Where am I going wrong with Airbnb?!

[salindahind]

Never used Airbnb before but doing a round the U.K. driving holiday next year so doing various short bookings and one long booking (which I've had no trouble booking through Airbnb)

I've just started the short bookings and trying to book a 2 night stay in Edinburgh. I've tried 3 properties now which all show availability and once I've 'booked' it's pending for 24 hours but the owners never respond so the booking is cancelled and 'I'm free to book somewhere else and won't get charged' ......but I'm running out of suitable places to try and book and can't understand why no one wants my custom??!

Am I missing something obvious here?

What time of year are you going? Some places don't like taking two night bookings if they think they will be able to sell a whole week.

Does sound like you’ve been unlucky. It might also be because you have no reviews yet of you as a guest. On airbnb after you stay somewhere, you review it and the host also reviews you (tody / quiet / moany or whatever) and then after both reviews are in you can see what the other person wrote. So as a new customer trying to book a short stay, it will be harder for you to book places than someone with 10 reviews saying they were a pleasure to host and booking a 14 day stay….

Booking.com might be easier to use if you continue to have no luck with airbnb.

Ah ok....do owners just ignore requests normally and let them expire? I sort of presumed they'd say 'sorry we've got someone else' or 'you haven't been using Airbnb enough yet' or something. (I'm used to using VRBO where it's very transactional and a booking is a booking!)

It's for next august and the dates are free on their calendar.

Well you are trying to book in Edinburgh during the festival so they may be hedging their bets

I have given up on Air Bnb, it is now full of people who advertise on there but accept bookings randomly from elsewhere and then cancel the night before you are due to go, and keep your money until you appeal.

I used to use it all the time. Wouldn't go near it now.

It is probably because it is the festival in August. I once tried to book an Airbnb place in Edinburgh a year in advance specifically for the festival because the price seemed reasonable. The owner did not accept the booking and informed me that the listed price was wrong........ I suspect that owners wait until later to see how much they can get, they know they will always get a booking at festival time even at high prices.

I'd suggest as per PP, they don't want two night bookings, probably minimum at least 3 in the holidays.

If going to Edinburgh, and driving, I'd hedge my bets with a flexi booking at the Premier Inn at Edinburgh Park. It has parking and is close to a tram stop which goes right into the city centre. Easy to drive out of Edinburgh as well. Prices were reasonable for August this year (we stay there alot and prices for festival weekends are comparatively reasonable to other dates through the year). Not airbnb though I know!

Flexi bookings can be cancelled nearer the time so can cancel if an airbnb can be secured.

I'm an Airbnb host and I never ignore a request.

I have a minimum stay of three nights set but if someone messaged me for fewer nights I would consider it and would never just ignore it.

Also, I never ever look at guests profiles! Unless their message rings odd.

But I rarely stay in Airbnbs as a guest as I hate their cleaning fees and rules of what you have to do. I think they too often come across as so reluctant to host and are against the guest from the start. Also they are often dirty.

(Not necessarily relevant but I don't charge a cleaning fee and don't expect guests to do anything wrt to cleaning on leaving as I am going to scrub the place anywag and they're on holiday. So the rules and fees are not necessary - that's what the rental fee is for)

Op, there are other platforms....booking.com often has rental properties. You might have better responses there.

Sorry, should have said - it's the week before the festival.

They don't let you book if they have a minimal 3 or more nights stay - they won't even come up on the search I think.

By the sounds of it, Airbnb is just a bit useless. Which is very annoying.

Have you tried the other bookngs yet? Is it just Edinburgh that is a problem? I've used airbnb absolutely loads and never really had any problems. The only time I've experienced anything like what you describe is booking this Sept for Amsterdam. It is a busy weekend and standard airbnb has recently been stopped in Amsterdam. So there is a huge shortage of accommodation and what is advertised on airbnb is either shared homes, people just putting their houses up briefly while there are on holiday, or scams! I found something eventually, but I had a lot of hosts either not reply or reply to say it was unavailable and they'd messed up their availability calendar.

Edinburgh festival may have very similar issues! I wouldn't let it put you off using airbnb generally. But you might have to change your Edingburgh plans, find another way to book accommodation, or accept that you may have to have a lot of attempts before you find anything.

Go into the filters and choose Instant Book then it will be confirmed immediately.

Is it because you don't have any reviews?

I bit the bullet a few weeks ago and registered with Airbnb. Booked a week in Amsterdam. Or at least tried to. The host said she didn't have enough information about us to feel comfortable accepting our booking.

In that case they'll have none of my money. I've rented many many cottages / caravans etc, never with any trouble and the only thing owners have ever said to me is "thank you for your custom". I've had to load up a photo, passport info and driving license info to Airbnb only to find that my custom isn't welcome.

Not much of business model really.

Not a fan of AirBnB for a number of reasons, much prefer Booking.com, never had any issues booking through them

I've also had many bookings, usually with VRBO with no issues at all. The only reason I'm trying Airbnb is because it seems to have a far wider selection of properties for the places we are going and our needs. I can't find anything much on booking.com and limited on Vrbo. All very strange.

Edinburgh is a nightmare to get booked in the summer or Winter festival time. I doubt you’ll get self catering for two nights, you’d be better off booking direct with premier inn or novotel etc.

This. If it's during Edinburgh Festival, you'll struggle.

It's before the festival. It's very end of July just tipping into august.

You don't have any track record. This has never happened to me but I have a decent track record of excellent feedback from 2 - 7 nights in 4 different countries.

And I expect Edinburgh in the summer holidays is difficult.

Edinburgh is busy in July too.

I've never had problems like any of these with Airbnb. I stay in the cheapest ones possible often undesres side of town....

I think there is also an issue with licensing in Edinburgh for airbnbs or host type accommodation, sure I've seen this posted on Edinburgh fb groups. This could be part of the problem, folks might be holding off taking bookings?
Think licenses are required for all after October and those with shared entrances may struggle (tenanment style flats). I'm sure someone will correct me on this if I'm misunderstanding the upcoming changes.

Airbnb is really no longer trustworthy.

I'd use Bookings.com instead and look for a nice B&B or SC studio.