Bookings down to 0% in London 2019 - any advice?

[Louise437]

I’m based in London, UK and was fully booked for all of 2018 but have zero bookings for 2019. I’ve lowered my room rate a couple of times, decreased the minimum nights and still no bookings or interest at all in the last 2 weeks. I

t’s the first time this has happened and i’m really worried as I rely on the income. I’ve had people look at my listing but not book. I wonder if it’s the new Plus homes being focussed on by Air BnB?

I’m a superhost but with a regular home (not Plus) and two other friends of mine have the same problem. What’s going on?? 

[Valerie192]

Hi @Louise437 - I am finding the same thing with my listing. This time last year I already had several bookings for January and probably 1 or 2 for February. As of today, Jan 1, I have zero bookings in the future... none at all. I also had last week totally open but then the dates filled super last minute so I am hoping that the same happens here. I was hoping with superhost status and almost 100 positive reviews under my belt that I wouldn't run into this issue but here I am...although to be fair, my listing is tougher to fill as I only take females as guests.

I feel for you as I am in a similar situation but unfortunately don't have any great advice... 

[Robin4]

@Valerie192

That is strange that you do not have any future reservations Valerie, you offer a really nice looking listing and your guests obviously love you. When you go to your progress page, what do your 'Views' look like? Are you still getting the views? It may be that your lack of activity has seen you slip down in LA search pages. The algorithm that governs search placement responds to activity....Airbnb rewards success!!

You have Superhost status which helps but, IB is the biggest single factor in where you will show up in searches. Those hosts who use Instant Book get preferential search placing. The next best thing to do is to keep changing a few things around in your listing....add a photo or two, change a house rule, put the price up a dollar one day and then drop it a couple of days later, get a few friends to hit the contact host field, put in a date and grant them a pre-approval. It doesn't commit them them to anything, it just gets a bit of activity going on which will elevate your position on search pages.

It seems to be just the opposite down here! I end up each month fully booked, sometimes I might start out the month with 6-10 nights free but by the end of each month, I am lucky to get a night off. I have bookings out to Oct 2019 and my listing is nothing special but, because of the activity that is happening on my site I am generally placed in the first three or four in my area...and always on the first search page.

Get a bit of activity going Valerie and see what happens!

Cheers.....Rob

[Valerie192]

Hi @Robin4 - thanks for the suggestions! I do have IB on since I am located right next to Los Angeles International Airport about 50% of my guests tend to be people on layovers, in between flight, etc. I have been checking my dashboard every couple days and I am still getting about the same amount of views, just no bookings. I know I am not the cheapest, maybe towards the higher end of my competition, but I also offer (I think) a premium experience and the price differential we are talking about is a couple dollars between myself and other listings. I just changed my title a bit in the hopes that would help...I will heed your advice and try tweaking some photos and maybe asking friends to send an inquiry to me.

I know competition in the LA area has been heating up significantly so it could be that the vast amount of cheap listings are getting all the business ...last resort is lowering the price but I may just try it ...to your point maybe it will kickstart activity.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

[Emmanuel244]

Thanks so much Valerie for the information. I'm a first-time host and yet to get my first booking. But your advice will certainly help me improve on my listing - much appreciated.

[Rachel0]

@Louise437 Hi, I just looked at your garden room listing and it looks lovely, plus you have good reviews so it is hard to understand the lack of interest.  I do agree with @Huma0 that in London IB is vital as without it one can get lost in the thousands of listings.  I also noticed that your calendar for the garden room is not available for bookings after April of 2019 so I assume you have a 3 month window open instead of 6, 9 orr 12, but at this time of year people are looking at early summer bookings so it might help if you extend your booking availability.  I haven't noticed a drop off in bookings but then again, I am not aiming for high occupancy as 50% is my preference now.  Try changing a word here and there on your listing and update the calendar every day or perhaps add a new photo - when I had a slow period I found that that did make a difference.  I hope it goes well for you.

[Louise437]

Thank you for your reply and advice adn thanks for looking at my listing. My main concern is for short term bookings as I rely on the income for my own living costs and I made the decision not to give mre than 3 months notice as it suits my lifestyle better. I've updated my listing now and changed the price again so I hope something changes quickly! It's so odd especialyl since I've had fabulous reviews and it was all going so well... 

I'll also be taking new photos this week so hopefully that will help. 

FYI my updated listing is: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/21445672?s=51

[Helen3]

Hello @Louise437

Your place looks amazing and I have booked marked your and @Huma0 place for next time I am in London.

Some suggestions - are you listed on other platforms? If not why not list on them.

I would also open your calendar up for the year. If you are reliant on the income you need to maximise your chances of getting bookings and fit your lifestyle around it. I do this and block out key dates and one weekend a month to give myself a break, having friends and family visit etc.

