Is Airbnb Oversaturated? Are there too many hosts and not enough guests to go around?

[Reese-and-Kay0]

In business, when a local market has many similar businesses within a particular radius, giving customers more options and business owners more competition, it's considered oversaturated, and in economic terms this phenomenon is referred to as a high supply and low demand.... For Airbnb hosts this translates as: too many hosts and not enough guests to go around. If you're a host, cue the eerie foreboding music. 

This is not a post that harps on despair, but my intention is to share hope and offer sobering empowerment to fellow hosts.

I've officially hit my 1st full year of hosting, and it's been a great experience in our highly competitive market. When I first started, I jumped into different host communities on social media and locally, to gauge other hosts experiences and to gather as much information as possible, and the water wasn't the warmest. I realize that people are sometimes more likely to share their gripes than their joys, but the platforms were filled with tons of new hosts and disheartened old ones. My partner and I had to truly research if our market was too saturated with other hosts to be successful. 

Here's a few thoughts I've gathered from both our research and experience over the last year in our competitive market...

1. Some hosts were disillusioned with the blind hope of ripe investments and "passive" income from a side hustle. A lucrative business and passive income (with minimal effort) is almost everyone's goal, but it may take a little more elbow grease than some were prepared for... but I have faith that this is still possible with the right systems in place to support it. Ask me in another year if I feel the same way🤞😂
2. I don't think providing a clean and pretty house is enough anymore (That's a basic minimum requirement). This may have been enough in the past, and may still be enough for certain price points or markets, but I think guests want/expect more now. Some hosts may think that's unreasonable, but we have to stay nimble in meeting the needs of clients (guests).
3. Knowing your target guests, and catering to their needs matters. We've noticed that many listings can be tone deaf to the needs of guests that they are perfectly poised to serve with just a few small tweaks. The needs of a young family vs. a couple, or a business professional vs. a group of friends are completely different. Your listing's profile, accommodations, thoughtful touches, and recommendations in your area can benefit from being curated with that in mind. 
4. Finding opportunities to delight and surprise has been a critical opportunity for excelling. We set an alluring list of expectations for staying in our Airbnb on our profile, but we hold back on telling our guests everything. There's nothing like meeting and then exceeding your guest's expectations. Some of our surprises are now shared by our guests in their reviews, but we try to find ways to keep these moments of delight creative and fresh.

A few disclaimers: I know that every market is different, and even after making all of the accommodations I mentioned, all of that hard work may or may not result in success. We could still be considered baby hosts after a year on Airbnb, I think it's just important to share that my experience wasn't filled with the gloom and doom that was forecasted. After more than 240 bookings, 230 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reviews, making it through a record breaking low season, hosting less than a handful of bad apple experiences with guests, and currently being in the Top 1 % of eligible Airbnb's for both of our listings, I think we'd conclude that whether or not Airbnb is over saturated with hosts/listings, it is not oversaturated with opportunities to delight guests with quality experiences.... we've found that to be our sweet spot of opportunity.

Time will only tell if our conclusions serve us in the next year, 2 years or decade from now, but I remain optimistic that it can.

I'm curious what the rest of the hosting community feels about this subject. Is your market over saturated? Does it feel like a myth? Have you been able to overcome this challenge and how? Are you still in the trenches and haven't figured out how to navigate it yet?

[Zheng49]

Yes the market is more saturated than before, and it's important to be at the top of your game.

It helps that STR is regulated in my city, which cuts down on the pool of available STRs somewhat. 

[Reese-and-Kay0]

Hi @Zheng49 , thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts. 

I think Airbnb is also taking new measures to monitor and eradicate low performance listings/hosts. I ran across a listing that was labeled by Airbnb as being in the "bottom 10% of eligible listings." I first had concern for the host, but I guess it's a method of being honest with guests, and cues the guest to potentially pass on a less than ideal option. Seems like Airbnb is employing a little evolutionary natural selection, and either encouraging low performance listings to improve or move on. 

[Zheng49]

Regarding the bottom 10% of eligible listings, I agree it's a little bit cruel, and it's also almost a death sentence for any listings unfortunate to get this label.

There will always be a bottom 10%, and from experience I know how tough it can be to compete against your colleagues.