Airbnb

[Lellyb]

Apologies, this has probably been covered, I did use the search facility, but for myself with a 3 bed gite in France and a friend with 2 properties in Scotland, can anyone advise on the pros and cons of using Airbnb? Many thanks

[petitbois]

Pros:
low commission for owner
Can view reviews about guests before you accept booking
good for filling last minute gaps
Cons:
most bookings are for short stays
need to be 'good value' so difficult to charge your full rate
like all OTA bookings, guests will abuse level of occupancy, house rules about pets & infants etc
no possibility of security deposit - you have to make a claim for any damages after event

As a guest we like airbnb as often locations are unusual in very good locations, but difficult to check if 'legal' - a recent experience in Seville we didn't discover owner had 35 other properties till he was late turning up for check-in!!
Guest pays commission on sliding scale - quite high when you first book, but once you ahve stayed in 20+ starts to decrease.

[oasiscouple]

I second the advice of Petitbois. I use ABB for my one bed B&B but I don't think I would use them for my beach apartment where I only take minimum 2 weeks bookings.

I am also with BC for my B&B, but at a higher price to allow for their commission and it always surprises me that I get more bookings via BC rather than ABB despite the higher price.

Also as a guest, I was very happy with ABB on a recent tour of South Africa finding excellent and often quirky accommodation at very reasonable prices.

[Lellyb]

Thank you both for that information, very useful

[Sanchisimo]

We have two city centre 1-bed apartments and a three bedroom rural farmhouse. All are on Abnb but the farmhouse has ony had about two bookings in three years. The apartments however are mostly booked through Airbnb. I disagree about pricing though, we are relatively expensive and never drop our prices and have a 4 day minimum stay. This hasn't had any affect on booking levels and I just ignore any message from Abnb about 'other apartments in your area are cheaper', 'lower your prices to get more bookings' - they are just computer-generated messages.

We have a strict 2 person limit and meet people when they arrive (we have to have passport details and signature). This seems to get over the over-occupancy problem and I am in my rights to evict if they did that or not hand over the keys.

You get to publicly review them (and report them privately to Abnb). The reviews are seen by anyone they they try to subsequently book with.

With regard to the farmhouse, I just think the people looking for that sort of holiday aren't turning to that platform.

[newtimber]

I use them for last-minute bookings and have had no problems so far. They are better than HomeAway in that they handle the payments themselves.

[Joanna]

You get to publicly review them (and report them privately to Abnb). The reviews are seen by anyone they they try to subsequently book with.

We joined ABB last year and I don't get to see guest reviews before they book. I think you have to have instant booking enabled or whatever their equivalent is before you get to see reviews. I won't risk instant bookings so the reviews are of no help to us.

I too use them mainly for last minute bookings which is made easier by the facility to set the booking window to within 3 months. In 12 months we've had about 10 bookings from them.

The constant nagging to lower prices is irritating considering we're about average compared to others on there.

We found that we tend to get short bookings and odd days e.g. Sunday to Tuesday or Thursday to Saturday which are extra inconvenient for us because we're off site and rely on cleaners who only work week days. In fact, I've upped our prices slightly to allow for the fact that we often end up with unlettable days either side of ABB bookings.

I've put our Chester house on there, but not our Devon one - I don't think it would work as well for rural/seaside places. Better suited to city breaks.

[Stewart]

I release the gaps in months that I have partially filled through other channels (mainly my own website). They were worth about 25% of 2018's revenue. I suspect that will drop to 15% despite me discounting more than I would normally. I do not discount otherwise and I think ABB like all the other OTA's have fixed "price" into the minds of their clientele at the total exclusion of everything else.

I think that like HL, TA and HA et al they have an effective shelf life of a couple of years and I'll drop them as they impose changes that become more and more onerous.

Maybe one good thing here (and it may be down to the limited pricing model they employ IMO anyway), ABB are not cracking longer term stays. I would like to think that potential customers put a bit of additional effort into selecting longer stays so keep your own websites compelling and attractive

[Martha]

"potential customers put a bit of additional effort into selecting longer stays so keep your own websites compelling and attractive"

This is true I think and if you are easy to find (via house name etc) then they they often book direct, I suspect. For shorter stays and smaller groups I think think they are good, I use them myself all the time.

However the chalet only ever had two bookings from Airbnb as we sleep 10 and do very few short stays, I use it to try to fill gaps. Both bookings went very well. It will be interesting to see how things change as I'm going to try the little place with it this summer. (sleeps 4, short bookings will be feasible).
The only thing to watch out for is their horrendous cancellation policies. That's the main reason I keep my place blocked with them for all peak periods.