Time to give Home and Away a try ?

[Pete28]

After about 500 guests over 2 years, a brief look at Home and Away shows a land of opportunity :

- no overwhelming tide of 'Plus' listings over everything else. When I search Airbnb the default is to list every Plus property first

- no superhost gameification to turn you into a slave to every guests whims. 

- 4/5 is listed as good on Home and Away ! That's because in the normal world no one gets an avg 4.8/5.

- no hide and seek with cleaning fee. By not showing the total price with cleaning fee on the web map view it's impossible to search on Airbnb anymore.

[Jeff158]

@Pete28

Folks do say the grass is greener over the hill, but they have just as many problems.

https://community.homeaway.com/community/us

[Pete28]

The postings seem to lack the endless panic over ratings, superhost etc etc. Atleast the first few pages of QA seemed to show a gentler pace of life ?

Over the past year Airbnb seems to have kept adding more and more complexity.

[Salem2]

I completely agree, the rating system causes a lot of unwanted stress and disappointment.

It does not support the host, even great hosts feel like they are constantly failing 😞

[Gillian19]

@Pete28 Defintiely. Better not to have all your eggs in one basket. I too prefer HomeAway as they treat us like adults, not preschoolers who constantly need to be reprimanded.

[Robin4]

@Gillian19

I have been up now for 2 week on Homeaway/Stayz Gill, and I have 4 bookings so far, all for a few months out because I still have a heavily booked ABB calendar until March.

Didn't think I would become a hosting 'tart' Gill but ABB are going the way that all companies seem to go when they have rapid growth....they lose track of where they came from and what got them there.

They look to the future, not learn from the past.......pity!

Cheers......Rob

[Pete28]

@Robin4 I thought you were an Airbnb loyalist !

But seriously, if I can't even do a price based search to book a property on the web site of the company I am listing with it's time to look around (and yeah, I know they haven't broken it in Aus yet but who knows).

[Robin4]

@Pete28

Pete, I did not want to go down this path but the way ABB handled the Australian host payouts issue tipped the scales. There are still hosts here who have not received a cent for the month of November.

The last thing I need is be juggling calendars, learning how another site works....I have only just become comfortable with this one but, ABB have taken away my feeling of security.

So Pete....avid user, yes.....loyalist, no not any more Pete!

Cheers......Rob

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Pete28

I agree with you, we will list on other sites too

Recently many hosts experienced booking rate dropdown due to Airbnb experiments with listings / map view and search position. 

In my post https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/MAP-or-LISTING-VIEW-booking-frustration/m-p/876004#M2155... we detected many problems:

1. No more listings/map split view  in many countries.
2. Listing preview moves the map down (map is not in the fixed position)
3. Just 20 listings are shown on the map. To see more listings you have to go back to listings page, scroll down to pagination, click on the "next page" and then go to map view again. Or, you have to deeply zoom in the specific area.
4. "search when I move the map" is not working properly. It shows only listings closest to city center.
5.  Price bubbles on the map view are showing the base price only, without a cleaning fee.

As a result, hosts in the strict center get views and bookings periodicly.... 10 days of silence and then 10 inquiries/bookings in one day.

Hosts outside the city center are not getting any views and bookings at all.

And of course there are other things hosts are not happy about because they are not treated fairly:

rating and review system,

cancelation policies,

poor damage claim refund,

no actual security deposit ,

no pet fee,

infants for free

PLUS experiment

etc... to name just a few 😞

[Nusa-Lembongan-Villas0]

I have been listing with HomeAway for about 5 years now and it has not been a great experience. The volume of bookings is very low compared to other platforms (Airbnb included). But no harm in listing at more than one place...maximise your exposure.

[Devin-and-Sarah0]

Why don't you make a thread of trying Home and Away, Vrbo, and Airbnb. Let us know the details on facts like, how did you get around no double booking and how it is going. Thank you in advance

[Robin4]

@Devin-and-Sarah0

Guys, this is an Airbnb forum and  really, for experiences involved with Airbnb. I, for one don't want to bring outside hosting experiences here onto the Airbnb forum.

I am disappointed as hell that I have had to list on another site in order to feel the security that I felt a month ago. I always thought Airbnb would have my back covered  but the Aussie hosts payout issue made me realise Airbnb don't really have a loyalty to anyone but those in 888 Brannan St San Francisco. Still, every day I am hearing of hosts here in the Australian community who have not received a payout since 27th October. What are we to do....say, 'Oh, that's cool, sort it out when you can, don't bother letting us know what's going on'!!

I guess in the final analysis we will stay or leave by what is going to serve us best. @Pete28 feels that the way Airbnb are displaying listing pricing in his area is discriminatory against his listing, so he will spread his wings....very unfortunate for someone who has been such a great Airbnb user....and Pete is up there with the best, has been for years. Others here are doing the same thing.

The company are charting their way into difficult waters! If you lose a few 9 stay a year hosts, what the hell, they were more of a nuisance than anything else! But when 110-130 a year Superhosts start to spread their wings, someone up there has to say....'What are we doing wrong'!

But having said that, this is still an Airbnb community forum and I feel comparisons with other hosting platforms here is not appropriate!

Perhaps we need some entrepenuer to set up a comparison site where we can all bitch about our lot in life!

Cheers.....Rob

[Dick19]

I am interested in syncing Airbnb with Home and Away. I thought I saw it on a Airb page recently but don't see it now. Don't want to overbook so waiting to find the proper method. 

[Salem2]

does anyone list on booking.com? they seem to be popular?

[Kelly149]

@Pete0 we had this convo awhile back, I'm not good at finding old threads, but I bet you could.

I'm on both. HA: real security deposit, real cancellation policy, company policy seems to have a better handle on I am the Owner & They are the booking site (less You Must Do It This Way dictums), generally a higher caliber of guest, IMO, guests seem to plan ahead better, stay longer and pay more, the review system exists but it is not a THING, I get paid as soon as the stay is booked

I just booked as a guest on ABB -- didn't enjoy the experience, its a PITA and a wonder any of us have any clients at all