Post by High Priestess on May 30, 2016 5:37:10 GMT
Ali shared on HOsting 911 Jan 2015
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-102015
Alia year ago
Help No bookings!?!?
Hi! I've been booked consistently since I started hosting almost 2 years ago.....suddenly my last guest left and I have no one currently booked and no future inquiries!!! I made my listing instabbook, and I lowered my rate to $30 less than the suggested rate!!! Any other suggestions how to optimize my appeal!?!
15 comments•1 like
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Julia
Carrie
Carriea year ago
$85 is a hefty cleaning fee for a private room (I don't charge one at all.) And, since you've got 4.5 stars rather that 5 in that category, I'd consider eliminating that fee completely or reducing it significantly
Reply Like 3 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
Hi Carrie, Funny you mentioned that! I just lowered my lisitng but raised my cleaning fee!! I looked around and everyone's seemed to be higher than mine, and i put a lot of effort into the cleaning! I appreciate the suggestion i am going to consider this tonight!!
Thank you!
Reply Like
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
Hi Ali,
There are so many listings in West Hollywood! I think the competition is very steep. My neighborhood, Los Feliz, is also pretty saturated with listings. I have noticed a decline. I wish Airbnb did more to attract guests. I know that they advertise, but I don't know if it's enough.
I agree that $85 is high for a cleaning fee; I'd lower it. Don't know if that will make the difference, though. I just think our biggest obstacle is that our Airbnb marketplace is overcrowded with hosts.
Reply Like 2 replies•2 likes
Nic and Rach
Nic and Racha year ago
I totally agree with you Carolyn, in a touristy place like California, NY and other places around the world where there's more supply than demand. Guest's are also becoming smarter in their choices of accommodations and mostly business/corporate guest's stays in hotels whether that's full service or economy lodging.. and if a particular area has a convention or solidly booked up- then that's when we get the over flows- for some, it is a hassle to go through airbnb id verifications, where in a guest w/o airbnb verifications can easily check in a hotel/motel paying cash with ID provided upon check in- and less scrutiny whereas Airbnb has requirements and it could be an issue with newbies and cash paying guests So, there's a big difference and competition plays a big role in the sharing and non sharing economy.
Ali
Alia year ago
oh no
thanks for the feedback!
Julia
Juliaa year ago
Hello Ali, I've noticed the same lack of enquiries, and found this posted on Anecdotes and Stories group. Perhaps this is a reason for the complete drop in enquiries?
From Robert - "Hi Julia, from what I can gather airbnb are refusing to pay google so airbnb are not showing on search results unless you actually search specifically for airbnb, and others I have spoken to and had messages from the same is starting to happen on Facebook so that would maybe a reason for the plummet which is very annoying as I have just turned my property from a full time let and spent several thousands on improvements to make it really high quality for airbnb. I have had 2 people in December and have had no other enquiries at all. Now wondering if I should put the property back onto a full time let. Very disappointing" You will have to scroll down a bit to see the post, headed "Delighful Guests" by Robert
Anyone else heard about this "disagreement" with Google?
Reply Like 1 reply•3 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
Very interesting regarding the internet optimization! I will look into this further right away!
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
Julia, I haven't heard that about Google, and I just did a Google search for "Vacation Rentals" and Airbnb did come up, about fourth in the results. Maybe this refers to advertising via Google.
Ultimately I think Airbnb is doing more to attract new hosts than new guests. I've mentioned this in another group and was told that it's not the case, but I don't believe it.
Reply Like 7 replies•2 likes
Julia
Juliaa year ago
Just did the same and it came up as you described, did not yesterday! But I agree, this absolute drop in guests is a mystery to me!
Ali
Alia year ago
They need to stop attracting hosts and focus on helping us committed hosts to stick to guidelines to help travelers enjoy it more! We definitely dont need more hosts!!
Andrew
Andrewa year ago
Not really sure what this hypothesis is based on...virtually all of the marketing I've seen from Airbnb in the past year was aimed at guests rather than hosts. But that's probably because I'm in a host-oversaturated market. They'd need a different strategy in markets without a solid base of hosts - which is still most of the world, really...
