Sale of property and transfer of airbnb listing

Liz0
Level 1
Bondi Beach, New South Wales, Australia

Sale of property and transfer of airbnb listing

Hi

 

I have four listings with Airbnb but will be selling one of our rainforest homes at the end of this month.  Is there a way I can transfer the listing to the new owner or do they need to create an entirely new listing.  

Any help you or I can give her in making this easy would be helpful.

 

Please advise so I can email the new owner

 

Thanks, Liz

17 Replies 17
Deborah0
Level 10
California, United States

I don't believe you can transfer a listing to a new owner.  THe listing that you have run, has reviews and information that reflects your running of that listing.  Even if there were a way technically to transfer the listing to someone else ( there is not, as far as I know) this would not be a good idea as it would result in a totally different person being credited with what you have done, and having reviews on their proflile which are , in part, reviews of you.  When guests review a place, they often mention the host and host's qualities, not just the listing itself.  It would potentially confuse future guests to have that occur.  

 

So I suggest just telling the new owners to create a new listing.  

Sally45
Level 1
England, United Kingdom

Deborah - I am going to be in this situation soon.  We have already got bookings which Airbnb are holding the money for - Do I cancel these bookings and panic te renters - as the money would be coming to me and it shoud'nt... So basically what a bout future reservation ??? are they trasferble ??

Thank you

 

Glenyss0
Level 1
Gold Coast, Australia

I have a property listed which has been sold and I have future bookings. Did you find an answer to what to do with these bookings? 

Did you ever get an answer?

Ed-and-Hugh0
Level 10
Miami, FL

Deborah is right. They should create their own listing. However, you can certainly give them your pictures and text to help them get it set up more quickly.

Marcus0
Level 10
Berlin, DE

Hi Liz, agree with the other hosts, i have tried in the past, it´s not possible as the properties are linked/bonded to your personal profile.

what a bout future reservation ??? are they trasferble ??

 

Roger13
Level 1
Zithulele, South Africa

Hi

 

I am in the same situation, transfering the property to a new owner, but have guests booked

Wondering how that works out?

 

Roger

In Japan, we have owner change rent rules.

It means if you have rent the place, but the owner is changed.

You could carry on the renting contract with the new owner.

That is how we deal it here.

If you make a new contract with the building owner, 

you could carry on your airbnb business.

Hi Aoi, can you please explain how you actually do this please? 

I will have to cancel my listing at end of the current guest, but don;t want the next guest who booked a long time ago starting the following day to be concerned.

I need to get the new owner to  creat a listing and does this guest re apply to them?

 

I'd appreciate any assistance please.

Thanks Jo

Cor3
Level 10
Langerak, South Holland, Netherlands

Hi @Jo150,

 

Airbnb Listings and Accounts are not transferable – by definition.

It is also against the rules of Airbnb to transfer your account to someone else.

This question pops up quite frequently, as there are obviously a lot of other hosts around the globe. Who are dealing or will get to deal with such a situation, sooner or later.

 

There are a number of things you can do, in such a situation (or a combination of those):

I can imagine, this list is not complete or there may be other options and/or possibilities. So feel free to add those.

  1. Start blocking your calendar for the infinite future. So you will not get any more new reservations.
    When you start blocking your calendar is up to you. I.e. When you start thinking about selling, or at the moment you do agree the sale with the new owner.
  2. Serve out your current reservations, while in close contact with your future guests and the new owner. Work out payment details with the new owner (in case the property already changed or will soon change ownership).
    It is formally against the rules of Airbnb to serve as a host for a property. When the property is no longer owned or to be used by you. It is also very risky! I.e. What if the guests cause a lot of damage, while the property is no longer yours. What if there will be a difference of opinion between you and the new owner – on what can be considered as tolerable behavior. How will you solve issues. How will you let guests in. And many more of these sort of questions and issues.
  3. Ask the new owner to setup his own listing, and try to get Airbnb involved in order to get the current reservations transferred. I’ve been told that there is only a very low chance, in you to be able to succeed in this.
    Obviously you should agree this way of working with your future guests first!
  4. Agree with the new owner to transfer the property – after you served out your current reservations (When seasonality is a factor, you could agree with the new owner, to transfer the property in low season).
  5. Inform all your future guests about the sale, and cancel all outstanding reservations.
    Future guests will absolutely not like this and Airbnb will fine you for this.
    Obviously these cancellations will be visible in your profile + all other negative aspects of cancelling confirmed reservations.
    So when you have multiple properties on Airbnb, and you are only selling 1 property.
    This has quite some impact.

 

We are not thinking about selling our property (for now, that is).

But when we bought our property, we were dealing with a similar situation (the previous owner was on VRBO). So we had to work out a similar scenario. In the end we took over 1 group of guests, and it was entirely at our own risk – of course (as it basically became a bilateral agreement between us and the guests). It all worked out very satisfactorily – in the end, to both us and the guests. Obviously these guests could not leave us a review on Airbnb. As we didn’t rent out the apartment through Airbnb, during this particular stay of guests.

 

I hope this little bit of thought will help you in dealing with such a topic.

Your comments were very detailed and informative,  but why didnt you mention Cohosting untilnthe current bookings run out and the the new Airbnb account could switch in the low season?

Cor3
Level 10
Langerak, South Holland, Netherlands

Hi @David3938,

 

Adding the new owner as a Co-Host could indeed be an option too!

However, I’ve got no experience with Co-Hosting. So, that’s why I didn’t mention it.

Depending on how you set it all up, the reviews will be added to the host-profile of the new owner too.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hello @Jo150

 

Presumably you have known for a while a new owner was taking over. You will need to cancel your listing. The new owner will need to set a listing up.

 

Your guest might choose to cancel their booking in the circumstances.

 

You need to call Airbnb get their advice and minimise inconvenience on this guest.