What percentage of your month is booked?

Mike77
Level 10
Bend, OR

What percentage of your month is booked?

I was reading another message and the person wrote that there are many days in her month that are NOT booked.  

 

I was then wondering what is the normal amount of days for most hosts to have bookings?  

How many days a month do you have booked?  50%, 90%  100% ???  My guess is that some places are booked 100% of the days for a month, while other places get much less.  

 

I wonder how many places on AirBnb are getting much less than 100% bookings.

Is it a bell curve?  Or is it weighted to the US or no?

 

I think it would be interesting to see the stats on the overall bookings that a host has.  I guess it is possible to go to a host web page and click on the calendar to see how many days are booked, or at least blocked.  That does not mean they are booked though.

 

Is it that unusual to have a month totally booked?  July for me is totally booked, except for the days Janet and I have blocked out for our own use of the treehouse.  🙂 

 

Mike

29 Replies 29

@Taryn4 first of all, I had the chance to look at your listing and it looks amazing! Well done! 

Due to your question, I made a test with my listing. My listing has two bedrooms and I selected the filter "1 bedroom". My listing still appears on the map. So, it must be 1 + bedrooms. 

 

That's been working for me as well @Ira0

 

Cool over there in Austin!  We're in Portland and we also find the 50, 30, 10 thing helpful but then I get too worried.  So, Auguest is completely booked, September a little and a whole week in October.  But its August and I'm starting to get worried about September, am I just being weird?

 

Ira, I'm curious to know whether that whole 50,30, 10 percent thing is working for you.

Ana7
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

I'd say 20% through Airbnb... 

Luckily I have other channels as well, otherwise it wouldn't ne sustainable at all.

However, I'd like to have much more bookings through Airbnb, I just love meeting people from all over the world.

 

What are your other channels?

Vivienne36
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

I'm ususally totally booked with maybe 1/2 days per month free between 1 booking. However in the past month I have realsied that my bookings have stopped and Im not sure if its Brexit or not? Any one else experiencing this? 

Paul1255
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Vivienne36 I had a quick look through your listings- you cancelled a reservation last month, so this could well be why you’re bookings have dropped off since then.

 

Your listings may well have been dropped further down in results when guests are searching for accommodation, and also host cancellations can put some guests off from booking (I saw you responded to the auto review so at least that gives potential guests some insight into why)

 

Thank you for that Paul. Yes your right, someone got in booking New Year before I had a chance to block it for family comming.  I didn't think of that. It is only 1 in 80 bookings this last 11 months though and I hope people can see through that and that I am almost 5* on all my bookings. You can't please everone though and I had 1 who had obvious mental heath issues so had to ask her to leave. First one in 80 bookings though so the shock has now passed. Anyway thankyou for your insite. 

Paul1255
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Mike77 since I work freelance and work is slow at the moment, I have been aiming for 100% occupancy for the last few months to boost my income and this has been happening fine for me!

 

I guess that’s the benefit of being a host in London- people come at all times of the year.

 

I have the time to manage same day check out and check ins and maintain quality of service so this has been fine.

 

When I was working full time I would block out days before and after booking to make sure I had time to prep for guests without stress or worry- but this naturally eats into your earnings as you have less open days to book.

 

I usually will get one or two early bookings in the 3 month open window, with the rest usually being the month of- or even week or sometimes day of!

 

I want to be the last place booked in my area, not the first so I don’t worry about my calendar filling up months in advance- if it does this means my pricing is too low 🙂 

 

 

Alon1
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Paul

 

re: 'I want to be the last place booked in my area, not the first so I don’t worry about my calendar filling up months in advance- if it does this means my pricing is too low :)'

 

Your statement conveys that your experience of Airbnb is limited to Guests who are simply looking to book the cheapest room they can, and these indiscriminate persons don't care about anything else related to the property and its host.

 

My experience as a live-in host suggests this is not only an extremely narrow view, but a false one, at least I  don't recognize it among the vast majority of my Guests during 6 years of hosting.

 

I would only add that like you I rarely take bookings 3 months ahead, but for a variety of different reasons to you.

Susan1028
Level 10
Oregon, US

@Paul0

 

I do the same.

 

The "smart price" algorhythms don't work for my area, and I offer a lot of extras, so Im not willing to settle for the $49/night "no-tell-motel" pricing the ABB formula recommends, lol, so I manually set prices for each day in keeping with my demographic, changing any last minute openings I want to fill based on observing what's booking locally and for what price. 

 

This "reverse psychology" approach has worked well.  I still get bookings months out for in season/holidays/return guests, and those open dates fill in just fine, bringing in quality new guests, all on a "request" basis.  Instant booking is not a safe choice in my situation.

 

My average is 83% across the seasons, which I'm very happy with for my first year.  It allows me just enough breathing space to live my own life and have everything prepped and to be on site as I like to be.

 

This is our business.  We need to be able to manage it in a way that works for us.  It's a win-win for everyone when we're booked and can maintian high quality being happy with the pace as our needs change.

 

 

Hi @Susan1028 , can you share what market you are in and what type of rental? apt/house, br...thanks!  new host here

Sorry, what does "no-tell-motel" pricing? Do you mean they are giving us motel prices even though we are not motels? Up until just recently, I was booked all the time. Now, I only have one upcoming booking in November. I keep lowering my prices, but I notice similar listings in my area are not.

Daniel2640
Level 1
New Orleans, LA

I use “Beyond Pricing “ to set my prices. It ensures I’m never caught with my pants down when a big event is happening in town.