Personally I wouldn't rely on STRs if I needed the income to pay my mortgage/bills. It is much too risky.

In London you are in a very competitive environment.

Why not look for a Monday-Friday lodger and then you could do Airbnb on weekends to supply a steady income stream.

[Pete28]

Go onto the Airbnb Wb site and search in your rough location. Look at the price slider for a weekend and weekday. Figure out the base price at the low end that puts you with say 20-30 properties. Here that is $40ish.

Set you daily price to that, then make up any difference with cleaning fee. Set you max stay to 2-3 nights to maintain income.

[Louise437]

Great advice, thank you. Will do!

[Huma0]

@Louise437

I just came across a listing on Prince of Wales Drive in Battersea. I know the area well because I lived there for eight years and the location is lovely, on a very upmarket street overlooking the beautiful park and right near the river. There's no tube but it's quite central and walking distance to the Kings Road. The room itself is quite small but the flat is beautifully decorated and the price very reasonable considering breakfast is included, which is rare for the area. Plus, the host is a Superhost with nearly 200 reviews.

Still, this listing has every single date showing as available for the next three months (that seems to be the booking window). Why??!! 

Perhaps you are onto something here, but I'm not sure why my listings are still doing fine then. Okay, they are not as booked up as the previous couple of years but I think that's because I had set long minimum stays (2-3 weeks) as an experiment in the hope of attracting more long-term guests and I only recently opened them back up for a two-night minimum, after which the bookings started coming in again so at this point I am not too worried about it. 

Currently, my three listings are:

1. Fully booked until July by short and long-term guests

2. Fully booked for January, enough bookings for February and about half booked for March but slow for the following months. However, I still have April onwards set for long-term bookings only

3. Fully booked for January, and about half booked for February and March. However, I have bookings for this room as far ahead as August and still have the long-term minimums in place for any remaining dates from April onwards

I don't know what the answer is other than maybe to have a longer booking window. I'm not sure what yours is. I know a lot of guests do book around two months in advance. I also get many very last minute bookings. However, I do have guests who book very far in advance, sometimes right to the end of my six or nine month booking windows. Maybe worth a shot?

[Pete28]

Haven't played with uk Airbnb for a while, but certainly here the idiotic use of base pricing means you need to make some tough choices.

If I list at $60-80 I will get listed in 300+ properties (most of which are actually double that price with cleaning fee, but you need to go over each one to see that and can't order by price). Thanks Airbnb !

So the answer is to drop down to $40, where I sit in 20 properties and get business, making up the loss with... Cleaning fee. I also set max nights to 2 so that I don't get scalped by long bookings at $40. What a way to run a business.

All because someone with an MBA at Airbnb thinks it's good to hide the total price from price sensitive consumers.

[Susan17]

@Pete28

Here's an example of London pricing in action, even after the EU ordered Airbnb to display its pricing on the platform in a clear and transparent manner by Dec 31, 2018. 

This listing comes up at the top of both "Plus" and "Non-Plus" results in London searches. Shows base price of just €9 per night, yet a 2 night stay for 6 guests on 11-13 Jan comes in at €1201. 

https://abnb.me/tY2n6UAcbT

The host also has duplicate listings for several of his properties (all of which appear at the top of the searches, no doubt pushing other hosts/listings  out) And those of us who are still  trying to play by the rules wonder why our calendars are empty? 

[Pete28]

I was hoping to get a few nights in Jan at $10 but I guess not. You do seem to be sleeping in the kitchen, but that's islington for you 🙂 go plus !

For some reason the Eu directive seems to have made Airbnb more aggressive in hiding total price. I get so frustrated using the web site I give it.

[Susan17]

@Pete28 

Yeah, it's crazy! I can't get my head around it at all. From what I can see so far, the pricing is actually even less transparent than before. Another key change Airbnb was ordered to make by Dec 31 was to clearly delineate between regular hosts and professionals/commercials on the site - yet the only amendment that appears to have been made so far has been the removal of the total number of listings on each host profile, making it more difficult than ever to identify the "pros". This is not going to end well... 

[Louise437]

Thanks so much for all your responses. Your place looks incredible!! I've had one booking in the last day so that is positive but it's all very odd. I haven't got my head around the base prices yet but I'm fllowing Air BnB guidelines on the smart priceing and making sure I hit the minimum each time it suggests it so we'll see if that makes a difference. 

Someone else on here mentioned Air BnB making it clear to guests which listings are managed by a property company and which are by individuals like you and me. I would support that as it's what Air BnB was set up for in the beginning so it's sad that they aren't sticking by hosts who embody their original values.