Suddenly no bookings 2024

[Michele511]

I have 7 years of 5 star ratings in Santa Monica, California. Suddenly I had hardly anything in December ‘23, only one booking in January, one booking in March, then nothing at all. I’ve always been fully booked. I dont’ understand.

Is anyone else having this problem?

I would appreciate any insights!

[Jonathan2360]

I have a VRBO also and no bites yet for the spring/summer season, although 46 views in 3 weeks. In a previous year I had several bookings already. I see others in the area with lower rates compared to 2021, and so I will cut mine down another 15-20% to be competitive. Crossing my fingers this helps. Better to rent out at a lower price than to let it go unfilled. You can never recover the rental night not used. 

[Jessica134]

Unfortunately,

This won't help much. My experience is the lower the cost, the lower the quality of guests who book. I started getting drug users and sketchy individuals that cause more damage once my price dropped below a certain amount.

Two, the operating cost is so high at the end of the year with the vacancy days in between it is a loss.

I have been operating at a loss, barely covering my costs since 2019.

If the local laws were not so awful, allowing tenants to squat without paying, I would go back to regular market-rate long-term tenants and make far more. I know a renter who cannot remove a "roommate" because of the insane laws!

Airbnb has definitely sold out the little guy! They are buying their own hotels and using hotels that add kitchenettes and kitchens. Airbnb is working more with developers of new structures that the city won't regulate.

For example, in Inglewood, the city has billboards promoting short-term rentals. The city then blocks most local mom-and-pop shops from participating in bias laws.

Meanwhile, they are encouraging developers to buy mom-and-pop buildings that can't stay afloat.

This all came on the heels of a loss of reported 80% of short-term listings loss by mom and pops after your city council made it illegal for the little guy to do short-term. Media continues to falesly promote illegal Airbnb's while the app completely blocks them.

 LA City did what they do: it sided with hotels and corporate builders while promoting protection for renters, improving nothing.

[Phil4657]

Same for me in London, I had 90% occupancy in 2023 and Jan to March usually 80% full barely 15% now. If you look this up on the internet it talks about post pandemic market normalisation, whatever that is. I am dropping prices to see if it helps. considering long let.

[Michele511]

Sorry it’s happening there too. I’ve dropped my prices $65 a night. It’s done nothing. Starting to think of other options myself.  But I don’t want to. 

[Jessica134]

Lowering pricing has done absolutely nothing, more insulting than other listings offering less for more bookings. It's the algorithm and the platform promoting hotels they own and partner with. The only real boost that worked for me was bringing guests from Furnish Finder and encouraging them to book here. This shifted the algorithm and got the listing going again.

[Michele511]

I haven’t heard of furnish finder. I’ll check it out. 

Things are moving for me again, thankfully. But prices are still down about $20 a night. For now I’m ok with that. We’ll see in the future. 

[Michele511]

Regarding post pandemic normalization, I’ve been doing this for 7 years. I’ve always been completely full December and January. Also had bookings into spring.  So, it’s not that. It’s something else. 

[John5097]

@Michele511 I"m surprised so many host mention slow down in bookings without providing more info about page views, if other listings in the area have slashed their rates, etc. 

It may be a combination of consumers not spending as much due to inflation and oversupply of available listings. I can only speak for our area but this reminds me of covid how other host are slashing rates. They also have a lot of tricks up their sleeve such as low nightly rate and jacked up cleaning fees, set high rates then apply discounts to get the strikeout. 

I can say that guest are very value oriented and will book a ho hum place with nothing unique or special to save $10 night. I'm also seeing a slow down but don't care if I don't fully book for January. Also if they start pestering me with questions about amenity that isn't included I suggest the use the filters on search function. 

Moving forward I'll likely increase rates cut back. I see a lot of listings that don't get bookings for a while then bounce back when it gets busy. Good luck though, it can be a challenge to stay on top of things and adjust to all changes, as timing of even a 4 star in a sub category can have real impact especially going into a slow season. I suspect that the quality of listings may also go down as scammy tactics may by both guest, and host make if more of challenge to provide higher quality stay, as insurance, taxes and licensing fees is all going up.  

