You keep advertising for more hosts

[William140]

You can’t send me enough business, yet I continuously see more ads on TV wanting more hosts.   I have a great location and a more than fair price, yet there is not enough business coming in to make Airbnb a viable business.  Yet you keep advertising for more and more hosts.  You even threaten to take away my super host status, all based on not having enough booking days.  You don’t care at all about your existing hosts…. All you care about is getting your commission.  The way you run your site is that you tell us to lower and lower our price to get the bookings.  My price is already so low that I would be better off just renting long term to local people.  
So again, you need to reevaluate your business model.  Your model is creating a ‘race to the bottom’ as far as pricing goes.  And your hosts are not successful.  And then you threaten them with losing their super host status, solely based on your added supply of hosts!! 

I am thoroughly disappointed in Airbnb, and just about every host I talk to says the same.  It started off as a good idea, but now isn’t anymore.  Even the articles I read are almost all negative on the company and it’s practices.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@William140 Its called a free market. At present too many people have moved into STR and hence the occupancy rates are low along with the prices. As people like yourself recognise that it is easier/more lucrative to move to LTR then the STR market will become less saturated and prices/occupancy will rise. As a profit seeking company in a free market Airbnb is doing what it is designed to do - Namely encouraging the market to grow even if this is at the cost of individuals in that market. I don't see a problem here at all.

[William140]

I couldn’t disagree with you more:  even though we are suffering from low amounts of STR business, mike and Jane, Airbnb is loading up with tons of new commercials trying to get new hosts, even though the market is showing a huge weakness.  This is them being the evil company it has been from the start, just like Uber was in my city.  All they care about is their commission, not on any degree of success of its hosts.  It’s not just me saying this… there are articles backing me up.  You can’t call it normal supply and demand when they are purposely pumping up the supply side.  The last straw was when I had Super Host status in all four of their categories… then because I only had 89 days of rentals, which was one of the four categories, they pulled that status.    And yet the commercials continue.  I do stays that they call sublets… stays of one to three months…and my rates are only over a long term rental by a little.  My vacancy periods are so high that it isn’t worth it to do this.  And I have a killer location.  
They want us to turn our residentially-zoned houses in to hotels, but they don’t support us at all.  Their only suggestion is to keep lowering prices.  By the way, I’m an economist in my regular job, so I am well aware of the laws of supply and demand.  It works in a free market, not in a market of pushing supply to the limit.  By the way, I’m not on a destination tourist place like England.  

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@William140 Still can't equate all you say with Airbnb being evil. It is  running it's business as it sees fit - Hosts should do the same and move to LTR if STR is saturated.

What alternative does Airbnb have? Should it say to a potential new host - Sorry we already have 10 hosts in XXX  so we don't want to list your property? Anyway by having an excess of hosts Airbnb keeps the prices down for its guests hence potentially increasing demand just like the low cost airlines did.

[Helen3]

What other channels are you using to promote your STR business ? Are you set up to take direct booking? @William140 

it's never a good idea to rely on a single marketing channel. If Airbnb isn't working for you. Focus on other channels that will give you the bookings you need. 

[Gwen386]

@William140 I looked at your listing and hope you accept my recommendations for the friendly spirit in which they are given. 

First, marketing  is everything. So if this was my listing, the first thing I would do is update and modernize every room. Start with nicer bedding—comfortables—and  hang appealing pictures on the wall etc. These can be framed posters. 

Second, take better pictures. Use landscape so one can see the entire room. 

Third, remove excess clutter from living room, i.e., stuff from coffee table. 

Fourth, if this is a shared space, show picture of dining room or eating area. 

Also, you have to address the issues that are causing your low rating and correct any issues. Guests look at ratings when they are seeking short or long-term rentals, so try your best to be at a minimum 4.9*. 

Once your pictures show a more inviting and appealing place to stay, increase your daily rate.

It’s like Field of Dreams, if you build it (make it appealing), they will come. 

Good luck to you. 

[William140]

Gwen, I appreciate your comments.  And I see what you are saying.  And you’re not wrong… it’s just that I target the lower end part of the market.  And my rate reflects that.  There are a lot of people that can’t afford the higher rates, and I don’t really want to get caught up in the ‘who can make their place the nicest’ game.   Airbnb started with just the renting of rooms, saving money over hotels.  I know this since my city was one of the first to allow these types of rentals on residentially-zoned properties.  It since has  ballooned into whole house rentals, apartment rentals, whole apartment house rentals and the renting of some of the craziest properties imaginable.   Some owners are managing tons of units.  They sold themselves in front of our city council as basically just renting out of a room or two to help keep grandma in her home.  Since then, it’s turned into where cities, the hotel industry and neighbors have had it with them.  New York City called a screeching halt to their activities except the narrow rental of a room in a hosted house.  Gwen, the market is very depressed, interest rates are high and we are on the precipice of a recession.  They should be putting their advertising money on the demand side, not the supply side.  It’s kind of like asking if a hotel chain would build out unlimited rooms in a market… no, of course they wouldn’t.  But that is what, in effect, is happening.    They are simply not operating in the best interests of the host community.

[Pat271]

@William140  It’s not at all like a hotel chain building out unlimited rooms. Hotels have to pay for the rooms they build, and having high vacancy kills them. Airbnb does not have to pay to build or maintain anything. Therefore, they can increase their supply without affecting their bottom line. In fact, their revenue continues to grow yearly.

It is true, though, that there is a breaking point at which hosts in saturated markets will just throw in the towel. I think that is more true with stand-alone accommodations, though. Hosts renting out a room in their home are more likely to stay open and take what they get, even if it’s just a few nights a year.

[Fred13]

@William140  Nothing wrong with your place, especially considering its price. Your place may do very well in a different place.

There is a capitalist (still) world around you however, and you are subject to local competition and local political decisions that will unfortunately affect you. Portland (and a string of other U.S. cities right now) are not enjoying the best of times due to what appears to be very poor decisions the last few years, maybe that has some bearing.

Airbnb is doing its own thing - like promoting their brand.