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
As Airbnb has become more well known, more people are coming aboard to host. So, it may have more to do with word of mouth than Airbnb marketing to hosts. It's off balance in the larger and even medium sized markets. Airbnb needs to take steps to correct the imbalance, by focused advertising in over-hosted markets, to support their quality hosts.
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
Advertising to guests, that is.
Andrew
Andrewa year ago
But the audience for a guest-targeted ad is not likely to be using Airbnb in the place where they see the ad! They either already lived there, or are already in their booked accommodation.
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
Andrew, I'm thinking of online advertising. Unfortunately, as it stands, I do see online ads for Airbnb, but that's only because I've visited the site! Airbnb pop-up ads appear to people already familiar with Airbnb. Perhaps something online, for people unfamiliar with Airbnb, would help.
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
Airbnb isn't helping keep good hosts well booked.
Reply Like 1 reply•2 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
Really important thing for them to focus on! Great point!
Carrie
Carriea year ago
Hey Ali,
I just did a search of lodging for a private room, for two people, in West Hollywood. Initially I looked for two nights in mid-February. Over 50 pages of listings showed up & I looked through six pages without seeing your listing.
Then, I did another search - again, two people, two nights, but this time for this coming Tuesday - Thursday. Again, over 50 pages of listings came up. Your listing came up on page five. Your room comes out on the system as $118/night - which would include the cleaning fee. Plenty of rooms were a good deal less expensive than that.
Then, I did a third search - this time, this coming Tuesday, one night, one person, and the cost was $160 for that one night. For one night, $160 is pretty steep for one person and there were lots of listings far less expensive than that.
I think that charging significant cleaning fees makes sense if you're renting an entire home, and also if most of your bookings are for longer stays - so the cleaning fee gets averaged out over the course of the stay. Charging a significant cleaning fee is not a bad way (I think) to encourage longer stays - but only if your nightly rate is such that it averages out to a good deal.
Reply Like 4 replies•3 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
Thank you SO much for all that research! Im blown away by this smart useful feedback from the community right now! I do want to encourage longer stays....but i see how discouraging a big cleaning fee is on a short stay! I'll lower it back to where it was at $65....it does take a lot of energy or cost a substantial amount of money to change sheets, clean a bathroom, restock clean towels, sheets, and toiletries, i put out fresh flowers and make sure there is plenty of water bottles and small snacks. But from a shoppers point of view, they dont think of all that!
Andrew
Andrewa year ago
The cleaning fee should not be mistaken for a one-for-one compensation for your actual cleaning efforts. Rather, those are better off built into your nightly costs. I prefer to think of the cleaning fee as the a supplement to shorter stays to make a tight changeover worthwhile. Any amount that costs you potential business ultimately works out as a net loss. And the way I see it, any smart traveler is going to be looking out for good value, and smart travelers are better guests than naive ones. One can rightfully wonder why an Airbnb host charges a $65 cleaning fee, but not an equivalently priced hotel, where they get daily maid service (from people working much harder than us, with lower take-home pay).
Carrie
Carriea year ago
Very well put, Andrew.
Fleur, Dan and kids
Fleur, Dan and kidsa year ago
Ali I recently took my $25 cleaning fee off after 2.5 years and raised my price by $12 per day. I make a little less on 1-2 nights but I've noticed a huge improvement in the way guests leave my flat. My cleaning time has dropped dramatically and lots of times you can't even tell someone has been there. I think it's honestly for the best as it saves on my stress levels and time. Food for thought. And I totally agree with Andrew.
Carrie
Carriea year ago
Their are so many listings in West Hollywood - again, over 50 pages for a private room, that I'd think you'd have to be very, very competitive price wise to keep booked in the off season.
Reply Like 2 replies•2 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
How do you move up to the first listings seen? Do you know?
