I love Airbnb...

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
e-richard
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I love Airbnb...

Post by e-richard »

Just got two emails from them today sent to me as two different people, and I paraphrase:

1. As a Host:

You lost two bookings for September where guests booked your competition. In one your price was £29 per night too high and in the other, it was £47 too high.

Naturally I got on to the website to check it all out as a guest, which presumably led to email #2

2. As a guest:

Demand for homes in the area you are interested in could increase by 216% for your travel dates. Book soon to get your top pick. These homes are available for your dates:

And hey presto, the top choice for the guest to choose was my property !
** Richard
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They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
rosebud
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Post by rosebud »

Funny!
leon
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Post by leon »

Is that because airbnb identifies your IP and puts your property near / at the top when you search? Why wouldn't they all do that?
e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

leon wrote:Is that because airbnb identifies your IP and puts your property near / at the top when you search? Why wouldn't they all do that?
Its not IP, they use cookies, and yes everybody does that, which is why one often sees adverts for one's own property in your Facebook timeline.

But that's not the point. The point I was making is that even though they think my price is too high, Airbnb are actively selling my property :?
** Richard
PIMS: Holiday Rental Management system
They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
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GRL
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Re: I love Airbnb...

Post by GRL »

e-richard wrote: In one your price was £29 per night too high and in the other, it was £47 too high.
Although of, course, it could simply be that the people booking (if there even were any) chose their properties based on better suitability rather than price alone and would not have booked yours even it was cheaper.
leon
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Post by leon »

"yes everybody does that, .. Airbnb are actively selling my property"

I'm confused: if your property appears at the top because of cookies or any other technical manoeuvre, why do you say that Airbnb are actively selling your property to anybody except you?

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e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

Good point Leon.

Actually I don't really know whats in the cookies. It may be specific properties, or it may be clues as to the type and location of property. Rosie points to other inconsistencies in the argument.

But we're all just guessing in the dark, and it'll all probably change tomorrow. I doubt there is much we can do about it. I just thought it was a bit amusing to be told my property was unrentable in one email followed by a push to rent it in another.
** Richard
PIMS: Holiday Rental Management system
They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

Presumably as the cheap place is now booked up, yours is the next one on the list.

Airbnb know/think that they can sell your place for the same price that they sold the other one for, so they suggest lowering your price. After all, if no-one buys it, they get no commission at all. However, if they can sell your place for the higher price, they'll get more commission so they want to do their best to sell it for you.

Isn't that what you'd want them to do?
Kilm
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Post by Kilm »

When you visit a website, it will usually place one or (many) more cookies on your system.

These cookies basically act as an identifier for you, different to your IP. This is why you see adverts for shovels after searching Amazon for shovels, or why when you go to most airline websites, the price will jump up after a few searches.

When you go to AirBnB it will put a cookie on your system that will most probably identify you as an owner. When you log out and go back as a guest or new users, it doesn't matter, your system still looks at the cookies associated with the website and goes "Aha, trying to catch me out eh?" and then sticks your listing to the top to make them seem great.

This is purely an assumption, but it's an educated one as that's how most big e-commerce firms operate.

It's all smoke and mirrors!

The only way to do it properly is to clear all your cookies off (which means you'll lose saved details about other sites you might want to keep) so you approach AirBnB as a fresh user.
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

Kilm wrote: When you log out and go back as a guest or new users, it doesn't matter, your system still looks at the cookies associated with the website and goes "Aha, trying to catch me out eh?" and then sticks your listing to the top to make them seem great.
FWIW Airbnb has not done this to me. A commission-only website has no need to seem great as it costs owners nothing to list. Airbnb in particular has an ethos of being part of the sharing economy and many Airbnb owners will stay in other Airbnbs - and just because you own a property in an area doesn't mean that you might not want to find accommodation for friends etc in the same area as your own property.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
Jemima Copping
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Post by Jemima Copping »

I just ignore these comments from ABB and charge what the heck I want. So this year I raised my nightly price for July to £100 for our one bedroom cottage, plus added £80 for cleaning, and hey presto, within 2 weeks I got fully booked , all short breaks.This meant that I actually got the £100 per night which I was charging on my website. People who book on ABB should try to find the website corresponding to their choice and book directly to get a better deal. ABB will tell you that someone near you is charging £4O or £50 per night, forgetting to mention their own commission, and when you check the price it turns out that that figure is the base rate for off season. So a bit of a con.
Better to be mutton dressed as lamb than mutton dressed as mutton!
sergio
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Post by sergio »

ABB is not my preferred site. I have never had a guest from that site I would want back. I do not get the hype, but assume it has something to do with the amount of money they throw at their media budget. Definitely a student site!
Jemima Copping
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Post by Jemima Copping »

So far all my guests from whichever channel I get them have been well behaved and respectful more or less of the house rules, and they have all left lovely comments in the visitors book and reviews online.
Possibly because we are on site and meet them when they arrive,
but I suppose it is always possible that we will get a ‘rogue’ guest one day!
Maybe it depends on what sort of holiday people are on. Ours are mostly outdoorsy types of all ages who are here for the walking or hiking so perhaps too tired at night to do anything but fall into bed, get up early and are out all day, so haven’t the time or energy to trash the place!
Better to be mutton dressed as lamb than mutton dressed as mutton!
Frenchlady
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Post by Frenchlady »

Have had guests from Airbnb here for 4 nights. Normally the payment arrives promptly after the guests 2nd night. Now on night 3 and no payment so got concerned. Contacted Airbnb (via the help support - that is a joke) - booked a return phone call but of course that never happened. Got a reply (after getting very angry) "This delayed payout it's due an exceptional internal error." whatever that may be. Told that payment will be made in next 24 hours. So guests depart and we have no money.

After the continuing cock-up with our tax sejour being taken incorrectly and now this, Airbnb are looking to become a thing of the past for us. Now on B.com and so far customer service has been very good with fast response. Whether that continues remains to be seen, but Airbnb is now just getting up my goat.
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