Finally, more bookings today than cancellations

[Melodie-And-John0]

I want to start this conversation with a bit of a disclaimer, My wife and I are able to mitigate the majority of the risks associated with hosting guests in the 2 suites and our glamper, If you cant stay separated from guests and without recirculated air, it may not be time to open your doors yet.  We are and have been open for business during most of the C19 but for the most part, the only jingle jingle I was getting on my phone from Airbnb was another cancellation, no cha ching, just a crapload of  waaah waaah's instead. 

Yesterday gave us just a hint of a glimmer of hope, we did have a cancellation (Waaah Waaah) but we had 3  (Three, Trois, Drei), bookings (Cha ching! cha ching! cha ching!).   One instant book arrived self checkin 11:00 last night for 2 nights; a local couple  (40 miles away) that needed to escape their kids for a couple days, thats exactly what Chesney was talking about would help fill in the spaces where folks from across the pond once stayed.   

Im good with that if that's a new norm I can count on, that remains to be seen but this is a good start.  Anyone got any like stories of actually doing what we do so well, hosting guests?   By all means, please add those inspirational signs that life can, will and is returning, maybe not exactly as we remembered it but a heck of allot better than Waah Waah all week long....  Stay well, JR   

[Emilia42]

@Melodie-And-John0 Congrats! I'm still waiting for Cha Chings! I lost every single booking. My life has pretty much remained unchanged expect for Airbnb. I am actually really enjoying the break. All the bleach and cleaning chemicals were starting to get to my brain. Here's to a calm and relaxing summer, I hope!

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Emilia42 , have you considered adding a gap day both as an upscale feature guests will appreciate and a bit of a de-stressor on the clean-outs.  I added it to my listings 2 days ago and got this batch of bookings yesterday, one mentioning they chose us because of that.  Something to consider, JR

[Ute42]

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@Melodie-And-John0 

Here in Germany things are going great again, despite corona.

[Melodie-And-John0]

Thats awesome to hear, I can't say that Bearpath Lodging has acheived "great" yet @Ute42 but every day is better than the last by a little bit.  Before long, we will be working our day jobs full bore and complaining we dont have enough time to __________.   JR

[Emilia42]

@Melodie-And-John0 I was planning to block out a day before and after each reservation but was doing to do it manually. I wasn't aware that guests knew (or could see) that this was a selected feature. I'll try it. Thank you!

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Emilia42 , I actually couldn't find the feature and have been doing it manually as well as added it front and center into my listing description and rules.  Stay well, JR

[Sarah977]

@Melodie-And-John0   The setting is at the top of your calendar under Availabilty settings.

And in case you didn't know this, that setting is worded in a very confusing manner- block one day before and after makes it sound like you'd end up with 2 days between reservations, but in fact, the one day after Booking A doubles up as the one day before Booking B. 

What that setting should say is "Block one day between reservations" because that is exactly what it does. Airbnb seems determined to state things in the most confusing and misleading manner.

[Melodie-And-John0]

Thanks @Sarah977 , that was easy.  I saw it before and wondered but as you said, its clunky wording.  Stay well, JR

[Fred13]

What is coincidental, normally I block 5 days between Airbnb guests any way, to accommodate direct bookings, so this new - odd, micro-managing, social championing, off-the-wall tangent, high-maintenance , ridiculous of an idea will have no bearing at my end. I ran out of 'nice' adjectives to call this clunker.

[Sarah977]

@Fred13  And I've always had the block one day between reservations setting on, because I didn't sign up as a  host to be stressed out rushing around trying to turn over the room in 2 hours. And I sometimes have upholstery client deadlines, so can't always just drop everything to prepare for a guest. So the 24 hour block between reservations for COVID cleaning won't be anything I'm not already doing.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Sarah977 @Fred13 @Melodie-And-John0 

Since Henry and I host a lot of long-term guests, we always block AT LEAST 1 week each,  before and after any long-term booking. It's the 2 of us with one single occupancy guest room...... but we both have full time day jobs and we didn't start hosting because we wanted to be stressed about cleaning and laundry :-)) 

[Fred13]

It must be nice to have longer-term guest @Jessica-and-Henry0 , less hassle and minimal gyrations in guest behavior, I think. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Fred13 @Sarah977 

Henry and I have found we are most comfortable with a 70% yearly occupancy rate....... when it reached 80%, we were stressed and noticed we didn't *enjoy* hosting as much as we should, so we upped our pricing for dates other than spring/fall semesters so we'd be less attractive. I probably mentioned before in other posts but Henry and I have been pretty lucky.... all things considered :-)) 

Our luck bottomed out fall semester of last year but we got thru it with no permanent damage..... although I think Henry wishes he could erase the image of the feminine hygiene product sitting in our microwave.  Lol~~

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/mini-rant-about-current-guest/m-p/1156985

Still......... Henry and I both look forward to when we'll be able to host our next exchange student~~~ Most were great kids and we loved having them around. 

[Sarah977]

@Jessica-and-Henry0  I don't think I'll ever forget that feminine hygiene item in the microwave story. It was a classic. Poor Henry. 🙂