Sudden rush of guest cancellations

[Robin4]

I would just like to make an observation and see if this is just an anomaly which I am currently experiencing or if it is part of a general trend amongst hosts.

In 3.5 years of hosting, over 350 stays I only ever had 3 guest cancellations!

Since Halloween at the end of October I have had 5. That is 5 guest cancellations for November. I had 2 in one day!

Previously there has always been a reason for the cancellation but in three of those this month there has been no reason, just, ‘please cancel’ or no explanation at all,  just a cancellation email notice from Airbnb.

I am wondering if events in San Francisco at the end of October have heightened the level of mistrust in Airbnb and in Airbnb hosts. Nothing else has changed here, I haven’t copped any poor reviews.

Are any other hosts experiencing this?

Cheers......Rob

[Suzanne302]

@Robin4 I haven't seen increased cancellations, but November and December bookings.....crickets. It usually slows down during this time, but I'm talking zero reservations this year. As I monitor similar listings, many other listings in my area have nothing on the books for December so it's not just my listing.

I don't know if it's just extra slow or if Airbnb's bad press is to blame.

I lucked out and got an offer from a repeat guest who travels in town for work to book all of November and December.

I opened my calendar up for January and February and did a little dance when I actually got a booking a few days ago for February. 

[Robin4]

@Suzanne302 

Suzanne, to put it in perspective, it is not going to sink me! I get between 11 and 16 bookings a month, I don't mind loosing one or two every now and then!

We are into summer here now (hit 107F here in the Adelaide Hills last week)  and already 2 of those 5 cancellations have been taken up with other bookings. I just don't like the vibe Suzanne! I don't like the feeling that Airbnb are being seen as, the architects of doom. I have put so much effort into making Airbnb acceptable in my community and a couple of turkeys with hand guns on the other side of the world in San Francisco are undoing what I have done!

As I said the effect on me is minimal, I am currently at 279 reviews, I will almost hit 300 by the end of the year. But what I am seeing with Airbnb is like 'global warming'.........it's something they will get around to fixing! The hierarchy are looking on this as a further money making exercise, 'buy your way to quick verification' !

Spoken from the ranks of a great red wine drinker, I don't want to be seen as a a glass half empty person, I want to get back to being a glass half full one! 

Cheers......Rob 

[Helen350]

@Suzanne302 It seems our local hospital just opened a brand new ward, without thought for how to staff it... I've had 5 nurses inquire  in the last 2 weeks... one stayed at the weekend, one is coming tomorrow, one would have stayed if I'd seen the inquiry sooner, the other two seemed put off by the 3 mile drive (odd, when they've parachuted in from goodness knows where!) It makes a change from social workers!

[Helen350]

... and why do people keep asking me how far I am from ..............? They don't seem to have found the MAP down the bottom of the listing! (Happened today & he is a HOST! - Albeit 2 past guests & 1 previous stay himself.)

[Suzanne302]

@Helen350Wow! Sounds like a windfall, lucky you!

As for the question, "How far are you from...." I know it seems silly, but I'm guilty of asking this as a guest myself. If you're unfamiliar with the area, it may be hard to gage the distance from a particular landmark or building with only a general idea of where the listing is. So I understand getting that question as some people want to find the closest listing to the work site/conference center/hospital/school/etc.

However, even though my listing says I'm 15 minutes from the beach, I still get "How far are you from the beach?" LOL! 

[Helen350]

@Suzanne302 Not that much of a windfall, these agency nurses only work a couple of days up here... - One stayed 1 night & the other 3 nights. Most of the enquirers have been 1 -nighters, tho' possibly with repeat bookings to come....

[Helen350]

@Robin4 I had TWO cancellations in October - before Orinda, & like you I don't get many cancellations. One was a couple on holiday from Singapore wife booked, was over ruled by husband who  wanted to stay in Keswick - much nicer than where I am, Good choice! The other, a Brit gave no explanation, but it obviously wasn't Orinda related!

Now, if this had all taken place a month later, I might have thought Orinda?, like you! But my two lost bookings were obviously a co-incidence....

