[UK] Host Community Meet-up Tour: Plymouth, Bristol, Bath, Liverpool and Birmingham

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

[UK] Host Community Meet-up Tour: Plymouth, Bristol, Bath, Liverpool and Birmingham

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Hi everyone in rainy Britain!

 

We've kicked off a UK host tour with Brighton and Cardiff, but we're not done there! This a great opportunities for hosts to swap stories and experiences, as well as bring your questions for Airbnb staff to help with! The tour comes back to the length of England at the following times and dates:

 

Plymouth: 05/03/2020

Bristol: 18/03/2020

Bath: 19/03/2020

Liverpool: 23/03/2020

Birmingham: 24/03/2020

 

Some hosts have already been contacted via email so do have a look for your invite. If you have but are interested in finding out more about any of these event details, do reply and I'll send you a message. Our UK and Ireland mobilisation team are running this roadshow and I am please to say I will be attending for tea, cake and a natter. Whether you're new on the CC or a veteran, please do let me know! 

 

Tagging @Helen3 , @Kathie21 and @Helen350 as they expressed interested the other day! 🙂

 

Looking forward to meeting you all,

 

Stephanie

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42 Replies 42
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

March or April @Cathie19 ? Because we are negotiating Glasgow and Edinburgh atm.

 

Thanks,

 

Stephanie

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@Stephanie , landing in Edinburgh lunchtime 12th April, then disappearing in a clockwise direction ( Falkirk, towards Skye. Returning to Edinburgh afternoon of 20th and there for 21st. Fly out AM 22nd.

 

I really don’t expect things to fit in around our rushed trip... but it would be nice to see your faces in real time...

 

Hopefully, the global health Covid-19 prognosis improves. 🙂

 

Really? You having a laugh when you say the "length of England "!!! Think someone needs to look at a map! You are only coming half way up England. Unless someone has changed the border overnight? Lancashire,  Cumbria, Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, and Northumberland are all part of England,  amongst those are the largest counties in England, and have all been missed out.

"length of England" ? Pish!

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hiya @Sandy170 ,

 

As someone who's family come from Newcastle, you don't have to tell me twice! These are just the confirmed locations so far. By all means, please recommend locations that are more suitable to you and we'll work on getting them included or, failing that, orgnanise another for next time/later in the year. (I don't need an excuse to meet up with the relatives and @Patricia55 !)

 

Thanks,

 

Stephanie

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@Sandy170 

Be very, very thankful they're coming nowhere near you. You can bet your life that the lucrative secondary markets they're targeting in this "Roadshow" (now that they've literally bled their primary markets dry - London, Edinburgh, Dublin etc), will simultaneously be subject to an aggressive new-host recruitment drive quietly taking place in the background, and the cities on the roadshow list, will be waaay beyond grossly oversaturated by Christmas. 

 

There are four key areas in the UK where the majority of Airbnb listings (homes, flats, cottages and other properties) are located: namely London, Scotland, the South West and the South East, which collectively account for 73% (163,000) of all listings.

 

What’s more, these four areas account for 78% (£666 million) of all income generated for hosts in the UK.

 

The venues for these events (not the usual happy-clappy social gatherings, as confirmed by Admin on a separate thread), have been strategically chosen as part of an extensive and manipulative political/Astroturfing/PR campaign, the purpose of which is for Airbnb to gather specific self-serving "data", in an attempt to shape/force the narrative relating to the introduction of a UK-wide registration system for hosts. Airbnb, of course, will be pushing (hard) for a "self-registration" system, to be overseen and regulated by local authorities, who they're fully aware have neither the budgets, the manpower nor the resources to monitor and enforce effectively

 

A registration system for Airbnb hosts was introduced here in Ireland in July of last year. As of yesterday, 29/02/2020, less than 3% of all hosts had registered, and the number of listings on Airbnb has actually increased  by over 1200 since the new legislation - which was intended to curb the systematic plunder of local ong-term rental stock by commercial entities  - was brought in) Similar registration systems that have been implemented in numerous cities worldwide, have also failed miserably, and the numbers of Airbnbs in those regions, continue to skyrocket also (predominantly, with vast inventories managed by "professional" and commercial operators, wiping out swathes of little guys - including many homesharers - in the process)

 

I've seen (and lived) this same old scenario playing out again and again. Small, local independent hosts in Brighton, Cardiff, Bath, Plymouth, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, Isle of Skye and any other venue where this whitewash debacle rolls into town - be afraid. Be very afraid. Regular hosts supporting these events, is like turkeys voting for Christmas. 

 

"Roadshow"?? *bleep* show, more like. 

Fiona256
Level 10
Scotland, United Kingdom

I have been operating two holiday cottages on the Isle of Skye for many years, long before Airbnb emerged to completely change the market. Back then, people came and stayed for a week or two, arriving and departing on Saturdays.

 

Then with Airbnb making it easy for folk to start renting out tents, camper vans, sheds and horseboxes, pods and byres, the pattern changed and short-attention-span bookings now proliferate, three nights or less. Tourists whizz around the island visiting Tripadvisor hotspots, causing chaos on single-track roads, erosion on the moors and demands on rescue services as they flock in unsuitable footwear to the Fairy Pools and Old Man of Storr. You need considerably more than two days on the Isle of Skye to really experience it.

 

My weekly bookings fell away with the rise of the Airbnb monster, so I have had to adapt and accept three-night bookings and reduce my price in order to be competitive once Airnbn has added on its commission to host and guest. Result? I have plenty of bookings, but more than twice as many changeovers and less income. And of course I've also had my share of Airbnb over-riding my strict cancellation policy for fabricated extenuating circumstances.

 

I think the market is already saturated here, but still more and more hosts are signing up. Folk sell properties down in darkest England for loads of money and buy up here for much less. But as we locals always say, will they last a winter?

John2406
Level 10
Swansea, United Kingdom

@Stephanie Would it be possible for Local Groups for Hosts, to be set up in other than big Cities?

 

Here on Gower (South Wales) there are many Hosts, but - as far as I have been able to find out - no contact between them, yet it would be (I believe) most beneficial for not only the Hosts on Gower to have contact between each other (eg to discuss how different Hosts make their Guests welcome, or to see how "Events" might lead to more bookings if only Hosts' knew what was happening when, etc).

 

That Airbnb is reaching out to Hosts around the Country is a good start, but unfortunately, as has already been discovered, most of the venues are too far for Hosts to reach/attend, besides which, altho' I accept that there are many Airbnb properties in the "big" Cities, I would suggest that the "bulk" of today's Airbnb-er Hosts are more likely to be found in Rural, rather than City locations.

 

So how about it; Local Groups for Local Hosts? Sounds great to me!

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Oh absolutely @John2406 , and we really encourage it because it's not always possible to try so far to the bigger cities. Have you checked out our "Get Local" link here on the community? It will give you an idea of existing groups and some guidance on starting your own!

 

Thanks,

 

Stephanie

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@StephanieI checked out the Get Local link but could not find any guidance in starting a local group?

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

We set up a FB group in Bristol - why don't you set one up for the Gower?

Luke279
Level 6
Bristol, United Kingdom

What the group called for Bristol on facebook? Tried looking previously and dont see it 

Christopher2
Level 3
Cumnor, United Kingdom

I am in Oxford, keen to meet up with other hosts and co-hosts.

Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Any dropouts for the London gig, @Stephanie? Promise not to sulk (much) if the answer's no.

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

I'll message you @Gordon0 !

 

Thanks

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Hi Stephanie,

 

I'm interested in attending the Bristol event please