Carrie
Carriea year ago
Hi Ali - apparently, Airbnb has a complicated algorithm for the order in which listings show up. I think your response rate, your review ratings and how busy you are all help you get your listing up. I think if you lower your price enough to get more bookings, your listing will probably move up.
Salvia
Salviaa year ago
I learned that a lot of hosts charge a rather high cleaning fee to avoid having too many one-night bookings. Which might be a good stratgy in high seasons but maybe worth to try to go without any in very low season or set a minimum stay to make up for it.
Reply Like 2 replies•3 likes
Carrie
Carriea year ago
True, Salvia, and I have considered that as a strategy. In the end, I just decided to do a two-night minimum, deciding that washing sheets for one night's stay made it not worthwhile to me unless I charged enough to make my pricing not competitive.
Ali
Alia year ago
Good idea Salvia, to lower now on the off season, but raise in the spring?! And Carrie, i never thought of a minimum 2 day stay policy! So simple, makes sense
Liz and Harry
Liz and Harrya year ago
There is also a ongoing debate regarding cancelation policy. Some think strict may turn people off and hoster hosts do not think it makes a difference. You may want to consider changing it to moderate if you are comfortable doing so, and see if that makes a difference. For me, I travel a lot for work and even with hotels I will pretty much stick with those with a 24 hour cancellation policy as things can happen that are out of my control. Take a look at the policies of your completion
Reply Like 1 reply•1 like
Ali
Alia year ago
Its complicated, cause although people's schedules change, it would suck to have lost bookings while those days were held up by a cancellation.
Nic and Rach
Nic and Racha year ago
Strategy is good. and you have to maintain a good ranking-like what Carrie mentioned- 50 listings came up and if you are not in the top ten in the guest search then you become the an option instead of priority. You need to maintain consistency, your response rate and your star rating is important as well as your nightly rates remember our Airbnb clienteles look for lowest possible price within their budget so, considering what you offer plus your rate is equal to VALUE your cancellation policy and house rules are also a price breaker. So, we have to consider all the possibilities of how to be on the TOP of our game and best of all to be less stress in our part.
Reply Like 1 reply•1 like
Ali
Alia year ago
Hi Nic & Rach, Do you know how to come up higher in the search? Thanks!
Louise
Louisea year ago
I've been wondering about this too--is January just a slow month? We were booked almost every night in November, and December, though not as busy, was still good....but so far no one has even inquired about January and we are getting nervous as we rely on Airbnb guests in order to afford our high rent! Any advice?
Reply Like 1 reply•1 like
Ali
Alia year ago
Hi Devon, January is definitely the slowest month ive observed, you may have trouble this month, but it will pick up again and you will get very busy come March...lots of oversea travelers. Hang in there.
Andrew
Andrewa year ago
I'd suggest setting a competitive base price relative to nearby listings, lowering your cleaning fee and raising your extra-guest fee. At the moment, your rates effectively scare off solo travelers (who are likelier to prefer host-present Private Rooms even when Entire Homes are available) as well as shorter-term guests (for whom the rather extreme cleaning fee is a deal-breaker). If you're having a slow season, those are exactly the two demographics you need the most!
On the other hand, raising the extra-guest fee is not such a big deal; a party of two can budget twice as much as a party of one. But you still need to be a little bit cheaper than the typical Entire House listing in your area, since groups will perceive those as better value.
Reply Like 1 reply•5 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
Wow! Thanks Andrew for such a thoughtful and insightful response! I will do what you recommended
Good analysis....
Carrie
Carriea year ago
Along the lines with what Andrew just said - I have noticed that in my city, where tourism season is the warmer months, I tend to get more couples - and more tourists - in spring/summer/autumn. In the winter, I tend to get more solo travelers coming to my city on business. The lower rate for a single person is definitely a plus- especially in winter.
Reply Like 1 reply
Ali
Alia year ago
Thanks for all your thoughts Carrie! Totally agreed!
Susan
Susana year ago
it's slow in LA right now and from my last 3 years of Hosting, it slows up between January and February, so just stick it out.
