urging viewers to become an Airbnb host here in San Diego!

So do a search on-line and see what your competition now is. I'm betting it is a lot more places than even one year ago. Just dropped our December rate to $199.00 - which is ridiculous! Great house, great neighborhood, nothing but glowing reviews, but too much competition from lower priced hosts!

I would love to hear from Airbnb Corporate on this...

[Yadira22]

@Fougere0 

This is also a very good observation. 
Good luck to you! 🙂

[Helen3]

@Yadira22  I think it is likely to be a combination of the dreaded Brexit uncertainty, being low season for us here in the UK and increases in competition that has led to a fall in bookings in the UK.

What other sites are you listed on?

Have you looked at marketing your listing directly through your own social media/website?