[Michele511]

Not totally understanding your point here. But, yes, I have checked other listings and it looks like the rates are a bit lower and calendars are not full.

Are you suggesting that people are using scammy tactics in places? If so, that could not be further from the truth in what I see. As for me, this is a straight up, very clean and nice airbnb.

They suggest easier cancellation policies. But, I can’t afford to be a hotel where someone is allowed to cancel a day or 2 ahead of time. That would not go well. I doubt man others would be able to do that either, unless they had a lot of listings. 

[John5097]

@Michele511  I was just saying with the discounted rates during slow times and increased supply of listings the quality may be decreasing. Some of the settings in general seem a little scammy that are also becoming more of an issue for guest perception when choosing a place and have been addressed in part in recent updates, such as showing the total price, and also how host can apply discounts. 

You could look over other listings to see what they are doing.

I'm booked up for next 6 months. Kind of weird I'm on the east coast, but guest already booked from California for 2024  often request to stay longer which I allow. I'm really looking forward to their stay!

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. I kind of have my own approach and each host has to find what works for them as each listing is totally different. Good luck! 

[Michele511]

@John5097. Thank you for your response. Good to hear that someone is booked for the next 6 months. All other responders here are not booked. If you can give any hints as to how you do it, I know it would be appreciated. As for me, this is the first time I’ve had a problem.

Airbnb keeps pointing to an algorithm but that doesn’t make sense for me. Except! It seems to have coincided with the ending of AirbnbPlus. I don’t understand why they ended that, but I was doing week even before that program. 

[John5097]

@Michele511 

I looked over your listing and could offer a few possible suggestions but as I don't host there I"m not as familiar with the yearly trends location or other factors. 

Your listing is at the very first spot on top of the first page when I searched for 4 days in January. I don't know what it has been in the past.

You can go to your menu bar at the top and find Insights. There you can see the page views, how many guest view yours per day and the conversion rate, of what percentage booked.  You can go back a year and see what the trend is. 

There are two new tools to compare your listing to similar ones in your area. You can see toggle the options for ones books and not booked, that is also under the daily views as I recall. I don't really need this as I tend to monitor other similar listings.  

You can also change the booking window from anywhere 3 months to a yaar. As mentioned mine is mostly booked 6 months out but of course it wouldn't be if great didn't have the option to book. I did look at yours and the booking window appears to be less than 3 months. That is your choice though, as you may have your own reasons to not allow booking further than a few months out.

Not blaming you or other host as each needs to choose their own settings.  I monitor my booking views. As I said it can be tricky, and trying to set rates and predict the demand is very subjective.

Your photos look very good but for example another listing also on the top page in your area shows the outside of the listing and seems to have more bookings and are well booked into the spring. I don't know if that would help but anyway Yours does seem to be very honest and forthcoming and 4.98 is amazing.  That's why I was thinking you could make some adjustments and improvements to get more bookings, but also wouldn't want to make mistakes.

For example I was planning to go up in my rates but don't think this was a good time. Other host with simmilar listings can charge higher rates that I can. I just accept that and do the best I can with the skills I have.

It may just be basic supply and demand. There may be a lot of new listings in your area and have to make adjustments. There are tons in my area.  


 

 

[Michele511]

@John5097  Thank you for taking the time to look at my listing! It should be set for 6 months out.

I have noticed that when there is an app update some settings change. More importantly, I’ve experienced text reverting back to old versions on app updates. I try to monitor but don’t catch everything. 

Thanks again, John! 

[John5097]

@Michele511 Glad you found something of use! I've had settings change on me as well, such as the heat and AC being unchecked. 

I hope your bookings pick up. If not would consider more adjustments or improvements. 

[Jessica134]

Yep every update Airbnb does kills business!