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-102015
Alia year ago
Help No bookings!?!?
Hi! I've been booked consistently since I started hosting almost 2 years ago.....suddenly my last guest left and I have no one currently booked and no future inquiries!!! I made my listing instabbook, and I lowered my rate to $30 less than the suggested rate!!! Any other suggestions how to optimize my appeal!?!
15 comments•1 like
Follow
Like
Julia
Carrie
Carriea year ago
$85 is a hefty cleaning fee for a private room (I don't charge one at all.) And, since you've got 4.5 stars rather that 5 in that category, I'd consider eliminating that fee completely or reducing it significantly
Reply Like 3 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
Hi Carrie, Funny you mentioned that! I just lowered my lisitng but raised my cleaning fee!! I looked around and everyone's seemed to be higher than mine, and i put a lot of effort into the cleaning! I appreciate the suggestion i am going to consider this tonight!!
Thank you!
Reply Like
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
Hi Ali,
There are so many listings in West Hollywood! I think the competition is very steep. My neighborhood, Los Feliz, is also pretty saturated with listings. I have noticed a decline. I wish Airbnb did more to attract guests. I know that they advertise, but I don't know if it's enough.
I agree that $85 is high for a cleaning fee; I'd lower it. Don't know if that will make the difference, though. I just think our biggest obstacle is that our Airbnb marketplace is overcrowded with hosts.
Reply Like 2 replies•2 likes
Nic and Rach
Nic and Racha year ago
I totally agree with you Carolyn, in a touristy place like California, NY and other places around the world where there's more supply than demand. Guest's are also becoming smarter in their choices of accommodations and mostly business/corporate guest's stays in hotels whether that's full service or economy lodging.. and if a particular area has a convention or solidly booked up- then that's when we get the over flows- for some, it is a hassle to go through airbnb id verifications, where in a guest w/o airbnb verifications can easily check in a hotel/motel paying cash with ID provided upon check in- and less scrutiny whereas Airbnb has requirements and it could be an issue with newbies and cash paying guests So, there's a big difference and competition plays a big role in the sharing and non sharing economy.
Ali
Alia year ago
oh no
thanks for the feedback!Julia
Juliaa year ago
Hello Ali, I've noticed the same lack of enquiries, and found this posted on Anecdotes and Stories group. Perhaps this is a reason for the complete drop in enquiries?
From Robert - "Hi Julia, from what I can gather airbnb are refusing to pay google so airbnb are not showing on search results unless you actually search specifically for airbnb, and others I have spoken to and had messages from the same is starting to happen on Facebook so that would maybe a reason for the plummet which is very annoying as I have just turned my property from a full time let and spent several thousands on improvements to make it really high quality for airbnb. I have had 2 people in December and have had no other enquiries at all. Now wondering if I should put the property back onto a full time let. Very disappointing" You will have to scroll down a bit to see the post, headed "Delighful Guests" by Robert
Anyone else heard about this "disagreement" with Google?
Reply Like 1 reply•3 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
Very interesting regarding the internet optimization! I will look into this further right away!
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
Julia, I haven't heard that about Google, and I just did a Google search for "Vacation Rentals" and Airbnb did come up, about fourth in the results. Maybe this refers to advertising via Google.
Ultimately I think Airbnb is doing more to attract new hosts than new guests. I've mentioned this in another group and was told that it's not the case, but I don't believe it.
Reply Like 7 replies•2 likes
Julia
Juliaa year ago
Just did the same and it came up as you described, did not yesterday! But I agree, this absolute drop in guests is a mystery to me!
Ali
Alia year ago
They need to stop attracting hosts and focus on helping us committed hosts to stick to guidelines to help travelers enjoy it more! We definitely dont need more hosts!!
Andrew
Andrewa year ago
Not really sure what this hypothesis is based on...virtually all of the marketing I've seen from Airbnb in the past year was aimed at guests rather than hosts. But that's probably because I'm in a host-oversaturated market. They'd need a different strategy in markets without a solid base of hosts - which is still most of the world, really...
