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!

[Denise1828]

Same thing happening for me. I started in December 2020, hit superhost every time since. No lack of business immediately, every single month since starting even during winter months. Had no problem, booked constantly. My first Airbnb is just a mother daughter like suite within my house in Central Jersey. I was even skeptical and didn't believe it would be successful because it’s a unit in my house and in the suburbs, not a major city until I saw other Airbnb’s in my area they have room rentals with shared spaces.

I listed my second Airbnb which is my rental condo 10 minutes from the first one to host larger groups that I opened in July 2023. Right away that one booked up, by December it already made what I would make in an entire year just having a regular 12 month rental lease. 

By November/December inquiries slowed down and views. Now with this happening on Airbnb, I only had 3 bookings in January between both properties. Only 1 booking in February at the suite and 0 at the condo listing. 

Airbnb became a huge part of my livelihood, life changing actually. I’m worried and don’t know what to do. Thank you Michele for posting this post and everyone who commented feedback. Well wishes to all of you fellow hosts out there! 

[Wes533]

I’m having the same issue. For some reason my bookings have dropped to zero. I have all 5 star reviews and now nothing in months.

Im considering deleting the account and starting over so I can get my algorithms higher. 

[Michele511]

@Wes533  What tells you that would help your algorithm? Wouldn’t you lose your superhost and/or Guest Favorite status’. Also, what would happen to your reviews? 

[Michele511]

Hi All. I am making a list of articles. After I listen to the earnings call on the 13th I will post it all at once. There seem to be many reason for this. One seems to be that Airbnb itself is investing in its own hotels in some cities. But it could not be the only reason, because it doesn’t look like they’ve bought any in Santa Monica yet and that’s where i am. More to come…Hopefully some solid answers, but, I’m not holding my breath.

Thanks everyone for staying engaged! I think Airbnb is aware of what we are talking about. But, since they are now a public company they have more than us to appeal to, sadly, for us.

[Zheng49]

What happened to your listing? Did you take it down? 

But yes, bookings are way down. There's some drastic changes behind the scenes that are affecting a lot of us.

It's just so much harder to get bookings than before. 

[Michele511]

No just snoozed it for a bit today.

Whaty specific changes behind the scenes that you know of? Please share…

[Michele511 · Accepted solution]

Hello Everyone.

Here are links to the best information I can find. Also, I’ve read the last 2 quarter earnings report, (the most recent one from last week.) You will find a link to the latest one below. I have also included a few other links I found helpful in putting together why we have had a slow spell.

I’ll say that my listings picked up after I’ve lowered the price $30 a night, which is a good amount, considering how expensive everything has gotten. Also I cut the cleaning fee to $50. 

Based on what I have read in both the earnings reports, along with reading a few other articles found on the internet, I think a lot of the slow down had to do with Airbnb purposely trying to lower rates as well as bring in more hosts. The “guest favorite” filter gives new hosts more opportunity to get listings faster as it regenerates every 24 hours, while superhost status is every month or so. (I forget how long exactly, but, it’s a longer qualifying period)

As well, I was told by a support ambassador that the order of listings sorts randomly over periods of time, regardless if you are a guest favorite or not. (Superhost does not give you any advantage in search options anymore.) This was done for the same reason; to give new hosts the opportunity to be featured.

I’ve noticed that at times my listing only appears as a blank dot on the map, especially when I put in a blanket search for Santa Monica. This is even if I put in the guest favorite filter. Rather unfortunate, and I would say, unfair. But that’s that and unless they are reading this and decide to do something about it, that’s the way they are doing it.

The earnings reports also talked about how they are trying to be more competitive with hotels price-wise. Overall rates on hotels have gone up around 10%, while Airbnb has gone down a bit. Airbnb considers this a win. And perhaps over the long run it will be for us, as well. It has always been an advantage here, because and equal quality hotel is a fortune.

Finally, it seems that Airbnb is buying small boutique hotels here and there in an effort to diversify its portfolio. In the earnings reports they allude to “acquiring” investment opportunities, but that’s it. However, an ambassador confirmed that they are doing this. They are waiting to announce it. If you google it, you will find articles.

I hope this has helped sort it out. If anyone else has any input, please speak up under this reply. It’s nice to have it all in one place. This is otherwise an extremely long thread.

