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!

[Sandie70]

Michele I believe it is to do with the changes Airbnb have made to their algorithm. I do not think it is a reflection of the economy. We have all weathered the dips in income and reduced bookings because of this, but this is sudden and drastic.

From being almost fully booked, I have not had an advanced booking in over a month. 

The search engine now gives details of far and wide and not the particular area you are searching for.

I have just put in a search on a very small particular area and out of 18 places, 3 meet the description of where I am looking for. 

Airbnb's response is that I am still getting plenty of views resulting in no bookings and therefore I should look at my settings. My settings have been perfect for two and a half years. 

I think it can be explained by the fact that when people are searching, they are now being directed to a huge amount of irrelevant properties that they are then forced to filter through before getting to what they are searching for.  

This is not our issue, this is something that I believe Airbnb have to look carefully at. 

As stated before it is sudden and drastic and coincided with changes that have been put in by Airbnb.

[Michele511]

I agree. And Airbnb’s business is doing very well All I know to do is keep complaining to them. Unless you have other suggestions?

[Tora-Birgitte0]

Hi! I was wondering if you have seen any improvements in your bookings since listing this query? I have exactly the same issue. Have been a superhost for many years and always filled up the summer months (I dont really list in winter). I have had 0 enquiries yet, have tried to follow the suggestions here and deleted the cleaning fee and also taken on the 15% airbnb charge myself.

[Michele511]

@Tora-Birgitte0 it is better for me, though still not as good. I lowered the cleaning fee from $100 to $50. And lowered my prices about 15-20%. I’m hoping it continues to get better. 

[Jessica134]

I have the same experience!

I have had consistent business since 2016, but starting in 2019, they started messing with the algorithm and website every December, it has been terrible.

Since 2019, airbnb has had many glitches on the platform and in the algorithm.

This massive slowdown started in 2019, and pretty much 100% of customer service left the USA at that time.

I do mid-term and have always had a flow of guests. This is the first year that I have been empty for the last five months with not one inquiry. I created a new listing and had 1 inquiry.

I have lowered my prices and changed everything suggested.

The last thing is that their fees are too high, and guests are tired of them.

A lot of people have now rent on Furnish Finder. I don't know what to do, but Airbnb has not helped at all.

[Dee32]

Hi Jessica

 I'm curious, you said" 100% of customer
service left the USA at that time."

Where did they go? And why? I noticed a huge difference last year when I need to contact customer support. They didn't want to communicate via phone only texts and pass you around from rep to rep to rep without helping solve a problem. It went from bad to unbelievably bad.

[Tora-Birgitte0]

Hi Jessica, this is what I did and it worked! Hello, exactly the same thing happened to me.  I have been a host for 9 years 253 review wth 4.94 rating. I have had 0 bookings since the new airbnb algorithm. SO what did I do. I followed the advice given by someone else on the forum. changed my cancellation policy to flexible, added discounts for early bookings and also took the service charge all myself. and voila after that  I had 3 booking request. A bit of a funny coincidence! so I recommend doing that. 

[Donna1173]

I’m in Hendersonville, North Carolina, and I am having the same issue. I opened my Airbnb in November 2020 and was booked the rest of that year and 2022 was great 2023 was good until November, and then 2024 has been shocking. I have paid for advertisement and have done everything I can think of. I also am a super host 4.9 stars

[Zheng49]

@Michele511 

Are you still with us? I don't see your listing anymore.

Anyways yea, the November release has been pretty brutal for me. Bookings slowed way down after that update for some reason. 

[Michele511]

@Zheng49 Hi there. No it’s open. But today is another day I was too busy to answer inquiries.

Regarding my bookings, they are almost back to normal, for whatever reason. I lowered my price to something sustainable, but not as high as it used to be. May is fully booked. June and July will hopefully do the same. Fingers crossed. Still, I used to be fully booked a few months in advance. 

I hope your place gets going soon! I think it helps to keep checking the listing and how it shows up. You can do that when you search in “private mode” on your browser. They rotate around on the different listings in the area, I’ve noticed.

[Zheng49]

Bookings have been picking back up for me as well. But I had to lower prices a bit. I raised my prices back to normal in June, will see how that goes.

[Roland31]

I own and manage 2 100+ 5-star review rated La Jolla\WIndanSea Beach rental homes for 13 years and I can infactically say that rentals (Min 3 nights) are way down this YTD compare to every previous year with this year being the worse . It is a terrible Biden time in the American travel economy. Our listings appear either 1st or 2nd listing on either search by (Recommended, Rating, or lowest price) so there is zero problem in seach ranking. As I said our homes are a perfect 10 rating with over 100 reviews. (We work exceptionally hard to earn that)

We have had to adjust our rates almost 30% from previous years. 

I live down the street from VACASA's acquired Seabreeze Vacation Rentals office and the parking lot is filled with the work vans as they laid off sll but 1 driver well over a year ago and laid off 17 SEVENTEEN CLEANERS.! Having just 2-3 this told to me in person when I walked in the back door to ask the SOLE young girl attempting to coordinate cleanings and she stated they are continiously slashing rates to stem the tide of VR owners who are either selling their VR homes or going with another VR agency. VACASA manages 43,000 VR's around the world and went public in 8\2020 and opened at $224\share. Today, 4\2024 their stock price is $7.79 share and this should scream volumes of how poorly the VR travel industry is now. Its a strap in and hang on tight time right now. 

[Michele511]

I did great under Obama.

Plus, the travel industry in general is doing very well right now. Has nothing to do with Biden or political party. But either way, it’s not helpful to blame it on a politician you don’t like.