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
As Airbnb has become more well known, more people are coming aboard to host. So, it may have more to do with word of mouth than Airbnb marketing to hosts. It's off balance in the larger and even medium sized markets. Airbnb needs to take steps to correct the imbalance, by focused advertising in over-hosted markets, to support their quality hosts.
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
Advertising to guests, that is.
Andrew
Andrewa year ago
But the audience for a guest-targeted ad is not likely to be using Airbnb in the place where they see the ad! They either already lived there, or are already in their booked accommodation.
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
Andrew, I'm thinking of online advertising. Unfortunately, as it stands, I do see online ads for Airbnb, but that's only because I've visited the site! Airbnb pop-up ads appear to people already familiar with Airbnb. Perhaps something online, for people unfamiliar with Airbnb, would help.
Carolyn
Carolyna year ago
Airbnb isn't helping keep good hosts well booked.
Reply Like 1 reply•2 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
Really important thing for them to focus on! Great point!
Carrie
Carriea year ago
Hey Ali,
I just did a search of lodging for a private room, for two people, in West Hollywood. Initially I looked for two nights in mid-February. Over 50 pages of listings showed up & I looked through six pages without seeing your listing.
Then, I did another search - again, two people, two nights, but this time for this coming Tuesday - Thursday. Again, over 50 pages of listings came up. Your listing came up on page five. Your room comes out on the system as $118/night - which would include the cleaning fee. Plenty of rooms were a good deal less expensive than that.
Then, I did a third search - this time, this coming Tuesday, one night, one person, and the cost was $160 for that one night. For one night, $160 is pretty steep for one person and there were lots of listings far less expensive than that.
I think that charging significant cleaning fees makes sense if you're renting an entire home, and also if most of your bookings are for longer stays - so the cleaning fee gets averaged out over the course of the stay. Charging a significant cleaning fee is not a bad way (I think) to encourage longer stays - but only if your nightly rate is such that it averages out to a good deal.
Reply Like 4 replies•3 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
Thank you SO much for all that research! Im blown away by this smart useful feedback from the community right now! I do want to encourage longer stays....but i see how discouraging a big cleaning fee is on a short stay! I'll lower it back to where it was at $65....it does take a lot of energy or cost a substantial amount of money to change sheets, clean a bathroom, restock clean towels, sheets, and toiletries, i put out fresh flowers and make sure there is plenty of water bottles and small snacks. But from a shoppers point of view, they dont think of all that!
Andrew
Andrewa year ago
The cleaning fee should not be mistaken for a one-for-one compensation for your actual cleaning efforts. Rather, those are better off built into your nightly costs. I prefer to think of the cleaning fee as the a supplement to shorter stays to make a tight changeover worthwhile. Any amount that costs you potential business ultimately works out as a net loss. And the way I see it, any smart traveler is going to be looking out for good value, and smart travelers are better guests than naive ones. One can rightfully wonder why an Airbnb host charges a $65 cleaning fee, but not an equivalently priced hotel, where they get daily maid service (from people working much harder than us, with lower take-home pay).
Carrie
Carriea year ago
Very well put, Andrew.
Fleur, Dan and kids
Fleur, Dan and kidsa year ago
Ali I recently took my $25 cleaning fee off after 2.5 years and raised my price by $12 per day. I make a little less on 1-2 nights but I've noticed a huge improvement in the way guests leave my flat. My cleaning time has dropped dramatically and lots of times you can't even tell someone has been there. I think it's honestly for the best as it saves on my stress levels and time. Food for thought. And I totally agree with Andrew.
Carrie
Carriea year ago
Their are so many listings in West Hollywood - again, over 50 pages for a private room, that I'd think you'd have to be very, very competitive price wise to keep booked in the off season.
Reply Like 2 replies•2 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
How do you move up to the first listings seen? Do you know?