Here are the links promised.

February 13, 2024 earnings call: 

https://airbnb2020ipo.q4web.com/files/doc_financials/2023/q4/Airbnb-Q4-23-Earnings-Call-Transcript.p...

re: boutique hotels: 

https://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-expanding-boutique-hotels-branded-buildings-2019-12

Random articles:

Airbnb vs hotels: Why are customers and hosts over Airbnb? - Vox

Are Your Airbnb Bookings Down? Statistics, Factors, & Tips

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/05/06/hotels-airbnb/

[Lorina14]

@Michele511 

Thank you for the detailed summary. Just wanted to let you know that Superhost status is determined on a quarterly basis.

You are correct that the guest favorites are recalculated daily so you could have it one day (or not) and get it (or lose it) the next day. There are posts on guest favorites vs superhost where some community host managers addressed this and the Q&A with Catherine Maxwell was insightful too.

There appears to be no move to bring back the Superhost filter to search by even though Superhosts and guests have voiced their disappointment. If you are a Superhost, the badge will appear on your listing if the potential guest clicks on it. I don’t see what the harm is in having a Superhost filter along with a guest favorite filter.

I spoke to a customer support representative recently and when I asked about why my listing wasn’t showing up on the first page as it usually does, he said the algorithm rates it based on a few factors: similar listings to places you have booked before, availability, special offers/discounts, your search filters, guest favorites and he sent me an article discussing it (I had to keep asking to get this out of him). I also know that new listings are highlighted in the beginning to help new hosts get established. I have also noticed Airbnb advertising on YouTube commercials a lot. 

[Michele511]

@Lorina14 Thanks for responding and your insights regarding the algorithm. Helpful. I am aware that the superhost status does appear on your listing once it is clicked on. I agree with you that there doesn’t seem to be harm in having it as a search option. I will check out the thread on guest favorites vs superhost.

Would you happen to have the link to the Catherine Maxwell Q & A? I would like to watch, and I’m sure others would as well.

[Lorina14]

@Michele511 

Here is part of the customer support text I received when inquiring. It has the link to what factors into a guest search:

Because travelers' needs vary, and some Hosts are more active than others, the relative placement of listings tends to vary greatly from one search to the next.

It’s impossible to compare one user’s results to another, as each search is unique to the guest’s needs. Also: the Airbnb search algorithm is updated regularly. Because of this, you might find search results in your area change a lot as improvements are made.

For all these reasons, where listings appear in search results tends to vary greatly from one search to the next–even within the same day. We’re unable to calculate a ranking number for individual listings.

You can read more about how search results are determined in our Help Center article:

airbnb.com/help/question/39

If your listing’s status is showing up as Listed then you can be sure potential guests are able to check out your space on our platform.

You can find out how many times your listing has been checked out by going to:

Progress > views

If you’d like to search for your own listing to know how it appears to potential guests, you can find out how in our Help Center article:

airbnb.com/help/article/68

[Lorina14]

@Michele511 

Just to let you know there are several threads on this; I think one of the most informative ones is from Fall 2023 when the early winter release was available. I think that one has the most replies.

[Lorina14]

@Michele511 

Here’s the link to the Q&A with Catherine-Powell that was sent out via email to hosts (sorry I wrote the wrong name earlier). For some reason I couldn’t find this article when I was looking in the Airbnb resource section.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-updates/Airbnb-2023-Winter-Release-Your-questions-answere...

[Michele511]

Good to read. But I must say, nothing indicates they will do anything help this situation. A lot of the answers sound like they just want to placate us. And this Q & A was a while ago. They haven’t told us they will do anything about it. 

I am getting more bookings, but I’ve had to lower my prices. Quite a bit. Hopefully they can go up a bit soon to compensate for inflation. 

Has your situation improved, as well?

[Lorina14]

@Michele511 

Oops I meant Q&A with Catherine-Powell (don’t know why I put Maxwell).

here’s the link to her Q&A session (it’s an article that was emailed out to hosts):

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-updates/Airbnb-2023-Winter-Release-Your-questions-answere...

[Bonnie545]

Can you tell me more about your rental situation? I have a couple with a son and amazing people and they need a longer term space in your area. Bonnie