[Kelly149]

my calendar looks like @Suzanne302 , VERY quiet for November/December. The kids are coming home for holidays and I'd almost rather use the space ourselves and so it is priced accordingly. It isn't our normal demand pattern though so I had wondered if it was about bad ABB press or perhaps due to the fact that I took a 2 month friend booking that had me at zero availability for most of the fall...

I'm fine either way, but you do wonder how ABB will fare with some of the nonesense that corporate has been spouting as @Rebecca181 mentioned

[Inna22]

@Kelly149 @Suzanne302 I have almost nothing for any of my properties when most of my Thanksgiving guests leave on Saturday and till the end of February. Open Christmas, open New Year- all the dates I would have had long booked by now. To be honest, I am in a slight freak out mode. I at this point read every tutorial on how to get Airbnb bookings that it out there. Ready to stand with a vacancy sign on the highway

[Robin4]

@Inna22 

Oh Inna, that's terrible, would you like a few of mine?....I think I have 9 vacant nights until the end of January, and I will lay a bet, by the time I get to the end of January I won't have had any more than 2 nights free!

It's not that I am not getting the bookings, it's the cancellations I am worried about. I have to all the while look to the future and closely follow trends because, it may very well be that I could be faced with your situation where I have a facility that I have put this money into which is not giving me a return!

As of now all is OK, what makes me laugh, if you look at that screenshot Inna, on the right it tells me to open up already confirmed booked nights to fatten the coffers of Airbnb! Geez, there is just no end to their greed. They can see that the nights are already booked but that doesn't stop them having a poke at me to cancel another confirmed booking to chase an Airbnb booking!

Where the hell will this end?

Cheers......Rob

[Alon1]

@Robin4 

re: 'what makes me laugh....'

I'd like to think you can't be serious, because you know full well if you cancelled the dates would remain blocked, while Airbnb would be obliged to help the poor Guest find a new accommodation.

Consequently, it's evidently rather one of Airbnb's infamous glitches.

[Robin4]

@Alon1 

As you well know Alon, there is not  a chance in hell that I would cancel a confirmed guest reservation, but it points out the stupidity of the program.

Obviously there is not the slightest thought of what is best for host and currently booked guest, the only object of the algorithm is to try an entice the host to allow Airbnb access to nights they currently don't have access to!

It's not that my calendar would be blocked Alon because, the guest that Airbnb are enticing me to cancel is not an Airbnb guest....it's 2 guests from another booking platform.

Once again, it's all about the money, nothing else!

Cheers.....Rob

[Alon1]

@Robin4 

Thanks for clarification.

My mistake, because  it seemed to me it was Airbnb guest Alex. But now I've enlarged with the magnifying glass icon and note it's the preceding week.

[Robin4]

@Alon1 

From the responses on this page Alon, it appears Airbnb reservations on the North American continent are considerably down on same time previous years, how are things in the UK?

 @Helen350 seems to be doing ok, although she is getting location specific enquiries. How are your bookings Alon? Have you noticed a fall off in enquiries?

If what @Inna22 @Michelle53 @Mark116 @Kelly149 @Suzanne302 are experiencing  is a snapshot of what is happening in the US over this winter season, it must be a real concern to Airbnb. If it is general, the drop-off in business must have them really rattled!

Possibly we here might be better insulated, being a long way away from the problems in North America, although there have been 2 incidents featuring local Airbnb properties that got a lot of negative publicity over the past few months.

And also the fact that it is summer time here has a positive effect on bookings! Although even my winter calendar was just as heavily booked as it was last year, and from my latest profit and loss statement our earnings were a bit up on last year.

When I started doing this, it was a bit of fun, and the bob or two on the side was nice, but the income from hosting has been consistent and of such an amount that I wouldn't like to not have it now.

Cheers......Rob 

[Helen350]

@Robin4 "better insulated" - I suspect the reason my bookings are not dropping is that Brits neither know nor care about Orinda.... Airbnb is probably still safe & genteel here,especially in rural areas, nice middle class people....