Carrie
Carriea year ago
Hi Ali - apparently, Airbnb has a complicated algorithm for the order in which listings show up. I think your response rate, your review ratings and how busy you are all help you get your listing up. I think if you lower your price enough to get more bookings, your listing will probably move up.
Salvia
Salviaa year ago
I learned that a lot of hosts charge a rather high cleaning fee to avoid having too many one-night bookings. Which might be a good stratgy in high seasons but maybe worth to try to go without any in very low season or set a minimum stay to make up for it.
Reply Like 2 replies•3 likes
Carrie
Carriea year ago
True, Salvia, and I have considered that as a strategy. In the end, I just decided to do a two-night minimum, deciding that washing sheets for one night's stay made it not worthwhile to me unless I charged enough to make my pricing not competitive.
Ali
Alia year ago
Good idea Salvia, to lower now on the off season, but raise in the spring?! And Carrie, i never thought of a minimum 2 day stay policy! So simple, makes sense
Liz and Harry
Liz and Harrya year ago
There is also a ongoing debate regarding cancelation policy. Some think strict may turn people off and hoster hosts do not think it makes a difference. You may want to consider changing it to moderate if you are comfortable doing so, and see if that makes a difference. For me, I travel a lot for work and even with hotels I will pretty much stick with those with a 24 hour cancellation policy as things can happen that are out of my control. Take a look at the policies of your completion
Reply Like 1 reply•1 like
Ali
Alia year ago
Its complicated, cause although people's schedules change, it would suck to have lost bookings while those days were held up by a cancellation.
Nic and Rach
Nic and Racha year ago
Strategy is good. and you have to maintain a good ranking-like what Carrie mentioned- 50 listings came up and if you are not in the top ten in the guest search then you become the an option instead of priority. You need to maintain consistency, your response rate and your star rating is important as well as your nightly rates remember our Airbnb clienteles look for lowest possible price within their budget so, considering what you offer plus your rate is equal to VALUE your cancellation policy and house rules are also a price breaker. So, we have to consider all the possibilities of how to be on the TOP of our game and best of all to be less stress in our part.
Reply Like 1 reply•1 like
Ali
Alia year ago
Hi Nic & Rach, Do you know how to come up higher in the search? Thanks!
Louise
Louisea year ago
I've been wondering about this too--is January just a slow month? We were booked almost every night in November, and December, though not as busy, was still good....but so far no one has even inquired about January and we are getting nervous as we rely on Airbnb guests in order to afford our high rent! Any advice?
Reply Like 1 reply•1 like
Ali
Alia year ago
Hi Devon, January is definitely the slowest month ive observed, you may have trouble this month, but it will pick up again and you will get very busy come March...lots of oversea travelers. Hang in there.
Andrew
Andrewa year ago
I'd suggest setting a competitive base price relative to nearby listings, lowering your cleaning fee and raising your extra-guest fee. At the moment, your rates effectively scare off solo travelers (who are likelier to prefer host-present Private Rooms even when Entire Homes are available) as well as shorter-term guests (for whom the rather extreme cleaning fee is a deal-breaker). If you're having a slow season, those are exactly the two demographics you need the most!
On the other hand, raising the extra-guest fee is not such a big deal; a party of two can budget twice as much as a party of one. But you still need to be a little bit cheaper than the typical Entire House listing in your area, since groups will perceive those as better value.
Reply Like 1 reply•5 likes
Ali
Alia year ago
Wow! Thanks Andrew for such a thoughtful and insightful response! I will do what you recommended
Good analysis....Carrie
Carriea year ago
Along the lines with what Andrew just said - I have noticed that in my city, where tourism season is the warmer months, I tend to get more couples - and more tourists - in spring/summer/autumn. In the winter, I tend to get more solo travelers coming to my city on business. The lower rate for a single person is definitely a plus- especially in winter.
Reply Like 1 reply
Ali
Alia year ago
Thanks for all your thoughts Carrie! Totally agreed!
Susan
Susana year ago
it's slow in LA right now and from my last 3 years of Hosting, it slows up between January and February, so just stick it out.